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diff --git a/32722-0.txt b/32722-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6980302 --- /dev/null +++ b/32722-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19320 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Jewish Theology by Kaufmann Kohler + + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no +restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under +the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or +online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license + + + +Title: Jewish Theology + +Author: Kaufmann Kohler + +Release Date: June 6, 2010 [Ebook #32722] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF‐8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEWISH THEOLOGY*** + + + + + + Jewish Theology + + Systematically and Historically Considered + + By + + Dr. K. Kohler + + President + + Hebrew Union College + + New York + + The Macmillan Company + + 1918 + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Dedication +Preface +Introductory + Chapter I. The Meaning of Theology + Chapter II. What is Judaism? + Chapter III. The Essence of the Religion of Judaism + Chapter IV. The Jewish Articles of Faith +Part I. God + A. God As He Makes Himself Known To Man + Chapter V. Man’s Consciousness of God and Belief in God + Chapter VI. Revelation, Prophecy, and Inspiration + Chapter VII. The Torah—the Divine Instruction + Chapter VIII. God’s Covenant + B. The Idea Of God In Judaism + Chapter IX. God and the Gods + Chapter X. The Name of God + Chapter XI. The Existence of God + Chapter XII. The Essence of God + Chapter XIII. The One and Only God + Chapter XIV. God’s Omnipotence and Omniscience + Chapter XV. God’s Omnipresence and Eternity + Chapter XVI. God’s Holiness + Chapter XVII. God’s Wrath and Punishment + Chapter XVIII. God’s Long-suffering and Mercy + Chapter XIX. God’s Justice + Chapter XX. God’s Love and Compassion + Chapter XXI. God’s Truth and Faithfulness + Chapter XXII. God’s Knowledge and Wisdom + Chapter XXIII. God’s Condescension + C. God In Relation To The World + Chapter XXIV. The World and its Master + Chapter XXV. Creation As the Act of God + Chapter XXVI. The Maintenance and Government of the World + Chapter XXVII. Miracles and the Cosmic Order + Chapter XXVIII. Providence and the Moral Government of the World + Chapter XXIX. God and the Existence of Evil + Chapter XXX. God and the Angels + Chapter XXXI. Satan and the Spirits of Evil + Chapter XXXII. God and the Intermediary Powers +Part II. Man + Chapter XXXIII. Man’s Place in Creation + Chapter XXXIV. The Dual Nature of Man + Chapter XXXV. The Origin and Destiny of Man + Chapter XXXVI. God’s Spirit in Man + Chapter XXXVII. Free Will and Moral Responsibility + Chapter XXXVIII. The Meaning of Sin + Chapter XXXIX. Repentance Or the Return To God + Chapter XL. Man, the Child of God + Chapter XLI. Prayer and Sacrifice + Chapter XLII. The Nature and Purpose of Prayer + Chapter XLIII. Death and the Future Life + Chapter XLIV. The Immortal Soul of Man + Chapter XLV. Divine Retribution: Reward and Punishment. + Chapter XLVI. The Individual and the Race + Chapter XLVII. The Moral Elements of Civilization +Part III. Israel And The Kingdom Of God + Chapter XLVIII. The Election of Israel + Chapter XLIX. The Kingdom of God and the Mission of Israel + Chapter L. The Priest-people and its Law of Holiness + Chapter LI. Israel, the People of the Law, and its World Mission + Chapter LII. Israel, the Servant of the Lord, Martyr and Messiah Of the + Nations + Chapter LIII. The Messianic Hope + Chapter LIV. Resurrection, a National Hope + Chapter LV. Israel and the Heathen Nations + Chapter LVI. The Stranger and the Proselyte + Chapter LVII. Christianity and Mohammedanism, the Daughter-Religions Of + Judaism + Chapter LVIII. The Synagogue and its Institutions + Chapter LIX. The Ethics of Judaism and the Kingdom of God +List Of Abbreviations +Index +Footnotes + + + + + + +DEDICATION + + +To The Memory + +Of + +EDWARD L. HEINSHEIMER + +THE LAMENTED PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF + +THE HEBREW UNION COLLEGE + +IN WHOM ZEAL FOR THE HIGH IDEALS +OF JUDAISM AND PATRIOTIC DEVOTION +TO OUR BLESSED COUNTRY WERE +NOBLY EMBODIED + +In Friendship And +Affection + + + + + +PREFACE + + +In offering herewith to the English-reading public the present work on +Jewish Theology, the result of many years of research and of years of +activity as President and teacher at the Hebrew Union College of +Cincinnati, I bespeak for it that fairness of judgment to which every +pioneer work is entitled. It may seem rather strange that no such work has +hitherto been written by any of the leading Jewish scholars of either the +conservative or the progressive school. This can only be accounted for by +the fact that up to modern times the Rabbinical and philosophical +literature of the Middle Ages sufficed for the needs of the student, and a +systematic exposition of the Jewish faith seemed to be unnecessary. +Besides, a real demand for the specific study of Jewish theology was +scarcely felt, inasmuch as Judaism never assigned to a creed the prominent +position which it holds in the Christian Church. This very fact induced +Moses Mendelssohn at the beginning of the new era to declare that Judaism +“contained only truths dictated by reason and no dogmatic beliefs at all.” +Moreover, as he was rather a deist than a theist, he stated boldly that +Judaism “is not a revealed religion but a revealed law intended solely for +the Jewish people as the vanguard of universal monotheism.” By taking this +legalistic view of Judaism in common with the former opponents of the +Maimonidean articles of faith—which, by the way, he had himself translated +for the religious instruction of the Jewish youth—he exerted a +deteriorating influence upon the normal development of the Jewish faith +under the new social conditions. The fact is that Mendelssohn emancipated +the modern Jew from the thraldom of the Ghetto, but not Judaism. In the +Mendelssohnian circle the impression prevailed, as we are told, that +Judaism consists of a system of forms, but is substantially no religion at +all. The entire Jewish renaissance period which followed, +characteristically enough, made the cultivation of the so-called science +of Judaism its object, but it neglected altogether the whole field of +Jewish theology. Hence we look in vain among the writings of Rappaport, +Zunz, Jost and their followers, the entire Breslau school, for any attempt +at presenting the contents of Judaism as a system of faith. Only the +pioneers of Reform Judaism, Geiger, Holdheim, Samuel Hirsch, Formstecher, +Ludwig Philippson, Leopold Stein, Leopold Loew, and the Reform theologian +_par excellence_ David Einhorn, and likewise, Isaac M. Wise in America, +made great efforts in that direction. Still a system of Jewish theology +was wanting. Accordingly when, at the suggestion of my dear departed +friend, Dr. Gustav Karpeles, President of the Society for the Promotion of +the Science of Judaism in Berlin, I undertook to write a compendium +(Grundriss) of Systematic Jewish Theology, which appeared in 1910 as Vol. +IV in a series of works on Systematic Jewish Lore (Grundriss der +Gesammtwissenschaft des Judenthums), I had no work before me that might +have served me as pattern or guide. Solomon Schechter’s valuable studies +were in the main confined to Rabbinical Theology. As a matter of fact I +accepted the task only with the understanding that it should be written +from the view-point of historical research, instead of a mere dogmatic or +doctrinal system. For in my opinion the Jewish religion has never been +static, fixed for all time by an ecclesiastical authority, but has ever +been and still is the result of a dynamic process of growth and +development. At the same time I felt that I could not omit the mystical +element which pervades the Jewish religion in common with all others. As +our prophets were seers and not philosophers or moralists, so divine +inspiration in varying degrees constituted a factor of Synagogal as well +as Scriptural Judaism. Revelation, therefore, is to be considered as a +continuous force in shaping and reshaping the Jewish faith. The religious +genius of the Jew falls within the domain of ethnic psychology concerning +which science still gropes in the dark, but which progressive Judaism is +bound to recognize in its effects throughout the ages. + +It is from this standpoint, taken also by the sainted founder of the +Hebrew Union College, Isaac M. Wise, that I have written this book. At the +same time I endeavored to be, as it behooves the historian, just and fair +to Conservative Judaism, which will ever claim the reverence we owe to our +cherished past, the mother that raised and nurtured us. + +While a work of this nature cannot lay claim to completeness, I have +attempted to cover the whole field of Jewish belief, including also such +subjects as no longer form parts of the religious consciousness of the +modern Jew. I felt especially called upon to elucidate the historical +relations of Judaism to the Christian and Mohammedan religions and dwell +on the essential points of divergence from them. If my language at times +has been rather vigorous in defense of the Jewish faith, it was because I +was forced to correct and refute the prevailing view of the Christian +world, of both theologians and others, that Judaism is an inferior +religion, clannish and exclusive, that it is, in fact, a cult of the Old +Testament Law. + +It was a matter of great personal satisfaction to me that the German work +on its appearance met with warm appreciation in the various theological +journals of America, England, and France, as well as of Germany, including +both Jewish and Christian. I was encouraged and urged by many “soon to +make the book accessible to wider circles in an English translation.” My +friend, Dr. Israel Abrahams of Cambridge, England, took such interest in +the book that he induced a young friend of his to prepare an English +version. While this did not answer the purpose, it was helpful to me in +making me feel that, instead of a literal translation, a thorough revision +and remolding of the book was necessary in order to present it in an +acceptable English garb. In pursuing this course, I also enlarged the book +in many ways, especially adding a new chapter on Jewish Ethics, which, in +connection with the idea of the Kingdom of God, appeared to me to form a +fitting culmination of Jewish theology. I have thus rendered it +practically a new work. And here I wish to acknowledge my great +indebtedness to my young friend and able pupil, Rabbi Lee J. Levinger, for +the valuable aid he has rendered me and the painstaking labor he has +kindly and unselfishly performed in going over my manuscript from +beginning to end, with a view to revising the diction and also suggesting +references to more recent publications in the notes so as to bring it up +to date. + +I trust that the work will prove a source of information and inspiration +for both student and layman, Jew and non-Jew, and induce such as have +become indifferent to, or prejudiced against, the teachings of the +Synagogue, or of Reform Judaism in particular, to take a deeper insight +into, and look up with a higher regard to the sublime and eternal verities +of Judaism. + +“Give to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser; teach a righteous man, and +he will increase in learning.” + +CINCINNATI, November, 1917. + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + + + + +Chapter I. The Meaning of Theology + + +1. The name Theology, “the teaching concerning God,” is taken from Greek +philosophy. It was used by Plato and Aristotle to denote the knowledge +concerning God and things godly, by which they meant the branch of +Philosophy later called Metaphysics, after Aristotle. In the Christian +Church the term gradually assumed the meaning of systematic exposition of +the creed, a distinction being made between _Rational_, or _Natural +Theology_, on the one hand, and _Dogmatic Theology_, on the other.(1) In +common usage Theology is understood to be the presentation of one specific +system of faith after some logical method, and a distinction is made +between _Historical_ and _Systematic Theology_. The former traces the +various doctrines of the faith in question through the different epochs +and stages of culture, showing their historical process of growth and +development; the latter presents these same doctrines in comprehensive +form as a fixed system, as they have finally been elaborated and accepted +upon the basis of the sacred scriptures and their authoritative +interpretation. + +2. Theology and Philosophy of Religion differ widely in their character. +Theology deals exclusively with a specific religion; in expounding one +doctrinal system, it starts from a positive belief in a divine revelation +and in the continued working of the divine spirit, affecting also the +interpretation and further development of the sacred books. Philosophy of +Religion, on the other hand, while dealing with the same subject matter as +Theology, treats religion from a general point of view as a matter of +experience, and, as every philosophy must, without any foregone +conclusion. Consequently it submits the beliefs and doctrines of religion +in general to an impartial investigation, recognizing neither a divine +revelation nor the superior claims of any one religion above any other, +its main object being to ascertain how far the universal laws of human +reason agree or disagree with the assertions of faith.(2) + +3. It is therefore incorrect to speak of a Jewish religious philosophy. +This has no better right to exist than has Jewish metaphysics or Jewish +mathematics.(3) The Jewish thinkers of the Spanish-Arabic period who +endeavored to harmonize revelation and reason, utilizing the Neo-Platonic +philosophy or the Aristotelian with a Neo-Platonic coloring, betray by +their very conceptions of revelation and prophecy the influence of +Mohammedan theology; this was really a graft of metaphysics on theology +and called itself the “divine science,” a term corresponding exactly with +the Greek “theology.” The so-called Jewish religious philosophers adopted +both the methods and terminology of the Mohammedan theologians, attempting +to present the doctrines of the Jewish faith in the light of philosophy, +as truth based on reason. Thus they claimed to construct a Jewish theology +upon the foundation of a philosophy of religion. + +But neither they nor their Mohammedan predecessors succeeded in working +out a complete system of theology. They left untouched essential elements +of religion which do not come within the sphere of rational verities, and +did not give proper appreciation to the rich treasures of faith deposited +in the Biblical and Rabbinical literature. Nor does the comprehensive +theological system of Maimonides, which for centuries largely shaped the +intellectual life of the Jew, form an exception. Only the mystics, Bahya +at their head, paid attention to the spiritual side of Judaism, dwelling +at length on such themes as prayer and repentance, divine forgiveness and +holiness. + +4. Closer acquaintance with the religious and philosophical systems of +modern times has created a new demand for a Jewish theology by which the +Jew can comprehend his own religious truths in the light of modern +thought, and at the same time defend them against the aggressive attitude +of the ruling religious sects. Thus far, however, the attempts made in +this direction are but feeble and sporadic; if the structure is not to +stand altogether in the air, the necessary material must be brought +together from its many sources with painstaking labor.(4) The special +difficulty in the task lies in the radical difference which exists between +our view of the past and that of the Biblical and medieval writers. All +those things which have heretofore been taken as facts because related in +the sacred books or other traditional sources, are viewed to-day with +critical eyes, and are now regarded as more or less colored by human +impression or conditioned by human judgment. In other words, we have +learned to distinguish between _subjective_ and _objective_ truths,(5) +whereas theology by its very nature deals with truth as absolute. This +makes it imperative for us to investigate historically the leading idea or +fundamental principle underlying a doctrine, to note the different +conceptions formed at various stages, and trace its process of growth. At +times, indeed, we may find that the views of one age have rather taken a +backward step and fallen below the original standard. The progress need +not be uniform, but we must still trace its course. + +5. We must recognize at the outset that Jewish theology cannot assume the +character of _apologetics_, if it is to accomplish its great task of +formulating religious truth as it exists in our consciousness to-day. It +can no more afford to ignore the established results of modern linguistic, +ethnological, and historical research, of Biblical criticism and +comparative religion, than it can the undisputed facts of natural science, +however much any of these may conflict with the Biblical view of the +cosmos. Apologetics has its legitimate place to prove and defend the +truths of Jewish theology against other systems of belief and thought, but +cannot properly defend either Biblical or Talmudic statements by methods +incompatible with scientific investigation. Judaism is a religion of +_historical_ growth, which, far from claiming to be the final truth, is +ever regenerated anew at each turning point of history. The fall of the +leaves at autumn requires no apology, for each successive spring testifies +anew to nature’s power of resurrection. + +The object of a systematic theology of Judaism, accordingly, is to single +out the essential forces of the faith. It then will become evident how +these fundamental doctrines possess a vitality, a strength of conviction, +as well as an adaptability to varying conditions, which make them potent +factors amidst all changes of time and circumstance. According to +Rabbinical tradition, the broken tablets of the covenant were deposited in +the ark beside the new. In like manner the truths held sacred by the past, +but found inadequate in their expression for a new generation, must be +placed side by side with the deeper and more clarified truths of an +advanced age, that they may appear together as the _one_ divine truth +reflected in different rays of light. + +6. Jewish theology differs radically from Christian theology in the +following three points: + +_A._ The theology of Christianity deals with articles of faith formulated +by the founders and heads of the Church as conditions of _salvation_, so +that any alteration in favor of free thought threatens to undermine the +very plan of salvation upon which the Church was founded. Judaism +recognizes only such articles of faith as were adopted by the people +voluntarily as expressions of their religious consciousness, both without +external compulsion and without doing violence to the dictates of reason. +Judaism does not know salvation by faith in the sense of Paul, the real +founder of the Church, who declared the blind acceptance of belief to be +in itself meritorious. It denies the existence of any irreconcilable +opposition between faith and reason. + +_B._ Christian theology rests upon a _formula of confession_, the +so-called Symbolum of the Apostolic Church,(6) which alone makes one a +Christian. Judaism has no such formula of confession which renders a Jew a +Jew. No ecclesiastical authority ever dictated or regulated the belief of +the Jew; his faith has been voiced in the solemn liturgical form of +prayer, and has ever retained its freshness and vigor of thought in the +consciousness of the people. This partly accounts for the antipathy toward +any kind of dogma or creed among Jews. + +_C._ The creed is a _conditio sine qua non_ of the Christian Church. To +disbelieve its dogmas is to cut oneself loose from membership. Judaism is +quite different. The Jew is _born_ into it and cannot extricate himself +from it even by the renunciation of his faith, which would but render him +an apostate Jew. This condition exists, because the racial community +formed, and still forms, the basis of the religious community. It is +birth, not confession, that imposes on the Jew the obligation to work and +strive for the eternal verities of Israel, for the preservation and +propagation of which he has been chosen by the God of history. + +7. The truth of the matter is that the aim and end of Judaism is not so +much the salvation of the soul in the hereafter as the salvation of +humanity in history. Its theology, therefore, must recognize the history +of human progress, with which it is so closely interwoven. It does not, +therefore, claim to offer the final or absolute truth, as does Christian +theology, whether orthodox or liberal. It simply points out the way +leading to the highest obtainable truth. Final and perfect truth is held +forth as the ideal of all human searching and striving, together with +perfect justice, righteousness, and peace, to be attained as the very end +of history. + +A systematic theology of Judaism must, accordingly, content itself with +presenting Jewish doctrine and belief in relation to the most advanced +scientific and philosophical ideas of the age, so as to offer a +comprehensive view of life and the world (“Lebens- und Weltanschauung”); +but it by no means claims for them the character of finality. The +unfolding of Judaism’s truths will be completed only when all mankind has +attained the heights of Zion’s mount of vision, as beheld by the prophets +of Israel.(7) + + + + +Chapter II. What is Judaism? + + +1. It is very difficult to give an exact definition of Judaism because of +its peculiarly complex character.(8) It combines two widely differing +elements, and when they are brought out separately, the aspect of the +whole is not taken sufficiently into account. Religion and race form an +inseparable whole in Judaism. The Jewish people stand in the same relation +to Judaism as the _body_ to the _soul_. The national or racial body of +Judaism consists of the remnant of the tribe of Judah which succeeded in +establishing a new commonwealth in Judæa in place of the ancient +Israelitish kingdom, and which survived the downfall of state and temple +to continue its existence as a separate people during a dispersion over +the globe for thousands of years, forming ever a cosmopolitan element +among all the nations in whose lands it dwelt. Judaism, on the other hand, +is the religious system itself, the vital element which united the Jewish +people, preserving it and regenerating it ever anew. It is the spirit +which endowed the handful of Jews with a power of resistance and a fervor +of faith unparalleled in history, enabling them to persevere in the mighty +contest with heathenism and Christianity. It made of them a nation of +martyrs and thinkers, suffering and struggling for the cause of truth and +justice, yet forming, consciously or unconsciously, a potent factor in all +the great intellectual movements which are ultimately to win the entire +gentile world for the purest and loftiest truths concerning God and man. + +2. Judaism, accordingly, does not denote the Jewish nationality, with its +political and cultural achievements and aspirations, as those who have +lost faith in the religious mission of Israel would have it. On the other +hand, it is not a nomistic or legalistic religion confined to the Jewish +people, as is maintained by Christian writers, who, lacking a full +appreciation of its lofty world-wide purpose and its cosmopolitan and +humanitarian character, claim that it has surrendered its universal +prophetic truths to Christianity. Nor should it be presented as a religion +of pure _Theism_, aiming to unite all believers in one God into a Church +Universal, of which certain visionaries dream. Judaism is nothing less +than a message concerning the _One and holy God_ and _one, undivided +humanity_ with a world-uniting _Messianic goal_, a message intrusted by +divine revelation to the Jewish people. Thus Israel is its prophetic +harbinger and priestly guardian, its witness and defender throughout the +ages, who is never to falter in the task of upholding and unfolding its +truths until they have become the possession of the whole human race. + +3. Owing to this twofold nature of a universal religious truth and at the +same time a mission intrusted to a specially selected nation or race, +Judaism offers in a sense the sharpest contrasts imaginable, which render +it an enigma to the student of religion and history, and make him often +incapable of impartial judgment. On the one hand, it shows the most +tenacious adherence to forms originally intended to preserve the Jewish +people in its priestly sanctity and separateness, and thereby also to keep +its religious truths pure and free from encroachments. On the other hand, +it manifests a mighty impulse to come into close touch with the various +civilized nations, partly in order to disseminate among them its sublime +truths, appealing alike to mind and heart, partly to clarify and deepen +those truths by assimilating the wisdom and culture of these very nations. +Thus the spirit of separatism and of universalism work in opposite +directions. Still, however hostile the two elements may appear, they +emanate from the same source. For the Jewish people, unlike any other +civilization of antiquity, entered history with the proud claim that it +possessed a truth destined to become some day the property of mankind, and +its three thousand years of history have verified this claim. + +Israel’s relation to the world thus became a double one. Its priestly +world-mission gave rise to all those laws and customs which were to +separate it from its idolatrous surroundings, and this occasioned the +charge of hostility to the nations. The accusation of Jewish misanthropy +occurred as early as the Balaam and Haman stories. As the separation +continued through the centuries, a deep-seated Jew-hatred sprang up, first +in Alexandria and Rome, then becoming a consuming fire throughout +Christendom, unquenched through the ages and bursting forth anew, even +from the midst of would-be liberals. In contrast to this, Israel’s +prophetic ideal of a humanity united in justice and peace gave to history +a new meaning and a larger outlook, kindling in the souls of all truly +great leaders and teachers, seers and sages of mankind a love and longing +for the broadening of humanity which opened new avenues of progress and +liberty. Moreover, by its conception of man as the image of God and its +teaching of righteousness as the true path of life, Israel’s Law +established a new standard of human worth and put the imprint of Jewish +idealism upon the entire Aryan civilization. + +Owing to these two opposing forces, the one centripetal, the other +centrifugal, Judaism tended now inward, away from world-culture, now +outward toward the learning and the thought of all nations; and this makes +it doubly difficult to obtain a true estimate of its character. But, after +all, these very currents and counter-currents at the different eras of +history kept Judaism in continuous tension and fluctuation, preventing its +stagnation by dogmatic formulas and its division by ecclesiastical +dissensions. “Both words are the words of the living God” became the maxim +of the contending schools.(9) + +4. If we now ask what period we may fix as the beginning of Judaism, we +must by no means single out the decisive moment when Ezra the Scribe +established the new commonwealth of Judæa, based upon the Mosaic book of +Law, and excluding the Samaritans who claimed to be the heirs of ancient +Israel. This important step was but the climax, the fruitage of that +religious spirit engendered by the Judaism of the Babylonian exile. The +Captivity had become a refining furnace for the people, making them cling +with a zeal unknown before to the teachings of the prophets, now offered +by their disciples, and to the laws, as preserved by the priestly guilds; +so the religious treasures of the few became the common property of the +many, and were soon regarded as “the inheritance of the whole congregation +of Jacob.” As a matter of fact, Ezra represents the culmination rather +than the starting point of the great spiritual reawakening, when he came +from Babylon with a complete Code of Law, and promulgated it in the Holy +City to a worshipful congregation.(10) It was Judaism, winged with a new +spirit, which carried the great unknown seer of the Exile to the very +pinnacle of prophetic vision, and made the Psalmists ring forth from the +harp of David the deepest soul-stirring notes of religious devotion and +aspiration that ever moved the hearts of men. Moreover, all the great +truths of prophetic revelation, of legislative and popular wisdom, were +then collected and focused, creating a sacred literature which was to +serve the whole community as the source of instruction, consolation, and +edification. The powerful and unique institutions of the Synagogue, +intended for common instruction and devotion, are altogether creations of +the Exile, and replaced the former _priestly_ Torah by the Torah _for the +people_. More wonderful still, the priestly lore of ancient Babylon was +transformed by sublime monotheistic truths and utilized in the formation +of a sacred literature; it was placed before the history of the Hebrew +patriarchs, to form, as it were, an introduction to the Bible of humanity. + +Judaism, then, far from being the late product of the Torah and tradition, +as it is often considered, was actually the creator of the Law. +Transformed and unfolded in Babylonia, it created its own sacred +literature and shaped it ever anew, filling it always with its own spirit +and with new thoughts. It is by no means the petrifaction of the Mosaic +law and the prophetic teachings, as we are so often told, but a continuous +process of unfolding and regeneration of its great religious truth. + +5. True enough, traditional or orthodox Judaism does not share this view. +The idea of gradual development is precluded by its conception of divine +revelation, by its doctrine that both the oral and the written Torah were +given at Sinai complete and unchangeable for all time. It makes allowance +only for special institutions begun either by the prophets, by Ezra and +the Men of the Great Synagogue, his associates, or by the masters of the +Law in succeeding centuries. Nevertheless, tradition says that the Men of +the Great Synagogue themselves collected and partly completed the sacred +books, except the five books of Moses, and that the canon was made under +the influence of the holy spirit. This holy spirit remained in force also +during the creative period of Talmudism, sanctioning innovations or +alterations of many kinds.(11) Modern critical and historical research has +taught us to distinguish the products of different periods and stages of +development in both the Biblical and Rabbinical sources, and therefore +compels us to reject the idea of a uniform origin of the Law, and also of +an uninterrupted chain of tradition reaching back to Moses on Sinai. +Therefore we must attach still more importance to the process of +transformation which Judaism had to undergo through the centuries.(12) + +Judaism manifested its wondrous power of _assimilation_ by renewing itself +to meet the demands of the time, first under the influence of the ancient +civilizations, Babylonia and Persia, then of Greece and Rome, finally of +the Occidental powers, molding its religious truths and customs in ever +new forms, but all in consonance with its own genius. It adopted the +Babylonian and Persian views of the hereafter, of the upper and the nether +world with their angels and demons; so later on it incorporated into its +religious and legal system elements of Greek and Egyptian gnosticism, +Greek philosophy, and methods of jurisprudence from Egypt, Babylon, and +Rome. In fact, the various parties which arose during the second Temple +beside each other or successively—Sadducees and Pharisees, Essenes and +Zealots—represent, on closer observation, the different stages in the +process of assimilation which Judaism had to undergo. In like manner, the +Hellenistic, Apocryphal and Apocalyptic literature, which was rejected and +lost to sight by traditional Judaism, and which partly fills the gap +between the Bible and the Talmudic writings, casts a flood of light upon +the development of the Halakah and the Haggadah. Just as the book of +Ezekiel, which was almost excluded from the Canon on account of its +divergence from the Mosaic Law, has been helpful in tracing the +development of the Priestly Code,(13) so the Sadduceean book of Ben +Sira(14) and the Zealotic book of Jubilees(15)—not to mention the various +Apocalyptic works—throw their searchlight upon pre-Talmudic Judaism. + +6. Instead of representing Judaism—as the Christian theologians do under +the guise of scientific methods—as a nomistic religion, caring only for +the external observance of the Law, it is necessary to distinguish two +opposite fundamental tendencies; the one expressing the spirit of +legalistic nationalism, the other that of ethical or prophetic +universalism. These two work by turn, directing the general trend in the +one or the other direction according to circumstances. At one time the +center and focus of Israel’s religion is the Mosaic Law, with its +sacrificial cult in charge of the priesthood of Jerusalem’s Temple; at +another time it is the Synagogue, with its congregational devotion and +public instruction, its inspiring song of the Psalmist and its prophetic +consolation and hope confined to no narrow territory, but opened wide for +a listening world. Here it is the reign of the _Halakah_ holding fast to +the form of tradition, and there the free and fanciful _Haggadah_, with +its appeal to the sentiments and views of the people. Here it is the +spirit of _ritualism_, bent on separating the Jews from the influence of +foreign elements, and there again the spirit of _rationalism_, eager to +take part in general culture and in the progress of the outside world. + +The liberal views of Maimonides and Gersonides concerning miracle and +revelation, God and immortality were scarcely shared by the majority of +Jews, who, no doubt, sided rather with the mystics, and found their +mouthpiece in Abraham ben David of Posquieres, the fierce opponent of +Maimonides. An impartial Jewish theology must therefore take cognizance of +both sides; it must include the mysticism of Isaac Luria and Sabbathai +Horwitz as well as the rationalism of Albo and Leo da Modena. Wherever is +voiced a new doctrine or a new view of life and life’s duty, which yet +bears the imprint of the Jewish consciousness, there the well-spring of +divine inspiration is seen pouring forth its living waters. + +7. Even the latest interpretation of the Law, offered by a disciple who is +recognized for true conscientiousness in religion, was revealed to Moses +on Sinai, according to a Rabbinical dictum.(16) Thus is exquisitely +expressed the idea of a continuous development of Israel’s religious +truth. As a safeguard against arbitrary individualism, there was the +principle of loyalty and proper regard for tradition, which is aptly +termed by Professor Lazarus a “historical continuity.”(17) The Midrashic +statement is quite significant that other creeds founded on our Bible can +only adhere to the letter, but the Jewish religion possesses the key to +the deeper meaning hidden and presented in the _traditional_ +interpretation of the Scriptures.(18) That is, for Judaism Holy Scripture +in its literal sense is not the final word of God; the Bible is rather a +living spring of divine revelation, to be kept ever fresh and flowing by +the active force of the spirit. To sum up: Judaism, far from offering a +system of beliefs and ceremonies fixed for all time, is as multifarious +and manifold in its aspects as is life itself. It comprises all phases and +characteristics of both a national and a world religion. + + + + +Chapter III. The Essence of the Religion of Judaism + + +1. We have seen how difficult it is to define Judaism clearly and +adequately, including its manifold tendencies and institutions. Still it +is necessary that we reach a full understanding of the essence of Judaism +as it manifested itself in all periods of its history,(19) and that we +single out the fundamental idea which underlies its various forms of +existence and its different movements, both intellectual and spiritual. +There can be no disputing the fact that the central idea of Judaism and +its life purpose is the doctrine of the One Only and Holy God, whose +kingdom of truth, justice and peace is to be universally established at +the end of time. This is the main teaching of Scripture and the hope +voiced in the liturgy; while Israel’s mission to defend, to unfold and to +propagate this truth is a corollary of the doctrine itself and cannot be +separated from it. Whether we regard it as Law or a system of doctrine, as +religious truth or world-mission, this belief pledged the little tribe of +Judah to a warfare of many thousands of years against the hordes of +heathendom with all their idolatry and brutality, their deification of man +and their degradation of deity to human rank. It betokened a battle for +the pure idea of God and man, which is not to end until the principle of +divine holiness has done away with every form of life that tends to +degrade and to disunite mankind, and until Israel’s Only One has become +the unifying power and the highest ideal of all humanity. + +2. Of this great world-duty of Israel only the few will ever become fully +conscious. As in the days of the prophets, so in later periods, only a +“small remnant” was fully imbued with the lofty ideal. In times of +oppression the great multitude of the people persisted in a conscientious +observance of the Law and underwent suffering without a murmur. Yet in +times of liberty and enlightenment this same majority often neglects to +assimilate the new culture to its own superior spirit, but instead eagerly +assimilates itself to the surrounding world, and thereby loses much of its +intrinsic strength and self-respect. The pendulum of thought and sentiment +swings to and fro between the national and the universal ideals, while +only a few maturer minds have a clear vision of the goal as it is to be +reached along both lines of development. Nevertheless, Judaism is in a +true sense a religion of the people. It is free from all priestly tutelage +and hierarchical interference. It has no ecclesiastical system of belief, +guarded and supervised by men invested with superior powers. Its teachers +and leaders have always been men from among the people, like the prophets +of yore, with no sacerdotal privilege or title; in fact, in his own +household each father is the God-appointed teacher of his children.(20) + +3. Neither is Judaism the creation of a single person, either prophet or a +man with divine claims. It points back to the patriarchs as its first +source of revelation. It speaks not of the God of Moses, of Amos and +Isaiah, but of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, thereby declaring the +Jewish genius to be the creator of its own religious ideas. It is +therefore incorrect to speak of a “Mosaic,” “Hebrew,” or “Israelitish,” +religion. The name _Judaism_ alone expresses the preservation of the +religious heritage of Israel by the tribe of Judah, with a loyalty which +was first displayed by Judah himself in the patriarchal household, and +which became its characteristic virtue in the history of the various +tribes. Likewise the rigid measures of Ezra in expelling all foreign +elements from the new commonwealth proved instrumental in impressing +loyalty and piety upon Jewish family life. + +4. As it was bound up with the life of the Jewish people, Judaism remained +forever in close touch with the world. Therefore it appreciated adequately +the boons of life, and escaped being reduced to the shadowy form of +“otherworldliness.”(21) It is a religion of _life_, which it wishes to +sanctify by duty rather than by laying stress on the hereafter. It looks +to the _deed_ and the purity of the _motive_, not to the empty creed and +the blind belief. Nor is it a religion of _redemption_, contemning this +earthly life; for Judaism repudiates the assumption of a radical power of +evil in man or in the world. Faith in the ultimate triumph of the good is +essential to it. In fact, this perfect confidence in the final victory of +truth and justice over all the powers of falsehood and wrong lent it both +its wondrous intellectual force and its high idealism, and adorned its +adherents with the martyr’s crown of thorns, such as no other human brow +has ever borne. + +5. _Christianity_ and _Islam_, notwithstanding their alienation from +Judaism and frequent hostility, are still daughter-religions. In so far as +they have sown the seeds of Jewish truth over all the globe and have done +their share in upbuilding the Kingdom of God on earth, they must be +recognized as divinely appointed emissaries and agencies. Still Judaism +sets forth its doctrine of God’s unity and of life’s holiness in a far +superior form than does Christianity. It neither permits the deity to be +degraded into the sphere of the sensual and human, nor does it base its +morality upon a love bereft of the vital principle of justice. Against the +rigid monotheism of Islam, which demands blind submission to the stern +decrees of inexorable fate, Judaism on the other hand urges its belief in +God’s paternal love and mercy, which educates all the children of men, +through trial and suffering, for their high destiny. + +6. Judaism denies most emphatically the right of Christianity or any other +religion to arrogate to itself the title of “the absolute religion” or to +claim to be “the finest blossom and the ripest fruit of religious +development.” As if any mortal man at any time or under any condition +could say without presumption: “I am the Truth” or “No one cometh unto the +Father but by me.”(22) “When man was to proceed from the hands of his +Maker,” says the Midrash, “the Holy One, Blessed be His name, cast truth +down to the earth, saying, ‘Let truth spring forth from the earth, and +righteousness look down from heaven.’ ”(23) The full unfolding of the +religious and moral life of mankind is the work of countless generations +yet to come, and many divine heralds of truth and righteousness have yet +to contribute their share. In this work of untold ages, Judaism claims +that it has achieved and is still achieving its full part as the prophetic +world-religion. Its law of righteousness, which takes for its scope the +whole of human life, in its political and social relations as well as its +personal aspects, forms the foundation of its ethics for all time; while +its hope for a future realization of the Kingdom of God has actually +become the aim of human history. As a matter of fact, when the true object +of religion is the hallowing of life rather than the salvation of the +soul, there is little room left for sectarian exclusiveness, or for a +heaven for believers and a hell for unbelievers. With this broad outlook +upon life, Judaism lays claim, not to perfection, but to perfectibility; +it has supreme capacity for growing toward the highest ideals of mankind, +as beheld by the prophets in their Messianic visions. + + + + +Chapter IV. The Jewish Articles of Faith + + +1. In order to reach a clear opinion, whether or not Judaism has articles +of faith in the sense of Church dogmas, a question so much discussed since +the days of Moses Mendelssohn, it seems necessary first to ascertain what +faith in general means to the Jew.(24) Now the word used in Jewish +literature for faith is _Emunah_, from the root _Aman_, to be firm; this +denotes firm reliance upon God, and likewise firm adherence to him, hence +both _faith_ and _faithfulness_. Both Scripture and the Rabbis demanded +confiding trust in God, His messengers, and His words, not the formal +acceptance of a prescribed belief.(25) Only when contact with the +non-Jewish world emphasized the need for a clear expression of the belief +in the unity of God, such as was found in the Shema,(26) and when the +proselyte was expected to declare in some definite form the fundamentals +of the faith he espoused, was the importance of a concrete _confession_ +felt.(27) Accordingly we find the beginnings of a formulated belief in the +synagogal liturgy, in the _Emeth we __ Yatzib_(28) and the _Alenu_,(29) +while in the Haggadah Abraham is represented both as the exemplar of a +hero of faith and as the type of a missionary, wandering about to lead the +heathen world towards the pure monotheistic faith.(30) While the Jewish +concept of faith underwent a certain transformation, influenced by other +systems of belief, and the formulation of Jewish doctrines appeared +necessary, particularly in opposition to the Christian and Mohammedan +creeds, still belief never became the essential part of religion, +conditioning salvation, as in the Church founded by Paul. For, as pointed +out above, Judaism lays all stress upon conduct, not confession; upon a +hallowed life, not a hollow creed. + +2. There is no Biblical nor Rabbinical precept, “Thou shalt believe!” +Jewish thinkers felt all the more the need to point out as fundamentals or +roots of Judaism those doctrines upon which it rests, and from which it +derives its vital force. To the rabbis, the “root” of faith is the +recognition of a divine Judge to whom we owe account for all our +doings.(31) The recital of the _Shema_, which is called in the Mishnah +“accepting the yoke of God’s sovereignty,” and which is followed by the +solemn affirmation, “True and firm belief is this for us”(32) (_Emeth we +Yatzib_ or _Emeth we Emunah_), is, in fact, the earliest form of the +confession of faith.(33) In the course of time this confession of belief +in the unity of God was no longer deemed sufficient to serve as basis for +the whole structure of Judaism; so the various schools and authorities +endeavored to work out in detail a series of fundamental doctrines. + +3. The Mishnah, in Sanhedrin, X, 1, which seems to date back to the +beginnings of Pharisaism, declares the following three to have no share in +the world to come: he who denies the resurrection of the dead; he who says +that the Torah—both the written and the oral Law—is not divinely revealed; +and the Epicurean, who does not believe in the moral government of the +world.(34) We find here (in reverse order, owing to historical +conditions), the beliefs in Revelation, Retribution, and the Hereafter +singled out as the three fundamentals of Rabbinical Judaism. Rabbi +Hananel, the great North African Talmudist, about the middle of the tenth +century, seems to have been under the influence of Mohammedan and Karaite +doctrines, when he speaks of four fundamentals of the faith: God, the +prophets, the future reward and punishment, and the Messiah.(35) + +4. The doctrine of the One and Only God stands, as a matter of course, in +the foreground. Philo of Alexandria, at the end of his treatise on +Creation, singles out five principles which are bound up with it, viz.: 1, +God’s existence and His government of the world; 2, His unity; 3, the +world as His creation; 4, the harmonious plan by which it was established; +and 5, His Providence. Josephus, too, in his apology for Judaism written +against Apion,(36) emphasizes the belief in God’s all-encompassing +Providence, His incorporeality, and His self-sufficiency as the Creator of +the universe. + +The example of Islam, which had very early formulated a confession of +faith of speculative character for daily recitation,(37) influenced first +Karaite and then Rabbanite teachers to elaborate the Jewish doctrine of +One Only God into a philosophic creed. The Karaites modeled their creed +after the Mohammedan pattern, which gave them ten articles of faith; of +these the first three dwelt on: 1, creation out of nothing; 2, the +existence of God, the Creator; 3, the unity and incorporeality of God.(38) + +Abraham ben David (_Ibn Daud_) of Toledo sets forth in his “Sublime Faith” +six essentials of the Jewish faith: 1, the existence; 2, the unity; 3, the +incorporeality; 4, the omnipotence of God (to this he subjoins the +existence of angelic beings); 5, revelation and the immutability of the +Law; and 6, divine Providence.(39) Maimonides, the greatest of all +medieval thinkers, propounded thirteen articles of faith, which took the +place of a creed in the Synagogue for the following centuries, as they +were incorporated in the liturgy both in the form of a credo (_Ani +Maamin_) and in a poetic version. His first five articles were: 1, the +existence; 2, the unity; 3, the incorporeality; 4, the eternity of God; +and 5, that He alone should be the object of worship; to which we must add +his 10th, divine Providence.(40) Others, not satisfied with the purely +metaphysical form of the Maimonidean creed, accentuated the doctrines of +creation out of nothing and special Providence.(41) + +This speculative form of faith, however, has been most severely denounced +by Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865) as “Atticism”;(42) that is, the +Hellenistic or philosophic tendency to consider religion as a purely +intellectual system, instead of the great dynamic force for man’s moral +and spiritual elevation. He holds that Judaism, as the faith transmitted +to us from Abraham, our ancestor, must be considered, not as a mere +speculative mode of reasoning, but as a moral life force, manifested in +the practice of righteousness and brotherly love. Indeed, this view is +supported by modern Biblical research, which brings out as the salient +point in Biblical teaching the ethical character of the God taught by the +prophets, and shows that the essential truth of revelation is not to be +found in a metaphysical but in an ethical monotheism. At the same time, +the fact must not be overlooked that the Jewish doctrine of God’s unity +was strengthened in the contest with the dualistic and trinitarian beliefs +of other religions, and that this unity gave Jewish thought both lucidity +and sublimity, so that it has surpassed other faiths in intellectual power +and in passion for truth. The Jewish conception of God thus makes _truth_, +as well as _righteousness_ and _love_, both a moral duty for man and a +historical task comprising all humanity. + +5. The second fundamental article of the Jewish faith is divine +revelation, or, as the Mishnah expresses it, the belief that the Torah +emanates from God (_min ha shamayim_). In the Maimonidean thirteen +articles, this is divided into four: his 6th, belief in the prophets; 7, +in the prophecy of Moses as the greatest of all; 8, in the divine origin +of the Torah, both the written and the oral Law; and 9, its immutability. +The fundamental character of these, however, was contested by Hisdai +Crescas and his disciples, Simon Duran and Joseph Albo.(43) As a matter of +fact, they are based not so much upon Rabbinical teaching as upon the +prevailing views of Mohammedan theology,(44) and were undoubtedly dictated +by the desire to dispute the claims of Christianity and Islam that they +represented a higher revelation. Our modern historical view, however, +includes all human thought and belief; it therefore rejects altogether the +assumption of a supernatural origin of either the written or the oral +Torah, and insists that the subject of prophecy, revelation, and +inspiration in general be studied in the light of psychology and +ethnology, of general history and comparative religion. + +6. The third fundamental article of the Jewish faith is the belief in a +moral government of the world, which manifests itself in the reward of +good and the punishment of evil, either here or hereafter. Maimonides +divides this into two articles, which really belong together, his 10th, +God’s knowledge of all human acts and motives, and 11, reward and +punishment. The latter includes the hereafter and the last Day of +Judgment, which, of course, applies to all human beings. + +7. Closely connected with retribution is the belief in the resurrection of +the dead, which is last among the thirteen articles. This belief, which +originally among the Pharisees had a national and political character, and +was therefore connected especially with the Holy Land (as will be seen in +Chapter LIV below), received in the Rabbinical schools more and more a +universal form. Maimonides went so far as to follow the Platonic view +rather than that of the Bible or the Talmud, and thus transformed it into +a belief in the continuity of the soul after death. In this form, however, +it is actually a postulate, or corollary, of the belief in retribution. + +8. The old hope for the national resurrection of Israel took in the +Maimonidean system the form of a belief in the coming of the Messiah +(article 12), to which, in the commentary on the Mishnah, he gives the +character of a belief in the restoration of the Davidic dynasty. Joseph +Albo, with others, disputes strongly the fundamental character of this +belief; he shows the untenability of Maimonides’ position by referring to +many Talmudic passages, and at the same time he casts polemical side +glances upon the Christian Church, which is really founded on Messianism +in the special form of its Christology.(45) Jehuda ha Levi, in his +_Cuzari_, substitutes for this as a fundamental doctrine the belief in the +election of Israel for its world-mission.(46) It certainly redounds to the +credit of the leaders of the modern Reform movement that they took the +election of Israel rather than the Messiah as their cardinal doctrine, +again bringing it home to the religious consciousness of the Jew, and +placing it at the very center of their system. In this way they reclaimed +for the Messianic hope the universal character which was originally given +it by the great seer of the Exile.(47) + +9. The thirteen articles of Maimonides, in setting forth a Jewish _Credo_, +formed a vigorous opposition to the Christian and Mohammedan creeds; they +therefore met almost universal acceptance among the Jewish people, and +were given a place in the common prayerbook, in spite of their +deficiencies, as shown by Crescas and his school. Nevertheless, we must +admit that Crescas shows the deeper insight into the nature of religion +when he observes that the main fallacy of the Maimonidean system lies in +founding the Jewish faith on _speculative knowledge_, which is a matter of +the intellect, rather than _love_ which flows from the heart, and which +alone leads to piety and goodness. True love, he says, requires the belief +neither in retribution nor in immortality. Moreover, in striking contrast +to the insistence of Maimonides or the immutability of the Mosaic Law, +Crescas maintains the possibility of its continuous progress in accordance +with the intellectual and spiritual needs of the time, or, what amounts to +the same thing, the continuous perfectibility of the revealed Law +itself.(48) Thus the criticism of Crescas leads at once to a radically +different theology than that of Maimonides, and one which appeals far more +to our own religious thought. + +10. Another doctrine of Judaism, which was greatly underrated by medieval +scholars, and which has been emphasized in modern times only in contrast +to the Christian theory of original sin, is that man was created in the +image of God. Judaism holds that the soul of man came forth pure from the +hand of its Maker, endowed with freedom, unsullied by any inherent evil or +inherited sin. Thus man is, through the exercise of his own free will, +capable of attaining to an ever higher degree his mental, moral, and +spiritual powers in the course of history. This is the Biblical idea of +God’s spirit as immanent in man; all prophetic truth is based upon it; and +though it was often obscured, this theory was voiced by many of the +masters of Rabbinical lore, such as R. Akiba and others.(49) + +11. Every attempt to formulate the doctrines or articles of faith of +Judaism was made, in order to guard the Jewish faith from the intrusion of +foreign beliefs, never to impose disputed beliefs upon the Jewish +community itself. Many, indeed, challenged the fundamental character of +the thirteen articles of Maimonides. Albo reduced them to three, viz.: the +belief in God, in revelation, and retribution; others, with more +arbitrariness than judgement, singled out three, five, six, or even more +as principal doctrines;(50) while rigid conservatives, such as Isaac +Abravanel and David ben Zimra, altogether disapproved the attempt to +formulate articles of faith. The former maintained that every word in the +Torah is, in fact, a principle of faith, and the latter(51) pointed in the +same way to the 613 commandments of the Torah, spoken of by R. Simlai the +Haggadist in the third century.(52) + +The present age of historical research imposes the same necessity of +restatement or reformulation upon us. We must do as Maimonides did,—as +Jews have always done,—point out anew the really fundamental doctrines, +and discard those which have lost their holdup on the modern Jew, or which +conflict directly with his religious consciousness. If Judaism is to +retain its prominent position among the powers of thought, and to be +clearly understood by the modern world, it must again reshape its +religious truths in harmony with the dominant ideas of the age. + +Many attempts of this character have been made by modern rabbis and +teachers, most of them founded upon Albo’s three articles. Those who +penetrated somewhat more deeply into the essence of Judaism added a fourth +article, the belief in Israel’s priestly mission, and at the same time, +instead of the belief in retribution, included the doctrine of man’s +kinship with God, or, if one may coin the word, his _God-childship_.(53) +Few, however, have succeeded in working out the entire content of the +Jewish faith from a modern viewpoint, which must include historical, +critical, and psychological research, as well as the study of comparative +religion. + +12. The following tripartite plan is that of the present attempt to +present the doctrines of Judaism systematically along the lines of +historical development: + +I. GOD + +_a._ Man’s consciousness of God, and divine revelation. + +_b._ God’s spirituality, His unity, His holiness, His perfection. + +_c._ His relation to the world: Creation and Providence. + +_d._ His relation to man: His justice, His love and mercy. + +II. MAN + +_a._ Man’s God-childship; his moral freedom and yearning for God. + +_b._ Sin and repentance; prayer and worship; immortality, reward and +punishment. + +_c._ Man and humanity: the moral factors in history. + +III. ISRAEL AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD + +_a._ The priest-mission of Israel, its destiny as teacher and martyr among +the nations, and its Messianic hope. + +_b._ The Kingdom of God: the nations and religions of the world in a +divine plan of universal salvation. + +_c._ The Synagogue and its institutions. + +_d._ The ethics of Judaism and the Kingdom of God. + + + + + +PART I. GOD + + + + +A. God As He Makes Himself Known To Man + + + +Chapter V. Man’s Consciousness of God and Belief in God + + +1. Holy Writ employs two terms for religion, both of which lay stress upon +its moral and spiritual nature: _Yirath Elohim_—“fear of God”—and _Daath +Elohim_—“knowledge or consciousness of God.” Whatever the fear of God may +have meant in the lower stages of primitive religion, in the Biblical and +Rabbinical conceptions it exercises a wholesome moral effect; it stirs up +the conscience and keeps man from wrongdoing. Where fear of God is +lacking, violence and vice are rife;(54) it keeps society in order and +prompts the individual to walk in the path of duty. Hence it is called +“the beginning of wisdom.”(55) The divine revelation of Sinai accentuates +as its main purpose “to put the fear of God into the hearts of the people, +lest they sin.”(56) + +2. God-consciousness, or “knowledge of God,” signifies an inner experience +which impels man to practice the right and to shun evil, the recognition +of God as the moral power of life. “Because there is no knowledge of God,” +therefore do the people heap iniquity upon iniquity, says Hosea, and he +hopes to see the broken covenant with the Lord renewed through +faithfulness grounded on the consciousness of God.(57) Jeremiah also +insists upon “the knowledge of God” as a moral force, and, like Hosea, he +anticipates the renewal of the broken covenant when “the Lord shall write +His law upon the heart” of the people, and “they shall all know Him from +the least of them unto the greatest of them.”(58) Wherever Scripture +speaks of “knowledge of God,”(59) it always means the moral and spiritual +recognition of the Deity as life’s inmost power, determining human +conduct, and by no means refers to mere intellectual perception of the +truth of Jewish monotheism, which is to refute the diverse forms of +polytheism. This misconception of the term “knowledge of God,” as used in +the Bible, led the leading medieval thinkers of Judaism, especially the +school of Maimonides, and even down to Mendelssohn, into the error of +confusing religion and philosophy, as if both resulted from pure reason. +It is man’s moral nature rather than his intellectual capacity, that leads +him “to know God and walk in His ways.”(60) + +3. It is mainly through the _conscience_ that man becomes conscious of +God. He sees himself, a moral being, guided by motives which lend a +purpose to his acts and his omissions, and thus feels that this purpose of +his must somehow be in accord with a higher purpose, that of a Power who +directs and controls the whole of life. The more he sees purpose ruling +individuals and nations, the more will his God-consciousness grow into the +conviction that there is but One and Only God, who in awful grandeur holds +dominion over the world. This is the developmental process of religious +truth, as it is unfolded by the prophets and as it underlies the historic +framework of the Bible. In this light Jewish monotheism appears as the +ripe fruitage of religion in its universal as well as its primitive form +of God-consciousness, as the highest attainment of man in his eternal +seeking after God. Polytheism, on the other hand, with its idolatrous and +immoral practices, appeared to the prophets and lawgivers of Israel to be, +not a competing religion, but simply a falling away from God. They felt it +to be a loss or eclipse of the genuine God-consciousness. The object of +revelation, therefore, is to lead back all mankind to the God whom it had +deserted, and to restore to all men their primal consciousness of God, +with its power of moral regeneration. + +4. In the same degree as this God-consciousness grows stronger, it +crystallizes into _belief_ in God, and culminates in _love_ of God. As +stated above,(61) in Judaism belief—_Emunah_—never denotes the acceptance +of a creed. It is rather the confiding trust by which the frail mortal +finds a _firm_ hold on God amidst the uncertainties and anxieties of life, +the search for His shelter in distress, the reliance on His ever-ready +help when one’s own powers fail. The believer is like a little child who +follows confidingly the guidance of his father, and feels safe when near +his arm. In fact, the double meaning of _Emunah_, faith and faithfulness, +suggests man’s child-like faith in the paternal faithfulness of God. The +patriarch Abraham is presented in both Biblical and Rabbinical writings as +the pattern of such a faith,(62) and the Jewish people likewise are +characterized in the Talmud as “believers, sons of believers.”(63) The +Midrash extols such life-cheering faith as the power which inspires true +heroism and deeds of valor.(64) + +5. The highest triumph of God-consciousness, however, is attained in +_love_ of God such as can renounce cheerfully all the boons of life and +undergo the bitterest woe without a murmur. The book of Deuteronomy +inculcates love of God as the beginning and the end of the Law,(65) and +the rabbis declare it to be the highest type of human perfection. In +commenting upon the verse, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy +heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” they say: “Love the +Law, even when thy life is demanded as its price, nay, even with the last +breath of thy body, with a heart that has no room for dissent, amid every +visitation of destiny!”(66) They point to the tragic martyrdom of R. Akiba +as an example of such a love sealed by death. In like manner they refer +the expression, “they that love Thee,”(67) to those who bear insults +without resentment; who hear themselves abused without retort; who do good +unselfishly, without caring for recognition; and who cheerfully suffer as +a test of their fortitude and their love of God.(68) Thus throughout all +Rabbinical literature love of God is regarded as the highest principle of +religion and as the ideal of human perfection, which was exemplified by +Job, according to the oldest Haggadah, and, according to the Mishnah, by +Abraham.(69) Another interpretation of the verse cited from Deuteronomy +reads, “Love God in such a manner that thy fellow-creatures may love Him +owing to thy deeds.”(70) + +All these passages and many others(71) show what a prominent place the +principle of love occupied in Judaism. This is, indeed, best voiced in the +Song of Songs:(72) “For love is strong as death; the flashes thereof are +flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench that +love, neither can the floods drown it.” It set the heart of the Jew aglow +during all the centuries, prompting him to sacrifice his life and all that +was dear to him for the glorification of his God, to undergo for his faith +a martyrdom without parallel in history. + + + +Chapter VI. Revelation, Prophecy, and Inspiration + + +1. Divine revelation signifies two different things: first, God’s +self-revelation, which the Rabbis called _Gilluy Shekinah_, “the +manifestation of the divine Presence,” and, second, the revelation of His +will, for which they used the term _Torah min ha Shamayim_, “the Law as +emanating from God.”(73) The former appealed to the child-like belief of +the Biblical age, which took no offense at anthropomorphic ideas, such as +the descent of God from heaven to earth, His appearing to men in some +visible form, or any other miracle; the latter appears to be more +acceptable to those of more advanced religious views. Both conceptions, +however, imply that the religious truth of revelation was communicated to +man by a special act of God. + +2. Each creative act is a mystery beyond the reach of human observation. +In all fields of endeavor the flashing forth of genius impresses us as the +work of a mysterious force, which acts upon an elect individual or nation +and brings it into close touch with the divine. In the religious genius +especially is this true; for in him all the spiritual forces of the age +seem to be energized and set into motion, then to burst forth into a new +religious consciousness, which is to revolutionize religious thought and +feeling. In a child-like age when the emotional life and the imagination +predominate, and man’s mind, still receptive, is overwhelmed by mighty +visions, the Deity stirs the soul in some form perceptible to the senses. +Thus the “seer” assumes a trance-like state where the Ego, the +self-conscious personality, is pushed into the background; he becomes a +passive instrument, the mouthpiece of the Deity; from Him he receives a +message to the people, and in his vision he beholds God who sends him. +This appearance of God upon the background of the soul, which reflects Him +like a mirror, is Revelation.(74) + +3. The states of the soul when men see such visions of the Deity +predominate in the beginnings of all religions. Accordingly, Scripture +ascribes such revelations to non-Israelites as well as to the patriarchs +and prophets of Israel,—to Abimelek and Laban, Balaam, Job, and +Eliphaz.(75) Therefore the Jewish prophet is not distinguished from the +rest by the capability to receive divine revelation, but rather by the +intrinsic nature of the revelation which he receives. His vision comes +from a moral God. The Jewish genius perceived God as the moral power of +life, whether in the form expressed by Abraham, Moses, Elijah, or by the +literary prophets, and all of these, coming into touch with Him, were +lifted into a higher sphere, where they received a new truth, hitherto +hidden from man. In speaking through them, God appeared actually to have +stepped into the sphere of human life as its moral Ruler. This +self-revelation of God as the Ruler of man in righteousness, which must be +viewed in the life of any prophet as a providential act, forms the great +historical sequence in the history of Israel, upon which rests the Jewish +religion.(76) + +4. The divine revelation in Israel was by no means a single act, but a +process of development, and its various stages correspond to the degrees +of culture of the people. For this reason the great prophets also depended +largely upon dreams and visions, at least in their consecration to the +prophetic mission, when one solemn act was necessary. After that the +message itself and its new moral content set the soul of the prophet +astir. Not the vision or its imagery, but the new truth itself seizes him +with irresistible force, so that he is carried away by the divine power +and speaks as the mouthpiece of God, using lofty poetic diction while in a +state of ecstacy. Hence he speaks of God in the _first_ person. The +highest stage of all is that where the prophet receives the divine truth +in the form of pure thought and with complete self-consciousness. +Therefore the Scripture says of Moses and of no other, “The Lord spoke to +Moses face to face, as a man speaks to another.”(77) + +5. The story of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai is in reality the +revelation of God to the people of Israel as part of the great world-drama +of history. Accordingly, the chief emphasis is laid upon the miraculous +element, the descent of the Lord to the mountain in fire and storm, amid +thunder and lightning, while the Ten Words themselves were proclaimed by +Moses as God’s herald.(78) As a matter of fact, the first words of the +narrative state its purpose, the consecration of the Jewish people at the +outset of their history to be a nation of prophets and priests.(79) +Therefore the rabbis lay stress upon the acceptance of the Law by the +people in saying: “All that the Lord sayeth we shall do and hearken.”(80) +From a larger point of view, we see here the dramatized form of the truth +of Israel’s _election_ by divine Providence for its historic religious +mission. + +6. The rabbis ascribed the gifts of prophecy to pagans as well as +Israelites at least as late as the erection of the Tabernacle, after which +the Divine Presence dwelt there in the midst of Israel.(81) They say that +each of the Jewish prophets was endowed with a peculiar spiritual power +that corresponded with his character and his special training, the +highest, of course, being Moses, whom they called “the father of the +prophets.”(82) + +The medieval Jewish thinkers, following the lead of Mohammedan +philosophers or theologians, regard revelation quite differently, as an +_inner_ process in the mind of the prophet. According to their mystical or +rationalistic viewpoint, they describe it as the result of the divine +spirit, working upon the soul either from within or from without. These +two standpoints betray either the Platonic or the Aristotelian +influence.(83) Indeed, the rabbis themselves showed traces of +neo-Platonism when they described the ecstatic state of the prophets, or +when they spoke of the divine spirit speaking through the prophet as +through a vocal instrument, or when they made distinctions between seeing +the Deity “in a bright mirror” or “through a dark glass.”(84) + +The view most remote from the simple one of the Bible is the rationalistic +standpoint of Maimonides, who, following altogether in the footsteps of +the Arabic neo-Aristotelians, assumed that there were different degrees of +prophecy, depending upon the influence exerted upon the human intellect by +the sphere of the Highest Intelligence. He enumerates eleven such grades, +of which Moses had the highest rank, as he entered into direct +communication with the supreme intellectual sphere. Still bolder is his +explanation of the revelation on Sinai. He holds that the first two words +were understood by the people directly as logical evidences of truth, for +they enunciated the philosophical doctrines of the existence and unity of +God, whereas the other words they understood only as sounds without +meaning, so that Moses had to interpret them.(85) In contrast to this +amazing rationalism of Maimonides is the view of Jehuda ha Levi, who +asserts that the gift of prophecy became the specific privilege of the +descendants of Abraham after their consecration as God’s chosen people at +Sinai, and that the holy soil of Palestine was assigned to them as the +habitation best adapted to its exercise.(86) The other attempt of some +rationalistic thinkers of the Middle Ages to have a “sound created for the +purpose”(87) of uttering the words “I am the Lord thy God,” rather than +accepting the anthropomorphic Deity, merits no consideration whatever. + +7. It is an indisputable fact of history that the Jewish people, on +account of its peculiar religious bent, was predestined to be the people +of revelation. Its leading spirits, its prophets and psalmists, its +law-givers and inspired writers differ from the seers, singers, and sages +of other nations by their unique and profound insight into the moral +nature of the Deity. In striking contrast is the progress of thought in +Greece, where the awakening of the ethical consciousness caused a rupture +between the culture of the philosophers and the popular religion, and led +to a final decay of the political and social life. The prophets of Israel, +however, the typical men of genius of their people, gradually brought +about an advance of popular religion, so that they could finally present +as their highest ideal the God of the fathers, and make the knowledge of +His will the foundation of the law of holiness, by which they desired to +regulate the entire conduct of man. Thus, religion was no longer confined +by the limits of nationality, but was transformed into a spiritual force +for all mankind, to lead through a revelation of the One and Holy God +toward the highest morality. + +8. The development of thought brought the God-seeking spirits to the +desire to know His will, or, in Scriptural language, His ways, in order to +attain holiness in their pursuit. The natural consequence was the gradual +receding of the power of imagination which had made the enraptured seer +behold God Himself in visions. As the Deity rose more and more above the +realm of the visible, the newly conceived truth was realized as coming to +the sacred writer through the spirit of God or an angel. _Inspiration_ +took the place of _revelation_. This, however, still implies a passive +attitude of the soul carried away by the truth it receives from on high. +This supernatural element disappears gradually and passes over into sober, +self-conscious thought, in which the writer no longer thinks of God as the +Ego speaking through him, but as an outside Power spoken of in the third +person. + +A still lower degree of inspiration is represented by those writings which +lack altogether the divine afflatus, and to which is ascribed a share of +the holy spirit only through general consensus of opinion. Often this +imprint of the divine is not found in them by the calm judgment of a later +generation, and the exact basis for the classification of such writings +among the holy books is sometimes difficult to state. We can only conclude +that in the course of time they were regarded as holy by that very spirit +which was embodied in the Synagogue and its founders, “the Men of the +Great Synagogue,” who in their work of canonizing the Sacred Scriptures +were believed to have been under the influence of the holy spirit.(88) + +9. Except for the five books of Moses, the idea of a mechanical +inspiration of the Bible is quite foreign to Judaism. Not until the second +Christian century did the rabbis finally decide on such questions as the +inspiration of certain books among the Hagiographa or even among the +Prophets, or whether certain books now excluded from the canon were not of +equal rank with the canonical ones.(89) In fact, the influence of the holy +spirit was for some time ascribed, not only to Biblical writers, but also +to living masters of the law.(90) The fact is that divine influence cannot +be measured by the yardstick or the calendar. Where it is felt, it bursts +forth as from a higher world, creating for itself its proper organs and +forms. The rabbis portray God as saying to Israel, “Not I in My higher +realm, but you with your human needs fix the form, the measure, the time, +and the mode of expression for that which is divine.”(91) + +10. While Christianity and Islam, its daughter-religions, must admit the +existence of a prior revelation, Judaism knows of none. It claims its own +prophetic truth as _the_ revelation, admits the title Books of Revelation +(Bible) only for its own sacred writings, and calls the Jewish nation +alone the People of Revelation. The Church and the Mosque achieved great +things in propagating the truths of the Sinaitic revelation among the +nations, but added to it no new truths of an essential nature. Indeed, +they rather obscured the doctrines of God’s unity and holiness. On the +other hand, the people of the Sinaitic revelation looked to it with a view +of ever revitalizing the dead letter, thus evolving ever new rules of life +and new ideas, without ever placing new and old in opposition, as was done +by the founder of the Church. Each generation was to take to heart the +words of Scripture as if they had come “this very day” out of the mouth of +the Lord.(92) + + + +Chapter VII. The Torah—the Divine Instruction + + +1. During the Babylonian Exile the prophetic word became the source of +comfort and rejuvenation for the Jewish people. Now in its place Ezra the +Scribe made the Book of the Law of Moses the pivot about which the entire +life of the people was to revolve. By regular readings from it to the +assembled worshipers, he made it the source of common instruction. Instead +of the priestly Law, which was concerned only with the regulation of the +ritual life, the Law became the people’s book of instruction, a Torah for +all alike,(93) while the prophetic books were made secondary and were +employed by the preacher at the conclusion of the service as “words of +consolation.”(94) Upon the Pentateuch was built up the divine service of +the Synagogue as well as the whole system of communal life, with both its +law and ethics. The prophets and other sacred books were looked upon only +as means of “opening up” or illustrating the contents of the Torah. These +other parts of the _Mikra_ (“the collection of books for public reading”) +were declared to be inferior in holiness, so that, according to the +Rabbinical rule, they were not even allowed to be put into the same scroll +as the Pentateuch.(95) Moreover, neither the number, order, nor the +division of the Biblical books was fixed. The Talmud gives 24, Josephus +only 22.(96) Tradition claims a completely divine origin only for the +Pentateuch or Torah, while the rabbis often point out the human element in +the other two classes of the Biblical collection.(97) + +2. The traditional belief in the divine origin of the Torah includes not +only every word, but also the accepted interpretation of each letter, for +both written and oral law are ascribed to the revelation to Moses on Mt. +Sinai, to be transmitted thence from generation to generation. Whoever +denies the divine origin of either the written or the oral law is declared +to be an unbeliever who has no share in the world to come, according to +the Tannaitic code, and consequently according to Maimonides(98) also. But +here arises a question of vital importance: What becomes of the Torah as +the divine foundation of Judaism under the study of modern times? Even +conservative investigators, such as Frankel, Graetz, and Isaac Hirsch +Weiss, not to mention such radicals as Zunz and Geiger, admit the gradual +progress and growth of this very system of law, both oral and written. And +if different historical conditions have produced the development of the +law itself, we must assume a number of human authors in place of a single +act of divine revelation.(99) + +3. But another question of equal importance confronts us here, the meaning +of Torah. Originally, no doubt, Torah signified the instruction given by +the priests on ritual or juridical matters. Out of these decisions arose +the written laws (_Toroth_), which the priesthood in the course of time +collected into codes. After a further process of development they appeared +as the various books of Moses, which were finally united into _the Code_ +or _Torah_. This Torah was the foundation of the new Judean commonwealth, +the “heritage of the congregation of Jacob.”(100) The priestly Torah, +lightly regarded during the prophetic period, was exalted by post-exilic +Judaism, so that the Sadducean priesthood and their successors, the +rabbis, considered strict observance of the legal form to be the very +essence of religion. Is this, then, the true nature of Judaism? Is it +really—as Christian theologians have held ever since the days of Paul, the +great antagonist of Judaism—mere nomism, a religion of law, which demanded +formal compliance with its statutes without regard to their inner value? +Or shall we rather follow Rabbi Simlai, the Haggadist, who first +enumerated the 613 commandments of the Torah (mandatory and prohibitive), +considering that their one aim is the higher _moral law_, in that they are +all summed up by a few ethical principles, which he finds in the 15th +Psalm, Isaiah XXXIII, 15; Micah VI, 8; Isaiah LVI, 1; and Amos V, 4?(101) + +4. All these questions have but one answer, a reconciling one, Judaism has +the two factors, the priest with his regard for the law and the prophet +with his ethical teaching; and the Jewish Torah embodies both aspects, law +and doctrine. These two elements became more and more correlated, as the +different parts of the Pentateuch which embodied them were molded together +into the one scroll of the Law. In fact, the prophet Jeremiah, in +denouncing the priesthood for its neglect of the principles of justice, +and rebuking scathingly the people for their wrongdoing, pointed to the +divine law of righteousness as the one which should be written upon the +hearts of men.(102) Likewise, in the book of Deuteronomy, which was the +product of joint activity by prophet and priest, the Law was built upon +the highest moral principle, the love of God and man. In a still larger +sense the Pentateuch as a whole contains priestly law and universal +religion intertwined. In it the eternal verities of the Jewish faith, +God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and moral government of the world, are +conveyed in the historical narratives as an introduction to the law. + +5. Thus the Torah as the expression of Judaism was never limited to a mere +system of law. At the outset it served as a book of instruction concerning +God and the world and became ever richer as a source of knowledge and +speculation, because all knowledge from other sources was brought into +relation with it through new modes of interpretation. Various systems of +philosophy and theology were built upon it. Nay more, the Torah became +divine Wisdom itself,(103) the architect of the Creator, the beginning and +end of creation.(104) + +While the term Torah thus received an increasingly comprehensive meaning, +the rabbis, as exponents of orthodox Judaism, came to consider the +Pentateuch as the only book of revelation, every letter of which emanated +directly from God. The other books of the Bible they regarded as due only +to the indwelling of the holy spirit, or to the presence of God, the +_Shekinah_. Moreover, they held that changes by the prophets and other +sacred writers were anticipated, in essentials, in the Torah itself, and +were therefore only its expansions and interpretations. Accordingly, they +are frequently quoted as parts of the Torah or as “words of +tradition.”(105) + +6. Orthodox Judaism, then, accepted as a fundamental doctrine the view +that both the Mosaic Law and its Rabbinical interpretation were given by +God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. This viewpoint is contradicted by all our +knowledge and our whole mode of thinking, and thus both our historical and +religious consciousness constrain us to take the position of the prophets. +To them and to us the real Torah is the unwritten moral law which +underlies the precepts of both the written law and its oral +interpretation. From this point of view, Moses, as the first of the +prophets, becomes the first mediator of the divine legislation, and the +original Decalogue is seen to be the starting point of a long process of +development, from which grew the laws of righteousness and holiness that +were to rule the life of Israel and of mankind.(106) + +7. The time of composition of the various parts of the Pentateuch, +including the Decalogue, must be decided by independent critical and +historical research. It is sufficient for us to know that since the time +of Ezra the foundation of Judaism has been the completed Torah, with its +twofold aspect as _law_ and as _doctrine_. As _law_ it contributed to the +marvelous endurance and resistance of the Jewish people, inasmuch as it +imbued them with the proud consciousness of possessing a law superior to +that of other nations, one which would endure as long as heaven and +earth.(107) Furthermore, it permeated Judaism with a keen sense of duty +and imprinted the ideal of holiness upon the whole of life. At the same +time it gave rise also to ritualistic piety, which, while tenaciously +clinging to the traditional practice of the law, fostered hair-splitting +casuistry and caused the petrifaction of religion in the codified Halakah. +As _doctrine_ it impressed its ethical and humane idealism upon the +people, lifting them far above the narrow confines of nationality, and +making them a nation of thinkers. Hence their eagerness for their mission +to impart the wisdom stored in their writings to all humanity as its +highest boon and the very essence of divine wisdom. + + + +Chapter VIII. God’s Covenant + + +1. Judaism has one specific term for religion, representing the moral +relation between God and man, namely, _Berith_, covenant. The covenant was +concluded by God with the patriarchs and with Israel by means of +sacrificial blood, according to the primitive custom by which tribes or +individuals became “blood brothers,” when they were both sprinkled with +the sacrificial blood or both drank of it.(108) The first covenant of God +was made after the flood, with Noah as the representative of mankind; it +was intended to assure him and all coming generations of the perpetual +maintenance of the natural order without interruption by flood, and at the +same time to demand of all mankind the observance of certain laws, such as +not to shed, or eat, blood. Here at the very beginning of history religion +is taken as the universal basis of human morality, so developing at the +outset the fundamental principle of Judaism that it rests upon a religion +of humanity, which it desires to establish in all purity. As the universal +idea of man forms thus its beginning, so Judaism will attain its final +goal only in a divine covenant comprising all humanity. Both the rabbis +and the Hellenistic writers consider the covenant of Noah with its +so-called Noahitic commandments as unwritten laws of humanity. In fact, +they are referred to Adam also, so that religion appears in its essence as +nothing else than a covenant of God with all mankind.(109) + +2. Accordingly, Judaism is a special basis of relationship between God and +Israel. Far from superseding the universal covenant with Noah, or +confining it to the Jewish people, this covenant aims to reclaim all +members of the human family for the wider covenant from which they have +relapsed. God chose for this purpose Abraham as the one who was faithful +to His moral law, and made a special covenant with him for all his +descendants, that they might foster justice and righteousness, at first +within the narrow sphere of the nation, and then in ever-widening circles +of humanity.(110) Yet the covenant with Abraham was only the precursor of +the covenant concluded with Israel through Moses on Mt. Sinai, by which +the Jewish people were consecrated to be the eternal guardians of the +divine covenant with mankind, until the time when it shall encompass all +the nations.(111) + +3. In this covenant of Sinai, referred to by the prophet Elijah, and +afterward by many others, the free moral relationship of man to God is +brought out; this forms the characteristic feature of a revealed religion +in contradistinction to natural religion. In paganism the Deity formed an +inseparable part of the nation itself; but through the covenant God became +a free moral power, appealing for allegiance to the spiritual nature of +man. This idea of the covenant suggested to the prophet Hosea the analogy +with the conjugal relation,(112) a conception of love and loyalty which +became typical of the tender relation of God to Israel through the +centuries. In days of direst woe Jeremiah and the book of Deuteronomy +invested this covenant with the character of indestructibility and +inviolability.(113) God’s covenant with Israel is everlasting like that +with the heaven and the earth; it is ever to be renewed in the hearts of +the people, but never to be replaced by a new covenant. Upon this eternal +renewal of the covenant with God rests the unique history of Judaism, its +wondrous preservation and regeneration throughout the ages. Paul’s +doctrine of a new covenant to replace the old(114) conflicts with the very +idea of the covenant, and even with the words of Jeremiah. + +4. The Israelitish nation inherited from Abraham, according to the +priestly Code, the rite of _circumcision_ as a “sign of the +covenant,”(115) but under the prophetic influence, with its loathing of +all sacrificial blood, the _Sabbath_ was placed in the foreground as “the +sign between God and Israel.”(116) In ancient Israel and in the Judean +commonwealth the Abrahamitic rite formed the initiation into the +nationality for aliens and slaves, by which they were made full-fledged +Jews. With the dispersion of the Jewish people over the globe, and the +influence of Hellenism, Judaism created a propaganda in favor of a +world-wide religion of “God-fearing” men pledged to the observance of the +Noahitic or humanitarian laws. Rabbinism in Palestine called such a one +_Ger Toshab_—sojourner, or semi-proselyte; while the full proselyte who +accepted the Abrahamitic rite was called _Ger Zedek_, or proselyte of +righteousness.(117) Not only the Hellenistic writings, but also the +Psalms, the liturgy, and the older Rabbinical literature give evidence of +such a propaganda,(118) but it may be traced back as far as +Deutero-Isaiah, during the reign of Cyrus. His outlook toward a Jewish +religion which should be at the same time a religion of all the world, is +evident when he calls Israel “a mediator of the covenant between God and +the nations,” a “light to the peoples,”—a regenerator of humanity.(119) + +5. This hope of a universal religion, which rings through the Psalms, the +Wisdom books and the Hellenistic literature, was soon destined to grow +faint. The perils of Judaism in its great struggles with the Syrian and +Roman empires made for intense nationalism, and the Jewish covenant shared +this tendency. The early Christian Church, the successor of the missionary +activity of Hellenistic Judaism, labored also at first for the Noahitic +covenant.(120) Pauline Christianity, however, with a view to tearing down +the barrier between Jew and Gentile, proclaimed a new covenant, whose +central idea is belief in the atoning power of the crucified son of +God.(121) Indeed, one medieval Rabbinical authority holds that we are to +regard Christians as semi-proselytes, as they practically observe the +Noahitic laws of humanity.(122) + +6. Progressive Judaism of our own time has the great task of +re-emphasizing Israel’s world-mission and of reclaiming for Judaism its +place as the priesthood of humanity. It is to proclaim anew the prophetic +idea of God’s covenant with humanity, whose force had been lost, owing to +inner and outer obstacles. Israel, as the people of the covenant, aims to +unite all nations and classes of men in the divine covenant. It must +outlast all other religions in its certainty that ultimately there can be +but the one religion, uniting God and man by a single bond.(123) + + + + +B. The Idea Of God In Judaism + + + +Chapter IX. God and the Gods + + +1. Judaism centers upon its sublime and simple conception of God. This +lifts it above all other religions and satisfies in unique measure the +longing for truth and inner peace amidst the futility and incessant +changes of earthly existence. This very conception of God is in striking +contrast to that of most other religions. The God of Judaism is not one +god among many, nor one of many powers of life, but is _the One_ and holy +God beyond all comparison. In Him is concentrated all power and the +essence of all things; He is the Author of all existence, the Ruler of +life, who lays down the laws by which man shall live. As the prophet says +to the heathen world: “The gods that have not made the heavens and the +earth, these shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.... +Not like these is the portion of Jacob; for He is the Former of all +things.... The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the +everlasting King; at His wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are +not able to abide His indignation.”(124) + +2. This lofty conception of the Deity forms the essence of Judaism and was +its shield and buckler in its lifelong contest with the varying forms of +heathenism. From the very first the God of Judaism declared war against +them all, whether at any special time the prevailing form was the worship +of many gods, or the worship of God in the shape of man, the perversion of +the purity of God by sensual concepts, or the division of His unity into +different parts or personalities. The Talmudic saying is most striking: +“From Sinai, the Mount of revelation of the only God, there came forth +_Sinah_, the hostility of the nations toward the Jew as the banner-bearer +of the pure idea of God.”(125) Just as day and night form a natural +contrast, divinely ordained, so do the monotheism of Israel and the +polytheism of the nations constitute a spiritual contrast which can never +be reconciled. + +3. The pagan gods, and to some extent the triune God of the Christian +Church, semi-pagan in origin also, are the outcome of the human spirit’s +going astray in its search for God. Instead of leading man upwards to an +ideal which will encompass all material and moral life and lift it to the +highest stage of holiness, paganism led to depravity and discord. The +unrelenting zeal displayed by prophet and law-giver against idolatry had +its chief cause in the immoral and inhuman practices of the pagan +nations—Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon—in the worship of their +deities.(126) The deification of the forces of nature brutalized the moral +sense of the pagan world; no vice seemed too horrible, no sacrifice too +atrocious for their cults. Baal, or Moloch, the god of heaven, demanded in +times of distress the sacrifice of a son by the father. Astarte, the +goddess of fecundity, required the “hallowing” of life’s origin, and this +was done by the most terrible of sexual orgies. Such abominations exerted +their seductive influence upon the shepherd tribes of Israel in their new +home in Canaan, and thus aroused the fiercest indignation of prophet and +law-giver, who hurled their vials of wrath against those shocking rites, +those lewd idols, and those who “whored after them.”(127) If Israel was to +be trained to be the priest people of the Only One in such an environment, +tolerance of such practices was out of the question. Thus in the Sinaitic +law God is spoken of as “the jealous God”(128) who punishes unrelentingly +every violation of His laws of purity and holiness. + +4. The same sharp contrast of Jewish ethical and spiritual monotheism +remained also when it came in contact with the Græco-Syrian and Roman +culture. Here, too, the myths and customs of the cult and the popular +religion offended by their gross sensuality the chaste spirit of the +Jewish people. Indeed, these were all the more dangerous to the purity of +social life, as they were garbed with the alluring beauty of art and +philosophy.(129) The Jew then felt all the more the imperative duty to +draw a sharp line of demarcation between Judaism with its chaste and +imageless worship and the lascivious, immoral life of paganism. + +5. This wide gulf which yawned between Israel’s One and holy God and the +divinities of the nations was not bridged over by the Christian Church +when it appeared on the stage of history and obtained world-dominion. For +Christianity in its turn succeeded by again dragging the Deity into the +world of the senses, adopting the pagan myths of the birth and death of +the gods, and sanctioning image worship. In this way it actually created a +Christian plurality of gods in place of the Græco-Roman pantheon; indeed, +it presented a divine family after the model of the Egyptian and +Babylonian religions,(130) and thus pushed the ever-living God and Father +of mankind into the background. This tendency has never been explained +away, even by the attempts of certain high-minded thinkers among the +Church fathers. Judaism, however, insists, as ever, upon the words of the +Decalogue which condemn all attempts to depict the Deity in human or +sensual form, and through all its teachings there is echoed forth the +voice of Him who spoke through the seer of the Exile: “I am the Lord, that +is My name, and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to +graven images.”(131) + +6. When Moses came to Pharaoh saying, “Thus speaketh JHVH the God of +Israel, send off My people that they may serve Me,” Pharaoh—so the Midrash +tells—took his list of deities to hand, looked it over, and said, “Behold, +here are enumerated the gods of the nations, but I cannot find thy God +among them.” To this Moses replied, “All the gods known and familiar to +thee are mortal, as thou art; they die, and their tomb is shown. The God +of Israel has nothing in common with them. He is the living, true, and +eternal God who created heaven and earth; no people can withstand His +wrath.”(132) This passage states strikingly the difference between the God +of Judaism and the gods of heathendom. The latter are but deified powers +of nature, and being parts of the world, themselves at one with nature, +they are subject to the power of time and fate. Israel’s God is enthroned +above the world as its moral and spiritual Ruler, the only Being whom we +can conceive as self-existent, as indivisible as truth itself. + +7. As long as the pagan conception prevailed, by which the world was +divided into many divine powers, there could be no conception of the idea +of a moral government of the universe, of an all-encompassing purpose of +life. Consequently the great thinkers and moralists of heathendom were +forced to deny the deities, before they could assert either the unity of +the cosmos or a design in life. On the other hand, it was precisely this +recognition of the moral nature of God, as manifested both in human life +and in the cosmic sphere, which brought the Jewish prophets and sages to +their pure monotheism, in which they will ultimately be met by the great +thinkers of all lands and ages. The unity of God brings harmony into the +intellectual and moral world; the division of the godhead into different +powers or personalities leads to discord and spiritual bondage. Such is +the lesson of history, that in polytheism, dualism, or trinitarianism one +of the powers must necessarily limit or obscure another. In this manner +the Christian Trinity led mankind in many ways to the lowering of the +supreme standard of truth, to an infringement on justice, and to +inhumanity to other creeds, and therefore Judaism could regard it only as +a compromise with heathenism. + +8. Judaism assumed, then, toward paganism an attitude of rigid exclusion +and opposition which could easily be taken for hostility. This prevailed +especially in the legal systems of the Bible and the rabbis, and was +intended primarily to guard the monotheistic belief from pagan pollution +and to keep it intact. Neither in the Deuteronomic law nor in the late +codes of Maimonides and Joseph Caro is there any toleration for idolatrous +practices, for instruments of idol-worship, or for idolaters.(133) This +attitude gave the enemies of the Jew sufficient occasion for speaking of +the Jewish God as hating the world, as if only national conceit underlay +the earnest rigor of Jewish monotheism. + +9. As a matter of fact, since the time of the prophets Judaism has had no +national God in any exclusive sense. While the Law insists upon the +exclusive worship of the one God of Israel, the narratives of the +beginnings in the Bible have a different tenor. They take the lofty +standpoint that the heathen world, while worshiping its many divinities, +had merely lost sight of the true God after whom the heart ever longs and +searches. This implies that a kernel of true piety underlies all the error +and delusion of paganism, which, rightly guided, will lead back to the God +from whom mankind had strayed. The Godhead, divided into gods—as is hinted +even in the Biblical name, _Elohim_—must again become the one God of +humanity. Thus the Jew holds that all worship foreshadows the search for +the true God, and that all humanity shall at one time acknowledge Him for +whom they have so long been searching. Surely the Psalms express, not +national narrowness, but ardent love for humanity when they hail the God +of Israel, the Maker of heaven and earth, as the world’s great King, and +tell how He will judge the nations in justice, while the gods of the +nations will be rejected as “vanities.”(134) Nor does the divine service +of the Jew bear the stamp of clannishness. For more than two thousand +years the central point in the Synagogue liturgy every morning and evening +has been the battle-cry, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is +One.” And so does the conclusion of every service, the _Alenu_, the solemn +prayer of adoration, voice the grand hope of the Jew for the future, that +the time may speedily come when “before the kingdom of Almighty all +idolatry shall vanish, and all the inhabitants of the earth perceive that +unto Him alone every knee must bend, and all flesh recognize Him alone as +God and King.”(135) + + + +Chapter X. The Name of God + + +1. Primitive men attached much importance to names, for to them the name +of a thing indicated its nature, and through the name one could obtain +mastery over the thing or person named. Accordingly, the name of God was +considered to be the manifestation of His being; by invoking it man could +obtain some of His power; and the place where that name was called became +the seat of His presence. Therefore the name must be treated with the same +reverential awe as the Deity Himself. None dare approach the Deity, nor +misuse the Name. The pious soul realized the nearness of the Deity in +hearing His name pronounced. Finally, the different names of God reflect +the different conceptions of Him which were held in various periods.(136) + +2. The Semites were not like the Aryan nations, who beheld the essence of +their gods in the phenomena of nature such as light, rain, thunder, and +lightning,—and gave them corresponding names and titles. The more intense +religious emotionalism of the Semites(137) perceived the Godhead rather as +a power working from within, and accordingly gave it such names as _El_ +(“the Mighty One”), _Eloha_ or _Pahad_ (“the Awful One”), or _Baal_ (“the +Master”). _Elohim_, the plural form of _Eloha_, denoted originally the +godhead as divided into a number of gods or godly beings, that is, +polytheism. When it was applied to God, however, it was generally +understood as a _unity_, referring to one undivided Godhead, for Scripture +regarded monotheism as original with mankind. While this view is +contradicted by the science of comparative religion, still the ideal +conception of religion, based on the universal consciousness of God, +postulates one God who is the aim of all human searching, a fact which the +term Henotheism fails to recognize.(138) + +3. For the patriarchal age, the preliminary stage in the development of +the Jewish God-idea, Scripture gives a special name for God, _El +Shaddai_—“the Almighty God.” This probably has a relation to _Shod_, +“storm” or “havoc” and “destruction,” but was interpreted as supreme Ruler +over the celestial powers.(139) The name by which God revealed Himself to +Moses and the prophets as the God of the covenant with Israel is JHVH +(Jahveh). This name is inseparably connected with the religious +development of Judaism in all its loftiness and depth. During the period +of the Second Temple this name was declared too sacred for utterance, +except by the priests in certain parts of the service, and for mysterious +use by specially initiated saints. Instead, _Adonai_—“the Lord”—was +substituted for it in the Biblical reading, a usage which has continued +for over two thousand years. The meaning of the name in pre-Mosaic times +may be inferred from the fiery storms which accompanied each theophany in +the various Scriptural passages, as well as from the root havah, which +means “throw down” and “overthrow.”(140) + +To the prophets, however, the God of Sinai, enthroned amid clouds of storm +and fire, moving before His people in war and peace, appeared rather as +the God of the Covenant, without image or form, unapproachable in His +holiness. As the original meaning of JHVH had become unintelligible, they +interpreted the name as “the ever present One,” in the sense of _Ehyeh +asher Ehyeh_, “I shall be whatever (or wherever) I am to be”; that is, “I +am ever ready to help.” Thus spoke God to Moses in revealing His name to +him at the burning bush.(141) + +4. The prophetic genius penetrated more and more into the nature of God, +recognising Him as the Power who rules in justice, mercy, and holiness. +This process brought them to identify JHVH, the God of the covenant, with +the One and only God who overlooks all the world from his heavenly +habitation, and gives it plan and purpose. At the same time, all the +prophets revert to the covenant on Sinai in order to proclaim Israel as +the herald and witness of God among the nations. In fact, the God of the +covenant proclaimed His universality at the very beginning, in the +introduction to the Decalogue: “Ye shall be Mine own peculiar possession +from among all peoples, for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me +a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”(142) In other words,—you have the +special task of mediator among the nations, all of which are under My +dominion. + +5. In the Wisdom literature and the Psalms the God of the covenant is +subordinated to the universality of JHVH as Creator and Ruler of the +world. In a number of the Psalms and in some later writings the very name +JHVH was avoided probably on account of its particularistic tinge. It was +surrounded more and more with a certain mystery. Instead, God as the +“Lord” is impressed on the consciousness and adoration of men, in all His +sublimity and in absolute unity. The “Name” continues its separate +existence only in the mystic lore. The name _Jehovah_, however, has no +place whatsoever in Judaism. It is due simply to a misreading of the vowel +signs that refer to the word _Adonai_, and has been erroneously adopted in +the Christian literature since the beginning of the sixteenth +century.(143) + +6. Perhaps the most important process of spiritualization which the idea +of God underwent in the minds of the Jewish people was made when the name +JHVH as the proper name of the God of the covenant was given up and +replaced by _Adonai_—“the Lord.” As long as the God of Israel, like other +deities, had His proper name, he was practically one of them, however +superior in moral worth. As soon as He became _the_ Lord, that is, the +only real God over all the world, a distinctive proper noun was out of +place. Henceforth the name was invested with a mysterious and magic +character. It became ineffable, at least to the people at large, and its +pronunciation sinful, except by the priests in the liturgy. In fact, the +law was interpreted so as directly to forbid this utterance.(144) Thus +JHVH is no longer the national God of Israel. The Talmud guards against +the very suspicion of a “Judaized God” by insisting that every benediction +to Him as “God the Lord” must add “King of the Universe” rather than the +formula of the Psalms, “God of Israel.”(145) + +7. The Midrash makes a significant comment on the words of the Shema: “Why +do the words, ‘the Lord is our God’ precede the words, ‘the Lord is One’? +Does not the particularism of the former conflict with the universalism of +the latter sentence? No. The former expresses the idea that the Lord is +‘our God’ just so far as His name is more intertwined with our history +than with that of any other nation, and that we have the greater +obligation as His chosen people. Wherever Scripture speaks of the God of +Israel, it does not intend to limit Him as the universal God, but to +emphasize Israel’s special duty as His priest-people.”(146) + +8. Likewise is the liturgical name “God of our fathers” far from being a +nationalistic limitation. On the contrary, the rabbis single out Abraham +as the missionary, the herald of monotheism in its march to +world-conquest. For his use of the term, “the God of heaven and the God of +the earth”(147) they offer a characteristic explanation: “Before Abraham +came, the people worshiped only the God of heaven, but Abraham by winning +them for his God brought Him down and made Him also the God of the +earth.”(148) + +9. Reverence for the Deity caused the Jew to avoid not only the utterance +of the holy Name itself, but even the common use of its substitute +_Adonai_. Therefore still other synonyms were introduced, such as “Master +of the universe,” “the Holy One, blessed be He,” “the Merciful One,” “the +Omnipotence” (_ha Geburah_),(149) “King of the kings of kings” (under +Persian influence—as the Persian ruler called himself the King of +Kings);(150) and in Hasidean circles it became customary to invoke God as +“our Father” and “our Father in heaven.”(151) The rather strange +appellations for God, “Heaven”(152) and (dwelling) “Place” (_ha Makom_) +seem to originate in certain formulas of the oath. In the latter name the +rabbis even found hints of God’s omnipresence: “As +space—_Makom_—encompasses all things, so does God encompass the world +instead of being encompassed by it.”(153) + +10. The rabbis early read a theological meaning into the two names JHVH +and _Elohim_, taking the former as the divine attribute of _mercy_ and the +latter as that of _justice_.(154) In general, however, the former name was +explained etymologically as signifying eternity, “He who is, who was, and +who shall be.” Philo shows familiarity with the two attributes of justice +and mercy, but he and other Alexandrian writers explained JHVH and _Ehyeh_ +metaphysically, and accordingly called God, “the One who is,” that is, the +Source of all existence. Both conceptions still influence Jewish exegesis +and account for the term “the Eternal” sometimes used for “the Lord.” + + + +Chapter XI. The Existence of God + + +1. For the religious consciousness, God is not to be demonstrated by +argument, but is a fact of inner and outer experience. Whatever the origin +and nature of the cosmos may be according to natural science, the soul of +man follows its natural bent, as in the days of Abraham, to look through +nature to the Maker, Ordainer, and Ruler of all things, who uses the +manifold world of nature only as His workshop, and who rules it in freedom +as its sovereign Master. The entire cosmic life points to a Supreme Being +from whom all existence must have arisen, and without whom life and +process would be impossible. Still even this mode of thought is influenced +and determined by the prevalent monotheistic conceptions. + +Far more original and potent in man is the feeling of limitation and +dependency. This brings him to bow down before a higher Power, at first in +fear and trembling, but later in holy awe and reverence. As soon as man +attains self-consciousness and his will acquires purpose, he encounters a +will stronger than his own, with which he often comes into conflict, and +before which he must frequently yield. Thus he becomes conscious of +duty—of what he ought and ought not to do. This is not, like earlier +limitations, purely physical and working from without; it is moral and +operates from within. It is the sense of duty, or, as we call it, +_conscience_, the sense of right and wrong. This awakened very early in +the race, and through it God’s voice has been perceived ever since the +days of Adam and of Cain.(155) + +2. According to Scripture, man in his natural state possesses the +certainty of God’s existence through such inner experience. Therefore the +Bible contains no command to _believe_ in God, nor any logical +demonstration of His existence. Both the Creation stories and those of the +beginnings of mankind assume as undisputed the existence of God as the +Creator and Judge of the world. Arguments appealing to reason were +resorted to only in competition with idolatry, as in Deuteronomy, +Jeremiah, and Deutero-Isaiah, and subsequently by the Haggadists in +legends such as those about Abraham. Nor does the Bible consider any who +deny the existence of God;(156) only much later, in the Talmud, do we hear +of those who “deny the fundamental principle” of the faith. The doubt +expressed in Job, Koheleth, and certain of the Psalms, concerns rather the +justice of God than His existence. True, Jeremiah and the Psalms(157) +mention some who say “There is no God,” but these are not atheists in our +sense of the word; they are the impious who deny the moral order of life +by word or deed. It is the villain (_Nabal_), not the “fool” who “says in +heart, there is no God.” Even the Talmud does not mean the real atheist +when speaking of “the denier of the fundamental principle,” but the man +who says, “There is neither a judgment nor a Judge above and beyond.”(158) +In other words, the “denier” is the same as the Epicurean (Apicoros), who +refuses to recognize the moral government of the world.(159) + +3. After the downfall of the nation and Temple, the situation changed +through the contemptuous question of the nations, “Where is your God?” +Then the necessity became evident of proving that the Ruler of nations +still held dominion over the world, and that His wondrous powers were +shown more than ever before through the fact of Israel’s preservation in +captivity. This is the substance of the addresses of the great seer of the +Exile in chapters XL to LIX of Isaiah, in which he exposes the gods of +heathendom to everlasting scorn, more than any other prophet before or +afterward. He declares these deities to be vanity and naught, but +proclaims the Holy One of Israel as the Lord of the universe. He hath +“meted out the heavens with the span,” and “weighed the mountains in +scales, and the hills in a balance.” Before Him “the nations are as a drop +of the bucket,” and “the inhabitants of the earth as grasshoppers.” “He +bringeth out the hosts of the stars by number, and calleth them all by +name,” “He hath assigned to the generations of men their lot from the +beginning, and knoweth at the beginning what will be their end.”(160) +Measured by such passages as these and such as Psalms VIII, XXIV, XXXIII, +CIV, and CXXXIX, where God is felt as a living power, all philosophical +arguments about His existence seem to be strange fires on the altar of +religion. The believer can do without them, and the unbeliever will hardly +be convinced by them. + +4. Upon the contact of the Jew with Greek philosophy doubt arose in many +minds, and belief entered into conflict with reason. But even then, the +defense of the faith was still carried on by reasoning along the lines of +common sense.(161) Thus the regularity of the sun, moon, and stars,—all +worshiped by the pagans as deities—was considered a proof of God’s +omnipotence and rule of the universe, a proof which the legend ascribes to +Abraham in his controversy with Nimrod.(162) In like manner, the +apocryphal Book of Wisdom(163) says that true wisdom, as opposed to the +folly of heathenism, is “to reason from the visible to the Invisible One, +and from the cosmos, the great work of art, to the Supreme Artificer.” + +5. Philo was the first who tried to refute the “atheistic” views of +materialists and pantheists by adducing proofs of God’s existence from +nature and the human intellect. In the former he pointed out order as +evidence of the wisdom underlying the cosmos, and in the latter the power +of self-determination as shadowing forth a universal mind which determines +the entire universe.(164) Still, with his mystical attitude, Philo +realized that the chief knowledge of God is through intuition, by the +inner experience of the soul. + +6. Two proofs taken from nature owe their origin to Greek philosophy. +Anaxagoras and Socrates, from their theory of design in nature, deduced +that there is a universal intelligence working for higher aims and +purposes. This so-called _teleological_ proof, as worked out in detail by +Plato, was the unfailing reliance of subsequent philosophers and +theologians.(165) Plato and Aristotle, moreover, from the continuous +motion of all matter, inferred a prime cause, an unmoved mover. This is +the so-called _cosmological_ proof, used by different schools in varying +forms.(166) It occupies the foremost place in the systems of the Arabic +Aristotelians, and consequently is dominant among the Jewish philosophers, +the Christian scholastics, and in the modern philosophic schools down to +Kant. It is based upon the old principle of causality, and therefore takes +the mutability and relativity of all beings in the cosmos as evidence of a +Being that is immutable, unconditioned, and absolutely necessary, causa +sui, the prime cause of all existence. + +7. The Mohammedan theologians added a new element to the discussion. In +their endeavor to prove that the world is the work of a Creator, they +pointed as evidence to the multiformity and composite structure, the +contingency and dependency of the cosmos; thus they concluded that it must +have been created, and that its Creator must necessarily be the one, +absolute, and all-determining cause. This proof is used also by Saadia and +Bahya ben Joseph.(167) Its weakness, however, was exposed by Ibn Sina and +Alfarabi among the Mohammedans, and later by Abraham ibn Daud and +Maimonides, their Jewish successors as Aristotelians. These proposed a +substitute argument. From the fact that the existence of all cosmic beings +is merely possible,—that is, they may exist and they may not exist,—these +thinkers concluded that an absolutely necessary being must exist as the +cause and condition of all things, and this absolutely unconditioned yet +all-conditioning being is God, the One who _is_.(168) Of course, the God +so deduced and inferred is a mere abstraction, incapable of satisfying the +emotional craving of the heart. + +8. While the cosmological proof proceeds from the transitory and imperfect +nature of the world, the _ontological_ proof, first proposed by Anselm of +Canterbury, the Christian scholastic of the XI century, and further +elaborated by Descartes and Mendelssohn, proceeds from the human +intellect. The mind conceives the idea of God as an absolutely perfect +being, and, as there can be no perfection without existence, the +conclusion is that this idea must necessarily be objectively true. Then, +as the idea of God is innate in man, God must necessarily exist,—and for +proof of this they point to the Scriptural verse, “The fool hath said in +his heart, there is no God,” and other similar passages. In its improved +form, this argument uses the human concept of an infinitely perfect God as +evidence, or, at least, as postulate that such a Being exists beyond the +finite world of man.(169) + +Another argument, rather naïve in character, which was favored by the +Stoics and adopted by the Church fathers, is called _de consensu gentium_, +and endeavored to prove the reality of God’s existence from the +universality of His worship. It speaks well for the sound reasoning of the +Jewish thinkers that they refused to follow the lead of the Mohammedans in +this respect, and did not avail themselves of an argument which can be +used just as easily in support of a plurality of gods.(170) + +9. All these so-called proofs were invalidated by Immanuel Kant, the great +philosopher of Königsberg, whose critical inquiry into the human intellect +showed that the entire sum of our knowledge of objects and also of the +formulation of our ideas is based upon our limited mode of apperception, +while the reality or essence, “the thing in itself,” will ever remain +beyond our ken. If this is true of physical objects, it is all the more +true of God, whom we know through our minds alone and not at all through +our five senses. Accordingly, he shows that all the metaphysical arguments +have no basis, and that we can know God’s existence only through _ethics_, +as a postulate of our moral nature. The inner consciousness of our moral +obligation, or duty, implies a moral order of life, or moral law; and +this, in turn, postulates the existence of God, the Ruler of life, who +assigns to each of us his task and his destiny.(171) + +10. It is true that God is felt and worshiped first as the supreme power +in the world, before man perceives Him as the highest ideal of morality. +Therefore man will never cease looking about him for vestiges of divinity +and for proofs of his intuitive knowledge of God. The wondrous order, +harmony, and signs of design in nature, as well as the impulse of the +reason to search for the unity of all things, corroborate this innate +belief in God. Still more do the consciousness of duty in the +individual—conscience—and the progress of history with its repeated +vindication of right and defeat of wrong proclaim to the believer +unmistakably that the God of justice reigns. But no proof, however +convincing, will ever bring back to the skeptic or unbeliever the God he +has lost, unless his pangs of anguish or the void within fill his desolate +world anew with the vivifying thought of a living God. + +11. Among all the Jewish religious philosophers the highest rank must be +accorded to Jehudah ha Levi, the author of the _Cuzari_,(172) who makes +the historical fact of the divine revelation the foundation of the Jewish +religion and the chief testimony of the existence of God. As a matter of +fact, reason alone will not lead to God, except where religious intuition +forms, so to speak, the ladder of heaven, leading to the realm of the +unknowable. Philosophy, at best, can only demonstrate the existence of a +final Cause, or of a supreme Intelligence working toward sublime purposes; +possibly also a moral government of the world, in both the physical and +the spiritual life. Religion alone, founded upon divine revelation, can +teach man to find a God, to whom he can appeal in trust in his moments of +trouble or of woe, and whose will he can see in the dictates of conscience +and the destiny of nations. Reason must serve as a _corrective_ for the +contents of revelation, scrutinizing and purifying, deepening and +spiritualizing ever anew the truths received through intuition, but it can +never be the final source of truth. + +12. The same method must apply also to modern thought and research, which +substituted historical methods for metaphysics in both the physical and +intellectual world, and which endeavors to trace the origin and growth of +both objects and ideas in accordance with fixed laws. The process of +evolution, our modern key with which to unlock the secrets of nature, +points most significantly to a Supreme Power and Energy. But this energy, +entering into the cosmic process at its outset, causing its motion and its +growth, implies also an end, and thus again we have the Supreme +Intelligence reached through a new type of teleology.(173) But all these +conceptions, however they may be in harmony with the Jewish belief in +creation and revelation, can at best supplement it, but can certainly +neither supplant nor be identified with it. + + + +Chapter XII. The Essence of God + + +1. An exquisite Oriental fable tells of a sage who had been meditating +vainly for days and weeks on the question, What is God? One day, walking +along the seashore, he saw some children busying themselves by digging +holes in the sand and pouring into them water from the sea. “What are you +doing there?” he asked them, to which they replied, “We want to empty the +sea of its water.” “Oh, you little fools,” he exclaimed with a smile, but +suddenly his smile vanished in serious thought. “Am I not as foolish as +these children?” he said to himself. “How can I with my small brain hope +to grasp the infinite nature of God?” + +All efforts of philosophy to define the essence of God are futile. “Canst +thou by searching find out God?” Zophar asks of his friend Job.(174) Both +Philo and Maimonides maintain that we can know of God only that He _is_; +we can never fathom His innermost being or know what He is. Both find this +unknowability of God expressed in the words spoken to Moses: “If I +withdraw My hand, thou shall see My back—that is, the effects of God’s +power and wisdom—but My face—the real essence of God—thou shalt not +see.”(175) + +2. Still, a divinity void of all essential qualities fails to satisfy the +religious soul. Man demands to know what God is—at least, what God is to +him. In the first word of the Decalogue God speaks through His people +Israel to the religious consciousness of all men at all times, beginning, +“I am the Lord, _thy_ God.” This word _I_ lifts God at once above all +beings and powers of the cosmos, in fact, above all other existence, for +it expresses His unique self-consciousness. This attribute above all is +possessed by no being in the world of nature, and only by man, who is the +image of his Maker. According to the Midrash, all creation was hushed when +the Lord spoke on Sinai, “_I_ am the Lord.”(176) God is not merely the +supreme Being, but also the supreme Self-consciousness. As man, in spite +of all his limitations and helplessness, still towers high above all his +fellow creatures by virtue of his free will and self-conscious action, so +God, who knows no bounds to His wisdom and power, surpasses all beings and +forces of the universe, for He rules over all as the one completely +self-conscious Mind and Will. In both the visible and invisible realms He +manifests Himself as the absolutely free Personality, moral and spiritual, +who allots to every thing its existence, form, and purpose. For this +reason Scripture calls Him “the living God and everlasting King.”(177) + +3. Judaism, accordingly, teaches us to recognize God, above all, as +revealing Himself in self-conscious activity, as determining all that +happens by His absolutely free will, and thus as showing man how to walk +as a free moral agent. In relation to the world, His work or workshop, He +is the self-conscious Master, saying “I am that which I am”; in relation +to man, who is akin to Him as a self-conscious rational and moral being, +He is the living Fountain of all that knowledge and spirituality for which +men long, and in which alone they may find contentment and bliss. + +Thus the God of Judaism, the world’s great _I Am_, forms a complete +contrast, not only to the lifeless powers of nature and destiny, which +were worshiped by the ancient pagans, but also to the God of modern +paganism, a God divested of all personality and self-consciousness, such +as He is conceived of by the new school of Christian theology, with its +pantheistic tendency. I refer to the school of Ritschl, which strives to +render the myth of the man-god philosophically intelligible by teaching +that God reaches self-consciousness only in the perfect type of man, that +is, Christ, while otherwise He is entirely immanent, one with the world. +All the more forcibly does Jewish monotheism insist upon its doctrine that +God, in His continual self-revelation, is the supermundane and +self-conscious Ruler of both nature and history. “I am the Lord, that is +My name, and My glory will I not give to another,”—so says the God of +Judaism.(178) + +4. The Jewish God-idea, of course, had to go through many stages of +development before it reached the concept of a transcendental and +spiritual god. It was necessary first that the Decalogue and the Book of +the Covenant prohibit most stringently polytheism and every form of +idolatry, and second that a strictly imageless worship impress the people +with the idea that Israel’s God was both invisible and incorporeal.(179) +Yet a wide step still intervened from that stage to the complete +recognition of God as a purely spiritual Being, lacking all qualities +perceptible to the senses, and not resembling man in either his inner or +his outer nature. Centuries of gradual ripening of thought were still +necessary for the growth of this conception. This was rendered still more +difficult by the Scriptural references to God in His actions and His +revelations, and even in His motives, after a human pattern. Israel’s +sages required centuries of effort to remove all anthropomorphic and +anthropopathic notions of God, and thus to elevate Him to the highest +realm of spirituality.(180) + +5. In this process of development two points of view demand consideration. +We must not overlook the fact that the perfectly clear distinction which +we make between the sensory and the spiritual does not appeal to the +child-like mind, which sees it rather as external. What we call +transcendent, owing to our comprehension of the immeasurable universe, was +formerly conceived only as far remote in space or time. Thus God is spoken +of in Scripture as dwelling in heaven and looking down upon the +inhabitants of the earth to judge them and to guide them.(181) According +to Deuteronomy, God spoke from heaven to the people about Mt. Sinai, while +Exodus represents Him as coming down to the mountain from His heavenly +heights to proclaim the law amid thunder and lightning.(182) The +Babylonian conception of heaven prevailed throughout the Middle Ages and +influenced both the mystic lore about the heavenly throne and the +philosophic cosmology of the Aristotelians, such as Maimonides. Yet +Scripture offers also another view, the concept of God as the One +enthroned on high, whom “the heavens and the heaven’s heavens cannot +encompass.”(183) + +The fact is that language still lacked an expression for pure spirit, and +the intellect freed itself only gradually from the restrictions of +primitive language to attain a purer conception of the divine. Thus we +attain deeper insight into the spiritual nature of God when we read the +inimitable words of the Psalmist describing His omnipresence,(184) or that +other passage: “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed +the eye, shall He not see? He that chastiseth the nations, shall He not +correct, even He that teaches man knowledge?”(185) + +The translators and interpreters of the Bible felt the need of eliminating +everything of a sensory nature from God and of avoiding anthropomorphism, +through the influence of Greek philosophy. This spiritualization of the +God idea was taken up again by the philosophers of the Spanish-Arabic +period, who combated the prevailing mysticism. Through them Jewish +monotheism emphasized its opposition to every human representation of God, +especially the God-Man of the Christian Church. + +6. On the other hand, we must bear in mind that we naturally ascribe to +God a human personality, whether we speak of Him as the Master-worker of +the universe, as the all-seeing and all-hearing Judge, or the +compassionate and merciful Father. We cannot help attributing human +qualities and emotions to Him the moment we invest Him with a moral and +spiritual nature. When we speak of His punitive justice, His unfailing +mercy, or His all-wise providence, we transfer to Him, imperceptibly, our +own righteous indignation at the sight of a wicked deed, or our own +compassion with the sufferer, or even our own mode of deliberation and +decision. Moreover, the prophets and the Torah, in order to make God plain +to the people, described Him in vivid images of human life, with anger and +jealousy as well as compassion and repentance, and also with the organs +and functions of the senses,—seeing, hearing, smelling, speaking, and +walking. + +7. The rabbis are all the more emphatic in their assertions that the Torah +merely intends to assist the simple-minded, and that unseemly expressions +concerning Deity are due to the inadequacy of language, and must not be +taken literally.(186) “It is an act of boldness allowed only to the +prophets to measure the Creator by the standard of the creature,” says the +Haggadist, and again, “God appeared to Israel, now as a heroic warrior, +now as a venerable sage imparting knowledge, and again as a kind dispenser +of bounties, but always in a manner befitting the time and circumstance, +so as to satisfy the need of the human heart.”(187) This is strikingly +illustrated in the following dialogue: “A heretic came to Rabbi Meir +asking, ‘How can you reconcile the passage which reads, “Do I not fill +heaven and earth, says the Lord,” with the one which relates that the Lord +appeared to Moses between the cherubim of the ark of the covenant?’ +Whereupon Rabbi Meir took two mirrors, one large and the other small, and +placed them before the interrogator. ‘Look into this glass,’ he said, ‘and +into that. Does not your figure seem different in one than in the other? +How much more will the majesty of God, who has neither figure nor form, be +reflected differently in the minds of men! To one it will appear according +to his narrow view of life, and to the other in accordance with his larger +mental horizon.’ ”(188) + +In like manner Rabbi Joshua ben Hanania, when asked sarcastically by the +Emperor Hadrian to show him his God, replied: “Come and look at the sun +which now shines in the full splendor of noonday! Behold, thou art +dazzled. How, then, canst thou see without bewilderment the majesty of Him +from whom emanates both sun and stars?”(189) This rejoinder, which was +familiar to the Greeks also, is excelled by the one of Rabban Gamaliel II +to a heathen who asked him “Where does the God dwell to whom you daily +pray?” “Tell me first,” he answered, “where does your soul dwell, which is +so close to thee? Thou canst not tell. How, then, can I inform thee +concerning Him who dwells in heaven, and whose throne is separated from +the earth by a journey of 3500 years?” “Then do we not do better to pray +to gods who are near at hand, and whom we can see with our eyes?” +continued the heathen, whereupon the sage struck home, “Well, you may see +your gods, but they neither see nor help you, while our God, Himself +unseen, yet sees and protects us constantly.”(190) The comparison of the +invisible soul to God, the invisible spirit of the universe, is worked out +further in the Midrash to Psalm CIII. + +8. From the foregoing it is clear that, while Judaism insists on the +Deity’s transcending all finite and sensory limitations, it never lost the +sense of the close relationship between man and his Maker. Notwithstanding +Christian theologians to the contrary, the Jewish God was never a mere +abstraction.(191) The words, “I am the Lord thy God,” betoken the intimate +relation between the redeemed and the heavenly Redeemer, and the song of +triumph at the Red Sea, “This is my God, I will extol Him,” +testifies—according to the Midrash—that even the humblest of God’s chosen +people were filled with the feeling of His nearness.(192) In the same way +the warm breath of union with God breathes through all the writings, the +prayers, and the whole history of Judaism. “For what great nation is there +that hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is, whenever we call +upon Him?” exclaims Moses in Deuteronomy, and the rabbis, commenting upon +the plural form used here, _Kerobim_, = “nigh,” remark: “God is nigh to +everyone in accordance with his special needs.”(193) + +9. Probably the rabbis were at their most profound mood in their saying, +“God’s greatness lies in His condescension, as may be learned from the +Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. To quote only Isaiah also: ‘Thus +saith the High and Lofty One, I dwell in high and holy places, with him +that is of a contrite and humble spirit.’(194) For this reason God +selected as the place of His revelation the humble Sinai and the lowly +thornbush.”(195) In fact, the absence of any mediator in Judaism +necessitates the doctrine that God—with all His transcendent majesty—is at +the same time “an ever present helper in trouble,”(196) and that His +omnipotence includes care for the greatest and the smallest beings of +creation.(197) + +10. The doctrine that God is above and beyond the universe, transcending +all created things, as well as time and space, might lead logically to the +view of the deist that He stands outside of the world, and does not work +from within. But this inference has never been made even by the boldest of +Jewish thinkers. The Psalmist said, “Who is like the Lord our God, that +hath His seat on high, that humbleth Himself to behold what is in heaven +and on earth?”(198)—words which express the deepest and the loftiest +thought of Judaism. Beside the all-encompassing Deity no other divine +power or personality can find a place. God is in all; He is over all; He +is both immanent and transcendent. His creation was not merely setting +into motion the wheels of the cosmic fabric, after which He withdrew from +the world. The Jew praises Him for every scent and sight of nature or of +human life, for the beauty of the sea and the rainbow, for every flash of +lightning that illumines the darkened clouds and every peal of thunder +that shakes the earth. On every such occasion the Jew utters praise to +“Him who daily renews the work of creation,” or “Him who in everlasting +faithfulness keepeth His covenant with mankind.” Such is the teaching of +the men of the Great Synagogue,(199) and the charge of the Jewish God idea +being a barren and abstract transcendentalism can be urged only by the +blindness of bigotry.(200) + +11. The interweaving of the ideas of God’s immanence and transcendency is +shown especially in two poems embodied in the songs of the Synagogue, Ibn +Gabirol’s “Crown of Royalty” and the “Songs of Unity” for each day of the +week, composed by Samuel ben Kalonymos, the father of Judah the Pious of +Regensburg. Here occur such sentences as these: “All is in God and God is +in all”; “Sufficient unto Himself and self-determining, He is the +ever-living and self-conscious Mind, the all-permeating, all-impelling, +and all-accomplishing Will”; “The universe is the emanation of the +plenitude of God, each part the light of His infinite light, flame of His +eternal empyrean”; “The universe is the garment, the covering of God, and +He the all-penetrating Soul.”(201) All these ideas were borrowed from +neo-Platonism, and found a conspicuous place in Ibn Gabirol’s philosophy, +later influencing the Cabbalah. + +Similarly the appellation, _Makom_, “Space,” is explained by both Philo +and the rabbis as denoting “Him who encompasses the world, but whom the +world cannot encompass.”(202) An utterance such as this, well-nigh +pantheistic in tone, leads directly to theories like those of Spinoza or +of David Nieto, the well-known London Rabbi, who was largely under +Spinozistic influence(203) and who still was in accord with Jewish +thought. Certainly, as long as Jewish monotheism conceives of God as +self-conscious Intellect and freely acting Will, it can easily accept the +principle of divine immanence. + +12. We accept, then, the fact that man, child-like, invests God with human +qualities,—a view advanced by Abraham ben David of Posquieres in +opposition to Maimonides.(204) Still, the thinkers of Judaism have ever +labored to divest the Deity of every vestige of sensuousness, of likeness +to man, in fact, of every limitation to action or to free will. Every +conception which merges God into the world or identifies Him with it and +thus makes Him subject to necessity, is incompatible with the Jewish idea +of God, which enthrones Him above the universe as its free and sovereign +Master. “Am I a God near at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? +Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the +Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth?”(205) “To whom will you liken Me, +that I should be equal?”(206) + + + +Chapter XIII. The One and Only God + + +1. From the very beginning no Jewish doctrine was so firmly proclaimed and +so heroically defended as the belief in the One and Only God. This +constitutes the essence and foundation of Judaism. However slowly the +people learned that there could be no gods beside the One God, and that +consequently all the pagan deities were but “naught and vanity,” the +Judaism of the Torah starts with the proclamation of the Only One, and +later Judaism marches through the nations and ages of history with a +never-silent protest against polytheism of every kind, against every +division of the Godhead into parts, powers, or persons. + +2. It is perfectly clear that divine pedagogy could not well have demanded +of a people immature and untrained in religion, like Israel in the +wilderness period, the immediate belief in the only one God and in none +else. Such a belief is the result of a long mental process; it is attained +only after centuries of severe struggle and crisis. Instead of this, the +Decalogue of Sinai demanded of the people that they worship only the God +of the Covenant who had delivered them from Egypt to render them His +people.(207) But, as they yielded more and more to the seductive worship +of the gods of the Canaanites and their other neighbors, the law became +more rigid in prohibiting such idolatrous practices, and the prophets +poured forth their unscathing wrath against the “stiff-necked people” and +endeavored by unceasing warnings and threats to win them for the pure +truth of monotheism.(208) + +3. The God of Sinai proclaims Himself in the Decalogue as a “jealous God,” +and not in vain. He cannot tolerate other gods beside Himself. Truth can +make no concession to untruth, nor enter into any compromise with it +without self-surrender. A pagan religion could well afford to admit +foreign gods into its pantheon without offending the ruling deities of the +land. On the contrary, their realm seemed rather to be enlarged by the +addition. It was also easy to blend the cults of deities originally +distinct and unite many divinities under a composite name, and by this +process create a system of worship which would either comprise the gods of +many lands or even merge them into one large family. This was actually the +state of the various pagan religions at the time of the decline of +antiquity. But such a procedure could never lead towards true monotheism. +It lacks the conception of an inner unity, without which its followers +could not grasp the true idea of God as the source and essence of all +life, both physical and spiritual. Only the One God of revelation made the +world really one. In Him alone heaven and earth, day and night, growth and +decay, the weal and woe of individuals and nations, appear as the work of +an all-ruling Power and Wisdom, so that all events in nature and history +are seen as parts of one all-comprising plan.(209) + +4. It is perfectly true that a wide difference of view exists between the +prohibition of polytheism and idolatry in the Decalogue and the +proclamation in Deuteronomy of the unity of God, and, still more, between +the law of the Pentateuch and the prophetic announcement of the day when +Israel’s God “shall be King of the whole earth, and His name shall be +One.”(210) Yet Judaism is based precisely upon this higher view. The very +first pages of Genesis, the opening of the Torah, as well as the exilic +portions of Isaiah which form the culmination of the prophets, and the +Psalms also, prove sufficiently that at their time monotheism was an axiom +of Judaism. In fact, heathenism had become synonymous with both +image-worship and belief in many gods beside the Only One of Israel, and +accordingly had lost all hold upon the Jewish people. The heathen gods +were given a place in the celestial economy, but only as subordinate +rulers or as the guardian angels of the nations, and always under the +dominion of God on high.(211) + +5. Later, in the contest against Græco-Egyptian paganism, the doctrine of +God’s unity was emphasized in the Alexandrian propaganda literature, of +which only a portion has been preserved for us. Here antagonism in the +most forcible form is expressed against the delusive cults of paganism, +and exclusive worship claimed for “the unseen, yet all-seeing God, the +uncreated Creator of the world.”(212) The Rabbinical Haggadah contains but +dim reminiscences of the extensive propaganda carried on previous to +Hillel, the Talmudic type of the propagandist. Moreover, this period +fostered free inquiry and philosophical discussion, and therefore the +doctrine of unity emerged more and more from simple belief to become a +matter of reason. The God of truth put to flight the gods of falsehood. +Hence many gentiles espoused the cause of Judaism, becoming “God-fearing +men.”(213) + +6. In this connection it seems necessary to point out the difference +between the God of the Greek philosophers—Xenophanes and Anaxagoras, Plato +and Aristotle—and the God of the Bible. In abandoning their own gods, the +Greek philosophers reached a deistic view of the cosmos. As their study of +science showed them plan and order everywhere, they concluded that the +universe is governed by an all-encompassing Intelligence, a divine power +entirely distinct from the capricious deities of the popular religion. +Reflection led them to a complete rupture with their religious belief. The +Biblical belief in God underwent a different process. After God had once +been conceived of, He was held up as the ideal of morality, including both +righteousness and holiness. Then this doctrine was continuously elucidated +and deepened, until a stage was reached where a harmony could be +established between the teachings of Moses and the wisdom of Plato and +Aristotle. To the noble thinkers of Hellas truth was an object of supreme +delight, the highest privilege of the sage. To the adherents of Judaism +truth became the holiest aim of life for the entire people, for which all +were taught to battle and to die, as did the Maccabean heroes and Daniel +and his associates, their prototypes. + +7. A deeper meaning was attached to the doctrine of God’s unity under +Persian rule, in contact with the religious system of Zoroaster. To the +Persians life was a continual conflict between the principles of good and +of evil, until the ultimate victory of good shall come. This dualistic +view of the world greatly excels all other heathen religious systems, +insofar as it assigns ethical purpose to the whole of life. Yet the great +seer of the Exile opposes this system in the name of the God of Judaism, +speaking to Cyrus, the king of Persia; “I am the Lord and there is none +else; beside Me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou dost not +know Me, in order that the people shall know from the rising of the sun +and from the west that there is none beside Me. I form the light and +create darkness; I make peace and also create evil, I am the Lord that +doeth these things.”(214) This declaration of pure monotheism is +incompatible with dualism in both the physical and the moral world; it +regards evil as being mere semblance without reality, an opposing force +which can be overcome and rendered a source of new strength for the +victory of the good. “Out of the mouth of the Most High cometh there not +the evil and the good?”(215) + +8. The division of the world into rival realms of good and evil powers, of +angelic and demoniacal forces, which originated in ancient Chaldea and +underlies the Zoroastrian dualism, finally took hold of Judaism also. +Still this was not carried to such an extent that Satan, the supreme ruler +of the demon world, was given a dominion equal to that of God, or +interfering with it, so as to impair thereby the principle of monotheism, +as was done by the Church later on. As a matter of fact, at the time of +nascent Christianity the leaders of the Synagogue took rigid measures +against those heretics (_Minim_) who believed in two divine powers,(216) +because they recognized the grave danger of moral degeneracy in this +Gnostic dualism. In the Church it led first to the deification of Christ +(_i.e._ the Messiah) as the vanquisher of Satan; afterwards, owing to a +compromise with heathenism, the Trinity was adopted to correspond with the +three-fold godhead,—father, mother, and son,—the place of the mother deity +being taken by the Holy Ghost, which was originally conceived as a female +power (the Syrian _Ruha_ being of the feminine gender).(217) + +9. The churchmen have attempted often enough to harmonize the dualism or +trinitarianism of Christianity with the monotheism of the Bible. Still +Judaism persists in considering such an infringement upon the belief in +Israel’s one and only God as really a compromise with heathenism. “A Jew +is he who opposes every sort of polytheism,” says the Talmud.(218) + +10. The medieval Jewish thinkers therefore made redoubled efforts to +express with utmost clearness the doctrine of God’s unity. In this effort +they received special encouragement from the example of the leaders of +Islam, whose victorious march over the globe was a triumph for the one God +of Abraham over the triune God of Christianity. A great tide of +intellectual progress arose, lending to the faith of the Mohammedans and +subsequently also to that of the Jews an impetus which lasted for +centuries. The new thought and keen research of that period had a lasting +influence upon the whole development of western culture. An alliance was +effected between religion and philosophy, particularly by the leading +Jewish minds, which proved a liberating and stimulating force in all +fields of scientific investigation. Thus the pure idea of monotheism +became the basis for modern science and the entire modern world-view.(219) + +11. The Mohammedan thinkers devoted their attention chiefly to elucidating +and spiritualizing the God idea, beginning as early as the third century +of Islamism, so to interpret the Koran as to divest God of all +anthropomorphic attributes and to stress His absolute unity, uniqueness, +and the incomparability of His oneness. Soon they became familiar with +neo-Platonic and afterward with Aristotelian modes of speculation through +the work of Syrian and Jewish translators. With the help of these they +built up a system of theology which influenced Jewish thought also, first +in Karaite and then in Rabbanite circles.(220) Thus sprang up successively +the philosophical systems of Saadia, Jehuda ha Levi, Ibn Gabirol, Bahya, +Ibn Daud, and Maimonides. The philosophical hymns and the articles of +faith, both of which found a place in the liturgy of the Synagogue, were +the work of their followers. The highest mode of adoring God seemed to be +the elaboration of the idea of His unity to its logical conclusion, which +satisfied the philosophical mind, though often remote from the +understanding of the multitude. For centuries the supreme effort of Jewish +thought was to remove Him from the possibility of comparison with any +other being, and to abolish every conception which might impair His +absolute and simple unity. This mental activity filled the dwellings of +Israel with light, even when the darkness of ignorance covered the lands +of Christendom, dispelled only here and there by rays of knowledge +emanating from Jewish quarters.(221) + +12. The proofs of the unity of God adduced by Mohammedan and Jewish +thinkers were derived from the rational order, design, and unity of the +cosmos, and from the laws of the mind itself. These aided in endowing +Judaism with a power of conviction which rendered futile the conversionist +efforts of the Church, with its arguments and its threats. Israel’s only +One proved to be the God of truth, high and holy to both the mind and the +heart. The Jewish masters of thought rendered Him the highest object of +their speculation, only to bow in awe before Him who is beyond all human +ken; the Jewish martyrs likewise cheerfully offered up their lives in His +honor; and thus all hearts echoed the battle-cry of the centuries, “Hear O +Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,” and all minds were illumined +by the radiant hope, “The Lord will be King of the earth; on that day the +Lord shall be One, and His name shall be One.” + +13. Under all conditions, however, the doctrine of unity remained free +from outward compulsion and full of intrinsic vigor and freshness. There +was still room for differences of opinion, such as whether God’s life, +power, wisdom, and unity are attributes—distinct from His being, and +qualifying it,—or whether they are inherent in His nature, comprising His +very essence. This controversy aimed to determine the conception of God, +either by Aristotelian rationalism, as represented by Maimonides, or by +the positive religious assumptions of Crescas and others. + +This is Maimonides’ statement of the unity: “God is one; that is, He is +unlike any other unit, whether made one in point of numbers or species, or +by virtue of composition, separation, and simplification. He is one in +Himself, there being no multiplicity in Him. His unity is beyond all +definition.”(222) + +Ibn Gabirol in his “Crown of Royalty” puts the same thought into poetic +form: “One art Thou; the wise wonder at the mystery of Thy unity, not +knowing what it is. One art Thou; not like the one of dimension or number, +as neither addition nor change, neither attribute nor quality affects Thy +being. Thou art God, who sustainest all beings by Thy divinity, who +holdest all creatures in Thy unity. Thou art God, and there is no +distinction between Thy unity, Thy eternity, and Thy being. All is +mystery, and however the names may differ, they all tell that Thou art but +one.”(223) + +14. Side by side with this rationalistic trend, Judaism always contained a +current of mysticism. The mystics accepted literally the anthropomorphic +pictures of the Deity in the Bible, and did not care how much they might +affect the spirituality and unity of God. The philosophic schools had +contended against the anthropomorphic views of the older mystics, and thus +had brought higher views of the Godhead to dominance; but when the +rationalistic movement had spent its force, the reaction came in the form +of the Cabbalah, the secret lore which claimed to have been “transmitted” +(according to the meaning of the word) from a hoary past. The older system +of thought had stripped the Deity of all reality and had robbed religion +of all positiveness; now, in contrast, the soul demanded a God of +revelation through faith in whom might come exaltation and solace.(224) + +Nevertheless the Maimonidean articles of faith were adopted into the +liturgy because of their emphasis on the absolute unity and indivisibility +of God, by which they constituted a vigorous protest against the Christian +dogma. Judaism ever found its strength in God the only One, and will find +Him ever anew a source of inspiration and rejuvenation. + + + +Chapter XIV. God’s Omnipotence and Omniscience + + +1. Among all the emotions which underlie our God-consciousness the +foremost is the realization of our own weakness and helplessness. This +makes us long for One mightier than ourselves, for the Almighty whose acts +are beyond comparison. The first attribute, therefore, with which we +feeble mortals invest our Deity is omnipotence. Thus the pagan ascribes +supreme power over their different realms to his various deities. Hence +the name for God among all the Semites is _El_—“the Powerful One.”(225) +Judaism claims for God absolute and unlimited power over all that is. It +declares Him to be the source and essence of all strength, the almighty +Creator and Ruler of the universe. All that exists is His creation; all +that occurs is His achievement. He is frequently called by the rabbis _ha +Geburah_, the Omnipotence.(226) + +2. The historical method of study seems to indicate that various cosmic +potencies were worshiped in primitive life either singly or collectively +under the name of _Elohim_, “divine powers,” or _Zibeoth Elohim_, “hosts +of divine powers.” With the acceptance of the idea of divine omnipotence, +these were united into a confederacy of divine forces under the dominion +of the one God, the “Lord of Hosts.” Still these powers of heaven, earth +and the deep by no means at once surrendered their identity. Most of them +became angels, “messengers” of the omnipotent God, or “spirits” roaming in +the realms where once they ruled, while a few were relegated as monsters +to the region of superstition. The heathen deities, which persisted for a +while in popular belief, were also placed with the angels as “heavenly +rulers” of their respective lands or nations about the throne of the Most +High. At all events, Israel’s God was enthroned above them all as Lord of +the universe. In fact, the Alexandrian translators and some of the rabbis +actually explained in this sense the Biblical names _El Shaddai_ and +_J.H.V.H. Zebaoth_.(227) The medieval philosophers, however, took a +backward step away from the Biblical view when, under the influence of +Neoplatonism, they represented the angels and the spirits of the stars as +intermediary forces.(228) + +3. According to the Bible, both the Creation and the order of the universe +testify to divine omnipotence. God called all things into existence by His +almighty word, unassisted by His heavenly messengers. He alone stretched +out the heavens, set bounds to the sea, and founded the earth on pillars +that it be not moved; none was with Him to partake in the work. This is +the process of creation according to the first chapter of Genesis and the +fortieth chapter of Isaiah. So He appears throughout the Scriptures as +“the Doer of wonders,” “whose arm never waxes short” to carry out His +will. “He fainteth not, neither is He weary.” His dominion extends over +the sea and the storm, over life and death, over high and low. +Intermediary forces participating in His work are never mentioned. They +are referred to only in the poetic description of creation in the book of +Job: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?... When +the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for +joy.”(229) + +Proof of God’s supreme power was found particularly in history, either in +His miraculous changing of the natural order, or in His defeat of the +mighty hostile armies which bade Him defiance.(230) Often the heathen +deities or the celestial powers are introduced as dramatic figures to +testify to the triumph of the divine omnipotence, as when the Lord is said +to “execute judgment against the gods of Egypt” or when “the stars in +their courses fought against Sisera.”(231) + +4. God’s power is limited only by His own volition. “He doeth what He +willeth.”(232) In man the will and the power for a certain act are far +apart, and often directly conflicting. Not so with God, for the very idea +of God is perfection, and His will implies necessarily the power to +accomplish the desired end. His will is determined only by such factors as +His knowledge and His moral self-restraint. + +5. Therefore the idea of God’s omnipotence must be coupled with that of +His omniscience. Both His power and His knowledge are unlike man’s in +being without limitation. When we repeat the Biblical terms of an +all-seeing, all-hearing, and all-knowing God, we mean in the first +instance that the limitation of space does not exist for Him. He beholds +the extreme parts of the earth and observes all that happens under the +heavens; nothing is hidden from His sight. He not only sees the deeds of +men, He also searches their thoughts. Looking into their hearts, He knows +the word, ere it is upon the tongue. Looking into the future, he knows +every creature, ere it enters existence. “The darkness and the light are +alike to Him.” With one glance He surveys all that is and all that +happens.(233) He is, as the rabbis express it, “the all-seeing Eye and the +all-hearing Ear.”(234) + +In like manner the distinctions of time disappear before Him. The entire +past is unrolled before His sight; His book records all that men do or +suffer, even their tears;(235) and there is no forgetfulness with Him. The +remotest future also is open before Him, for it is planned by Him, and in +it He has allotted to each being its days and its steps.(236) Yea, as He +beholds events ere they transpire, so He reveals the secrets of the future +to His chosen ones, in order to warn men of the judgments that threaten +them.(237) + +6. The idea of divine omniscience could ripen only gradually in the minds +of the people. The older and more child-like conception still remains in +the stories of the Deluge and the Tower of Babel, where God descended from +heaven to watch the doings of men, and repented of what He had done.(238) +Obviously the idea of divine omniscience took hold of the people as a +result of the admonitions of the prophets. + +7. Philosophical inquiry into the ideas of the divine omnipotence and +omniscience, however, discloses many difficulties. The Biblical assertion +that nothing is impossible to God will not stand the test as soon as we +ask seriously whether God can make the untrue true,—as making two times +two to equal five—or whether He can declare the wrong to be right. +Obviously He cannot overturn the laws of mathematical truth or of moral +truth, without at the same time losing His nature as the Source and +Essence of all truth. Nor can He abrogate the laws of nature, which are +really His own rules for His creation, without detracting from both His +omniscience and the immutability of His will. This question will be +discussed more fully in connection with miracles, in chapter XXVII. + +Together with the problem of the divine omniscience arises the difficulty +of reconciling this with our freedom of will and our moral responsibility. +Would not His foreknowledge of our actions in effect determine them? This +difficulty can only be solved by a proper conception of the freedom of the +will, and will be discussed in that connection in chapter XXXVII. + +Altogether, we must guard against applying our human type of knowledge to +God. Man, limited by space and time, obtains his knowledge of things and +events by his senses, becoming aware of them separately as they exist +either beside each other or in succession. With God all knowledge is +complete; there is no growth of knowledge from yesterday to to-day, no +knowledge of only a part instead of the whole of the world. His +omniscience and omnipotence are bound up with His omnipresence and +eternity. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My +ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are +My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”(239) + + + +Chapter XV. God’s Omnipresence and Eternity + + +1. As soon as man awakens to a higher consciousness of God, he realizes +the vast distance between his own finite being limited by space and time, +and the Infinite Being which rules everywhere and unceasingly in lofty +grandeur and unlimited power. His very sense of being hedged in by the +bounds and imperfections of a finite existence makes him long for the +infinite God, unlimited in might, and brings to him the feeling of awe +before His greatness. But this conception of God as the omnipresent and +everlasting Spirit, as distinct from any created being, is likewise the +result of many stages of growing thought. + +2. The primitive mind imagines God as dwelling in a lofty place, whence He +rules the earth beneath, descending at times to take part in the affairs +of men, to tarry among them, or to walk with them.(240) The people adhered +largely to this conception during the Biblical period, as they considered +as the original seat of the Deity, first Paradise, later on Sinai or Zion, +and finally the far-off heavens. It required prophetic vision to discern +that “the heavens and the heavens’ heavens do not encompass God’s +majesty,” expressed also in poetic imagery that “the heaven is My throne +and the earth My footstool.”(241) The classic form of this idea of the +divine omnipresence is found in the oft-quoted passage from Psalm +CXXXIX.(242) + +3. The dwelling places of God are to give way the moment His omnipresence +is understood as penetrating the universe to such an extent that nothing +escapes His glance nor lies without His dominion.(243) They are then +transformed into places where He had manifested His Name, His Glory, or +His Presence (“Countenance,” in the Hebrew). In this way certain +emanations or powers of God were formed which could be located in a +certain space without impairing the divine omnipresence. These +intermediary powers will be the theme of chapter XXXII. + +The following dialogue illustrates this stage of thought: A heretic once +said sarcastically to Gamaliel II, “Ye say that where ten persons assemble +for worship, there the divine majesty (_Shekinah_) descends upon them; how +many such majesties are there?” To which Gamaliel replied: “Does not the +one orb of day send forth a million rays upon the earth? And should not +the majesty of God, which is a million times brighter than the sun, be +reflected in every spot on earth?”(244) + +4. Nevertheless a conception of pure spirit is very difficult to attain, +even in regard to God. The thought of His omnipresence is usually +interpreted by imagining some ethereal substance which expands infinitely, +as Ibn Ezra and Saadia before him were inclined to do,(245) or by +picturing Him as a sort of all-encompassing Space, in accordance with the +rabbis.(246) The New Testament writers and the Church fathers likewise +spoke of God as Spirit, but really had in mind, for the most part, an +ethereal substance resembling light pervading cosmic space. The +often-expressed belief that man may see God after death rests upon this +conception of God as a substance perceptible to the mind.(247) + +A higher standpoint is taken by a thinker such as Ibn Gabirol, who finds +God’s omnipresence in His all-pervading will and intellect.(248) But this +type of divine omnipresence is rather divine immanence. The religious +consciousness has a quite different picture of God, a self-conscious +Personality, ever near to man, ever scanning his acts, his thoughts, and +his motives. Here philosophy and religion part company. The former must +abstain from the assumption of a divine personality; the latter cannot do +without it. The God of religion must partake of the knowledge and the +feelings of His worshiper, must know his every impulse and idea, and must +feel with him in his suffering and need. God’s omnipresence is in this +sense a postulate of religion. + +5. The second earthly and human limitation is that of time. Confined by +space and time, man casts his eyes upward toward a Being who shall be +infinite and eternal. Whatever time begets, time swallows up again. +Transitoriness is the fate of all things. Everything which enters +existence must end at last. “Also heaven and earth perish and wax old like +a garment. Only God remains forever the same, and His years have no end. +He is from everlasting to everlasting, the first and the last.” So speak +prophet and psalmist, voicing a universal thought(249); and our liturgical +poet sings: + + + “The Lord of all did reign supreme + Ere yet this world was made and formed; + When all was finished by His will, + Then was His name as King proclaimed. + + “And should these forms no more exist, + He still will rule in majesty; + He was, He is, He shall remain, + His glory never shall decrease.”(250) + + +6. But the idea of God’s eternity also presents certain difficulties to +the thinking mind. As Creator and Author of the universe, God is the First +Cause, without beginning or end, the Source of all existence; as Ruler and +Master of the world, He maintains all things through all eternity; though +heaven and earth “wax old like a garment,” He outlasts them all. Now, if +He is to manifest these powers from everlasting to everlasting, He must +ever remain the same. Consequently, we must add immutability as a +corollary of eternity, if the latter is to mean anything. It is not enough +to state that God is without beginning and without end; the essential part +of the doctrine is His transcendence above the changes and conditions of +time. We mortals cannot really entertain a conception of eternity; our +nearest approach to it is an endless succession of periods of time, a +ceaseless procession of ages and eons following each other. Endless time +is not at all the same as timelessness. Therefore eternity signifies +transcendence above all existence in time; its real meaning is +_supermundaneity_.(251) + +7. This seems the best way to avoid the difficulty which seemed almost +insuperable to the medieval thinkers, how to reconcile a Creation at a +certain time and a Creator for whom time does not exist. In the effort to +solve the difficulty, they resorted to the Platonic and Aristotelian +definition of time as the result of the motions of the heavenly bodies; +thus they declared that time was created simultaneously with the world. +This is impossible for the modern thinker, who has learned from Kant to +regard time and space, not as external realities, but as human modes of +apperception of objects. So the contrast between the transient character +of the world and the eternity of God becomes all the greater with the +increasing realization of the vast gap between the material world and the +divine spirit. + +At this point arises a still greater difficulty. The very idea of creation +at a certain time becomes untenable in view of our knowledge of the +natural process; the universe itself, it seems to us, extends over an +infinity of space and time. Indeed, the modern view of evolution in place +of creation has the grave danger of leading to pantheism, to a conception +of the cosmos which sees in God only an eternal energy (or substance) +devoid of free volition and self-conscious action.(252) We can evade the +difficulty only by assuming God’s transcendence, and this can be done in +such a way as not to exclude His immanence, or—what is the same thing—His +omnipresence. + +8. Both God’s omnipresence and His eternity are intended only to raise Him +far above the world, out of the confines of space and time, to represent +His sublime loftiness as the “Rock of Ages,” as holding worlds without +number in “His eternal arms.” “Nothing can be hidden from Him who has +reared the entire universe and is familiar with every part of it, however +remote.”(253) + + + +Chapter XVI. God’s Holiness + + +1. Judaism recognizes two distinct types of divine attributes. Those which +we have so far considered belong to the metaphysical group, which chiefly +engage the attention of the philosopher. They represent God as a +transcendental Being who is ever beyond our comprehension, because our +finite intellect can never grasp the infinite Spirit. They are not +descriptions, but rather inferences from the works of the Master of the +world to the Master himself. But there are other divine attributes which +we derive from our own moral nature, and which invest our whole life with +a higher moral character. Instead of arising from the external necessity +which governs nature in its causes and effects, these rest upon our +assumption of inner freedom, setting the aims for all that we achieve. +This moral nature is realized to some extent even by the savage, when he +trembles before his deity in pangs of conscience, or endeavors to +propitiate him by sacrifices. Still, Judaism alone fully realized the +moral nature of the Deity; this was done by investing the term “holiness” +with the idea of moral perfection, so that God became the ideal and +pattern of the loftiest morality. “Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am +holy.”(254)—This is the central and culminating idea of the Jewish +law.(255) + +2. Holiness is the essence of all moral perfection; it is purity unsullied +by any breath of evil. True holiness can be ascribed only to Divinity, +above the realm of the flesh and the senses. “There is none holy but the +Lord, for there is none beside Thee,” says Scripture.(256) Whether man +stands on a lower or higher level of culture, he has in all his plans and +aspirations some ideal of perfection to which he may never attain, but +which serves as the standard for his actions. The best of his doings falls +short of what he ought to do; in his highest efforts he realizes the +potentiality of better things. This ideal of moral perfection works as the +motive power of the will in setting for it a standard; it establishes +human freedom in place of nature’s compulsion, but such an ideal can +emanate only from the moral power ruling life, which we designate as the +divine Holiness. + +3. Scripture says of God that He “walketh in holiness,”(257) and +accordingly morality in man is spoken of as “walking in the ways of +God.”(258) “Walk before Me and be perfect!” says God to Abraham.(259) +Moses approached God with two petitions,—the one, “Show me Thy ways that I +may know Thee!” the other, “Show me, I pray Thee, Thy glory!” In response +to the latter God said, “No man can see Me and live”, but the former +petition was granted in that the Lord revealed Himself in His moral +attributes.(260) These alone can be understood and emulated by man; in +regard to the so-called metaphysical attributes God will ever remain +beyond human comprehension and emulation. + +4. In order to serve as vehicle for the expression of the highest moral +perfection, the Biblical term for holiness, _Kadosh_, had to undergo a +long process of development, obscuring its original meaning. The history +of this term gives us the deepest insight into the working of the Jewish +genius towards the full revelation of the God of holiness. At first the +word _Kadosh_(261) seems to have denoted unapproachableness in the sense +in which fire is unapproachable, that is, threatening and consuming. This +fiery nature was ascribed by primitive man to all divine beings. Hence the +angels are termed “the holy ones” in Scripture.(262) According to both +priestly practice and popular belief, the man who approached one of these +holy ones with hand or foot, or even with his gaze, was doomed to +die.(263) Out of such crude conceptions evolved the idea of God’s majesty +as unapproachable in the sense of the sublime, banishing everything +profane from its presence, and visiting with punishment every violation of +its sanctity. The old conception of the fiery appearance of the Deity +served especially as a figurative expression of the moral power of God, +which manifests itself as a “consuming fire,”(264) exterminating evil, and +making man long for the good and the true, for righteousness and love. + +5. The divine attribute of holiness has accordingly a double meaning. On +the one hand, it indicates spiritual loftiness transcending everything +sensual, which works as a purging power of indignation at evil, rebuking +injustice, impurity and falsehood, and punishing transgression until it is +removed from the sight of God. On the other hand, it denotes the +condescending mercy of God, which, having purged the soul of wrong, wins +it for the right, and which endows man with the power of perfecting +himself, and thus leads him to the gradual building up of the kingdom of +goodness and purity on earth. This ethical conception of holiness, which +emanates from the moral nature of God, revealed to the prophetic genius of +Israel, must not be confused with the old Semitic conception of priestly +or ritual holiness. Ritual holiness is purely external, and is +transferable to persons and things, to times and places, according to +their relation to the Deity. Hence the various cults applied the term +“holy” to the most abominable forms of idolatry and impure worship.(265) +The Mosaic law condemned all these as violations of the holiness of +Israel’s God, but could not help sanctioning many ordinances and rites of +priestly holiness which originated in ancient Semitic usages. Hence the +two conceptions of holiness, the priestly or external and the prophetic or +ethical, became interwoven in the Mosaic code to such an extent as to +impair the standard of ethical holiness stressed by the prophets, the +unique and lofty possession of Judaism. Hence the letter of the Law caused +a deplorable confusion of ideas, which was utilized by the detractors of +Judaism. The liberal movement of modern Judaism, in pointing to the +prophetic ideals as the true basis of the Jewish faith, is at the same +time dispelling this ancient confusion of the two conceptions of holiness. + +6. The Levitical holiness adheres outwardly to persons and things and +consists in their separation or their reservation from common use. In +striking contrast to this, the holiness which Judaism attributes to God +denotes the highest ethical purity, unattainable to flesh and blood, but +designed for our emulation. + +The contemplation of the divine holiness is to inspire man with fear of +sin and to exert a healthful influence upon his conduct. Thus God became +the hallowing power in Judaism and its institutions, truly the “Holy One +of Israel” according to the term of Isaiah and his great exilic successor, +the so-called Deutero-Isaiah.(266) Thus His holiness invested His people +with special sanctity and imposed upon it special obligations. In the +words of Ezekiel, God became the “Sanctifier of Israel.”(267) + +The rabbis penetrated deeply into the spirit of Scripture, at the same +time that they adhered strictly to its letter. While they clung +tenaciously to the ritual holiness of the priestly codes, they recognized +the ideal of holiness which is so sharply opposed in every act and thought +to the demoralizing cults of heathenism.(268) + +7. Accordingly, holiness is not the metaphysical concept which Jehuda ha +Levi considers it,(269) but the principle and source of all ethics, the +spirit of absolute morality, lending purpose and value to the whole of +life. As long as men do good or shun evil through fear of punishment or +hope for reward, whether in this life or the hereafter, so long will ideal +morality remain unattained, and man cannot claim to stand upon the ground +of divine holiness. The holy God must penetrate and control all of +life—such is the essence of Judaism. The true aim of human existence is +not salvation of the soul,—a desire which is never quite free from +selfishness,—but holiness emulating God, striving to do good for the sake +of the good without regard to recompense, and to shun evil because it is +evil, aside from all consequences.(270) + +8. The fact is that holiness is a religious term, based upon divine +revelation, not a philosophical one resting upon speculative reasoning. It +is a postulate of our moral nature that all life is governed by a holy +Will to which we must submit willingly, and which makes for the good. How +volition and compulsion are with God one and the same, how the good exists +in God without the bad, or holiness and moral purpose without unholy or +immoral elements, how God can be exactly opposite to all we know of +man,—this is a question which philosophy is unable to answer. In fact, +holiness is best defined negatively, as the “negation of all that man from +his own experience knows to be unholy.” These words of the Danish +philosopher Rauwenhoff are made still clearer by the following +observations: “The strength in the idea of holiness lies exactly in its +negative character. There is no comparison of higher or lesser degree +possible between man’s imperfections and God’s perfect goodness. Instead, +there is an absolute contrast between mankind which, even in its noblest +types, must wrestle with the power of evil, and God, in whom nothing can +be imagined which would even suggest the possibility of any moral +shortcoming or imperfection.”(271) As the prophet says, “Thou art too pure +of eyes to look complacently upon evil,”(272) and according to the +Psalmist, “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, and who shall +stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.”(273) + +9. The idea of holiness became the preëminent feature of Judaism, so that +the favorite name for God in Rabbinical literature was “the Holy One, +blessed be He,” and the acme of all ceremonial and moral laws alike was +found in “the Hallowing of His name.”(274) If the rabbis as followers of +the Priestly Code were compelled to lay great stress upon ritual holiness, +they yet beheld in it the means of moral purification. They never lost +sight of the prophetic principle that moral purity is the object of all +human life, for “the holy God is sanctified through righteousness.”(275) + + + +Chapter XVII. God’s Wrath and Punishment + + +1. Scripture speaks frequently of the anger and zeal of God and of His +avenging sword and judgment, so as to give the impression that “the Old +Testament God is a God of wrath and vengeance.” As a matter of fact, these +attributes are merely emanations of His holiness, the guide and incentive +to moral action in man. The burning fire of the divine holiness aims to +awaken the dormant seeds of morality in the human soul and to ripen them +into full growth. Whenever we to-day would speak of pangs of conscience, +of bitter remorse, Scripture uses figurative language and describes how +God’s wrath is kindled against the wrongdoing of the people, and how fire +blazes forth from His nostrils to consume them in His anger. The nearer +man stands to nature, the more tempestuous are the outbursts of his +passion, and the more violent is the reaction of his repentance. Yet this +very reaction impresses him as though wrought from outside or above by the +offended Deity. Thus the divine wrath becomes a means of moral education, +exactly as the parents’ indignation at the child’s offenses is part of his +training in morality. + +2. Thus the first manifestation of God’s holiness is His indignation at +falsehood and violence, His hatred of evil and wrongdoing. The longer men +persist in sin, the more does He manifest Himself as “the angry God,” as a +“consuming fire” which destroys evil with holy zeal.(276) The husbandman +cannot expect the good harvest until he has weeded out the tares from the +field; so God, in educating man, begins by purging the soul from all its +evil inclinations, and this zeal is all the more unsparing as the good is +finally to triumph in His eternal plan of universal salvation. We must +bear in mind that Judaism does not personify evil as a power hostile to +God, hence the whole problem is only one of purifying the human soul. +Before the sun of God’s grace and mercy is to shine, bearing life and +healing for all humanity, His wrath and punitive justice must ever burst +forth to cleanse the world of its sin. For as long as evil continues +unchecked, so long cannot the divine holiness pour forth its +all-forbearing goodness and love. + +3. On this account the first revelation of God on Sinai was as “a jealous +God, who visiteth the sins of the fathers upon the children and the +children’s children until the third and fourth generation.” So the +prophets, from Moses to Malachi, speak ever of God’s anger, which comes +with the fury of nature’s unchained forces, to terrify and overwhelm all +living beings.(277) Thus Scripture considers all the great catastrophes of +the hoary past,—flood, earthquakes, and the rain of fire and brimstone +that destroys cities—as judgments of the divine anger on sinful +generations. Wickedness in general causes His displeasure, but His wrath +is provoked especially by violations of the social order, by desecrations +of His sanctuary, or attacks on His covenant, and His anger is kindled for +the poor and helpless, when they are oppressed and deprived of their +rights.(278) + +4. Thus the divine holiness was felt more and more as a moral force, and +that which appeared in pre-prophetic times to be an elemental power of the +celestial ire became a refining flame, purging men of dross as in a +crucible. “I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger,” says the +prophet, “for I am God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee, and +I will not come in fury.”(279) So sings the Psalmist, “His anger is but +for a moment; His favor for a life-time.”(280) In the same spirit the +rabbis interpreted the verse of the Decalogue, “The sin of the fathers is +visited upon the children and children’s children only if they continue to +act as their fathers did, and are themselves haters of God.”(281) + +The fact is that Israel in Canaan had become addicted to all the vices of +idolatry, and if they were to be trained to moral purity and to loyalty to +the God of the Covenant, they must be taught fear and awe before the flame +of the divine wrath. Only after that could the prophet address himself to +the conscience of the individual, saying: + + + “Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? + Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? + He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; + He that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands + from holding of bribes, + That stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his + eyes from looking upon evil; + He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the + munitions of rocks; + His bread shall be given, his water shall be sure. + Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold a + land stretching afar.”(282) + + +Here we behold the fiery element of the divine holiness partly depicted as +a reality and partly spiritualized. The last of the prophets compares the +divine wrath to a melting furnace, which on the Day of Judgment is to +consume evildoers as stubble, while to those who fear the Lord He shall +appear as the sun of righteousness with healing on its wings.(283) + +5. The idea as expressed by the prophets, then, was that God’s anger will +visit the wicked, and particularly the ungodly nations of heathendom, and +that He shall judge all creatures in fire.(284) This was significantly +altered under Persian influence, when the Jew began to regard the world to +come as promising to the righteous greater bliss than the present one. +Then the day of divine wrath meant doom eternal for evil-doers, who were +to fall into the fiery depths of Gehenna, “their worm is never to die and +their fire never to be quenched.”(285) This became the prevailing view of +the rabbis, of the Apocalyptics and also of the New Testament and the +Church literature.(286) The Jewish propaganda in the Hellenistic +literature, however, combined the fire of Gehenna with the Stoic, or +pagan, view of a general world-conflagration, and announced a general +doomsday for the heathen world, unless they be converted to the belief in +Israel’s one and holy God, and ceased violating the fundamental (Noachian) +laws of humanity.(287) + +6. A higher view of the punitive anger of God is taken by Beruriah, the +noble wife of R. Meir,(288)—if, indeed, the wife of the saintly Abba +Helkiah did not precede her(289)—in suggesting a different reading of the +Biblical text, as to make it offer the lesson: “not the sinners shall +perish from the earth, but the sins.” From a more philosophical viewpoint +both Juda ha Levi and Maimonides hold that the anger which we ascribe to +God is only the transference of the anger which we actually feel at the +sight of evildoing. Similarly, when we speak of the consuming fire of +hell, we depict the effect which the fear of God must have on our inner +life, until the time shall come when we shun evil as ungodly and love the +good because it is both good and God-like.(290) + + + +Chapter XVIII. God’s Long-suffering and Mercy + + +1. In one of the little known apocryphal writings, the Testament of +Abraham, a beautiful story is told of the patriarch. Shortly before his +death, the archangel Michael drove him along the sky in the heavenly +chariot. Looking down upon the earth, he saw companies of thieves and +murderers, adulterers, and other evil-doers pursuing their nefarious +practices, and in righteous indignation he cried out: “Oh would to God +that fire, destruction, and death should instantly befall these +criminals!” No sooner had he spoken these words than the doom he +pronounced came upon those wicked men. But then spoke the Lord God to the +heavenly charioteer Michael: “Stop at once, lest My righteous servant +Abraham in his just indignation bring death upon all My creatures, because +they are not as righteous as he. He has not learned to restrain his +anger.”(291) Thus, indeed, the wrath kindled at the sight of wrongdoing +would consume the sinner at once, were it not for another quality in God, +called in Scripture _long-suffering_. By this He restrains His anger and +gives the sinner time to improve his ways. Though every wicked deed +provokes Him to immediate punishment, yet He shows compassion upon the +feeble mortal. “Even in wrath He remembereth compassion.”(292) “He hath no +delight in the death of the sinner, but that he shall return from his ways +and live.”(293) The divine holiness does not merely overwhelm and consume; +its essential aim is the elevation of man, the effort to endow him with a +higher life. + +2. It is perfectly true that a note of rigor and of profound earnestness +runs through the pages of Holy Writ. The prophets, law-givers, and +psalmists speak incessantly of how guilt brings doom upon the lands and +nations. As the father who is solicitous of the honor of his household +punishes unrelentingly every violation of morality within it, so the Holy +One of Israel watches zealously over His people’s loyalty to His covenant. +His glorious name, His holy majesty cannot be violated with immunity from +His dreaded wrath. There is nothing of the joyous abandon which was +predominant in the Greek nature and in the Olympian gods. The ideal of +holiness was presented by the God of Israel, and all the doings of men +appeared faulty beside it. + +But its power of molding character is shown by Judaism at this very point, +in that it does not stop at the condemnation of the sinner. It holds forth +the promise of God’s forbearance to man in his shortcomings, due to His +compassion on the weakness of flesh and blood. He waits for man, erring +and stumbling, until by striving and struggling he shall attain a higher +state of purity. This is the bright, uplifting side of the Jewish idea of +the divine holiness. In this is the innermost nature of God disclosed. In +fear and awe of Him who is enthroned on high, “before whom even the angels +are not pure,” man, conscious of his sinfulness, sinks trembling into the +dust before the Judge of the whole earth. But the grace and mercy of the +long-suffering Ruler lift him up and imbue him with courage and strength +to acquire a new life and new energy. Thus the oppressive burden of guilt +is transformed into an uplifting power through the influence of the holy +God. + +3. The predominance in God of mildness and mercy over punitive anger is +expressed most strikingly in the revelation to Moses, when he had +entreated God to let him see His ways. The people had provoked God’s anger +by their faithlessness in the worship of the golden calf, and He had +threatened to consume them, when Moses interceded in their behalf. Then +the Lord passed by him, and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, God, merciful +and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping +mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression +and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity +of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, unto +the third and unto the fourth generation.”(294) Such a passage shows +clearly the progress in the knowledge of God’s nature. For Abraham and the +traditions of the patriarchs God was the righteous Judge, punishing the +transgressors. He is represented in the same way in the Decalogue on +Sinai.(295) Was this to be the final word? Was Israel chosen by God as His +covenant people, only to encounter the full measure of His just but +relentless anger and to be consumed at once for the violation of this +covenant? Therefore Moses wrestled with his God. Filled with compassionate +love for his people, he is willing to offer his life as their ransom. And +should God himself lack this fullness of love and pity, of which even a +human being is capable? Then, as from a dark cloud, there flashed suddenly +upon him the light of a new revelation; he became aware of the higher +truth, that above the austerity of God’s avenging anger prevails the +tender forgiveness of His mercy; that beyond the consuming zeal of His +punitive justice shines the sun-like splendor of His grace and love. The +rabbis find the expression of mercy especially in the name JHVH (_i.e._ +“the One who shall ever be”) which is significantly placed here at the +head of the divine attributes. Indeed, only He who is the same from +everlasting to everlasting, and to whom to-morrow is like yesterday, can +show forbearance to erring man, because in whatsoever he has failed +yesterday he may make good to-morrow. + +4. Like Moses, the master of the prophets, so the prophet Hosea also +learned in hard spiritual struggle to know the divine attribute of mercy +and lovingkindness. His own wife had proved faithless, and had broken the +marital covenant; still his love survived, so that he granted her +forgiveness when she was forsaken, and took her back to his home. Then, in +his distress at the God-forsaken state of Israel through her +faithlessness, he asked himself: “Will God reject forever the nation which +He espoused, because it broke the covenant? Will not He also grant +forgiveness and mercy?” The divine answer came to him out of the depths of +his own compassionate soul. Upon the crown of God’s majesty which Amos had +beheld all effulgent with justice and righteousness, he placed the most +precious gem, reflecting the highest quality of God—His gracious and +all-forgiving love.(296) Whether the priority in this great truth belongs +to Hosea or Moses is a question for historical Bible research to answer, +but it is of no consequence to Jewish theology. + +5. Certainly Scripture represents God too much after human fashion, when +it ascribes to him changes of mood from anger to compassion, or speaks of +His repentance.(297) But we must bear in mind that the prophets obtained +their insight into the ways of God by this very process of transferring +their own experience to the Deity. And on the other hand, we are told that +“God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He +should repent.”(298) All these anthropomorphic pictures of God were later +avoided by the ancient Biblical translators by means of paraphrase, and by +the philosophers by means of allegory.(299) + +6. According to the Midrashic interpretation of the passage from the +Pentateuch quoted above, Moses desired to ascertain whether God ruled the +world with His justice or with His mercy, and the answer was: “Behold, I +shall let My _goodness_ pass before thee. For I owe nothing to any of My +creatures, but My actions are prompted only by My grace and good will, +through which I give them all that they possess.”(300) According to +Judaism justice and mercy are intertwined in God’s government of the +world; the former is the pillar of the cosmic structure, and the latter +the measuring line. No mortal could stand before God, were justice the +only standard; but we subsist on His mercy, which lends us the boons of +life without our meriting them. That which is not good in us now is to +become good through our effort toward the best. God’s grace underlies this +possibility. + +Accordingly, the divine holiness has two aspects, the overwhelming wrath +of His justice and the uplifting grace of His long-suffering. Without +justice there could be no fear of God, no moral earnestness; without mercy +only condemnation and perdition would remain. As the rabbis tell us, both +justice and mercy had their share in the creation of man, for in man both +good and bad appear and struggle for supremacy. All generations need the +divine grace that they may have time and opportunity for improvement.(301) + +7. Thus this conception of grace is far deeper and worthier of God than is +that of Paulinian Christianity; for grace in Paul’s sense is arbitrary in +action and dependent upon the acceptance of a creed, therefore the very +reverse of impartial justice. In Judaism divine grace is not offered as a +bait to make men believe, but as an incentive to moral improvement. The +God of holiness, who inflicts wounds upon the guilty soul by bitter +remorse, offers also healing through His compassion. Justice and mercy are +not two separate powers or persons in the Deity, as with the doctrine of +the Church; they are the two sides of the same divine power. “I am the +Lord before sin was committed, and I am the Lord after sin is +committed”—so the rabbis explain the repetition of the name JHVH in the +revelation to Moses.(302) + + + +Chapter XIX. God’s Justice + + +1. The unshakable faith of the Jewish people was ever sustained by the +consciousness that its God is a God of justice. The conviction that He +will not suffer wrong to go unpunished was read into all the stories of +the hoary past. The Babylonian form of these legends in common with all +ancient folk-lore ascribes human calamity to blind fate or to the caprice +of the gods, but the Biblical narratives assume that evil does not befall +men undeserved, and therefore always ascribe ruin or death to human +transgression. So the Jewish genius beheld in the destruction of Sodom and +Gomorrah a divine judgment upon the depraved inhabitants, and derived from +it a lesson for the household of Abraham that they should “keep the way of +the Lord to do righteousness and justice.”(303) The fundamental principle +of Judaism throughout the ages has been the teaching of the patriarch that +“the Judge of all the earth cannot act unjustly,”(304) even though the +varying events of history force the problem of justice upon the attention +of Jeremiah,(305) the Psalmists,(306) the author of the book of Job,(307) +and the Talmudical sages.(308) “Righteousness and justice are the +foundations of Thy throne”(309)—this is the sum and substance of the +religious experience of Israel. At the same time man realizes how far from +his grasp is the divine justice: “Thy righteousness is like the mighty +mountains; Thy judgments are like the great deep.”(310) + +2. The Master-builder of the moral world made justice the supporting +pillar of the entire creation. “He is The Rock, His work is perfect, for +all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just +and right is He.”(311) There can be no moral world order without a +retributive justice, which leaves no infringement of right unpunished, +just as no social order can exist without laws to protect the weak and to +enforce general respect. The God of Judaism rules over mankind as Guardian +and Vindicator of justice; no wrong escapes His scrutinizing gaze. This +fundamental doctrine invested history, of both the individual and the +nation, with a moral significance beyond that of any other religious or +ethical system. + +Whatever practice or sense of justice may exist among the rest of mankind, +it is at best a glimpse of that divine righteousness which leads us on and +becomes a mighty force compelling us, not only to avoid wrongdoing, but to +combat it with all the passion of an indignant soul and eradicate it +wherever possible. Though in our daily experience justice may be sadly +lacking, we still cling to the moral axiom that God will lead the right to +victory and will hurl iniquity into the abyss. As the sages remark in the +Midrash: “How could short-sighted and short-lived man venture to assert, +‘All His ways are just,’ were it not for the divine revelation by which +the eyes of Moses were opened, so that he could gaze into the very depths +of life?”(312) That is, the idea of divine justice is revealed, not in the +world as it is, but in the world as it should be, the ideal cosmos which +lives in the spirit. + +3. It cannot be denied that justice is recognized as a binding force even +by peoples on a low cultural plane, and the Deity is generally regarded as +the guardian of justice, exactly as in Judaism. This fact is shown by the +use of the oath in connection with judicial procedure among many nations. +Both Roman jurisprudence and Greek ethics declare justice to be the +foundation of the social life. Nevertheless the Jewish ideal of justice +cannot be identified with that of the law and the courts. The law is part +of the social system of the State, by which the relations of individuals +are determined and upheld. The maintenance of this social order, of the +_status quo_, is considered justice by the law, whatever injustice to +individuals may result. But the Jewish idea of justice is not reactionary; +it owes to the prophets its position as the dominating principle of the +world, the peculiar essence of God, and therefore the ultimate ideal of +human life. They fought for right with an insistence which vindicated its +moral significance forever, and in scathing words of indignation which +still burn in the soul they denounced oppression wherever it appeared. The +crimes of the mighty against the weak, they held, could not be atoned for +by the outward forms of piety. Right and justice are not simply matters +for the State and the social order, but belong to God, who defends the +cause of the helpless and the homeless, “who executes the judgment of the +fatherless and the widow,” “who regardeth not persons, nor taketh +bribes.”(313) Iniquity is hateful to Him; it cannot be covered up by pious +acts, nor be justified by good ends. “Justice is God’s.”(314) Thus every +violation of justice, whether from sordid self-seeking or from tender +compassion, is a violation of God’s cause; and every vindication of +justice, every strengthening of the power of right in society, is a +triumph of God. + +4. Accordingly, the highest principle of ethics in Judaism, the cardinal +point in the government of the world, is not love, but _justice_. Love has +the tendency to undermine the right and to effeminize society. Justice, on +the other hand, develops the moral capacity of every man; it aims not +merely to avoid wrong, but to promote and develop the right for the sake +of the perfect state of morality. True justice cannot remain a passive +onlooker when the right or liberty of any human being is curtailed, but +strains every effort to prevent violence and oppression. It battles for +the right, until it has triumphed over every injustice. This practical +conception of right can be traced through all Jewish literature and +doctrine; through the laws of Moses, to whom is ascribed the maxim: “Let +the right have its way, though it bore holes through the rock”,(315) +through the flaming words of the prophets;(316) through the Psalmists, who +spoke such words as these: “Thou art not a God who hath pleasure in +wickedness; evil shall not sojourn with Thee. The arrogant shall not stand +in Thy sight; Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”(317) + +Nor does justice stop with the prohibition of evil. The very arm that +strikes down the presumptuous transgressor turns to lift up the meek and +endow him with strength. Justice becomes a positive power for the right; +it becomes _Zedakah_, righteousness or true benevolence, and aims to +readjust the inequalities of life by kindness and love. It engenders that +deeper sense of justice which claims the right of the weak to protection +by the arm of the strong. + +5. Hence comes the truth of Matthew Arnold’s striking summary of Israel’s +Law and Prophets in his “Literature and Dogma,” as “The Power, not +ourselves, that maketh for righteousness.” Still, when we trace the +development of this central thought in the soul of the Jewish people, we +find that it arose from a peculiar mythological conception. The God of +Sinai had manifested Himself in the devastating elements of nature—fire, +storm, and hail; later, the prophetic genius of Israel saw Him as a moral +power who destroyed wickedness by these very phenomena in order that right +should prevail. At first the covenant-God of Israel hurls the plagues of +heaven upon the hostile Egyptians and Canaanites, the oppressors of His +people. Afterward the great prophets speak of the Day of JHVH which would +come at the end of days, when God will execute His judgment upon the +heathen nations by pouring forth all the terrors of nature upon them. The +natural forces of destruction are utilized by the Ruler of heaven as means +of moral purification. “For by fire will the Lord contend.”(318) + +In this process the sense of right became progressively refined, so that +God was made the Defender of the cause of the oppressed, and the holiest +of duties became the protection of the forsaken and unfortunate. Justice +and right were thus lifted out of the civil or forensic sphere into that +of divine holiness, and the struggle for the down-trodden became an +imperative duty. Judaism finds its strength in the oft-repeated doctrine +that the moral welfare of the world rests upon justice. “The King’s +strength is that he loveth justice,” says the Psalmist, and commenting +upon this the Midrash says, “Not might, but right forms the foundation of +the world’s peace.”(319) + +6. Social life, therefore, must be built upon the firm foundation of +justice, the full recognition of the rights of all individuals and all +classes. It can be based neither upon the formal administration of law nor +upon the elastic principle of love, which too often tolerates, or even +approves certain types of injustice. Judaism has been working through the +centuries to realize the ideal of justice to all mankind; therefore the +Jew has suffered and waited for the ultimate triumph of the God of +justice. God’s kingdom of justice is to be established, not in a world to +come, but in the world that now is, in the life of men and nations. As the +German poet has it, “Die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltgericht” (the history +of the world is the world’s tribunal of justice). + +7. The recognition of God as the righteous Ruler implies a dominion of +absolute justice which allows no wrongdoing to remain unpunished and no +meritorious act to remain unrewarded. The moral and intellectual maturity +of the people, however, must determine how they conceive retribution in +the divine judgment. Under the simple conditions of patriarchal life, when +common experience seemed to be in harmony with the demands of divine +justice, when the evil-doer seemed to meet his fate and the worthy man to +enjoy his merited prosperity, reward and punishment could well be +expressed by the Bible in terms of national prosperity and calamity. The +prophets, impressed by the political and moral decline of their era, +announced for both Israel and the other nations a day of judgment to come, +when God will manifest Himself as the righteous Ruler of the world. In +fact, those great preachers of righteousness announced for all time the +truth of a _moral government of the world_, with terror for the +malefactors and the assurance of peace and salvation for the righteous. +“He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity” +becomes a song of joyous confidence and hope on the lips of the +Psalmist.(320) This final triumph of justice does not depend, as Christian +theologians assert, on the mere outward conformity of Israel to the +law.(321) On the contrary, it offers to the innocent sufferer the hope +that “his right shall break forth as light,” while “the wicked shall be +put to silence in darkness.”(322) We must admit, indeed, that the Biblical +idea of retribution still has too much of the earthly flavor, and often +lacks true spirituality. The explanation of this lies in the desire of the +expounders of Judaism that _this_ world should be regarded as the +battle-ground between the good and the bad, that the victory of the good +is to be decided _here_, and that the idea of justice should not assume +the character of other-worldliness. + +8. It is true that neither the prophets, such as Jeremiah, nor the sages, +such as the authors of Job and Koheleth, actually solved the great enigma +which has baffled all nations and ages, the adjustment of merit and +destiny by divine righteousness. Yet even a doubter like Job does not +despair of his own sense of justice, and wrestles with his God in the +effort to obtain a deeper insight. Still the great mass of people are not +satisfied with an unfulfilled yearning and seeking. The various religions +have gradually transferred the final adjustment of merit and destiny to +the hereafter; the rewards and punishments awaiting man after death have +been depicted glaringly in colors taken from this earthly life. It is not +surprising that Judaism was influenced by this almost universal view. The +mechanical form of the principle of justice demands that “with the same +measure one metes out, it shall be meted out to him,”(323) and this could +not be found either in human justice or in human destiny. Therefore the +popular mind naturally turned to the world to come, expecting there that +just retribution which is lacking on earth. + +Only superior minds could ascend to that higher ethical conception where +compensation is no longer expected, but man seeks the good and happiness +of others and finds therein his highest satisfaction. As Ben Azzai +expresses it, “The reward of virtue is virtue, and the punishment of sin +is sin.”(324) At this point justice merges into divine holiness. + +9. The idea of divine justice exerted its uplifting force in one more way +in Judaism. The recognition of God as the righteous Judge of the +world—_Zidduk ha Din_(325)—is to bring consolation and endurance to the +afflicted, and to remove from their hearts the bitter sting of despair and +doubt. The rabbis called God “the Righteous One of the universe,”(326) as +if to indicate that God himself is meant by the Scriptural verse, “The +righteous is an everlasting foundation of the world.”(327) + +Far remote from Judaism, however, is the doctrine that God would consign +an otherwise righteous man to eternal doom, because he belongs to another +creed or another race than that of the Jew. Wherever the heathens are +spoken of as condemned at the last judgment, the presumption based upon +centuries of sad experience was that their lives were full of injustice +and wickedness. Indeed, milder teachers, whose view became the accepted +one, maintained that truly righteous men are found among the heathen, who +have therefore as much claim upon eternal salvation as the pious ones of +Israel.(328) + + + +Chapter XX. God’s Love and Compassion + + +1. As justice forms the basis of human morality, with kindness and +benevolence as milder elements to mitigate its sternness, so, according to +the Jewish view, mercy and love represent the milder side of God, but by +no means a higher attribute counteracting His justice. Love can supplement +justice, but cannot replace it. The sages say:(329) “When the Creator saw +that man could not endure, if measured by the standard of strict justice, +He joined His attribute of mercy to that of justice, and created man by +the combined principle of both.” The divine compassion with human frailty, +felt by both Moses and Hosea, manifests itself in God’s mercy. Were it not +for the weakness of the flesh, justice would have sufficed. But the divine +plan of salvation demands redeeming love which wins humanity step by step +for higher moral ends. The educational value of this love lies in the fact +that it is a gift of grace, bestowed on man by the fatherly love of God to +ward off the severity of full retribution. His pardon must conduce to a +deeper moral earnestness.(330) “For with Thee there is forgiveness that +Thou mayest be feared.”(331) R. Akiba says: “The world is judged by the +divine attribute of goodness.”(332) + +2. As a matter of course, in the Biblical view God’s mercy was realized at +first only with regard to Israel and was afterward extended gradually to +humanity at large. The generation of the flood and the inhabitants of +Sodom perished on account of their guilt, and only the righteous were +saved. This attitude holds throughout the Bible until the late book of +Jonah, with its lesson of God’s forgiveness even for the heathen city of +Nineveh after due repentance. In the later Psalms the divine attributes of +mercy are expanded and applied to all the creatures of God.(333) According +to the school of Hillel, whenever the good and evil actions of any man are +found equal in the scales of justice, God inclines the balances toward the +side of mercy.(334) Nay more, in the words of Samuel, the Babylonian +teacher, God judges the nations by the noblest types they produce.(335) + +The ruling Sadducean priesthood insisted on the rigid enforcement of the +law. The party of the pious, the _Hasidim_, however,—according to the +liturgy, the apocryphal and the rabbinical literature,—appealed to the +mercy of God in song and prayer, acknowledging their failings in humility, +and made kindness and love their special objects in life. Therefore with +their ascendancy the divine attributes of mercy and compassion were +accentuated. God himself, we are told, was heard praying: “Oh that My +attribute of mercy may prevail over My attribute of justice, so that grace +alone may be bestowed upon My children on earth.”(336) And the second word +of the Decalogue was so interpreted that God’s mercy—which is said to +extend “to the thousandth generation”—is five hundred times as powerful as +His punitive justice,—which is applied “to the third and fourth +generation.”(337) + +3. Divine mercy shows itself in the law, where compassion is enjoined on +all suffering creatures. Profound sympathy with the oppressed is echoed in +the ancient law of the poor who had to give up his garment as a pledge: +“When he crieth unto Me, I shall hear, for I am gracious.”(338) In the old +Babylonian code, might was the arbiter of right,(339) but the unique +genius of the Jew is shown in adapting this same legal material to its +impulse of compassion. The cry of the innocent sufferer, of the forsaken +and fatherless, rises up to God’s throne and secures there his right +against the oppressor. Thus in the Mosaic law and throughout Jewish +literature God calls himself “the Judge of the widow,” “the Father of the +fatherless,”(340) “a Stronghold to the needy.”(341) He calls the poor, “My +people,”(342) and, as the rabbis say, He loves the persecuted, not the +persecutors.(343) + +4. Even to dumb beasts God extends His mercy. This Jewish tenderness is an +inheritance from the shepherd life of the patriarchs, who were eager to +quench the thirst of the animals in their care before they thought of +their own comfort.(344) This sense of sympathy appears in the Biblical +precepts as to the overburdened beast,(345) the ox treading the corn,(346) +and the mother-beast or mother-bird with her young,(347) as well as the +Talmudic rule first to feed the domestic animals and then sit down to the +meal.(348) This has remained a characteristic trait of Judaism. Thus, in +connection with the verse of the Psalm, “His tender mercies are over all +His works,”(349) it is related of Rabbi Judah the Saint, the redactor of +the Mishnah, that he was afflicted with pain for thirteen years, and gave +as reason that he once struck and kicked away a calf which had run to him +moaning for protection; he was finally relieved, after he had taught his +household to have pity even on the smallest of creatures.(350) In fact, +Rabban Gamaliel, his grandfather, had taught before him: “Whosoever has +compassion on his fellow-creatures, on him God will have compassion.”(351) +The sages often interpret the phrase “To walk in the way of the Lord”—that +is, “As the Holy One, blessed be He, is merciful, so be ye also +merciful.”(352) + +5. Thus the rabbis came to regard _love_ as the innermost part of God’s +being. _God loves mankind_, is the highest stage of consciousness of God, +but this can be attained only by the closest relation of the human soul to +the Most High, after severe trials have softened and humanized the spirit. +It is not accidental that Scripture speaks often of God’s goodness, mercy, +and grace, but seldom mentions His love. Possibly the term _ahabah_ was +used at first for sensuous love and therefore was not employed for God so +often as the more spiritual _hesed_, which denotes kind and loyal +affection.(353) However, Hosea used this term for his own love for his +faithless wife, and did not hesitate to apply it also to God’s love for +His faithless people, which he terms “a love of free will.”(354) His +example is followed by Jeremiah, most tender of the prophets, who gave the +classic expression to the everlasting love of God for Israel, His beloved +son.(355) This divine love, spiritually understood, forms the chief topic +of the Deuteronomic addresses.(356) In this book God’s love appears as +that of a father for his son, who lavishes gifts upon him, but also +chastises him for his own good.(357) The mind opened more and more to +regard the trials sent by God as means of ennobling the character,(358) +and the men of the Talmudic period often speak of the afflictions of the +saints as “visitations of the divine love.”(359) + +6. The sufferings of Israel in particular were taken to be trials of the +divine love.(360) God’s love for Israel, “His first-born son,”(361) is not +partial, but from the outset aims to train him for his world mission. The +Song of Moses speaks of the love of the Father for His son “whom He found +in the wilderness”;(362) and this is requited by the bridal love of Israel +with which the people “went after God in the wilderness.”(363) It is this +love of God, according to Akiba’s interpretation of the Song of Songs, +which “all the waters could not quench,” “a love as strong as death.”(364) +This love raised up a nation of martyrs without parallel in history, +although the followers of the so-called Religion of Love fail to give it +the credit it deserves and seem to regard it as a kind of hatred for the +rest of mankind.(365) Whenever the paternal love of God is truly felt and +understood it must include all classes and all souls of men who enter into +the relation of children to God. Wherever emphasis is laid upon the +special love for Israel, it is based upon the love with which the chosen +people cling to the Torah, the word of God, upon the devotion with which +they surrender their lives in His cause.(366) + +7. Still, Judaism does not proclaim love, absolute and unrestricted, as +the divine principle of life. That is left to the Church, whose history +almost to this day records ever so many acts of lovelessness. Love is +unworthy of God, unless it is guided by justice. Love of good must be +accompanied by hate of evil, or else it lacks the educative power which +alone makes it beneficial to man. + +God’s love manifests itself in human life as an educative power. R. Akiba +says that it extends to all created in God’s image, although the knowledge +of it was vouchsafed to Israel alone.(367) This universal love of God is a +doctrine of the apocryphal literature as well. “Thou hast mercy upon all +... for Thou lovest all things that are, and hatest nothing which Thou +hast made.... But Thou sparest all, for they are Thine, O Lord, Lover of +souls,” says the Book of Wisdom;(368) and when Ezra the Seer laments the +calamity that has befallen the people, God replies, “Thinkest thou that +thou lovest My creatures more than I?”(369) + +8. Among the mystics divine love was declared to be the highest creative +principle. They referred the words of the Song of Songs,—“The midst +thereof is paved with love,”(370) to the innermost palace of heaven, where +stands the throne of God.(371) Among the philosophers Crescas considered +love the active cosmic principle rather than intellect, the principle of +Aristotle, because it is love which is the impulse for creation.(372) This +conception of divine love received a peculiarly mystic color from Juda +Abravanel, a neo-Platonist of the sixteenth century, known as Leo +Hebraeus. He says: “God’s love must needs unfold His perfection and +beauty, and reveal itself in His creatures, and love for these creatures +must again elevate an imperfect world to His own perfection. Thus is +engendered in man that yearning for love with which he endeavors to +emulate the divine perfection.”(373) Both Crescas and Leo Hebraeus thus +gave the keynote for Spinoza’s “Intellectual love” as the cosmic +principle,(374) and this has been echoed even in such works as Schiller’s +dithyrambs on “Love and Friendship” in his “Philosophic Letters.”(375) +Still this neo-Platonic view has nothing in common with the theological +conception of love. In Judaism God is conceived as a loving Father, who +purposes to lead man to happiness and salvation. In other words, the +divine love is an essentially moral attribute of God, and not a +metaphysical one. + +9. If we wish to speak of a power that permeates the cosmos and turns the +wheel of life, it is far more correct to speak of God’s creative +goodness.(376) According to Scripture, each day’s creation bears the +divine approval: “It is good.”(377) Even the evil which man experiences +serves a higher purpose, and that purpose makes for the good. Misfortune +and death, sorrow and sin, in the great economy of life are all turned +into final good. Accordingly, Judaism recognizes this divine goodness not +only in every enjoyment of nature’s gifts and the favors of fortune, but +also in sad and trying experiences, and for all of these it provides +special formulas of benediction.(378) The same divine goodness sends joy +and grief, even though shortsighted man fails to see the majestic Sun of +life which shines in unabated splendor above the clouds. Judaism was +optimistic through all its experiences just because of this implicit faith +in God’s goodness. Such faith transforms each woe into a higher welfare, +each curse into actual blessing; it leads men and nations from oppression +to ever greater freedom, from darkness to ever brighter light, and from +error to ever higher truth and righteousness. Divine love may have pity +upon human weakness, but it is divine goodness that inspires and quickens +human energy. After all, love cannot be the dominant principle of life. +Man cannot love all the time, nor can he love all the world; his sense of +justice demands that he hate wickedness and falsehood. We must apply the +same criterion to God. But, on the other hand, man can and should _do +good_ and _be good_ continually and to all men, even to the most unworthy. +Therefore God becomes the pattern and ideal of an all-encompassing +goodness, which is never exhausted and never reaches an end. + + + +Chapter XXI. God’s Truth and Faithfulness + + +1. In the Hebrew language truth and faithfulness are both derived from the +same root; _aman_, “firmness,” is the root idea of _emeth_, “truth,” and +_emunah_, “faithfulness.” Man feels insecurity and uncertainty among the +varying impressions and emotions which affect his will; therefore he turns +to the immovable Rock of life, calls on Him as the Guardian and Witness of +truth, and feels confident that He will vindicate every promise made in +His sight. He is the God by whom men swear—_Elohe amen_;(379) nay, who +swears by Himself, saying, “As true as that I live.”(380) He is the +supreme Power of life, “the God of faithfulness, in whom there is no +iniquity.”(381) The heavens testify to His faithfulness; He is the +trustworthy God, whose essence is truth.(382) + +2. Here, too, as with other attributes, the development of the idea may be +traced step by step. At first it refers to the God of the covenant with +Israel, who made a covenant with the fathers and keeps it with the +thousandth generation of their descendants. He shows His mercy to those +who love Him and keep His commandments. The idea of God’s faithfulness to +His covenant is thus extended gradually from the people to the cosmos, and +the heavens are called upon to witness to the faithfulness of God +throughout the realm of life. Thus in both the Psalms and the liturgy God +is praised as the One who is faithful in His word as in His work.(383) + +3. From this conception of faithfulness arose two other ideas which +exerted a powerful influence upon the whole spiritual and intellectual +life of the Jew. The God of faithfulness created a people of faithfulness +as His own, and Israel’s God of truth awakened in the nation a passion for +truth unrivaled by any other religious or philosophical system. Like a +silver stream running through a valley, the conviction runs through the +sacred writings and the liturgy that the promise made of yore to the +fathers will be fulfilled to the children. As each past deliverance from +distress was considered a verification of the divine faithfulness, so each +hope for the future was based upon the same attribute. “He keepeth His +faith also to those who sleep in the dust.” These words of the second of +the Eighteen Benedictions clearly indicate that even the belief in the +hereafter rested upon the same fundamental belief. + +On the other hand, the same conception formed the keynote of the idea of +the divine truthfulness. The primitive age knew nothing of the laws of +nature with which we have become familiar through modern science. But the +pious soul trusts the God of faithfulness, certain that He who has created +the heaven and the earth is true to His own word, and will not allow them +to sink back into chaos. One witness to this is the rainbow, which He has +set up in the sky as a sign of His covenant.(384) The sea and the stars +also have a boundary assigned to them which they cannot transgress.(385) +Thus to the unsophisticated religious soul, with no knowledge of natural +science, the world is carried by God’s “everlasting arms”(386) and His +faithfulness becomes token and pledge of the immutability of His will. + +4. At this point the intellect grasps an idea of intrinsic and +indestructible truth, which has its beginning and its end in God, the Only +One. “The gods of the nations are all vanity and deceit, the work of men; +Israel’s God is the God of truth, the living God and everlasting +King.”(387) With this cry has Judaism challenged the nations of the world +since the Babylonian exile. Its own adherents it charged to ponder upon +the problems of life and the nature of God, until He would appear before +them as the very essence of truth, and all heathenish survivals would +vanish as mist. God is truth, and He desires naught but truth, therefore +hypocrisy is loathsome to him, even in the service of religion. With this +underlying thought Job, the bold but honest doubter, stands above his +friends with their affected piety. _God is truth_—this confession of +faith, recited each morning and evening by the Jew, gave his mind the +power to soar into the highest realms of thought, and inspired his soul to +offer life and all it holds for his faith. “God is the everlasting truth, +the unchangeable Being who ever remains the same amid the fluctuations and +changes of all other things.” This is the fundamental principle upon which +Joseph Ibn Zaddik and Abraham Ibn Daud, the predecessors of Maimonides, +reared their entire philosophical systems, which were Aristotelian and yet +thoroughly Jewish.(388) + +Mystic lore, always so fond of the letters of the alphabet and their +hidden meanings, noted that the letters of _Emeth_—_aleph_, _mem_ and +_tav_—are the first, the middle, and the last letters of the alphabet, and +therefore concluded that God made truth the beginning, the center, and the +end of the world.(389) Josephus also, no doubt in accordance with the same +tradition, declares that God is “the beginning, the center, and the end of +all things.”(390) A corresponding rabbinical saying is: “Truth is the seal +of God.”(391) + + + +Chapter XXII. God’s Knowledge and Wisdom + + +1. The attempt to enumerate the attributes of God recalls the story +related in the Talmud(392) of a disciple who stepped up to the reader’s +desk to offer prayer, and began to address the Deity with an endless list +of attributes. When his vocabulary was almost exhausted, Rabbi Haninah +interrupted him with the question, “Hast thou now really finished telling +the praise of God?” Mortal man can never know what God really is. As the +poet-philosopher says: “Could I ever know Him, I would be He.”(393) But we +want to ascertain what God is _to us_, and for this very reason we cannot +rest with the negative attitude of Maimonides, who relies on the +Psalmist’s verse, “Silence is praise to Thee.”(394) We must obtain as +clear a conception of the Deity as we possibly can with our limited +powers. + +To the divine attributes already mentioned we must add another which in a +sense is the focus of them all. This is the knowledge and wisdom of God, +the omniscience which renders Him all-knowing and all-wise. Through this +all the others come into self-consciousness. We ascribe wisdom to the man +who sets right aims for his actions and knows the means by which to attain +them, that is, who can control his power and knowledge by his will and +bend them to his purpose. In the same manner we think of wisdom in view of +the marvelous order, design, and unity which we see in the natural and the +moral world. But this wisdom must be all-encompassing, comprising time and +eternity, directing all the forces and beings of the world toward the goal +of ideal perfection.(395) It makes no difference where we find this +lesson. The Book of Proverbs singles out the tiny ant as an example of +wondrous forethought;(396) the author of Job dwells on the working +together of the powers of earth and heaven to maintain the cosmic +life;(397) modern science, with its deeper insight into nature, enables us +to follow the interaction of the primal chemical and organic forces, and +to follow the course of evolution from star-dust and cell to the structure +of the human eye or the thought-centers of the brain. But in all these +alike our conclusion must be that of the Psalmist: “O Lord, how manifold +are Thy works, in wisdom hast Thou made them all.”(398) + +2. Accordingly, if we are to speak in human terms, we may consider God’s +wisdom the element which determines His various +motive-powers,—omniscience, omnipotence, and goodness,—to tend toward the +realization of His cosmic plan. Or we may call it the active intellect +with which God works as Creator, Ordainer, and Ruler of the universe. The +Biblical account of creation presupposes this wisdom, as it portrays a +logical process, working after a definite plan, proceeding from simpler to +more complex forms and culminating in man. Biblical history likewise is +based upon the principle of a divinely prearranged plan, which is +especially striking in such stories as that of Joseph.(399) + +3. At first the divine wisdom was supposed to rest in part on specially +gifted persons, such as Joseph, Solomon, and Bezalel. As Scripture has it, +“The Lord giveth wisdom, out of His mouth cometh knowledge and +understanding.”(400) Later the obscure destiny of the nation appears as +the design of an all-wise Ruler to the great prophets and especially to +Isaiah, the high-soaring eagle among the seers of Israel.(401) With the +progressive expansion of the world before them, the seers and sages saw a +sublime purpose in the history of the nations, and felt more and more the +supreme place of the divine wisdom as a manifestation of His greatness. +Thus the great seer of the Exile never tires of illumining the world-wide +plan of the divine wisdom.(402) + +4. A new development ensued under Babylonian and Persian influence at the +time when the monotheism of Israel became definitely universal. The divine +wisdom, creative and world-sustaining, became the highest of the divine +attributes and was partially hypostatized as an independent cosmic power. +In the twenty-eighth chapter of the Book of Job wisdom is depicted as a +magic being, far remote from all living beings of earth, beyond the reach +of the creatures of the lowest abyss, who aided the Creator with counsel +and knowledge in measuring and weighing the foundations of the world. The +description seems to be based upon an ancient Babylonian conception—which +has parallels elsewhere—of a divine Sybil dwelling beneath the ocean in +“the house of wisdom.”(403) Here, however, the mythological conception is +transformed into a symbolic figure. In the eighth chapter of Proverbs the +description of divine wisdom is more in accordance with Jewish monotheism; +wisdom is “the first of God’s creatures,” “a master-workman” who assisted +Him in founding heaven and earth, a helpmate and playmate of God, and at +the same time the instructor of men and counselor of princes, inviting all +to share her precious gifts. This conception is found also in the +apocryphal literature,—in Ben Sira, the book of Enoch, the Apocalypse of +Baruch, and the Hellenistic Book of Wisdom.(404) + +From this period two different currents of thought appeared. The one +represented wisdom as an independent being distinct from God, and this +finally became merged, under Platonic influence, into the views of +neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, and the Christian dogma. The other identified +the divine wisdom with the Torah, and therefore it is the Torah which +served God as counselor and mediator at the Creation and continues as +counselor in the management of the world. This view led back to strict +monotheism, so that the cosmology of the rabbis spoke alternately of the +divine wisdom and the Torah as the instruments of God at Creation.(405) + +5. The Jewish philosophers of the Middle Ages, such as Saadia, Gabirol, +and Jehuda ha Levi, followed the Mohammedan theologians in enumerating +God’s wisdom among the attributes constituting His essence, together with +His omnipotence, His will, and His creative energy. But they would not +take wisdom or any other attribute as a separate being, with an existence +outside of God, which would either condition Him or admit a division of +His nature.(406) “God himself is wisdom,” says Jehuda ha Levi, referring +to the words of Job: “He is wise in heart.”(407) And Ibn Gabirol sings in +his “Crown of Royalty”: + + + “Thou art wise, and the wisdom of Thy fount of life floweth from + Thee; + And compared with Thy wisdom man is void of understanding; + Thou art wise, before anything began its existence; + And wisdom has from times of yore been Thy fostered child; + Thou art wise, and out of Thy wisdom didst Thou create the world, + Life the artificer that fashioneth whatsoever delighteth + him.”(408) + + + +Chapter XXIII. God’s Condescension + + +1. An attribute of great importance for the theological conception of God, +one upon which both Biblical and rabbinical literature laid especial +stress, is His condescension and humility. The Psalmist says(409): “Thy +condescension hath made me great,” which is interpreted in the Midrash +that the Deity stoops to man in order to lift him up to Himself. A +familiar saying of R. Johanan is(410): “Wherever Scripture speaks of the +greatness of God, there mention is made also of His condescension. So when +the prophet begins, ‘Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth +eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place,’ he adds +the words, ‘With him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit.’(411) +Or when the Deuteronomist says: ‘For the Lord your God, the great God, the +mighty and the awful,’ he concludes, ‘He doth execute justice for the +fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger.’(412) And again the +Psalmist: ‘Extol Him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is the Lord, a +Father of the fatherless and a Judge of the widows.’ ”(413) “Do you deem +it unworthy of God that He should care for the smallest and most +insignificant person or thing in the world’s household?” asks Mendelssohn +in his _Morgenstunden_. “It certainly does not detract from the dignity of +a king to be seen fondling his child as a loving father,” and he quotes +the verse of the Psalm, “Who is like unto the Lord our God, that is +enthroned on high, that looketh down low upon heaven and upon the +earth.”(414) + +2. This truth has a religious depth which no philosophy can set forth. +Only the God of Revelation is near to man in his frailty and need, ready +to hear his sighs, answer his supplication, count his tears, and relieve +his wants when his own power fails. The philosopher must reject as futile +every attempt to bring the incomprehensible essence of the Deity within +the compass of the human understanding. The religious consciousness, +however, demands that we accentuate precisely those attributes of God +which bring Him nearest to us. If reason alone would have the decisive +voice in this problem, every manifestation of God to man and every +reaching out of the soul to Him in prayer would be idle fancy and +self-deceit. It is true that the Biblical conception was simple and +child-like enough, representing God as descending from the heavens to the +earth. Still Judaism does not accept the cold and distant attitude of the +philosopher; it teaches that God as a spiritual power does condescend to +man, in order that man may realize his kinship with the Most High and rise +ever nearer to his Creator. The earth whereon man dwells and the human +heart with its longing for heaven, are not bereft of God. Wherever man +seeks Him, there He is. + +3. Rabbinical Judaism is very far from the attitude assigned to it by +Christian theologians,(415) of reducing the Deity to an empty +transcendental abstraction and loosening the bond which ties the soul to +its Maker. On the contrary, it maintains these very relations with a +firmness which betokens its soundness and its profound psychological +truth. In this spirit a Talmudic master interprets the Deuteronomic verse: +“For what great nation is there that hath God so nigh unto them, as the +Lord our God is whensoever we call upon Him?”(416) saying that “each will +realize the nearness of God according to his own intellectual and +emotional disposition, and thus enter into communion with Him.” According +to another Haggadist the verse of the Psalm, “The voice of the Lord +resoundeth with power,”(417) teaches how God reveals Himself, not with His +own overwhelming might, but according to each man’s individual power and +capacity. The rabbis even make bold to assert that whenever Israel +suffers, God suffers with him; as it is written, “I will be with him in +trouble.”(418) + +4. As a matter of fact, all the names which we apply to God in speech or +in prayer, even the most sublime and holy ones, are derived from our own +sensory experience and cannot be taken literally. They are used only as +vehicles to bring home to us the idea that God’s nearness is our highest +good. Even the material world, which is perceptible to our senses, must +undergo a certain inner transformation before it can be termed science or +philosophy, and becomes the possession of the mind. It requires still +further exertions of the imagination to bring within our grasp the world +of the spirit, and above all the loftiest of all conceptions, the very +being of God. Yet it is just this Being of all Beings who draws us +irresistibly toward Himself, whose nearness we perceive in the very depths +of our intellectual and emotional life. Our “soul thirsteth after God, the +living God,” and behold, He is nigh, He takes possession of us, and we +call Him _our_ God. + +5. The Haggadists expressed this intimate relation of God to man, and +specifically to Israel, by bold and often naïve metaphors. They ascribe to +God special moments for wrath and for prayer, a secret chamber where he +weeps over the distress of Israel, a prayer-mantle (tallith) and +phylacteries which He wears like any of the leaders of the community, and +even lustrations which He practices exactly like mortals.(419) But such +fanciful and extravagant conceptions were never taken seriously by the +rabbis, and only partisan and prejudiced writers, entirely lacking in a +sense of humor, could point to such passages to prove that a theology of +the Synagogue carried out a “Judaization of God.”(420) + + + + +C. God In Relation To The World + + + +Chapter XXIV. The World and its Master + + +1. In using the term world or _universe_ we include the totality of all +beings at once, and this suggests a stage of knowledge where polytheism is +practically overcome. Among the Greeks, Pythagoras is said to have been +the first to perceive “a beautiful order of things” in the world, and +therefore to call it _cosmos_.(421) Primitive man saw in the world +innumerable forces continually struggling with each other for supremacy. +Without an ordering mind no order, as we conceive it, can exist. The old +Babylonian conception prevalent throughout antiquity divided the world +into three realms, the celestial, terrestrial, and the nether world, each +of which had its own type of inhabitants and its own ruling divinities. +Yet these various divine powers were at war with each other, and +ultimately they, too, must submit to a blind fate which men and gods alike +could read in the stars or other natural phenomena. + +With the first words of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the +heavens and the earth,” Judaism declared the world to be a unity and God +its Creator and Master. Heathenism had always beheld in the world certain +blind forces of nature, working without plan or purpose and devoid of any +moral aims. But Judaism sees in the world the work of a supreme Intellect +who fashioned it according to His will, and who rules in freedom, wisdom, +and goodness. “He spoke, and it was; He commanded, and it stood.”(422) +Nature exists only by the will of God; His creative _fiat_ called it into +existence, and it ceases to be as soon as it has fulfilled His plan. + +2. That which the scientist terms nature—the cosmic life in its eternal +process of growth and reproduction—is declared by Judaism to be God’s +creation. Ancient heathen conceptions deified nature, indeed, but they +knew only a cosmogony, that is, a process of birth and growth of the +world. In this the gods participate with all other beings, to sink back +again at the close of the drama into fiery chaos,—the so-called “twilight +of the gods.” Here the deity constitutes a part of the world, or the world +a part of the deity, and philosophic speculation can at best blend the two +into a pantheistic system which has no place for a self-conscious, +creative mind and will. In fact, the universe appears as an ever growing +and unfolding deity, and the deity as an ever growing and unfolding +universe. Modern science more properly assumes a self-imposed limitation; +it searches for the laws underlying the action and interaction of natural +forces and elements, thus to explain in a mechanistic way the origin and +development of all things, but it leaves entirely outside of its domain +the whole question of a first cause and a supreme creative mind. It +certainly can pass no opinion as to whether or not the entire work of +creation was accomplished by the free act of a Creator. Revelation alone +can speak with unfaltering accents: “In the beginning God created heaven +and earth.” However we may understand, or imagine, the beginning of the +natural process, the formation of matter and the inception of motion, we +see above the confines of space and time the everlasting God, the +absolutely free Creator of all things. + +3. No definite theological dogma can define the order and process of the +genesis of the world; this is rather a scientific than a religious +question. The Biblical documents themselves differ widely on this point, +whether one compares the stories in the first two chapters of Genesis, or +contrasts both of them with the poetical descriptions in Job and the +Psalms.(423) And these divergent accounts are still less to be reconciled +with the results of natural science. In the old Babylonian cosmography, on +which the Biblical view is based, the earth, shaped like a disk, was +suspended over the waters of the ocean, while above it was the solid vault +of heaven like a ceiling. In this the stars were fixed like lamps to light +the earth, and hidden chambers to store up the rain. The sciences of +astronomy, physics, and geology have abolished these childlike conceptions +as well as the story of a six-day creation, where vegetation sprang from +the earth even before the sun, moon, and stars appeared in the firmament. + +The fact is that the Biblical account is not intended to depreciate or +supersede the facts established by natural science, but solely to +accentuate those religious truths which the latter disregards.(424) These +may be summed up in the following three doctrines: + +4. First. Nature, with all its immeasurable power and grandeur, its +wondrous beauty and harmony, is not independent, but is the work, the +workshop, and the working force of the great Master. His spirit alone is +the active power; His will must be carried out. It is true that we cannot +conceive the universe otherwise than as infinite in time and space, +because both time and space are but human modes of apperception. In fact, +we cannot think of a Creator without a creation, because any potentiality +or capacity without execution would imply imperfection in God. +Nevertheless we must conceive of God as the designing and creating +intellect of the universe, infinitely transcending its complex mechanism, +whose will is expressed involuntarily by each of the created beings. He +alone is the living God; He has lent existence and infinite capacity to +the beings of the world; and they, in achieving their appointed purpose, +according to the poet’s metaphor, “weave His living garment.” The Psalmist +also sings in the same key: + + + “Of old Thou didst lay the foundations of the earth; + And the heavens are the work of Thy hands; + They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; + Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment. + As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall pass away; + But Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years shall have no end.”(425) + + +5. Second. The numberless beings and forces of the universe comprise a +unity, working according to one plan, subserving a common purpose, and +pursuing in their development and interaction the aim which God’s wisdom +assigned them from the beginning. However hostile the various elements may +be toward each other, however fierce the universal conflict, “the struggle +for existence,” still over all the discord prevails a higher concord, and +the struggle of nature’s forces ends in harmony and peace. “He maketh +peace in His high places.”(426) Even the highest type of heathenism, the +Persian, divided the world into mutually hostile principles, light and +darkness, good and evil. But Judaism proclaims God as the Creator of both. +No force is left out of the universal plan; each contributes its part to +the whole. Consequently the very progress of natural science confirms more +and more the principle of the divine Unity. The researches of science are +ever tending toward the knowledge of universal laws of growth, culminating +in a scheme of universal evolution. Hence this supports and confirms +Jewish monotheism, which knows no power of evil antagonistic to God. + +6. Third. The world is good, since goodness is its creator and its final +aim. True enough, nature, bent with “tooth and claw” upon annihilating one +or another form of existence, is quite indifferent to man’s sense of +compassion and justice. Yet in the wise, though inscrutable plan of God +she does but serve the good. We see how the lower forms of life ever serve +the higher, how the mineral provides food for the vegetable, while the +animal derives its food from the vegetable world and from lower types of +animals. Thus each becomes a means of vitality for a higher species. So by +the continuous upward striving of man the lower passions, with their evil +tendencies, work more and more toward the triumph of the good. Man unfolds +his God-likeness; he strives to + + + “Move upward, working out the beast, + And let the ape and tiger die.” + + +7. The Biblical story of Creation expresses the perfect harmony between +God’s purpose and His work in the words, “And behold, it was good” spoken +at the end of each day’s Creation, and “behold, it was very good” at the +completion of the whole. A world created by God must serve the highest +good, while, on the contrary, a world without God would prove to be “the +worst of all possible worlds,” as Schopenhauer, the philosopher of +pessimism, quite correctly concludes from his premises. The world-view of +Judaism, which regards the entire economy of life as the realization of +the all-encompassing plan of an all-wise Creator, is accordingly an +energizing optimism, or, more precisely, meliorism. This view is voiced by +the rabbis in many significant utterances, such as the maxim of R. Akiba, +“Whatsoever the Merciful One does, is for the good,”(427) or that of his +teacher, Nahum of Gimzo, “This, too, is for the good.”(428) His disciple, +R. Meir, inferred from the Biblical verse, “God saw all that He had made, +and behold, it was very good,” that “death, too, is good.”(429) Others +considered that suffering and even sin are included in this verse, because +every apparent evil is necessary that we may struggle and overcome it for +the final victory of the good.(430) As an ancient Midrash says: “God is +called a God of faith and faithfulness, because it was His faith in the +world that caused Him to bring it into existence.”(431) + + + +Chapter XXV. Creation As the Act of God + + +1. “Thus shall ye say unto them: The gods that have not made the heavens +and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the +heavens. He that hath made the earth by His power, that hath established +the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by His +understanding ... the Lord God is the true God.”(432) With this +declaration of war against heathenism, the prophet drew the line, once for +all, between the uncreated, transcendent God and the created, perishable +universe. It is true that Plato spoke of primordial and eternal matter and +Aristotle of an eternally rotating celestial sphere, and that even +Biblical exegetes, such as Ibn Ezra,(433) inferred from the Creation story +the existence of primeval chaotic matter. Yet, on the whole, the Jewish +idea of God has demanded the assumption that even this primitive matter +was created by God, or, as most thinkers have phrased it, that God created +the world _out of nothing_. This doctrine was voiced as early as the +Maccabean period in the appeal made by the heroic mother to the youngest +of her seven sons.(434) In the same spirit R. Gamaliel II scornfully +rejects the suggestion of a heretic that God used primeval substances +already extant in creating the world.(435) + +2. Of course, thinking people will ever be confronted by the problem how a +transcendental God could call into existence a world of matter, creating +it within the limits of space and time, without Himself becoming involved +in the process. It would seem that He must by the very act subject Himself +to the limitations and mutations of the universe. Hence some of the +ancient Jewish teachers came under the influence of Babylonian and +Egyptian cosmogonies in their later Hellenistic forms, and resorted to the +theory of intermediary forces. Some of these adopted the Pythagorean +conception of the mysterious power of letters and numbers, which they +communicated to the initiated as secret lore, with the result that the +suspicion of heresy rested largely upon “those who knew,” the so-called +Gnostics. + +The difficulty of assuming a creation at a fixed period of time was met in +many different ways. It is interesting to note that R. Abbahu of Cæsarea +in the fourth century offered the explanation: “God caused one world after +another to enter into existence, until He produced the one of which He +said: ‘Behold, this is good.’ ”(436) Still this opinion seems to have been +expressed by even earlier sages, as it is adopted by Origen, a Church +father of the third century, who admitted his great debt to Jewish +teachers.(437) + +The medieval Jewish philosophers evaded the difficulty by the Aristotelian +expedient of connecting the concept of time with the motion of the +spheres. Thus time was created with the celestial world, and timelessness +remained an attribute of the uncreated God.(438) Such attempts at +harmonization prove the one point of importance to us,—which, indeed, was +frankly stated by Maimonides,—that we cannot accept literally the Biblical +account of the creation. + +The modern world has been lifted bodily out of the Babylonian and +so-called Ptolemaic world, with its narrow horizon, through the labors of +such men as Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Lyall, and Darwin. We live in a +world immeasurable in terms of either space or time, a world where +evolution works through eons of time and an infinite number of stages. +Such a world gives rise to concepts of the working of God in nature +totally different from those of the seers and sages of former generations, +ideas of which those thinkers could not even dream. To the mind of the +modern scientist the entire cosmic life, extending over countless millions +of years, forming starry worlds without end, is moved by energy arising +within. It is a continuous flow of existence, a process of formation and +re-formation, which can have no beginning and no end. How is this +evolutionist view to be reconciled with the belief in a divine act of +creation? This is the problem which modern theology has set itself, +perhaps the greatest which it must solve. + +Ultimately, however, the problem is no more difficult now than it was to +the first man who pondered over the beginnings of life in the childhood of +the world. The same answer fits both modes of thought, with only a +different process of reasoning. Whether we count the world’s creation by +days or by millions of years, the truth of the first verse of Genesis +remains: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In our +theories the whole complicated world-process is but the working out of +simple laws. This leads back as swiftly and far more surely than did the +primitive cosmology to an omnipotent and omniscient creative Power, +defining at the very outset the aim of the stupendous whole, and carrying +its comprehensive plan into reality, step by step. We who are the products +of time cannot help applying the relation of time to the work of the +Creator; time is so interwoven with our being that a modern evolutionist, +Bergson, considers it the fundamental element of reality. Thus it is +natural that we should think of God as setting the first atoms and forces +of the universe into motion somewhere and somehow, at a given moment. +Through this act, we imagine, the order prevailing through an infinitude +of space and time was established for the great fabric of life. To earlier +thinkers such an act of a supermundane and immutable God appeared as a +single act. The idea of prime importance in all this is the free activity +of the Creator in contradistinction to the blind necessity of nature, the +underlying theory of all pagan or unreligious philosophy.(439) The world +of God, which is the world of morality, and which leads to man, the image +of God, must be based upon the free, purposive creative act of God. +Whether such an act was performed once for all or is everlastingly +renewed, is a quite secondary matter for religion, however important it +may be to philosophy, or however fundamental to science. In our daily +morning prayers, which refer to the daily awakening to a life seemingly +new, God is proclaimed as “He who reneweth daily the work of +creation.”(440) + + + +Chapter XXVI. The Maintenance and Government of the World + + +1. For our religious consciousness the doctrine of divine maintenance and +government of the world is far more important than that of creation. It +opposes the view of deism that God withdrew from His creation, indifferent +to the destiny of His creatures. He is rather the ever-present Mind and +Will in all the events of life. The world which He created is maintained +by Him in its continuous activity, the object of His incessant care. + +2. Scripture knows nothing of natural law, but presents the changing +phenomena of nature as special acts of God and considers the natural +forces His messengers carrying out His will. “He opens the windows of +heaven to let the rain descend upon the earth.”(441) “He leads out the +hosts of the stars according to their number and calleth them by +name.”(442) He makes the sun rise and set. “He says to the snow: Fall to +the earth!”(443) and calls to the wind to blow and to the lightning to +flash.(444) He causes the produce of the earth and the drought which +destroys them. “He opens the womb to make beasts and men bring forth their +young;” “He shuts up the womb to make them barren.”(445) “He also provides +the food for all His creatures in due season, even for the young ravens +when they cry.”(446) His breath keeps all alive. “He withdraweth their +breath, and they perish, and return to their dust. He sendeth forth His +spirit, they are created; He reneweth the face of the earth.”(447) We are +told also that God assigns to each being its functions, telling the earth +to bring forth fruit,(448) the sea not to trespass its boundary,(449) the +stars and the seas to maintain their order.(450) To each one He hath set a +measure, a law which they dare not transgress. God’s wisdom works in them; +they all are subject to His rule. + +3. This conclusion betokens an obvious improvement upon the earlier and +more childlike view. It recognizes that there is an order in the universe +and all under divine supervision. Thus Jeremiah speaks of a covenant of +God with heaven and earth, and of the laws which they must obey,(451) and +in Genesis the rainbow is represented as a sign of the covenant of peace +made by God with the whole earth.(452) As God “maketh peace in the heavens +above,”(453) He establishes order in the world. As the various powers of +nature are invested with a degree of independence, God’s sovereignty +manifests itself in the regularity with which they interact and +coöperate.(454) The lore of the mystics speaks even of an oath which God +administered upon His holy Name to the heavens and the stars, the sea and +the abyss, that they should never break their designated bounds or disturb +the whole order of creation.(455) + +4. Further progress is noted in the liturgy, in such expressions as that +“God reneweth daily the work of creation,” or “He openeth every morning +the gate of heaven to let the sun come out of its chambers in all its +splendor” and “at eventide He maketh it return through the portals of the +west.” Again, “He reneweth His creative power in every phenomenon of +nature and in every turn of the season;” “He provideth every living being +with its sustenance.”(456) Indeed, in the view of Judaism the maintenance +of the entire household of nature is one continuous act of God which can +neither be interrupted nor limited in time. God in His infinite wisdom +works forever through the same laws which were in force at the beginning, +and which shall continue through all the realms of time and space. + +We feeble mortals, of course, see but “the hem of His garment” and hear +only “a whisper of His voice.” Still from the deeper promptings of our +soul we learn that science does not touch the inmost essence of the world +when it finds a law of necessity in the realm of nature. The universe is +maintained and governed by a moral order. Moral objects are attained by +the forces of the elements, “the messengers of God who fulfilled His +word.”(457) Both the hosts of heaven and the creatures of the earth do His +bidding; their every act, great or small, is as He has ordered. Yet of +them all man alone is made in God’s image, and can work self-consciously +and freely for a moral purpose. Indeed, as the rabbis express it, he has +been called as “the co-worker with God in the work of creation.”(458) + +5. The conception of a world-order also had to undergo a long development. +The theory of pagan antiquity, echoed in both Biblical and post-Biblical +writings, is that the world is definitely limited, with both a beginning +and an end. As heaven and earth came into being, so they will wax old and +shrink like a garment, while sun, moon, and stars will lose their +brightness and fall back into the primal chaos.(459) The belief in a +cataclysmic ending of the world is a logical corollary of the belief in +the birth of the world. In striking contrast, the prophets hold forth the +hope of a future regeneration of the world. God will create “a new heaven +and a new earth” where all things will arise in new strength and +beauty.(460) + +This hope, as all eschatology, was primarily related to the regeneration +of the Jewish people. Accordingly, the rabbis speak of two worlds,(461) +this world and the world to come. They consider the present life only a +preliminary of the world to come, in which the divine plan of creation is +to be worked out for all humanity through the truths emanating from +Israel. This whole conception rested upon a science now superseded, the +geocentric view of the universe, which made the earth and especially man +the final object of creation. For us only a figurative meaning adheres to +the two worlds of the medieval belief, following each other after the +lapse of a fixed period of time. On the one hand, we see one infinite +fabric of life in this visible world with its millions of suns and +planets, among which our earth is only an insignificant speck in the sky. +With our limited understanding we endeavor to penetrate more and more into +the eternal laws of this illimitable cosmos. On the other hand, we hold +that there is a moral and spiritual world which comprises the divine +ideals and eternal objects of life. Both are reflected in the mind of man, +who enters into the one by his intellect and into the other by his +emotions of yearning and awe. At the same time both are the manifestation +of God, the Creator and Ruler of all. + + + +Chapter XXVII. Miracles and the Cosmic Order + + + 1. “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the mighty? + Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, + Fearful in praises, doing wonders!”(462) + + +Thus sang Israel at the Red Sea in words which are constantly reëchoed in +our liturgy. Nothing impresses the religious sense of man so much as +unusual phenomena in nature, which seem to interrupt the wonted course of +events and thus to reveal the workings of a higher Power. A miracle—that +is, a thing “wondered” at, because not understood—is always regarded by +Scripture as a “sign”(463) or “proof”(464) of the power of God, to whom +nothing is impossible. The child-like mind of the past knew nothing of +fixed or immutable laws of nature. Therefore the question is put in all +simplicity: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”(465) “Is the Lord’s hand +waxed short?”(466) “Or should He who created heaven and earth not be able +to create something which never was before?”(467) Should “He who maketh a +man’s mouth, or makes him deaf, dumb, seeing or blind,”(468) not be able +also to open the mouth of the dumb beast or the eyes of the blind? Should +not He who killeth and giveth life have the power also to call the dead +back to life, if He sees fit? Should not He who openeth the womb for every +birth, be able to open it for her who is ninety years old? Or when a whole +land is wicked, to shut the wombs of all its inhabitants that they may +remain barren? Again, should not He who makes the sun come forth every +morning from the gates of the East and enter each night the portals of the +West, not be able to change this order once, and cause it to stand still +in the midst of its course?(469) + +So long as natural phenomena are considered to be separate acts of the +divine will, an unusual event is merely an extraordinary manifestation of +this same power, “the finger of God.” The people of Biblical times never +questioned whether a miracle happened or could happen. Their concern was +to see it as the work of the arm of God either for His faithful ones or +against His adversaries. + +2. With the advance of thought, miracles began to be regarded as +interruptions of an established order of creation. The question then +arose, why the all-knowing Creator should allow deviations from His own +laws. As the future was present to Him at the outset, why did He not make +provision in advance for such special cases as He foresaw? This was +exactly the remedy which the rabbis furnished. They declared that at +Creation God provided for certain extraordinary events, so that a latent +force, established for the purpose at the beginning of the world, is +responsible for incidents which appeared at the time to be true +interferences with the world order. Thus God had made a special covenant, +as it were, with the work of creation that at the appointed time the Red +Sea should divide before Israel; that sun and moon should stand still at +the bidding of Joshua; that fire should not consume the three youths, +Hananel, Mishael, and Azariah; that the sea-monster should spit forth +Jonah alive; together with other so-called miracles.(470) The same idea +occasioned the other Haggadic saying that shortly before the completion of +the creation on the evening of the sixth day God placed certain miraculous +forces in nature. Through them the earth opened to swallow Korah and his +band, the rock in the wilderness gave water for the thirsty multitude, and +Balaam’s ass spoke like a human being; through them also the rainbow +appeared after the flood, the manna rained from heaven, Aaron’s rod burst +forth with almond blossoms and fruit, and other wondrous events happened +in their proper time.(471) + +3. Neither the rabbis nor the medieval Jewish thinkers expressed any doubt +of the credibility of the Biblical miracles. The latter, indeed, +rationalized miracles as well as other things, and considered some of them +imaginary. Saadia accepts all the Biblical miracles except the speaking +serpent in Paradise and the speaking ass of Balaam, considering these to +be parables rather than actual occurrences.(472) In general, both Jewish +and Mohammedan theologians assumed that special forces hidden in nature +were utilized by the prophets and saints to testify to their divine +mission. These powers were attained by their lofty intellects, which +lifted them up to the sphere of the Supreme Intellect. All medieval +attempts to solve the problem of miracles were based upon this curious +combination of Aristotelian cosmology and Mohammedan or Jewish +theology.(473) True, Maimonides rejects a number of miracles as contrary +to natural law, and refers to the rabbinical saying that some of the +miraculous events narrated in Scripture were so only in appearance. Still +he claims for Moses, as the Mohammedans did for Mohammed, miraculous +powers derived from the sphere of the Supreme Intellect. In a lengthy +chapter on miracles Albo follows Maimonides,(474) while his teacher +Crescas considers the Biblical miracles to be direct manifestations of the +creative activity of God.(475) Gersonides has really two opinions; in his +commentary he reduces all miracles to natural processes, but in his +philosophical work he adopts the view of Maimonides.(476) Jehuda ha Levi +alone insisted on the miracles of the Bible as historic evidence of the +divine calling of the prophets.(477) To all the rest, the miracle is not +performed by God but by the divinely endowed man. God himself is no longer +conceived of as changing the cosmic order. Both He and the world created +by His will remain ever the same. Still, according to this theory, certain +privileged men are endowed with special powers by the Supreme Intellect, +and by these they can perform miracles. + +4. It is evident that in all this the problem of miracles is not solved, +nor even correctly stated. Both rabbinical literature and the Bible abound +with miracles about certain holy places and holy persons, which they never +venture to doubt. But the rabbis were not miracle-workers like the Essenes +and their Christian successors.(478) On the contrary, they sought to +repress the popular credulity and hunger for the miraculous, saying: “The +present generation is not worthy to have miracles performed for them, like +the former ones;”(479) or “The providing of each living soul with its +daily food, or the recovery of men from a severe disease is as great a +miracle as any of those told in Scripture;”(480) or again, “Of how small +account is a person for whom the cosmic order must be disturbed!”(481) +Thus when the wise men of Rome asked the Jewish sages: “If your God is +omnipotent, as you claim, why does He not banish from the world the idols, +which are so loathsome to Him?” they replied: “Do you really desire God to +destroy the sun, moon, and stars, because fools worship them? The world +continues its regular course, and idolaters will not go unpunished.”(482) + +5. In Judaism neither Biblical nor rabbinical miracles are to be accepted +as proof of a doctrinal or practical teaching.(483) The Deuteronomic law +expressly states that false prophets can perform miracles by which they +mislead the multitude.(484) We can therefore ascribe no intrinsic +religious importance to miracles. The fact is that miracles occur only +among people who are ignorant of natural law and thus predisposed to +accept marvels. They are the products of human imagination and credulity. +They have only a subjective, not an objective value. They are +psychological, not physical facts. + +The attitude of Maimonides and Albo toward Biblical miracles is especially +significant. The former declares in his great Code:(485) “Israel’s belief +in Moses and his law did not rest on miracles, for miracles rather create +doubt in the mind of the believer. Faith must rest on its intrinsic truth, +and this can never be subverted by miracles, which may be of a deceitful +nature.” Albo devotes a lengthy chapter to developing this idea still +further, undoubtedly referring to the Church; he speaks of miracles +wrought by both Biblical and Talmudic heroes, such as Onias the +rain-maker, Nicodemus ben Gorion, Hanina ben Dosa, and Phinehas ben Jair, +the popular saints.(486) In modern times Mendelssohn, when challenged by +the Lutheran pastor Lavater either to accept the Christian faith or refute +it, attacked especially the basic Christian faith in miracles. He stated +boldly that “miracles prove nothing, since every religion bases its claims +on them and consequently the truth of one would disprove the convincing +proof of the other.”(487) + +6. Our entire modern mode of thinking demands the complete recognition of +the empire of law throughout the universe, manifesting the all-permeating +will of God. The whole cosmic order is _one_ miracle. No room is left for +single or exceptional miracles. Only a primitive age could think of God as +altering the order of nature which He had fixed, so as to let iron float +on water like wood to please one person here,(488) or to stop sun, star, +or sea in their courses in order to help or harm mankind there.(489) It is +more important for us to inquire into the law of the mind by which the +fact itself may differ from the peculiar form given it by a narrator. With +our historical methods unknown to former ages, we cannot accept any story +of a miracle without seeking its intrinsic historical accuracy. After all, +the miracle as narrated is but a human conception of what, under God’s +guidance, really happened. + +Accordingly, we must leave the final interpretation of the Biblical +narratives to the individual, to consider them as historical facts or as +figurative presentations of religious ideas. Even now some people will +prefer to believe that the Ten Commandments emanated from God Himself in +audible tones, as medieval thinkers maintained.(490) Some will adopt the +old semi-rationalistic explanation that He created a voice for this +special purpose. Others will hold it more worthy of God to communicate +directly with man, from spirit to spirit, without the use of sensory +means; these will therefore take the Biblical description as figurative or +mythical. In fact, he who does not cling to the letter of the Scripture +will probably regard all the miracles as poetical views of divine +Providence, as child-like imagery expressing the ancient view of the +eternal goodness and wisdom of God. To us also God is “a Doer of wonders,” +but we experience His wonderworking powers in ourselves. We see wonders in +the acts of human freedom which rises superior to the blind forces of +nature. The true miracle consists in the divine power within man which +aids him to accomplish all that is great and good. + + + +Chapter XXVIII. Providence and the Moral Government of the World + + +1. None of the precious truths of Judaism has become more indispensable +than the belief in divine Providence, which we see about us in ever new +and striking forms. Man would succumb from fear alone, beholding the +dangers about him on every side, were he not sustained by a conviction +that there is an all-wise Power who rules the world for a sublime purpose. +We know that even in direst distress we are guided by a divine hand that +directs everything finally toward the good. Wherever we are, we are +protected by God, who watches over the destinies of man as “does the eagle +who hovers over her young and bears them aloft on her pinions.” Each of us +is assigned his place in the all-encompassing plan. Such knowledge and +such faith as this comprise the greatest comfort and joy which the Jewish +religion offers. Both the narratives and the doctrines of Scripture are +filled with this idea of Providence working in the history of individuals +and nations.(491) + +2. Providence implies first, _provision_, and second, _predestination_ in +accordance with the divine plan for the government of the world. As God’s +dominion over the visible world appears in the eternal order of the +cosmos, so in the moral world, where action arises from freely chosen +aims, God is Ruler of a moral government. Thus He directs all the acts of +men toward the end which He has set. Judaism is most sharply contrasted +with heathenism at this point. Heathenism either deifies nature or merges +the deity into nature. Thus there is no place for a God who knows all +things and provides for all in advance. Blind fate rules all the forces of +life, including the deities themselves. Therefore chance incidents in +nature or the positions of the stars are taken as indications of destiny. +Hence the belief in oracles and divination, in the observation of flying +arrows and floating clouds, of the color and shape of the liver of +sacrificial animals, and other signs of heaven and earth which were to +hint at the future.(492) + +On the other hand, Judaism sees in all things, not the fortuitous dealings +of a blind and relentless fate, but the dispensations of a wise and benign +Providence. It knows of no event which is not foreordained by God. It +sanctioned the decision by lot(493) and the appeal to the oracle (the Urim +and Thummim)(494) only temporarily, during the Biblical period. But soon +it recognized entirely the will of God as the Ruler of destiny, and the +people accepted the belief that “the days,” “the destinies,” and even “the +tears” of man are all written in His “book.”(495) Thus they perceived God +as “He who knows from the beginning what will be at the end.”(496) The +prophets, His messengers, could thus foretell His will. They perceive Him +as the One who “created the smith that brought forth the weapon for its +work, and created the master who uses it for destruction.”(497) However +the foe may rage, he is but “the scourge in the hand of God,” like “the +axe in the hand of him who fells the tree.”(498) No device of men or +nations can withstand His will, for He turns all their doings to some good +purpose and transforms every curse into a blessing.(499) + +3. Naturally this truth was first accepted in limited form, in the life of +certain individuals. The history of Joseph and of King David were used as +illustrations to show how God protects His own. The experiences of the +people confirmed this belief and expanded it to apply to the nation. The +wanderings of Israel through the wilderness and its entrance to the +promised land were regarded as God’s work for His chosen people. The +prophets looked still further and saw the destinies of all nations, +entering the foreground of history one by one, as the sign of divine +Providence, so that finally the entire history of mankind became a great +plan of divine salvation, centered upon the truth intrusted to Israel. + +Beside this conception of _general_ Providence ruling in history, the idea +of _special_ Providence arose in response to human longing. The belief in +Providence developed to a full conception of care for the world at large +and for each individual in his peculiar destiny, a conviction that divine +Providence is concerned with the welfare of each individual, and that the +joyous or bitter lot of each man forms a link in the moral government of +the world. The first clear statement of this comes from the prophet +Jeremiah in his wrestling and sighing: “I know, O Lord, that the way of +man is not in himself, it is not in man that walketh to direct his +steps.”(500) Special Providence is discussed still more vividly and +definitely in the book of Job. Later on it becomes a specific Pharisaic +doctrine, “Everything is foreseen.”(501) “No man suffers so much as the +injury of a finger unless it has been decreed in heaven.”(502) A divine +preordination decides a man’s choice of his wife(503) and every other +important step of his life. + +4. This theory of predestination, however, presents a grave difficulty +when we consider it in relation to man’s morality with its implication of +self-determination. While this question of free will is treated fully in +another connection,(504) we may anticipate the thought at this point. The +Jewish conception of divine predestination makes as much allowance as +possible for the moral freedom of man. This is shown in Talmudic sayings, +such as “Everything is within the power of God except the fear of +God,”(505) or “Repentance, prayer, and charity avert the evil +decree.”(506) Thus Maimonides expressly states in his Code that the belief +in predestination cannot be allowed to influence one’s moral or religious +character. A man can decide by his own volition whether he shall become as +just as Moses or as wicked as Jeroboam.(507) + +5. The service of the New Year brings out significantly the Jewish +harmonization between the ideas of God’s foreknowledge and man’s moral +freedom. This festival, in the Bible called the Festival of the Blowing of +the Shofar, was transformed under Babylonian influence into the Day of +Divine Judgment. But it is still in marked contrast to the Babylonian New +Year’s Day, when the gods were supposed to go to the House of the Tablets +of Destiny in the deep to hear the decisions of fate.(508) The Jewish +sages taught that on this day God, the Judge of the world, pronounces the +destinies of men and nations according to their deserts. They thus +replaced the heathen idea of blind fate by that of eternal justice as the +formative power of life. Then, moved by a desire to mitigate the rigor of +stern justice for the frail and failing mortal, they included also God’s +long-suffering and mercy. These attributes are thus supposed to intercede, +so that the final decision is left in suspense until the Day of Atonement, +the great day of pardon. Some Tannaitic teachers(509) find it more in +accord with their view of God to say that He judges man every day, and +even every hour. + +Of course, the philosophic mind can take this whole viewpoint in a +figurative sense alone. All the more must we recognize that this sublime +religious thought of God liberates morality from the various limitations +of the ancient pagan conception of Deity and the more recent metaphysical +view. In place of these it asserts that there is a moral government of the +world, which must be imitated in the moral and religious consciousness of +the individual. + +6. The belief in a moral government of the world answers another question +which the medieval Jewish philosophers and their Mohammedan predecessors +endeavored to solve, but without satisfying the religious sentiment, the +chief concern of theology. Some of them maintain that God’s foreknowledge +does not determine human deeds.(510) Maimonides and his school, however, +say that it is impossible for us to comprehend the knowledge and power of +God, and that therefore such a question is outside the sphere of human +knowledge. “Know that, just as God has made the elements of fire and air +to rise upwards and water and earth to sink downward, so has He made man a +free, self-determining being, who acts of his own volition.”(511) The +Mohammedans would often give up human freedom rather than the omniscience +and all-determining power of God; but the Jewish thinkers, significantly, +with only the possible exception of Crescas,(512) laid stress upon the +divine nature which man attains through moral freedom, even at the risk of +limiting the omniscience of God. + +7. The philosophers failed, however, to emphasize sufficiently a point of +highest importance for religion, God’s paternal care for all His +creatures. Indeed, God ceases to be God, if He has not included our every +step in His plan of creation, thus surrounding us with paternal love and +tender care. Instead of the three blind fates of heathendom who spin and +cut the threads of destiny without even knowing why, the divine Father +himself sits at the loom of time and apportions the lot of men according +to His own wisdom and goodness. Such a belief in divine Providence is +ingrained in the soul, and reasoning alone will not suffice to attain it. +Therefore even such great thinkers as Maimonides and Gersonides go astray +as religious teachers when they follow Aristotelian principles in this +very intimate matter. They assume a general Providence aiming for the +preservation of the species, but include a special Providence only so far +as the recipient of it is endowed with reason and has thus approached the +divine Intellect. A Providence of this type, the result of human +reasoning, is a mere illusion, as the pious thinker, Hasdai Crescas, +clearly shows.(513) For the man who prays to God in anxiety or distress +this bears nothing but disappointment. + +The Aristotelian conception of the world has this great truth, that there +is no such thing as chance, that everything is foreseen and provided by +the divine wisdom. But religion must hold that the individual is an object +of care by God, that “not a sparrow falls into the net without God’s +will,”(514) that “every hair on the head of man is counted and cared for +in the heavenly order,”(515) and that the most insignificant thing serves +its purpose under the guidance of an all-wise God. We use figurative +expressions for the divine care, because we cannot grasp it entirely or +literally. + +8. The Bible in the Song of Moses compares divine Providence to the eagle +spreading her protecting wings over her young and bearing them aloft, or +urging them to soar along.(516) The rabbis elaborate this by referring to +the twofold care which the eagle thus bestows, as she watches over those +who are still tender and helpless, shielding them from the arrows below by +bearing them on her wings, but inspiring the maturer and stronger ones to +fly by her side.(517) In the same way Providence trains both individuals +and generations for their allotted task. A little child requires incessant +care on the part of its mother, until it has learned how to eat, walk, +speak, and to decide for itself, but the wise parent gradually withdraws +his guiding hand so that the growing child may learn self-reliance and +self-respect. The divine Father trains man thus through the childhood of +humanity. But no sooner does the divine spirit in man awaken to +self-consciousness than he is thrown on his own resources to become the +master of his own destiny. The divine power which, in the earlier stages, +had worked _for_ man, now works _with_ him and _within_ him. In the +rabbinic phrase, he is now ready to be a “co-worker with God in the work +of creation.”(518) Only at those grave moments when his own powers fail +him, he still feels in the humility of faith that his ancient God is still +near, “a very present help in trouble,” and that “the Guardian of Israel +neither slumbereth nor sleepeth.”(519) + +Philosophy cannot tolerate the removal of the dividing line between the +transcendent God and finite man. Hence the relation of man’s free will and +divine foresight cannot be solved by any process of reasoning. But when +religion proclaims a moral government of the world, then man, with his +moral and spiritual aims, attains a place in Creation akin to the Creator. +Of course, so long as he is mentally a child and has no clear purpose, +Providence acts for him as it does for the animal with its marvelous +instinct. Through His chosen messengers God gives the people bread and +water, freedom and victory, instruction and law. The wondrous tales +describing the divine protection of Israel in its early life may strike us +as out of harmony with the laws of nature, but they are true portrayals of +the experience of the people. Whatever happened for their good in those +days had to be the work of God; they had not yet wakened to the power +hidden in their own soul. Their heroes felt themselves to be divine +instruments, roused by His spirit to perform mighty deeds or to behold +prophetic visions. It is God who battles through them. It is God who +speaks through them. Both their moral and spiritual guidance works from +without and above. At this stage of life autonomy is neither felt nor +desired. When man awakens to moral self-consciousness and maturity, this +inner change impresses him as an outer one; the change in him is +interpreted as a change in God. He feels that God has withdrawn behind His +eternal laws of nature and morality which work without direct +interference, and in his new sense of independence he thinks that he can +dispense with the divine protection and forethought. As if mortal man can +ever dispense with that Power which has endowed him with his capacity for +worthy accomplishment! Thus in times of danger and distress man turns to +God for help; thus at every great turning point in the life of an +individual or nation the idea of an all-wise Providence imbues him with +new hope and new security. And in all these cases the great lesson of +providential direction is typified in the history of Israel as related in +the Bible. + +10. The idea of Providence, indeed, belongs also to certain pagan +philosophers, who observed the great purposes of nature which the single +creature and the species are both to serve. The Stoics in particular made +a study of teleology, the system of purposive ends in nature. Philo +adopted much from them in his treatise on Providence. Later the popular +philosophic group among the Mohammedans, the so-called “Brothers of +Purity,” based their doctrines of God and His relation to the world on a +teleological view of nature. In fact, the Jewish philosopher and moralist +Bahya ben Pakudah has embodied many of their ideas in his “Duties of the +Heart.”(520) + +Jewish folklore—preserved in rabbinic literature—has also attempted a +popular explanation of the obscure ways of Providence, in strange events +of nature as well as the great enigmas of human destiny. Thus the flight +of David from Saul affords the lesson of the good purpose which may be +served by so insignificant a thing as a spider, or by so dreadful a state +as insanity.(521) Vast numbers of the Jewish legends and fables deal with +adversities which are turned into ultimate good by the working of an +all-wise Providence.(522) + + + +Chapter XXIX. God and the Existence of Evil + + +1. A leading objection to the belief in divine Providence is the existence +in this world of physical and moral evil. All living creatures are exposed +to the influence of evil, according to their physical or moral +constitutions and the peculiar conditions of their existence. Heathenism +accounts for the powers of darkness, pain and death by assuming the +existence of forces hostile to the heavenly powers of light and life, or +of a primitive principle of evil, the counterpart of the divine beings. +But to those who believe in an almighty and all-benign Creator and Ruler +of the universe, the question remains: Why do life and the love of life +encounter so many hindrances? Why does God’s world contain so much pain +and bitterness, so much passion and sin? Should not Providence have +averted such things? The answer of Judaism has already been stated here, +but we need further elaboration of the theme that there is no evil before +God, since a good purpose is served even by that which appears bad. In the +life of the human body pleasure and pain, the impetus to life and its +restraint and inhibition form a necessary contrast, making for health; so, +in the moral order of the universe, each being who battles with evil +receives new strength for the unfolding of the good. The principle of +holiness, which culminates in Israel’s holy God, transforms and ennobles +every evil. As the Midrash explains, referring to Deut. XI, 26: “If thou +but seest that both good and evil are placed in thy hand, no evil will +come to thee from above, since thou knowest how to turn it into +good.”(523) + +2. The conception of evil passed through a development parallel with that +of the related conceptions which we have just reviewed. At first every +misfortune was considered to be inflicted by divine wrath as a punishment +for human misdeeds. Nations and individuals were thought to suffer for +some special moral cause; through suffering they were punished for past +wrong, warned against its repetition in the future, and urged to +repentance and improvement of their conduct. Even death, the fate of all +living creatures, was regarded as a punishment which the first pair of +human beings brought upon all their descendants through their +transgression of the divine command. The Talmudic sages clung to the view +of the Paradise legend in the Bible, when they held that every death is +due to some sin committed by the individual.(524) + +This view, which was shared by paganism, was accompanied by a higher +conception, gradually growing in the thinking mind. As a father does not +punish his child in anger, but in order to improve his conduct, so God +chastens man in order to purify his moral nature. Good fortune tends to +harden the heart; adversity often softens and sweetens it. In the crucible +of suffering the gold of the human soul is purified from the dross. The +evil strokes of destiny come upon the righteous, not because he deserves +them, but because his divine Friend is raising him to still higher tests +of virtue. This standpoint, never reached even by the pious sufferer Job, +is attained by rabbinic Judaism when it calls the visitations of the +righteous “trials of the divine love.”(525) Thus evil, both physical and +spiritual, receives its true valuation in the divine economy. Evil exists +only to be overcome by the good. In His paternal goodness God uses it to +educate His children for a place in His kingdom. + +3. According to the direct words of Scripture good and evil, light and +darkness, emanate alike from the Creator. This is accentuated by the great +seer of the Exile,(526) who protests against the Persian belief in a +creative principle of good and a destructive principle of evil. The +rabbis, however, ascribe the origin of evil to man; they take as a +negation rather than a question the verse in Lam. III, 38: “Do not evil +and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?” Thus they refer this to +the words of Deuteronomy, “Behold, I have set before you this day life and +good, death and evil; choose thou life!”(527) + +Such medieval thinkers as Abraham Ibn Daud and Maimonides did not ascribe +to evil any reality at all.(528) Evil to them is the negation of good, +just as darkness is the negation of light, or poverty of riches. As evil +exists only for man, man can overcome it by himself. Before God it has no +essential existence. Unfortunately, such metaphysics does not equip man +with strength and courage to cope with either pain or sin. The same lack +is evident in that modern form of pseudo-science which poses as a +religion, Christian Science, which has made propaganda so widely among +both Jews and non-Jews. Christian Science declares pain, sickness, and all +evil to be merely the “error of mortal mind,” which can all be dispelled +by faith; such a view neither strengthens the soul for its real struggles +nor convinces the mind by an appeal to facts.(529) + +4. Frail mortals as we are, we need the help of the living God. Thus only +can we overcome physical evil, knowing that He bears with us, feels with +us, and transforms it finally into good. We need it also to overcome moral +evil, in the consciousness that He has compassion upon the repentant +sinner and gives him courage to follow the right path. The modern +philosophers of pessimism had the correct feeling in adopting the Hindu +conception, and emphasizing the pain and misery of existence, repeating +Job’s ancient plaint over the hard destiny of mankind. The shallow +optimism of the age would rather conceal the dark side of life and indulge +in outbursts of self-sufficiency. Yet if we measure it only by a physical +yardstick, life cannot be called a boon. Against shallow optimism we have +the testimony of every thorn and sting, every poisonous breath and every +destructive element in nature’s household, as well as all vice and evil in +the world of man. The world does not appear good, unless we measure it by +the ideal of divine holiness. If God is the Father watching over the +welfare of every mortal, all things are good, because all serve a good +purpose in His eternal plan. Every hindrance or pressure engenders new +power; every sting acts as a spur to higher things. Short-sighted and +short-lived as is man, he forgets too easily that in the sight of God “a +thousand years are as a single day,” world-epochs like “watches in the +night,” and that the mills of divine justice grind on, “slowly but +exceeding small.” But one belief illumines the darkness of destiny, and +that is that God stands ever at the helm, steering through every storm and +tempest toward His sublime goal. In the moral striving of man we can but +realize that our every victory contributes toward the majestic work of +God.(530) + + + +Chapter XXX. God and the Angels + + +1. Judaism insists with unrelenting severity on the absolute unity and +incomparability of God, so that no other being can be placed beside Him. +Consequently, every mention of divine beings (_Elohim_ or _B’ne Elohim_) +in either the Bible or post-Biblical literature refers to subordinate +beings only. These spirits constitute the celestial court for the King of +the World.(531) All the forces of the universe are His servants, +fulfilling His commands. Hence both the Hebrew and Greek terms for angel, +_Malak_ and _angelos_, mean “messenger.” These beings derive their +existence from God; some of them are merely temporary, so that without Him +they dissolve into nothing. Although Scripture uses the terms, “God of +gods” and “King of kings,” still we cannot attribute any independent +existence to subordinate divine beings. In fact, Maimonides in his sixth +article of faith holds that worship of such beings is prohibited as +idolatry by the second commandment.(532) Thus the unity of God lifts Him +above comparison with any other divine being. This is most emphatically +expressed in Deuteronomy: “Know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that +the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is +none else,”(533) and “See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god +with Me; I kill and make alive; I have wounded and I heal, and there is +none that can deliver out of My hand.”(534) The same attitude is found in +Isaiah: “I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretched forth the +heavens alone, that spread abroad the earth by Myself” “I am the Lord and +there is none else; beside Me there is no god.”(535) Such conceptions +allow no place for angels or spirits. + +2. It was certainly not easy for prophet, lawgiver, or sage to dispel the +popular belief in divine beings or powers, which primitive Judaism shared +with other ancient faiths. No sharp line was drawn at first between God +and His accompanying angels, as we may infer from the story of the angels +who appeared to Abraham, and the similar incidents of Hagar and +Jacob.(536) The varying application of the term _Elohim_ to God and to the +angels or gods is proof enough of the priority of polytheism, even in +Judaism. The trees or springs, formerly seats of the ancient deities, +spirits, or demons, were now the places for the appearance of angels, +shorn of their independence, looking like fiery or shining human beings. +Popular belief, however, perpetuated mythological elements, ascribing to +the angels higher wisdom and sometimes sensuality as well. Such a case is +the fragment preserved in Genesis telling of the union of sons of God to +the daughters of men, causing the generation of giants.(537) Obviously the +old Babylonian “mountain of the gods,” with its food for the gods, became +in the Paradise legend the garden of Eden, the seat of God;(538) and the +Psalmist still speaks of the “angels’ food,” which appeared as manna in +the wilderness.(539) On the whole, the sacred writers were most eager to +allot to the angels a very subordinate position in the divine household. +They figure usually as hosts of beings, numbered by myriads, wrapped in +light or in fleeting clouds. They surround the throne or chariot of God; +they comprise His heavenly court or council; they sing His praise and obey +His call. + +Scripture is quite silent about the creation of these angelic beings, as +on most purely speculative questions. At the very beginning of the world +God consults them when He is to create man after the image of the +celestial beings. For this is the original meaning of _Elohim_ in Gen. I, +26 and 27 and V, 1: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”; +“And God created man in his own image, in the image of godly beings He +created him.” This view is echoed in Psalm VIII, verse 6: “Thou hast made +him a little lower than godly beings.” In Job XXXVIII, 7, both the morning +stars and the sons of God, or angels, “shout together in joy” when the +Lord laid the foundations of the earth.(540) + +3. In Biblical times—which does not include the book of Daniel, a work of +the Maccabean time—the angels and demons were not invested with proper +names or special functions. The Biblical system does not even distinguish +clearly between good and evil spirits. The goat-like demons of the field +popularly worshiped were merely survivals of pagan superstitions.(541) + +In general the angels carry out good or evil designs according to their +commands from the Lord of Hosts. They are sent forth to destroy Sodom, to +save Lot, and to bring Abraham the good tidings of the birth of a +son.(542) On one occasion the host of spirits protect the people of God; +on another they annihilate hostile powers by pestilence and plagues.(543) +At one time a multitude appear, led by a celestial chieftain; at another a +single angel performs the miracle. In any case the destroying angel is not +a demon, but a messenger of the divine will. Originally some of these +primitive forces were dreaded or worshiped by the people, but all have +been transformed into members of the celestial court and called to bear +witness to the dominion of the Omnipotent. + +4. The belief in angels served two functions in the development of +monotheism. On the one hand, it was a stage in the concentration of the +divine forces, beginning with polytheism, continuing through belief in +angels, and culminating in the one and only God of heaven and earth. On +the other hand, certain sensuous elements in the vision of God by the +seers had to be removed in the spiritualization of God, and it was found +easiest to transform these into separate beings, related to Deity himself. +Thus the fiery appearance of God to the eye or the voice which was +manifested to the ear were often personified as angels of God. This very +process made possible the purification of the God idea, as the sublime +essence of the Deity was divested of physical and temporal elements, and +God was conceived more and more as a moral and spiritual personality. +Hence in Biblical passages the names of God and of the angel frequently +alternate.(544) The latter is only a representative of the divine +personality—in Scriptural terms, the presence or “face” of God. Therefore +the voice of the angel is to be obeyed as that of God himself, because His +name is present in His representative. A similar meaning became attached +later on to the term _Shekinah_, the “majesty” of God as beheld in the +cloud of fire. This was spoken of in place of God that He might not be +lowered into the earthly sphere. For further discussion of this subject, +see chapter XXXII, “God and Intermediary Powers.” In fact, we note that +the post-exilic prophets all received their revelations, not from God, but +through a special angel.(545) They no longer believed that God might be +seen or heard by human powers, and therefore their visions had to be +translated into rational thoughts by a mediating angel. + +5. Persian influence gave Jewish angelology and demonology a different +character. The two realms of the Persian system included vast hosts of +beneficent spirits under Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) and of demons under the +dominion of Angro-mainyus (Ahriman). So in Judaism also different orders +of angels arose, headed by archangels who bore special names. The number +seven was adopted from the Persians, while both names and order were often +changed. All of them, however, were allotted special functions in the +divine household. The pagan deities and primitive spirits which still +persisted in popular superstition were given a new lease of life. Each +force of nature was given a guardian spirit, just as in nature-worship; +angels were appointed over fire, water, each herb, each fountain, and +every separate function of life. A patron angel was assigned to each of +the seventy nations of the world mentioned in the genealogy of Noah.(546) + +Thus the celestial court grew in number and in splendor. A beginning was +made with the heavenly chariot-throne of Ezekiel, borne aloft by the four +holy living creatures (the _hayoth_), surrounded by the fiery _Cherubim_, +the winged _Seraphim_, and the many-eyed _Ofanim_ (wheels).(547) This was +elaborated by the addition of rows of surrounding angels, called “angels +of service,” headed by the seven archangels. Of these the chief was +Michael, the patron-saint of Israel, and the next Gabriel, who is +sometimes even placed first. Raphael and Uriel are regularly mentioned, +the other three rarely, and not always by the same names. The _Irin_ of +Daniel—known as “the Watchers,” but more precisely “the ever-watchful +Ones”—are another of the ten classes of angels included. Below these are +myriads of inferior angels who serve them. Their classification by rank +was a favorite theme of the secret lore of the Essenes, partly preserved +for us in the apocalyptic literature and the liturgy. The Essenic saints +endeavored to acquire miraculous powers through using the names of certain +angels, and thus exorcising the evil spirits. + +This secret lore seems to be patterned after the Zoroastrian or Mazdean +system. It is noteworthy that the most prominent angelic figure is +_Metatron_, the charioteer of the _Merkabah_ or chariot-throne on high, +which is merely another form of _Mithras_, the Persian god of light, who +acts as charioteer for Ahura Mazda.(548) Two other angels are mentioned as +standing behind the heavenly throne, _Akathriel_, “the crown-bearer of +God,” and _Sandalphon_, “the twin brother” = Synadelphon. + +6. A striking contrast exists between the simple habitation in the sky +depicted in the prophetic and Mosaic books, and the splendor of the +heavenly spheres according to the rabbinical writings. The Oriental courts +lent all their grandeur to the majestic throne of God, on which He was +exalted above all earthly things. The immense space between was filled in +by innumerable gradations of beings leading up to Him. There was no longer +a question how far these other beings shared the nature of God; His +dominion was absolute. Still a new question, not known to the Bible, +arose, as to when the angelic world was created and out of what primordial +element. At first a logical answer was given, that the angels emanated +from the element of fire. Later the schoolmen, trying to dispose of the +angels as possible peers or rivals of the eternal God, ascribed their +creation to the second day, when the heaven was made as a vault over the +earth, or to the fifth day, when the winged creatures arose.(549) On the +whole, the rabbis denied every claim of the angels to an independent or an +eternal existence. Just because they firmly believed in the existence of +angels and even saw them from time to time, they felt bound to declare +their secondary rank. Only the archangels were made from an eternal +substance, while the others were continually being created anew out of the +breath of God or from the “river of fire” which flowed around His throne. +Thus even the realm of celestial spirits was merged into the stream of +universal life which comes and goes, while God was left alone in matchless +sovereignty, above all the fluctuations of time. + +On the other hand, the rabbis opposed the Essenic idea of assigning to the +angels an intermediary task between God and man, and deprecated as a pagan +custom the worship or invocation of angels. “Address your prayer to the +Master of life and not to His servants; He will hear you in every +trouble,” says R. Judan.(550) Some of the teachers even declared that any +godly son of Israel excels the angels in power. It is certainly +significant, as David Neumark has pointed out, that the Mishnah eliminates +every reference to the angels.(551) + +7. In spite of this, none of the medieval Jewish philosophers doubted the +existence of angels.(552) Indeed, there was no reason for them to do so, +as they had managed to insert them into their philosophic systems as +intermediary beings leading up to the Supreme Intelligence. All that was +necessary was to identify the angels of the Bible with the “ideas” of +Plato or the “rulers of the spheres,” the “separate intelligences” of +Aristotle. By this one step the existence of angels as cosmic powers was +proved to be a logical necessity. The ten rulers of the spheres even +corresponded with the ten orders of angels in the cosmography of the +Jewish, Mohammedan, and Christian schoolmen. The only difference between +the Aristotelian and the rabbinical views was that the former held the +cosmic powers to be eternal; the latter, that they were created. + +In both Biblical and rabbinical literature the angels are usually +conceived of as purely spiritual powers superior to man. Maimonides, +however, following his rationalistic method, declared them to be simply +products of the imagination, the hypostases of figurative expressions +which were not meant to be taken literally. To him every force and element +of nature is an angel or messenger of God. In this way the entire +angelology of the Bible, including even Ezekiel’s vision of the heavenly +chariot (the _Merkabah_), in becoming a part of the Maimonidean system +turns into natural philosophy pure and simple.(553) Of course, Saadia, +Jehuda ha Levi, and Gabirol do not share this rationalistic view. To them +the angels are either cosmic powers of an ethereal substance, endowed with +everlasting life, or living beings created by God for special +purposes.(554) + +The later Cabbalistic lore extended the realm of the celestial spirits +still more, creating new names of angels for its mystical system and its +magical practices. Yet in this magic it subordinated the angels to man. In +fact, it followed Saadia largely in this, making man the center and +pinnacle of the work of creation, in fact, the very mirror of the +Creator.(555) + +8. For our modern viewpoint the existence of angels is a question of +psychology rather than of theology. The old Babylonian world has vanished, +with its heaven as the dwelling place of God, its earth for man, and its +nether world for the shades and demons. The world in which we live knows +no above or beneath, no heaven or hell, no host of good and evil spirits +moving about to help or hurt man. It sees matter and energy working +everywhere after the same immutable laws through an infinitude of space +and time, a universe ever evolving new orbs of light, engendering and +transforming worlds without number and without end. There is no place in +infinite space for a heaven or for a celestial throne. A world of law and +of process does not need a living ladder to lead from the earth below to +God on high. Though the stars be peopled with souls superior to ours, +still they cannot stand nearer to God than does man with his freedom, his +moral striving, his visions of the highest and the best. Through man’s +spiritual nature God, too, is recognized as a Spirit; through man’s moral +consciousness God is conceived of as the Ruler of a moral world; but this +same process at once does away with the need for any other spirits or +divine powers beside Him. God alone has become the object of human +longing. Man feels akin to His God who is ever near; he learns to know Him +ever better. He can dispense with the angelic hosts. As they return to the +fiery stream of poetic imagination whence they emerged, nebulous figures +of a glorious world that has vanished, man rises above angel and Seraph by +his own power to the dignity of a servant, nay, a child of God. Indeed, as +the rabbis said, the prophets, sages, and seers are the true messengers of +God, the angels who do His service.(556) + + + +Chapter XXXI. Satan and the Spirits of Evil + + +1. The great advantage of Judaism over other religious systems lies in its +unified view of life, which it regards as a continuous conflict between +good and evil influences within man. As man succeeds in overcoming evil +and achieving good, he asserts his own moral personality. Outside of man +Judaism sees no real contrast between good and evil, since both have +emanated from God, the Spirit of goodness. Judaism recognizes no primal +power of evil plotting against God and defying Him, such as that of the +Persian dualism. Nor does Judaism espouse the dualism of spirit and +matter, identifying matter with evil, from which the soul strives to free +itself while confined in the prison house of the body. Such a conception +is taught by Plato, probably under Oriental influence, and is shared by +the Hindu and Christian ascetics who torture themselves in order to +suppress bodily desire in their quest of a higher existence. The Jewish +conception of the unity of God necessitates the unity of the world, which +leaves no place for a cosmic principle of evil. In this Judaism dissents +from modern philosophers also, such as John Stuart Mill and even Kant, who +speak of a radical evil in nature. No power of evil can exist in +independence of God.(557) As the Psalmist says: “His kingdom ruleth over +all. Bless the Lord, ye angels of His, ye mighty in strength that fulfill +His word, hearkening unto the voice of His word.”(558) + +This increased the difficulty of the problem of the origin of evil. The +answer given by the general Jewish consciousness, expressed by both +Biblical and rabbinical writers, is that evil comes from the free will of +man, who is endowed with the power of rebelling against the will of God. +This idea is symbolized in the story of the fall of man. The serpent, or +tempter, represents the evil inclination which arises in man with his +first consciousness of freedom. So in Jewish belief Satan, the Adversary, +is only an allegorical figure, representing the evil of the world, both +physical and moral. He was sent by God to test man for his own good, to +develop him morally. He is “the spirit that ever wills evil, but achieves +the good,” and therefore in the book of Job he actually comes before God’s +throne as one of the angels.(559) + +2. In tracing the belief in demons we must draw a sharp distinction +between popular views and systematic doctrine.(560) During the Biblical +era the people believed in goat-like spirits roaming the fields and woods, +the deserts and ravines, whom they called _Seirim_—hairy demons, or +satyrs,—and to whom they sacrificed in fear and trembling.(561) As Ibn +Ezra ingeniously pointed out in his commentary, Azazel was originally a +desert demon dwelling in the ravines near Jerusalem, to whom a scapegoat +was offered at the opening of the year, a rite preserved in the Day of +Atonement cult of the Mosaic Code.(562) In fact, in ancient Babylon, +Syria, and Palestine diseases and accidents were universally ascribed to +evil spirits of the wilderness or the nether world. The Bible occasionally +mentions these evil spirits as punitive angels sent by God. In the more +popular view, which is reflected by apocryphal and rabbinical literature, +and which was influenced by both the Babylonian and Persian religions, +they appear in increasing numbers and with specific names. Each disease +had its peculiar demon. Desolate places, cemeteries, and the darkness of +night were all peopled by superstition with hosts of demons (_Shedim_), at +whose head was _Azazel_, _Samael_; _Beelzebub_, the Philistine god of +flies and of illness;(563) _Belial_, king of the nether world;(564) or the +Persian _Ashma Deva_ (Evil Spirit), under the Hebrew name of _Ashmodai_ or +_Shemachzai_.(565) The queen of the demons was _Lilith_ or _Iggereth bath +Mahlath_, “the dancer on the housetops.”(566) + +The Essenes seem to have made special studies of both demonology and +angelology, believing that they could invoke the good spirits and conjure +the evil ones, thus curing various diseases, which they ascribed to +possession by demons. While these exorcisms are not so common in the +Talmud as they are in the New Testament, there remain many indications +that such practices were followed by Jewish saints and believed by the +people. Often the rabbis seem to have considered them the work of “unclean +spirits,” which they endeavored to overcome with the “spirit of holiness,” +and particularly by the study of the Torah.(567) + +3. This answers implicitly the question of the origin of demons. Obviously +the belief in malevolent spirits is incompatible with the existence of an +all-benign and all-wise Creator. Accordingly, two alternative explanations +are offered in the rabbinical and apocalyptic writings. According to one, +the demons are half angelic and half animal beings, sharing intelligence +and flight with the angels, sensuality with beasts and with men. Their +double nature is ascribed to incompleteness, because they were created +last of all beings, and their creation was interrupted by the coming of +the Sabbath, putting an end to all creation.(568) According to the other +view they are the offspring of the “fallen angels,” issuing from the union +of the angels with the daughters of men as described in Gen. VI, 1 f. +These spread the virus of impurity over all the earth, causing carnal +desire and every kind of lewdness. The whole world of demons is regarded +as alienated from God by the rebellion of the heavenly hosts, as if the +fall of man by sin had its prototype in the celestial sphere.(569) A +rabbinical legend, which corresponds with a Persian myth, ascribes the +origin of demons to the intercourse of Adam with Lilith, the night +spirit.(570) On the other hand, the archangel Samael is said to have cast +lascivious glances at the beauty of Eve, and then to have turned into +Satan the Tempter.(571) The Jewish systems of both angelology and +demonology, first worked out in the apocalyptic literature, were further +elaborated by the Cabbalah. + +Angelology found a conspicuous place in the liturgy in connection with the +_Kedushah_ Benediction and likewise in the liturgy and the theology of the +Church.(572) + +On the other hand the belief in evil spirits and in Satan, the Evil One, +remained rather a matter of popular credulity and never became a positive +doctrine of the Synagogue. True, the liturgy contained morning prayers +which asked God for protection against the Evil One, and formulas invoking +the angels to shield one during the night from evil spirits.(573) But the +arch-fiend was never invested with power over the soul, depriving man of +his perfect freedom and divine sovereignty, as in the Christian Church. + +4. In the formation of the idea of the arch-fiend, Satan, we can observe +the interworking of several elements. The name Satan in no way indicates a +demon. It denotes simply the adversary, the one who offers hindrances. The +name was thus applied to the accuser at court.(574) In Zechariah and in +Job(575) Satan appears at the throne of God as the prosecutor, roaming +about the earth to espy the transgressions of men, seeking to lure them to +their destruction. In the Books of Chronicles(576) Satan has become a +proper name, meaning the Seducer. + +The Serpent in the Paradise story is more completely a demon, although the +legend intends rather to account for man’s morality, his distinction +between good and evil. Satan was then identified with the serpent, who was +called by the rabbis _Nahash ha Kadmoni_, “the primeval Serpent,” after +the analogy of the serpent-like form of Ahriman. Thus Satan in the person +of the serpent became the embodiment of evil, the prime cause of sin and +death.(577) Possibly a part in this process was played by the Babylonian +figure of _Tihamat_, the dragon of _chaos_ (_Tehom_ in the Hebrew), with +whom the god Marduk wrestled for dominion over the world, and who has +parallels in the Biblical Rahab and similar mythological figures. + +We must not overlook such rabbinical legends as the one about how the +poisonous breath of the serpent infected the whole human race, except +Israel who has been saved by the law at Sinai.(578) Occasionally we hear +that the Evil Spirit (_Yezer ha Ra_) will be slain by God(579) or by the +Messiah.(580) These Haggadic sayings, however, were never accepted as +normative for religious belief. On the contrary, they were always in +dispute, and many a Talmudic teacher minimized the fiendish character of +Satan, who became a stimulus to moral betterment through the trials he +imposes.(581) Philo, allegorizing the legends, turns the evil angels of +the Bible into wicked men.(582) + +5. As to demons in general, the Talmudists never doubted their existence, +but endeavored to minimize their importance. They changed the demon +_Azazel_ into a geographical term by transposing the letters.(583) They +explained “the sons of God who came to the daughters of men to give birth +to the giants of old” as aristocratic Sethites who intermarried with +low-class families of the Cainites.(584) As to the rest, the entire belief +in demons and ghosts was too deeply rooted in the folk mind to be +counteracted by the rabbis. Even lucid thinkers of the Middle Ages were +caught by these baneful superstitions, including Jehuda ha Levi, Crescas, +and Nahmanides, the mystic.(585) Only a small group fought against this +offshoot of fear and superstition, among them Saadia, Maimonides and his +school, Ibn Ezra, Gersonides, and Juda Ibn Balag. To Maimonides the demons +mentioned in Mishnah and Talmud are only figurative expressions for +physical plagues. He considers the belief in demons equivalent to a belief +in pagan deities. “Many pious Israelites,” he says,(586) “believe in the +reality of demons and witches, thinking that they should not be made the +object of worship and regard, for the reason that the Torah has prohibited +it. But they fail to see that the Law commands us to banish all these +things from sight, because they are but falsehood and deceit, as is the +whole idolatry with which they are intrinsically connected.” + +6. This sound view was disseminated by the rationalistic school in its +contest with the Cabbalah, and has exerted a wholesome influence upon +modern Judaism. Thus Satan is rejected by Jewish doctrine, while Luther +and Calvin, the Reformers of the Christian Church, still believed in him. +Milton’s “Paradise Lost” placed him in the very foreground of Christian +belief, and the leaders of the Protestant Churches, up to the present, +accord him a prominent place in their scheme of salvation, as the opponent +and counterpart of God. In his work on Christian dogmatics, David +Friedrich Strauss observes acutely: “The whole (Christian) idea of the +Messiah and his kingdom must necessarily have as its counterpart a kingdom +of demons with a personal ruler at its head; without this it is no more +possible than the north pole of the magnet would be without a south pole. +If Christ has come to destroy the works of the Devil, there would be no +need for him to come, unless there were a Devil. On the other hand, if the +Devil is to be considered merely the personification of evil, then a +Christ who would be only the personification of the ideal, but not a real +personality, would suffice equally.”(587) At present Christian theologians +and even philosophers have recourse to Platonic and Buddhist ideas, that +evil is implanted in the world from which humanity must free itself, and +they thus present Christianity as the _religion of redemption par +excellence_.(588) Over against this, Judaism still maintains that there is +no radical or primitive evil in the world. No power exists which is +intrinsically hostile to God, and from which man must be redeemed. +According to the Jewish conception, the goodness and glory of God fill +both heaven and earth, while holiness penetrates all of life, bringing +matter and flesh within the realm of the divine. Evil is but the contrast +of good, as shade is but the contrast of light. Evil can be overcome by +each individual, as he realizes his own solemn duty and the divine will. +Its only existence is in the field of morality, where it is a test of +man’s freedom and power. Evil is within man, and against it he is to wage +the battles of life, until his victory signalizes the triumph of the +divine in his own nature.(589) + + + +Chapter XXXII. God and the Intermediary Powers + + +1. In addition to the angels who carried out God’s will in the universe, +the Biblical and post-Biblical literature recognizes other divine powers +which mediate between Him and the world of man. The more a seer or thinker +became conscious of the spirituality and transcendency of God, the more he +felt the gulf between the infinite Spirit and the world of the senses. In +order to bridge this gap, the Deity was replaced by one of His +manifestations which could appear and act in a world circumscribed by +space and time.(590) As we found in prophecy the direct revelation of God +giving way to a mediating angel, so either “the Glory” or “the Name” of +JHVH takes the place of God himself. That is, instead of God’s own being, +His reflected radiance or the power invested in His name descends from on +high. The rabbis kept the direct revelation of God for the hallowed past +or the desired future, but at the same time they needed a suitable term +for the presence of God; they therefore coined the word _Shekinah_—“the +divine Condescension” or “Presence”—to be used instead of the Deity +himself. Thus the verse of the Psalm:(591) “God standeth in the +congregation of God,” is translated by the Targum, “The divine Presence +(_Shekinah_) resteth upon the congregation of the godly.” Instead of the +conclusion of the speech to Moses, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I +may dwell among them,”(592) the Targum has, “And I shall let My Presence +(_Shekinah_) dwell among them.” Thus in the view of the rabbis _Shekinah_ +represents the visible part of the divine majesty, which descends from +heaven to earth, and on the radiance of which are fed the spiritual +beings, both angels and the souls of the saints.(593) God himself was +wrapped in light, whose brilliancy no living being, however lofty, could +endure; but the _Shekinah_ or reflection of the divine glory might be +beheld by the elect either in their lifetime or in the hereafter. In this +way the rabbis solved many contradictory passages of Scripture, some of +which speak of God as invisible, while others describe man as beholding +Him.(594) + +2. Just as the references to God’s appearing to man suggested luminous +powers mediating the vision of God, so the passages which represent God as +speaking suggest powers mediating the voice. Hence arose the conception of +the divine _Word_, invested with divine powers both physical and +spiritual. The first act of God in the Bible is that He spoke, and by this +word the world came into being. The _Word_ was thus conceived of as the +first created being, an intermediary power between the Spirit of the world +and the created world order. The word of God, important in the cosmic +order, is still more so in the moral and spiritual worlds. The Word is at +times a synonym of divine revelation to the men of the early generations +or to Israel, the bearer of the Law. Hence the older Haggadah places +beside the _Shekinah_ the divine _Word_ (Hebrew, _Maamar_; Aramaic, +_Memra_; Greek, _Logos_) as the intermediary force of revelation. + +Contact with the Platonic and Stoic philosophies led gradually to a new +development which appears in Philo. The Word or Logos becomes “the +first-created Son of God,” having a personality independent from God; in +fact he is a kind of vice regent of God himself. From this it was but a +short step toward considering him a partner and peer of the Almighty, as +was done by the Church with its doctrine that the Word became flesh in +Christ, the son of God.(595) In view of this the rabbinical schools gave +up the idea of the personified Word, replacing it with the _Torah_ or the +_Spirit of God_. The older term was retained only in liturgical formulas, +such as: “Who created the heavens by His Word,” or, “Who by His Word +created the twilight and by Wisdom openeth the gates of heaven.”(596) + +3. As has been shown above,(597) Wisdom is described in the Bible as the +first of all created beings, the assistant and counselor of God in the +work of creation. Then we see that Ben Sira identifies Wisdom with the +Torah.(598) Thus the Torah, too, was raised to a cosmic power, the sum and +substance of all wisdom. In fact, the Torah, like the Logos of Plato, was +regarded as comprising the ideas or prototypes of all things as in a +universal plan. The Torah is the divine pattern for the world. In such a +connection _Torah_ is far from meaning the Law, as Weber asserts.(599) It +means rather the heavenly book of instruction which contains all the +wisdom of the ages, and which God himself used as guide at the Creation. +God is depicted as an architect with His plan drafted before He began the +erection of the edifice,—a conception which avoids all danger of deifying +the Logos. + +4. Several other conceptions, however, do not belong at all to the +intermediary powers, where Weber places them.(600) This applies to +_Metatron_ (identical with the Persian Mithras),(601) whom the mystic lore +calls the charioteer of the heavenly throne-chariot, represented by the +rabbis as the highest of the angels, leader of the heavenly hosts, and +vice-regent of God. That no cosmic power was ascribed to him is proved by +the very fact of his identification with Enoch, whom the pre-Talmudic +Haggadah describes as taken up into heaven and changed into an angel of +the highest rank, standing near God’s throne.(602) + +5. The only real mediator between God and man is the _Spirit of God_, +which is mentioned in connection with both the creation and divine +revelation. In the first chapter of Genesis the Spirit of God is described +as hovering over the gloom of chaos like the mother bird over the egg, +ready to hatch out the nascent world.(603) God breathed His spirit into +the body of man, to make him also god-like.(604) The prophet likewise is +inspired by the spirit of God to see visions and to hear the divine +message.(605) Thus the spirit of God has two aspects; it is the cosmic +principle which imbues primal matter with life; it is a link between the +soul of man and God on high. The view of Ezekiel was but one step from +this, to conceive the spirit as a personal being, and place him beside God +as an angel. + +The prophets and psalmists, feeling the spirit of God upon them, +considered it an emanation of the Deity. Still, a profounder insight soon +disapproved the severance of the Spirit of God from God himself, as if He +were not altogether _spirit_. Therefore the accepted term came to be the +_Holy Spirit_.(606) In this form, however, his personality became more +distinct and his separate existence more defined. Henceforth he is the +messenger of God, performing miracles or causing them, speaking in the +place of God, or defending His people Israel. Nay, more, the Holy Spirit +is supposed to have dictated the words of Scripture to the sacred writers, +and to have inspired the Men of the Great Synagogue in collecting the +sacred writings into a canon.(607) + +Moreover, the workings of the Holy Spirit continued long after the +completion of the Biblical canon. All the chief institutions of the +Synagogue originally claimed that they were prompted by the Holy Spirit, +resting upon the leaders of the community. This claim was basic to the +authority of tradition and the continuity of the authority of Jewish lore. +It seems, however, that certain abuses were caused by miracle-workers who +disseminated false doctrines under the alleged inspiration of the Holy +Spirit. Therefore the rabbis restricted such claims to ancient times and +insisted more strongly than ever upon the preservation of the traditional +lore. For a time a substitute was found in the _Bath Kol_ (“Echo” or +“Whisper of a heavenly voice”), but this also was soon discredited by the +schools.(608) Obviously the rabbis desired to avert the deification of +either the Holy Spirit or the Word. Sound common sense was their norm for +interpreting the truth of the divine revelation. In other words, they +relied on God alone as the living force in the development of Judaism. + +6. But some sort of mediation was ascribed to several other spiritual +forces. First, the _Name_ of God often takes the place of God +himself.(609) When the name of the Deity was called over some hallowed +spot, the worshipers felt that the presence of God also was bound up with +the sacred place.(610) + +“My name is in him,” says God of the angel whom He sends to lead the +people.(611) The invocation of the name was believed to have an actual +influence upon the Deity. Furthermore, since God is frequently represented +as swearing by His own name,(612) this ineffable name was invested with +magic powers, as if God himself dwelt therein.(613) Thus it came to be +used as a talisman by the popular saints.(614) Indeed, God is described as +conjuring the depths of the abyss by His holy name, lest they overflow +their boundaries.(615) Moreover, the Name, like the Word, or Logos, was +regarded as a creative power, so that we are told that before the world +was created there were only God and His holy Name.(616) Owing to the +introduction of _Adonai_ (the Lord) for JHVH, the pronunciation of the +Name fell into oblivion and the Name itself became a mystery; therefore +its cosmic element also was lost and it dropped into the sphere of mystic +and philosophical speculation. + +7. Another attribute of God which received some attention, owing to the +frequent mention of the omnipotence of God in the Bible, was _ha Geburah_ +(the Power). A familiar rabbinic expression is: “We have heard from the +mouth of the Power,” that is, from the divine omnipotence.(617) Two +fundamental principles were early perceived in the moral order of the +world: the punitive justice and compassion of God. These were taken as the +meanings of the two most common Biblical names of God, _JHVH_ and +_Elohim_. Elohim, being occasionally used in dispensing justice,(618) was +thought to signify God in His capacity as Judge of the whole earth, and +hence as the divine Justice. JHVH, on the other hand, meant the divine +mercy, as it was used in the revelation of the long-suffering and merciful +God to Moses after the sin of Israel before the golden calf.(619) Thus +both the rabbis and Philo(620) often speak of these two attributes, +justice and mercy, as though they constituted independent beings, +deliberating with God as to what He should do. The Midrash tells in a +parable how before the creation of man, Justice, Mercy, Truth, and Peace +were called in by God as His counselors to deliberate whether or no man +should be created.(621) + +8. One Haggadah concludes from the passage about Creation in Proverbs, +that there are three creative powers, Wisdom, Understanding, and +Knowledge.(622) Another derives from Scripture seven creative principles: +Knowledge, Understanding, Might, Grace and Mercy, Justice and Rebuke;(623) +and seven attributes which do service before God’s throne: Wisdom, +Judgment and Justice, Grace and Mercy, Truth and Peace.(624) By combining +these lists of three and seven this was finally enlarged to ten, which +became the basis for the entire mystic lore. Thus the Babylonian master +Rab enumerates ten creative principles: Wisdom, Understanding, and +Knowledge, Might and Power, Rebuke, Justice and Righteousness, Love and +Mercy.(625) It is hard to say whether the ten attributes of the Haggadah +are at all connected with the ten _Sefiroth_ (cosmic forces or circles) of +the Cabbalah. These last are hardly the creation of pure monotheism, but +rather emanations from the infinite, conceived after the pattern of +heathen ideas.(626) + +9. The assumption of all these intermediaries aimed chiefly to +spiritualize the conception of God and to elevate Him above all +child-like, anthropomorphic views, so that He becomes a free Mind ruling +the whole universe. At the same time, it became natural to ascribe +material substance to these intermediaries. As they filled the chasm +between the supermundane Deity and the world of the senses, they had to +share the nature of both matter and mind. Hence the Shekinah and the Holy +Spirit are described by both the rabbis and the medieval philosophers as a +fine, luminous, or ethereal substance.(627) The entire ancient and +medieval systems were modeled after the idea of a ladder leading up, step +by step, from the lowest to the highest sphere; God, the Most High, being +at the same time above the highest rung of the ladder and yet also a part +of the whole. + +10. Our modern system of thought holds the relation of God to nature and +man to be quite different from all this. To our mind God is the only moral +and spiritual power of life. He is mirrored in the moral and spiritual as +well as intellectual nature of man, and therefore is near to the human +conscience, owing to the divine forces within man himself. Not the world +without, but the world within leads us to God and tells us what God is. +Hence we need no intermediary beings, and they all evaporate before our +mental horizon like mist, pictures of the imagination without objective +reality. Ibn Ezra says in the introduction to his commentary on the Bible +that the human reason is the true intermediating angel between God and +man, and we hold this to be true of both the intellect and the conscience. +For the theologian and the student of religion to-day the center of +gravity of religion is to be sought in psychology and anthropology. In all +his upward striving, his craving and yearning for the highest and the +best, in his loftiest aspirations and ideals, man, like Isaiah the +prophet, can behold only the hem of God’s garment; he seeks God above him, +because he feels Him within himself. He must pass, however, through the +various stages of growth, until his self-knowledge leads to the knowledge +of the God before whom he kneels in awe. Then finally he feels Him as his +Father, his Educator in the school of life, the Master of the universal +plan in which the individual also has a place in building up the divine +kingdom of truth, justice, and holiness on earth. For centuries he groped +for God, until he received a Book to serve as “a lamp to his feet and a +light to his path,” to interpret to him his longing and his craving. +Israel’s Book of Books must ever be re-read and re-interpreted by Israel, +the keeper of the book, through ages yet to come. Well may we say: the +mediator between God and the world is _man_, the son of God; the mediator +between God and humanity is _Israel_, the people of God. + + + + + +PART II. MAN + + + + +Chapter XXXIII. Man’s Place in Creation + + +1. The doctrine concerning man is inseparably connected with that about +God. Heathenism formed its deities after the image of man; they were +merely human beings of a larger growth. Judaism, on the contrary, asserts +that God is beyond comparison with mankind; He is a purely spiritual being +without form or image, and therefore utterly unlike man. On the other +hand, man has a divine nature, as he was made in the image of God, +fashioned after His likeness. The highest and deepest in man, his mental, +moral, and spiritual life, is the reflection of the divine nature +implanted within him, a force capable of ever greater development toward +perfection. This unique distinction among all creatures gives man the +highest place in all creation. + +2. The superiority of the human race is expressed differently in various +passages in Scripture. According to the first chapter of Genesis the whole +work of creation finds its culmination in man, whose making is introduced +by a solemn appeal of God to the hosts of heaven: “Let us make man in our +image, after our likeness.”(628) This declaration proclaimed that man was +the completion and the climax of the physical creation, as well as the +beginning of a new order of creation, a world of moral aims and purposes, +of self-perfection and self-control. In the world of man all life is +placed at the service of a higher ideal, after the divine pattern. + +The second chapter of Genesis depicts man’s creation differently. Here he +appears as the first of created beings, leading a life of perfect +innocence in the garden of divine bliss. Before him God brings all the +newly created beings that he may give them a name and a purpose. But the +Serpent enters Paradise as tempter, casting the seed of discord into the +hearts of the man and the woman. As they prove too feeble to resist +temptation, they can no longer remain in the heavenly garden in their +former happy state. Only the memory of Paradise remains, a golden dream to +cast hope over the life of struggle and labor into which they enter. The +idea of the legend is that man’s proper place is not among beings of the +earth, but he can reach his lofty destiny only by arduous struggle with +the world of the senses and a constant striving toward the divine. The +same idea is expressed more directly in the eighth Psalm: + + + “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? + And the son of man, that Thou thinkest of him? + Yet Thou hast made him but little lower than the godly beings + (Elohim) + And hast crowned him with glory and honor. + Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; + Thou hast put all things under his feet.” + + +3. According to the Haggadists,(629) before the fall man excelled even the +angels in appearance and wisdom, so that they were ready to prostrate +themselves before him. Only when God caused a deep sleep to fall upon man, +they recognized his frailty and kinship with other beings of the earth. +The idea expressed in this legend resembles the one implied in the legend +of Paradise, viz. man has a twofold nature. With his heavenly spirit he +can soar freely to the highest realm of thought, above the station of the +angels; yet his earthly frame holds him ever near the dust. It is this +very contrast that constitutes his greatness, for it makes him a citizen +of two worlds, one perishable, the other eternal. He is the highest result +of Creation, the pride of the Creator.(630) Thus he was appointed God’s +vice-regent on earth by the words spoken to the first man and woman: “Be +fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have +dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over +every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.”(631) The rabbis add a +striking comment upon the word _R’du_, which is used here for “have +dominion” but which may also mean, “go down.” They say: “The choice is +left in man’s own hand. If you maintain your heaven-born dignity, you will +have dominion over all things; if not, you will descend to the level of +the brute creation.”(632) + +4. An ancient Mishnah derives a significant lesson from the story of the +creation of man(633): “Both the vegetable and animal worlds were created +in multitudes. Man alone was created as a single individual in order that +he may realize that he constitutes a world in himself, and carries within +him the true value of life. Hence each human being is entitled to say: +‘The whole world was created for my sake.’ He who saves a single human +life is as one who saves a whole world, and he who destroys a single human +life is as one who destroys a whole world.” + +5. While it is man’s spiritual side which is the image of God, yet he +derives all his powers and faculties from earthly life, just as a tree +draws its strength from the soil in which it is rooted. Judaism does not +consider the soul the exclusive seat of the divine, as opposed to the +body. In fact, Judaism admits no complete dualism of spirit and matter, +however striking some aspects of their contrast may be. The whole human +personality is divine, just so far as it asserts its freedom and molds its +motives toward a divine end. In recognition of this fact Hillel claimed +reverence for the human body as well as mind, comparing it to the homage +rendered to the statue of a king, for man is made in the image of God, the +King of all the world.(634) Thus the Greek idea that man is a _microcosm_, +a world in miniature, reflecting the cosmos on a smaller scale, was +expressed in the Tannaitic schools as well.(635) The stamp of divinity is +borne by man in his entire heaven-aspiring nature, as he strives to +elevate the very realm of the senses into the sphere of morality and +holiness. + +6. In this respect the Jewish view parts from that of Plato and the Hindu +philosophers. These divide man into a pure celestial soul and an impure +earthly body and hold that the physical life is tainted by sin, while the +spirit is divine only in so far as it frees itself from its prison house +of flesh. Judaism, on the other hand, emphasizes the unified character of +man, by which he can bend all his faculties and functions to a godlike +mastery over the material world. This appears first in his upright posture +and heavenward glance, which proclaim him master over the whole animal +world cowering before him in lowly dread. His whole bodily structure +corresponds to this, with its constant growth, its wondrous symmetry, and +the unique flexibility of the hands, with which he can perform ever new +and greater achievements. Above all, we see the nobility of man in his +high forehead and receding jaw, which contrast so strikingly with the +structure of most animals and even with many of the lower races. Indeed, +primitive man could scarcely imagine a nobler pattern by which to model +his deity than the figure of a man. + +7. In fact, the Biblical verse, “God created man after the image of the +divine beings” (_elohim_), was originally taken literally, in the sense +that angels posed as models for the creation of man.(636) The phrase was +referred to the spiritual, god-like nature of man only when the difference +between material and spiritual things became better understood, and man +obtained a clearer knowledge of himself. Man grew to feel that his craving +for the perfect, whether in the field of truth and right, or of beauty, is +the force which lifts him, in spite of all his limitations, into the realm +of the divine. His soaring imagination and ceaseless longing for +perfection disclose before his eyes a partial vista of the infinite. The +human spirit carries mortal man above the confines of time and space into +those boundless realms where God resides in lonely majesty.(637) + +Man did not emanate perfect from the hand of the Creator, but ready for an +ever greater perfection. Being the last of all created beings, as the +Midrash says, he can be put to shame by the smallest insect, which is +prior to him. Yet before the beginning of creation a light shone upon his +spirit that has illumined his achievements through untold +generations.(638) + +8. The resemblance of man to God is attributed also to his free will and +self-consciousness, by which he claims moral dignity and mastery over all +things.(639) Still, all these superior qualities which we call human are +not ready-made endowments, free gifts bestowed by God; they are simply +potentialities which may be gradually developed. Man must strive to attain +the place destined for him in the scheme of creation by the exertion of +his own will and the unfolding of the powers that lie within him. The +impulse toward self-perfection, which is constantly stimulated by the +desire to overcome obstacles and to extend one’s power, knowledge, and +possessions, forms the kernel of the divine in man. This is the “spirit in +man, and the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding.”(640) +Thus the teaching of modern science, of the gradual ascent of man through +all the stages of animal life, does not impair the lofty position in +creation which Judaism has assigned him. Plant and animal are what they +have always been, children of the earth; man with his heaven-aspiring soul +is the image of his Creator, a child of God. Giver of name and purpose to +all things about him, he ranks above the angels; he “marches on while all +the rest stand still.”(641) + + + + +Chapter XXXIV. The Dual Nature of Man + + +1. According to Jewish doctrines, man is formed by a union of two natures: +the flesh, which he shares with all the animals, and the spirit, which +renders him a child of God. The former is rooted in the earth and is +earthward bent; the latter is a “breath from God” and strives to unfold +the divine in man until he attains the divine image. This discord brings a +tremendous internal conflict, leading from one historic stage to another, +achieving ever higher things, intellectual, moral, and spiritual, until at +last the whole earth is to be a divine kingdom, the dwelling-place of +truth, goodness, and holiness. + +2. According to the Biblical view man consists of flesh (_basar_) and +spirit (_ruah_). The term flesh is used impartially of all animals, hence +the Biblical term “all flesh”(642) includes both man and beast. The body +becomes a living being by being penetrated with the “breath of life” +(_ruah hayim_), at whose departure the living body turns at once into a +lifeless clod. This breath of life is possessed by the animal as well as +by man, as both of them breathe the air. Hence in ancient tongues “breath” +and “soul” are used as synonyms, as the Hebrew _nefesh_ and _neshamah_, +the Latin _anima_ and _spiritus_, the Greek _pneuma_ and _psyche_. A +different primitive belief connected the soul with the blood, noting that +man or beast dies when the hot life-blood flows out of the body, so that +we read in the Bible, “the blood is the soul.”(643) In this the soul is +identified with the life, while the word _ruah_, denoting the moving force +of the air, is used more in the sense of spirit or soul as distinct from +the body. + +Thus both man and beast possess a soul, _nefesh_. The soul of man is +merely distinguished by its richer endowment, its manifold faculties by +which it is enabled to move forward to higher things. Thus the animal soul +is bound for all time to its destined place, while the divine spirit in +man makes him a free creative personality, self-conscious and god-like. +For this reason the creation of man forms a special act in the account in +Genesis. Both the plant and animal worlds rose at God’s bidding from the +soil of mother earth, and the soul of the animal is limited in origin and +goal by the earthly sphere. The creation of man inaugurates a new world. +God is described as forming the body of man from the dust of the earth and +then breathing His spirit into the lifeless frame, endowing it with both +life and personality. The whole man, both body and soul, has thus the +potentiality of a higher and nobler life. + +3. Accordingly Scripture does not have a thorough-going dualism, of a +carnal nature which is sinful and a spiritual nature which is pure. We are +not told that man is composed of an impure earthly body and a pure +heavenly soul, but instead that the whole of man is permeated by the +spirit of God. Both body and soul are endowed with the power of continuous +self-improvement. In order to see the great superiority of the Jewish view +over the heathen one, we need only study the old Babylonian legend +preserved by Berosus. In this the deity made man by mixing earth with some +of its own life-blood, thus endowing the human soul with higher powers. In +the Bible the difference between man and beast does not lie in the blood, +although the blood is still thought to be the life. The distinction of man +is in the spirit, _ruah_, which emanates from God and penetrates both body +and soul, lifting the whole man into a higher realm and making him a free +moral personality. + +Still the Bible makes no clear distinction between the three terms, +_nefesh_, _neshamah_, and _ruah_.(644) Philo first distinguished between +three different substances of the soul, but his theory was the Platonic +one, for which he simply used the three Biblical names.(645) The Jewish +philosophers of the Middle Ages, beginning with Saadia, took the same +attitude, even though they realized more or less that the division of the +soul into three substances has no Scriptural warrant.(646) In rabbinical +literature this division is scarcely known, and there is little mention of +either the animal soul, _nefesh_, or the vital spark, _ruah_. Instead the +word _neshamah_ is used for the human _psyche_ as the higher spiritual +substance, and the contrast to it is not the Biblical _basar_, flesh, but +the Aramaic _guph_, body.(647) This bears a trace of Persian dualism, with +its strong contrast between the earthly body and the heavenly soul. + +4. In fact, rabbinical Judaism does not recognize any relationship between +the soul of the animal and that of man, but claims that man has a special +type of existence. The Midrash tells(648) that God formed Adam’s body so +as to reach from earth to heaven, and then caused the soul to enter it. In +the same way God implants the soul into the embryo before its birth and +while in the womb. Before this the soul had a bird-like existence in an +immense celestial cage (_guph_ = _columbarium_), and when it leaves the +body in death, it again takes its flight toward heaven. There its conduct +on earth will reap a reward in the garden of eternal bliss or a punishment +in the infernal regions. The belief in the preëxistence of the soul was +shared by the rabbis with the apocryphal authors and Philo.(649) + +However, rabbinical Judaism never followed Philo so far in the footsteps +of Plato as to consider the body or the flesh the source of impurity and +sin, or “the prison house of the soul.” This view is fundamental in the +Paulinian system of other-worldliness. For the rabbis the sensuous desire +of the body (_yezer_) is a tendency toward sin, but never a compulsion. +The weakness of the flesh may cause a straying from the right path, but +man can turn the desires of the flesh into the service of the good. He can +always assert his divine power of freedom by opposing the evil inclination +(_yezer ha ra_) with the good inclination (_yezer ha tob_) to overcome +it.(650) In fact, the rabbis are so far from acknowledging the existence +of a compulsion of evil in the flesh, that they point to the history of +great men as proof that the highest characters have the mightiest passions +in their souls, and that their greatness consists in the will by which +they have learned to control themselves.(651) + +5. In the light of modern science the whole theory separating body and +soul falls to the ground, and the one connecting man more closely with the +animal world is revived. In this connection we think of the idea which +medieval thinkers adopted from Plato and Aristotle, that there is a +substance of souls—_nefesh hahiyonith_—which forms the basic life-force of +men and animals. Physiology and psychology reveal the interaction and +dependence of body and soul in the lowest forms of animal life as well as +in the higher forms, including man. The beginnings of the human mind must +be sought once for all in the animal, just as the origin of the animal +reaches back into the plant world. Indeed, Aristotle anticipates the +discoveries of modern science, placing the vegetative and animal souls +beside the spirit of man. Thus motion and sensibility form the lower +boundary-line of the animal kingdom, and self-consciousness and +self-determination are the criteria of humanity. + +Yet this very self-conscious freedom which forms man’s personality, his +_ego_, lifts him into a realm of free action under higher motives, +transcending nature’s law of necessity, and therefore not falling within +the domain of natural science. Dust-born man, notwithstanding his earthly +limitations, in spite of his kinship to mollusk and mammal, enters the +realm of the divine spirit. In the Midrash the rabbis remark that man +shares the nature of both animals and angels.(652) Admitting this, we feel +that he is tied neither to heaven nor to the earth, but free to lift +himself above all creatures or sink below them all. + +6. Endowed with this dual nature, man stands in the very center of the +universe, and God esteems him “equal in value to the entire creation,” as +Rabbi Nehemiah says of a single human soul.(653) Rabbi Akiba stresses the +image of God in humanity when he says: “Beloved is man, for he is created +in God’s image, and it was a special token of love that he became +conscious of it. Beloved is Israel, for they are called the children of +God, and it was a special token of love that they became conscious of +it.”(654) The Midrash compares man to God in exquisite manner: “Just as +God permeates the world and carries it, unseen yet seeing all, enthroned +within as the Only One, the Perfect, and the Pure, yet never to be reached +or found out; so the soul penetrates and carries the body, as the _one_ +pure and luminous being which sees and holds all things, while itself +unseen and unreached.”(655) The conception of the soul is here divested of +every sensory attribute, and portrayed as a divine force within the body. +This conception, which was accepted by the medieval philosophers, is +thoroughly consistent with our view of the world. The soul it is which +mirrors both the material and spiritual worlds and holds them in mutual +relation through its own power. It is at the same time swayed upward and +downward by its various cravings, heavenly and earthly, and this very +tension constitutes the dual nature of the human soul. + + + + +Chapter XXXV. The Origin and Destiny of Man + + +1. Of all created beings man alone possesses the power of +self-determination; he assigns his destiny to himself. While he endeavors +to find the object of all other things and even of his own existence in +the world, he finds his own purpose within himself. Star and stone, plant +and beast fulfill their purpose in the whole plan of creation by their +existence and varied natures, and are accordingly called “good” as they +are. Man, however, realizes that he must accomplish his purpose by his +manner of life and the voluntary exertion of his own powers. He is “good” +only as far as he fulfills his destiny on earth. He is not good by mere +existence, but by his conduct. Not what he is, but what he ought to be +gives value to his being. He is good or bad according to the direction of +his will and acts by the imperative: “I ought” or “I ought not,” which +comes to him in his conscience, the voice of God calling to his soul. + +2. The problem of human destiny is answered by Judaism with the idea that +God is the ideal and pattern of all morality. The answer given, then, is +“To walk in the ways of God, to be righteous and just,” as He is.(656) The +prophet Micah expressed it in the familiar words: “It has been told thee, +O man, what is good, and what the Lord doth require of thee: Only to do +justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.”(657) +Accordingly the Bible considers men of the older generations the +prototypes of moral conduct, “righteous men who walked with God.” Such men +were Enoch, Noah, and above all Abraham, to whom God said: “I am God +Almighty; walk before Me, and be thou whole-hearted. And I will make My +covenant between thee and Me.”(658) The rabbis singled out Abraham as the +type of a perfect man on account of his love of righteousness and peace; +contrasting him with Adam who sinned, they beheld him as “the great man +among the heroes of the ancient times.” They even considered him the type +of true humanity, in whom the object of creation was attained.(659) + +3. This moral consciousness, however, which tells man to walk in the ways +of God and be perfect, is also the source of shame and remorse. With such +an ideal man must feel constantly that he falls short, that he is not what +he ought to be. Only the little child, who knows nothing as yet of good +and evil, can preserve the joy of life unmarred. Similarly, primitive man, +being ignorant of guilt, could pass his days without care or fear. But as +soon as he becomes conscious of guilt, discord enters his soul, and he +feels as if he had been driven from the presence of God. + +This feeling is allegorized in the Paradise legend. The garden of bliss, +half earthly, half heavenly, which is elsewhere called the “mountain of +God,”(660) a place of wondrous trees, beasts, and precious stones, whence +the four great rivers flow, is the abode of divine beings. The first man +and woman could dwell in it only so long as they lived in harmony with God +and His commandments. As soon as the tempter in the shape of the serpent +called forth a discord between the divine will and human desire, man could +no longer enjoy celestial bliss, but must begin the dreary earthly life, +with its burdens and trials. + +4. This story of the fall of the first man is an allegorical description +of the state of childlike innocence which man must leave behind in order +to attain true strength of character. It is based upon a view common to +all antiquity of a descent of the race; that is: first came the golden +age, when man led a life of ease and pleasure in company with the gods; +then an age of silver, another of brass, and finally the iron age, with +its toil and bitter woe. Thus did evil deeds and wild passions increase +among men. This view fails utterly to recognize the value of labor as a +civilizing force making for progress, and it contradicts the modern +historical view. The prophets of Israel placed the golden age at the end, +not the beginning of history, so that the purpose of mankind was to +establish a heavenly kingdom upon the earth. In fact, the fall of man is +not referred to anywhere in Scripture and never became a doctrine, or +belief, of Judaism. On the contrary, the Hellenistic expounders of the +Bible take it for granted that the story is an allegory, and the book of +Proverbs understands the tree of life symbolically, in the verse: “She +(the Torah) is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her.”(661) + +5. Still the rabbis in Talmud and Midrash accepted the legend in good +faith as historical(662) and took it literally as did the great English +poet: + + + “The fruit + Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste + Brought death into the world, and all our woe, + With loss of Eden.” + + +In fact, they even followed the Persian dualism with its evil principle, +the primeval serpent, or the Babylonian legend of the sea-monster Tiamat, +and regarded the serpent in Paradise as a demon. He was identified with +Satan, the arch-fiend, and later with evil in general, the _yezer ha +ra_.(663) Thus the belief arose that the poisonous breath of the serpent +infected all generations, causing death even of the sinless.(664) The +apocrypha also held that the envy of Satan brought death into the +world.(665) This prepared for the dismal church doctrine of original sin, +the basis of Paul’s teachings, which demanded a blood atonement for +curse-laden humanity, and found it after the pagan pattern in the +vicarious sacrifice of a dying god.(666) + +Against such perversion of the simple Paradise story the sound common +sense of the Jewish people rebelled. While the early Talmudists +occasionally mention the poisoning of the human race by the serpent, they +find an antidote for the Jewish people in the covenant with Abraham or +that of Sinai.(667) One cannot, however, discern the least indication of +belief in original sin, either as inherent in the human race or inherited +by them. Nor does the liturgy express any such idea, especially for the +Day of Penitence, when it would certainly be mentioned if the conception +found any place in Jewish doctrine. On the contrary, the prevailing +thought of Judaism is that of Deuteronomy and Ezekiel,(668) that “Each man +dies by his own sin,” that every soul must bear only the consequences of +his own deeds. The rabbis even state that no man dies unless he has +brought it upon himself by his own sin, and mention especially certain +exceptions to this rule, such as the four saintly men who died without +sin,(669) or certain children whose death was due to the sin of their +parents.(670) They could never admit that the whole human race was so +corrupted by the sin of the first man that it is still in a state of +sinfulness. + +6. Of course, the rabbinical schools took literally the Biblical story of +the fall of man and laid the chief blame upon woman, who fell a prey to +the wiles of the serpent. This is done even by Ben Sira, who says: “With +woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all must die.”(671) So +the Talmud says that due to woman, man, the crown, light, and life of +creation, lost his purity, his luster, and his immortality.(672) The +Biblical verse, “They did eat, and the eyes of them both were opened,” is +interpreted by Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and Rabbi Akiba as “They saw the +dire consequences of their sin upon all coming generations.”(673) The fall +of man is treated most elaborately in the same spirit in the two +apocalyptic books written after the destruction of the Second Temple, the +Apocalypse of Baruch and the IV Book of Esdras.(674) The incompatibility +of divine love with the sufferings of man and of the Jewish people on +account of the sin of the first man is solved by an appeal to the final +Day of Judgment, and the striking remark is added that, after all, “each +is his own Adam and is held responsible for his own sin.” We cannot deny +that these two books contain much that is near the Paulinian view of +original sin. It seems, however, that the Jewish teachers were put on +their guard by the emphasis of this pessimistic dogma by the nascent +Church, and did their best to give a different aspect to the story of the +first sin. Thus they say: “If Adam had but shown repentance, and done +penance after he committed his sin, he would have been spared the death +penalty.”(675) Moreover, they actually represent Adam and Eve as patterns +of repentant sinners, who underwent severe penance and thus obtained the +promise of divine mercy and also of final resurrection.(676) Instead of +transmitting the heritage of sin to coming generations, the first man is +for them an example of repentance. So do the Haggadists tell us quite +characteristically that God merely wanted to test the first man by an +insignificant command, so that the first representative of the human race +should show whether he was worthy to enter eternal life in his mortal +garb, as did Enoch and Elijah. As he could not stand the test, he +forfeited the marks of divine rank, his celestial radiance, his gigantic +size, and his power to overcome death.(677) Obviously the Biblical story +was embellished with material from the Persian legend of the fall of Yima +or Djemshid, the first man, from superhuman greatness because of his +sin,(678) but it was always related frankly as a legend, and could never +influence the Jewish conception of the fall of man. + +7. Judaism rejects completely the belief in hereditary sin and the +corruption of the flesh. The Biblical verse, “God made man upright; but +they have sought out many inventions,”(679) is explained in the Midrash: +“Upright and just as is God, He made man after His likeness in order that +he might strive after righteousness, and unfold ever more his god-like +nature, but men in their dissensions have marred the divine image.”(680) +With reference to another verse in Ecclesiastes:(681) “The dust returneth +unto the earth as it was, and the spirit returneth unto God who gave it,” +the rabbis teach “Pure as the soul is when entering upon its earthly +career, so can man return it to his Maker.”(682) Therefore the pious Jew +begins his daily prayers with the words: “My God, the soul which Thou hast +given me is pure.”(683) The life-long battle with sin begins only at the +age when sensual desire, “the evil inclination,” awakens in youth; then +the state of primitive innocence makes way for the sterner contest for +manly virtue and strength of character. + +8. In fact, the whole Paradise story could never be made the basis for a +dogma. The historicity of the serpent is denied by Saadia;(684) the rabbis +transfer Paradise with the tree of life to heaven as a reward for the +future;(685) and both Nahmanides the mystic and Maimonides the philosopher +give it an allegorical meaning.(686) On the other hand, the Haggadic +teachers perceived the simple truth that a life of indolence in Paradise +would incapacitate man for his cultural task, and that the toils and +struggles inflicted on man as a curse are in reality a blessing. Therefore +they laid special stress on the Biblical statement: “He put man into the +garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”(687) The following parable is +especially suggestive: “When Adam heard the stern sentence passed: ‘Thou +shalt eat the herb of the field,’ he burst into tears, and said: ‘Am I and +my ass to eat out of the same manger?’ Then came another sentence from God +to reassure him, ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,’ and +forthwith he became aware that man shall attain a higher dignity by dint +of labor.”(688) Indeed, labor transforms the wilderness into a garden and +the earth into a habitation worthy of the son of God. The “book of the +generations of man” which begins with Adam is accordingly not the history +of man’s descent, but of his continuous ascent, of ever higher +achievements and aspirations; it is not a record of the fall of man, but +of his rise from age to age. According to the Midrash(689) God opened +before Adam the book with the deeds and names of the leading spirits of +all the coming generations, showing him the latent powers of the human +intellect and soul. The phrase, “the fall of man,” can mean, in fact, only +the inner experience of the individual, who does fall from his original +idea of purity and divine nobility into transgression and sin. It cannot +refer to mankind as a whole, for the human race has never experienced a +fall, nor is it affected by original or hereditary sin. + + + + +Chapter XXXVI. God’s Spirit in Man + + +1. Man is placed in an animal world of dull feelings, of blind and crude +cravings. Yet his clear understanding, his self-conscious will and his +aspirations forward and upward lead him into a higher world where he +obtains insight into the order and unity of all things. By the spirit of +God he is able to understand material things and grasp them in their +relations; thus he can apply all his knowledge and creative imagination to +construct a world of ideals. But this world, in all its truth, beauty and +goodness, is still limited and finite, a feeble shadow of the infinite +world of God. As the Bible says: “The spirit of man is the lamp of the +Lord, searching all the inward parts.”(690) “It is a spirit in man, and +the breath of the Almighty, that giveth them understanding.”(691) + +2. According to the Biblical conception, the spirit of God endows men with +all their differing capacities; it gives to one man wisdom by which he +penetrates into the causes of existence and orders facts into a scientific +system; to another the seeing eye by which he captures the secret of +beauty and creates works of art; and to a third the genius to perceive the +ways of God, the laws of virtue, that he may become a teacher of ethical +truth. In other words, the spirit of God is “the spirit of wisdom and +understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge +and the fear of the Lord.”(692) It works upon the scientific interest of +the investigator, the imagination of the artist and poet, the ethical and +social sense of the prophet, teacher, statesman, and lawgiver. Thus their +high and holy vision of the divine is brought home to the people and +implanted within them under the inspiration of God. In commenting upon the +Biblical verse, “Wisdom and might are His ... He giveth wisdom to the +wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding,”(693) the sages +wisely remark, “God carefully selects those who possess wisdom for His +gift of wisdom.” Even as a musical instrument must be attuned for the +finer notes that it may have a clear, resonant tone, so the human soul +must be made especially susceptible to the gifts of the spirit in order to +be capable of unfolding them. Thus the Talmud records an interesting +dialogue on this very passage between a Roman matron familiar with the +Scripture, and Rabbi Jose ben Halafta. She asked sarcastically, “Would it +not have been more generous of your God to have given wisdom to those that +are unwise than to those that already possess it?” Thereupon the Jewish +master replied, “If you were to lend a precious ornament, would you not +lend it to one who was able to make use of it? So God gives the treasure +of wisdom to the wise, who know how to appreciate and develop it, not to +the unwise, who do not know its value.”(694) + +3. Thus the diverse gifts of the divine spirit are distributed differently +among the various classes and tribes of men, according to their capacity +and the corresponding task which is assigned them by Providence. The +divine spark is set aglow in each human soul, sometimes feebly, sometimes +brightly, but it blazes high only in the privileged personality or group. +The mutual relationship between God and man is recognized by the Synagogue +in the Eighteen Benedictions, where the one directly following the three +praises of God is devoted to wisdom and knowledge: “Thou favorest man with +knowledge, and teachest mortals understanding. So favor us with knowledge, +understanding, and discernment from Thee. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, +gracious Giver of knowledge.”(695) This petition, remarks Jehuda ha +Levi,(696) deserves its position as first among these prayers, because +wisdom brings us nearer to God. It is also noteworthy that the Synagogue +prescribes a special benediction at the sight of a renowned sage, even if +he is not a Jew, reading, “Praised be He who has imparted of His wisdom to +flesh and blood.”(697) + +4. Maimonides holds that in the same degree as a man studies the works of +God in nature, he will be filled with longing for direct knowledge of God +and true love of Him.(698) “Not only religion, but also the sciences +emanate from God, both being the outcome of the wisdom which God imparts +to all nations,”—thus wrote a sixteenth-century rabbi, Loewe ben Bezalel +of Prague, known usually as “the eminent Rabbi Loewe.”(699) The men of the +Talmud also accord the palm in certain types of knowledge to heathen +sages, and did not hesitate to ascribe to some heathens the highest +knowledge of God in their time.(700) As a mystic of the thirteenth +century, Isaac ben Latif, says: “That faith is the most perfect which +perceives truth most fully, since God is the source of all truth.”(701) Of +the two heads of the Babylonian academies, Rab and Samuel, one asserted +that Moses through his prophetic genius reached forty-nine of the fifty +degrees of the divine understanding (as the fiftieth is reserved for God +alone), while the other claimed the same distinction for King Solomon as +the result of his wisdom.(702) + +5. Thus the spirit of God creates in man both consciously and +unconsciously a world of ideas, which proves him a being of a higher order +in creation. This impulse may work actively, searching, investigating, and +creating, or passively as an instrument of a higher power. At first it is +a dim, uncertain groping of the spirit; then the mind acquires greater +lucidity by which it illumines the dark world; and, as one question calls +for the other and one thought suggests another, the world of ideas opens +up as a well-connected whole. Thus man creates by slow steps his +languages, the arts and sciences, ethics, law and all the religions with +their varying practices and doctrines. At times this spirit bursts forth +with greater vehemence in great men, geniuses who lift the race with one +stroke to a higher level. Such men may say, in the words of David, the +holy singer: “The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was upon my +tongue.”(703) They may repeat the experience of Eliphaz the friend of Job: + + + “Now a word was secretly brought to me, + And mine ear received a whisper thereof. + In thoughts from the visions of the night, + When deep sleep falleth on men, + Fear came upon me, and trembling, + And all my bones were made to shake. + Then a spirit passed before my face, + That made the hair of my flesh to stand up. + It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof; + A form was before mine eyes; + I heard a still voice.”(704) + + +In such manner men of former ages received a religious revelation, a +divine message. + +6. The divine spirit always selects as its instruments individuals with +special endowments. Still, insight into history shows that these men must +needs have grown from the very heart of their own people and their own +age, in order that they might hold a lofty position among them and command +attention for their message. However far the people or the age may be from +the man chosen by God, the multitude must feel at least that the divine +spirit speaks through him, or works within him. Or, if not his own time, +then a later generation must respond to his message, lest it be lost +entirely to the world. + +The rabbis, who knew nothing of laws of development for the human mind, +assumed that the first man, made by God Himself, must have known every +branch of knowledge and skill, that the spirit of God must have been most +vigorous in him.(705) They therefore believed in a primeval revelation, +coeval with the first man. Our age, with its tremendous emphasis on the +historical view, sees the divine spirit manifested most clearly in the +very development and growth of all life, social, intellectual, moral and +spiritual, proceeding steadily toward the highest of all goals. With this +emphasis, however, on process, we must lay stress equally on the origin, +on the divine impulse or initiative in this historical development, the +spirit which gives direction and value to the whole. + + + + +Chapter XXXVII. Free Will and Moral Responsibility + + +1. Judaism has ever emphasized the freedom of the will as one of its chief +doctrines. The dignity and greatness of man depends largely upon his +freedom, his power of self-determination. He differs from the lower +animals in his independence of instinct as the dictator of his actions. He +acts from free choice and conscious design, and is able to change his mind +at any moment, at any new evidence or even through whim. He is therefore +responsible for his every act or omission, even for his every intention. +This alone renders him a moral being, a child of God; thus the moral sense +rests upon freedom of the will.(706) + +2. The idea of moral freedom is expressed as early as the first pages of +the Bible, in the words which God spoke to Cain while he was planning the +murder of his brother Abel: “Whether or not, thou offerest an acceptable +gift,” (New Bible translation: “If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted +up? and if thou doest not well,”) “sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee +is its desire, but thou mayest rule over it.”(707) Here, without any +reference to the sin of Adam in the first generation, the man of the +second generation is told that he is free to choose between good and evil, +that he alone is responsible before God for what he does or omits to do. +This certainly indicates that the moral freedom of man is not impaired by +hereditary sin, or by any evil power outside of man himself. This +principle is established in the words of Moses spoken in the name of God: +“I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; +therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed.”(708) In +like manner Jeremiah proclaims in God’s name: “Behold I set before you the +way of life and the way of death.”(709) + +3. From these passages and many similar ones the sages derived their +oft-repeated idea that man stands ever at the parting of the ways, to +choose either the good or the evil path.(710) Thus the words spoken by God +to the angels when Adam and Eve were to be expelled from Paradise: +“Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,” are +interpreted by R. Akiba: “He was given the choice to go the way of life or +the way of death, but he chose the way of death by eating of the forbidden +fruit.”(711) R. Akiba emphasizes the principle of the freedom of the will +again in the terse saying: “All things are foreseen (by God), but free +will is granted (to man).”(712) + +4. At the first encounter of Judaism with those philosophical schools of +Hellas which denied the freedom of the human will, the Jewish teachers +insisted strongly on this principle. The first reference is found in Ben +Sira, who refutes the arguments of the Determinists that God could make +man sin, and then goes on: “God created man at the beginning, endowing him +with the power of self-determination, saying to him: If thou but willest, +thou canst observe My commandments; to practice faithfulness is a matter +of free will.... As when fire and water are put before thee, so that thou +mayest reach forth thy hand to that which thou desirest, so are life and +death placed before man, and whatever he chooses of his own desire will be +given to him.”(713) The Book of Enoch voices this truth also in the +forceful sentences: “Sin has not been sent upon the earth (from above), +but men have produced it out of themselves; therefore they who commit sin +are condemned.”(714) We read similar sentiments in the Psalms of Solomon, +a Pharisean work of the first pre-Christian century:(715) “Our actions are +the outcome of the free choice and power of our own soul; to practice +justice or injustice lies in the work of our own hands.” + +The Apocalypse of Ezra is especially instructive in the great stress which +it lays on freedom, in connection with its chief theme, the sinfulness of +the children of Adam. “This is the condition of the contest which man who +is born on earth must wage, that, if he be conquered by the evil +inclination, he must suffer that of which thou hast spoken (the tortures +of hell), but if he be victorious, he shall receive (the reward) which I +(the angel) have mentioned. For this is the way whereof Moses spoke when +he lived, saying unto the people, ‘Choose life, that thou mayest live!’... +For all who knew Me not in life when they received My benefits, who +despised My law when they yet had freedom, and did not heed the door of +repentance while it was still open before them, but disregarded it, after +death they shall come to know it!”(716) + +5. Hellenistic Judaism also, particularly Philo,(717) considered the truly +divine in man to be his free will, which distinguishes him from the beast. +Yet Hellenistic naturalism could not grasp the fact that man’s power to do +evil in opposition to God, the Source of the good, is the greatest +reminder of his moral responsibility. Josephus likewise mentions +frequently as a characteristic teaching of the Pharisees that man’s free +will determines his acts without any compulsion of destiny.(718) Only we +must not accept too easily the words of this Jewish historian, who wrote +for his Roman masters and, therefore, represented the Jewish parties as so +many philosophical schools after the Greek pattern. The Pharisean doctrine +is presented most tersely in the Talmudic maxim: “Everything is in the +hands of God except the fear of God.”(719) Like the quotation from R. +Akiba above, this contains the great truth that man’s destiny is +determined by Providence, but his character depends upon his own free +decision. This idea recurs frequently in such Talmudic sayings as these: +“The wicked are in the power of their desires; the righteous have their +desires in their own power;”(720) “The eye, the ear, and the nostrils are +not in man’s power, but the mouth, the hand, and the feet are.”(721) That +is, the impressions we receive from the world without us come +involuntarily, but our acts, our steps, and our words arise from our own +volition. + +6. A deeper insight into the problem of free will is offered in two other +Talmudic sayings; the one is: “Whosoever desires to pollute himself with +sin will find all the gates open before him, and whosoever desires to +attain the highest purity will find all the forces of goodness ready to +help him.”(722) The other reads: “It can be proved by the Torah, the +Prophets, and the other sacred writings that man is led along the road +which he wishes to follow.”(723) + +As a matter of fact, no person is absolutely free, for innumerable +influences affect his decisions, consciously and unconsciously. For this +reason many thinkers, both ancient and modern, consider freedom a delusion +and hold to determinism, the doctrine that man acts always under the +compulsion of external and internal forces. In opposition to this theory +is one incontestable fact, our own inner sense of freedom which tells us +at every step that _we_ have acted, and at every decision that we have +decided. Man can maintain his own power of self-determination against all +influences from without and within; his will is the final arbiter over +every impulse and every pressure. Moreover, as we penetrate more deeply +into the working of the mind, we see that a long series of our own +voluntary acts has occasioned much that we consider external, that the +very pressure of the past on our thoughts, feelings and habits, which +leaves so little weight for the decision of the moment, is really only our +past will influencing our present will. That is, the will may determine +itself, but it does not do so arbitrarily; its action is along the lines +of its own character. We have the power to receive the influence of either +the noble or the ignoble series of impressions, and thus to yield either +to the lofty or the low impulses of the soul. + +In this way the rabbis interpret various expressions of Scripture which +would seem to limit man’s freedom, as where God induces man to good or +evil acts, or hardens the heart of Pharaoh so that he will not let the +Israelites go, until the plagues had been fulfilled upon him and his +people.(724) They understand in such an instance that a man’s heart has a +prevailing inclination toward right or wrong, the expression of his +character, and that God encouraged this inclination along the evil course; +thus the freedom of the human will was kept intact. + +7. The doctrine of man’s free will presents another difficulty from the +side of divine omniscience. For if God knows in advance what is to happen, +then man’s acts are determined by this very foreknowledge; he is no longer +free, and his moral responsibility becomes an idle dream. In order to +escape this dilemma, the Mohammedan theologians were compelled to limit +either the divine omniscience or human freedom, and most of them resorted +to the latter method. It is characteristic of Judaism that its great +thinkers, from Saadia to Maimonides and Gersonides,(725) dared not alter +the doctrine of man’s free will and moral responsibility, but even +preferred to limit the divine omniscience. Hisdai Crescas is the only one +to restrict human freedom in favor of the foreknowledge of God.(726) + +8. The insistence of Judaism on unrestricted freedom of will for each +individual entirely excludes hereditary sin. This is shown in the +traditional explanation of the verse of the Decalogue: “Visiting the +iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth +generation of them that hate Me.”(727) According to the rabbis the words +“of them that hate Me” do not refer to the fathers, according to the plain +meaning of the passage, but to the children and children’s children. These +are to be punished only when they hate God and follow the evil example of +their fathers.(728) Despite example and hereditary disposition, the +descendants of evildoers can lead a virtuous life, and their punishment +comes only when they fail to resist the evil influences of their parental +household. To illustrate the Biblical words, “Who can bring a clean thing +out of an unclean?”(729) the rabbis single out Abraham, the son of Terah, +Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, and Josiah, the son of Manasseh.(730) Man, +being made in God’s image, determines his own character by his own free +choice; by his will he can raise or lower himself in the scale of being. + +9. The fundamental character of the doctrine of free will for Judaism is +shown by Maimonides, who devotes a special chapter of his Code to it,(731) +and calls it the pillar of Israel’s faith and morality, since through it +alone man manifests his god-like sovereignty. For should his freedom be +limited by any kind of predestination, he would be deprived of his moral +responsibility, which constitutes his real greatness. In endeavoring to +reconcile God’s omnipotence and omniscience with man’s freedom, Maimonides +says that God wants man to erect a kingdom of morality without +interference from above; moreover, God’s knowledge is different in kind +from that of man, and thus is not an infringement upon man’s freedom, as +the human type of knowledge would be. However, Abraham ben David of +Posquieres blames Maimonides for proposing questions which he could not +answer satisfactorily in the Code, which is intended for non-philosophical +readers. The fact is that this is only another of the problems insoluble +to human reasoning; the freedom of the will must remain for all time a +postulate of moral responsibility, and therefore of religion. + + + + +Chapter XXXVIII. The Meaning of Sin + + +1. Sin is a religious conception. It does not signify a breach of law or +morality, or of popular custom and sacred usage, but an offense against +God, provoking His punishment. As long as the deity is merely dreaded as +an external power, not adored as a moral power ruling life from within for +a holy purpose, sin, too, is considered a purely formal offense. The deity +demands to be worshiped by certain rites and may be propitiated by other +formal acts.(732) For Judaism, however, sin is a straying from the path of +God, an offense against the divine order of holiness. Thus it signifies an +abuse of the freedom granted man as his most precious boon. Therefore sin +has a twofold character; formally it is an offense against the majesty of +God, whose laws are broken; essentially it is a severance of the soul’s +inner relations to God, an estrangement from Him. + +2. Scripture has three different terms for sin, which do not differ +greatly in point of language, but indicate three stages of thought. First +is _het_ or _hataah_, which connotes any straying from the right path, +whether caused by levity, carelessness, or design, and may even include +wrongs committed unwittingly, _shegagah_. Second is _avon_, a crookedness +or perversion of the straight order of the law. Third is _pesha_, a wicked +act committed presumptuously in defiance of God and His law. As a matter +of course, the conception of sin was deepened by degrees, as the prophets, +psalmists and moralists grew to think of God as the pattern of the highest +moral perfection, as the Holy One before whom an evil act or thought +cannot abide. + +The rabbis usually employed the term _aberah_, that is, a transgression of +a divine commandment. In contrast to this they used _mitzwah_, a divine +command, which denotes also the whole range of duty, including the desire +and intention of the human soul. From this point of view every evil design +or impulse, every thought and act contrary to God’s law, becomes a sin. + +3. Sin arises from the weakness of the flesh, the desire of the heart, and +accordingly in the first instance from an error of judgment. The Bible +frequently speaks of sin as “folly.”(733) A rabbinical saying brings out +this same idea: “No one sins unless the spirit of folly has entered into +him to deceive him.”(734) A sinful imagination lures one to sin; the +repetition of the forbidden act lowers the barrier of the commandment, +until the trespass is hardened into “callous” and “stubborn” disregard, +and finally into “reckless defiance” and “insolent godlessness.” Such a +process is graphically expressed by the various terms used in the Bible. +According to the rabbinical figure, “sin appears at first as thin as a +spider’s web, but grows stronger and stronger, until it becomes like a +wagon-rope to bind a man.” Or, “sin comes at first as a passer-by to tarry +for a moment, then as a visitor to stay, finally as the master of the +house to claim possession.” Therefore it is incumbent upon us to “guard” +the heart, and not “to go astray following after our eyes and our +heart.”(735) + +4. According to the doctrine of Judaism no one is sinful by nature. No +person sins by an inner compulsion. But as man has a nature of flesh, +which is sensuous and selfish, each person is inclined to sin and none is +perfectly free from it. “Who can say: I have made my heart clean, I am +pure from any sin?”(736) This is the voice of the Bible and of all human +experience; “For there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good, +and sinneth not.”(737) The expression occurs repeatedly in Job: “Shall +mortal man be just before God? Shall a man be pure before his Maker?”(738) +Even Moses is represented in numerous passages as showing human foibles +and failings.(739) In fact, “the greater the personality, the more +severely will God call him to account for the smallest trespass, for God +desires to be ‘sanctified’ by His righteous ones.”(740) The Midrash tells +us that no one is to be called holy, until death has put an end to his +struggle with the ever-lurking tempter within, and he lies in the earth +with the victor’s crown of peace upon his brow.(741) When we read the +stern sentence: “Behold, He putteth no trust in His holy ones,”(742) the +rabbis refer us to the patriarchs, each of whom had his faults.(743) +Measured by the Pattern of all holiness, no human being is free from +blemish. + +5. In connection with the God-idea, the conception of sin grew from crude +beginnings to the higher meaning given it by Judaism. The ancient +Babylonians used the same terminology as the Bible for sin and +sin-offering, but their view, like that of other Semites, was far more +external.(744) If one was afflicted with disease or misfortune, the +inference was that he had neglected the ritual of some deity and must +appease the angered one with a sacrificial offering. Any irregularity in +the cult was an offense against the deity. This became more moralized with +the higher God-idea; the god became the guardian of moral principles; and +the calamities, even of the nation, were then ascribed to the divine wrath +on account of moral lapses. The same process may be observed in the views +of ancient Israel. Here, too, during the dominance of the priestly view +the gravest possible offense was one against the cult, a culpable act +entailing the death penalty—_asham_, or “doom” of the offender. We shudder +at the thought that the least violation of the hierarchical rules for the +sanctuary or even for the burning of incense should meet the penalty of +death. Yet such is the plain statement of the Mosaic law and such was the +actual practice of the people.(745) + +The more the prophetic conception of the moral nature of the Deity +permeated the Jewish religion, the more the term sin came to mean an +offense against the holiness of God, the Guardian of morality. Hence the +great prophets upbraided the people for their moral, not their ceremonial +failings. They attacked scathingly transgressions of the laws of +righteousness and purity, the true sins against God, because these +originate in dullness of heart, unbridled passion, and overbearing pride, +all so hateful to Him. The only ritual offenses emphasized as sins against +God are idolatry, violation of the name of God and of the Sabbath, for +these express the sanctity of life.(746) Except for these points, the +prophets and psalmists insisted only on righteous conduct and integrity of +soul, and repudiated entirely the ritualism of the priesthood and the +formalism of the cult.(747) This view is anticipated by Samuel, the master +of the prophetic schools, when he says: + + + “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, + And to hearken than the fat of rams. + For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, + And stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim.”(748) + + +As soon as we realize that obedience to God’s will means right conduct and +purity of soul, we see in sin the desecration of the divine image in man, +the violation of his heavenly patent of nobility. + +6. Sin, then, is in its essence unfaithfulness to God and to our own +god-like nature. We see this thought expressed in Job:(749) + + + “If thou hast sinned, what doest thou against Him? + And if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto Him? + If thou be righteous, what givest thou unto Him? + Or what receiveth He of thy hand? + Thy wickedness concerneth a man as thou art; + And thy righteousness a son of man.” + + +Thus the source of sin is the human heart, the origin of all our thinking +and planning. We know sin chiefly as consciousness of guilt. Man’s +conscience accuses him and compels him to confess, “Against Thee, Thee +only, have I sinned.”(750) Not only the deed itself, but even more the +will which caused it, is condemned by conscience. Such self-accusation +constantly proves anew that there is no place for original sin through the +fall of Adam. “I could have controlled my evil desire, if I had but +earnestly willed it,” said King David, according to the Talmud.(751) + +7. Sin engenders a feeling of disunion with God through the consciousness +of guilt which accompanies it. It erects a “wall of separation” between +man and his Maker, depriving him of peace and security.(752) Guilt causes +pain, which overwhelms him, until he has made atonement and obtained +pardon before God. This is no imaginary feeling, easily overcome and +capable of being suppressed by the sinner with impunity. Instead, he must +pay the full penalty for his sin, lest it lead him to the very abyss of +evil, to physical and moral death. Sin in the individual becomes a sense +of self-condemnation, the consciousness of the divine anger. Hence the +Hebrew term _avon_, sin, is often synonymous with punishment,(753) and +_asham_, guilt, often signifies the atonement for the guilt, and sometimes +doom and perdition as a consequence of guilt.(754) Undoubtedly this still +contains a remnant of the old Semitic idea that an awful divine visitation +may come upon an entire household or community because of a criminal or +sacrilegious act committed, consciously or unconsciously, by one of its +members. Such a fate can be averted only by an atoning sacrifice. This +accords with the rather strange fact that the Priestly Code prescribes +certain guilt offerings for sins committed unwittingly, which are called +_asham_.(755) + +8. But even these unintentional sins can be avoided by the constant +exercise of caution, so that their commission implies a certain degree of +guilt, which demands a measure of repentance. Thus the Psalmist says: “Who +can discern errors? Clear Thou me from hidden faults.”(756) He thus +implies that we feel responsible in a certain sense for all our sins, +including those which we commit unknowingly. The rabbis dwell especially +on the idea that we are never altogether free from sinful thoughts. For +this reason, they tell us, the two burnt offerings were brought to the +altar each morning and evening, to atone for the sinful thoughts of the +people during the preceding day or night.(757) + +9. At any rate, Judaism recognizes no sin which does not arise from the +individual conscience or moral personality. The condemnation of a whole +generation or race in consequence of the sin of a single individual is an +essentially heathen idea, which was overcome by Judaism in the course of +time through the prophetic teaching of the divine justice and man’s moral +responsibility. This sentiment was voiced by Moses and Aaron after the +rebellion of Korah in the words: “O God, the God of the spirits of all +flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the +congregation?”(758) In commenting upon this, the Midrash says: “A human +king may make war upon a whole province, because it contains rebels who +have caused sedition, and so the innocent must suffer together with the +guilty; but it does not behoove God, the Ruler of the spirits, who looks +into the hearts of men, to punish the guiltless together with the +guilty.”(759) The Christian view of universal guilt as a consequence of +Adam’s sin, the dogma of original sin, is actually a relapse from the +Jewish stage to the heathen doctrine from which the Jewish religion freed +itself. + +10. According to the Biblical view sin contaminates man, so that he cannot +stand in the presence of God. The holiness of Him who is “of eyes too pure +to behold evil”(760) becomes to the sinner “a devouring fire.”(761) Even +the lofty prophet Isaiah realizes his own human limitations at the sublime +vision of the God of holiness enthroned on high, while the angelic +choruses chant their thrice holy. In humility and contrition he cries out: +“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I +dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For mine eyes have seen +the King, the Lord of hosts.”(762) The prophet must undergo atonement in +order to be prepared for his high prophetic task. One of the Seraphs +purges him of his sins by touching his lips with a live coal taken from +the altar of God. + +Under the influence of Persian dualism, rabbinical Judaism considers sin a +pollution which puts man under the power of unclean spirits.(763) In the +later Cabbalah this idea is elaborated until the world of sin is +considered a cosmic power of impurity, opposed to the realm of right, +working evil ever since the fall of Adam.(764) Still, however close this +may come to the Christian dogma, it never becomes identical with it; the +recognition is always preserved of man’s power to extricate himself from +the realm of impurity and to elevate himself into the realm of purity by +his own repentance. Sin never becomes a demoniacal power depriving man of +his divine dignity of self-determination and condemning him to eternal +damnation. It ever remains merely a going astray from the right path, a +stumbling from which man may rise again to his heavenly height, exerting +his own powers as the son of God. + + + + +Chapter XXXIX. Repentance Or the Return To God + + +1. The brightest gem among the teachings of Judaism is its doctrine of +repentance or, in its own characteristic term, the return of the wayward +sinner to God.(765) Man, full of remorse at having fallen away from the +divine Fountainhead of purity, conscious of deserving a sentence of +condemnation from the eternal Judge, would be less happy than the +unreasoning brute which cannot sin at all. Religion restores him by the +power to rise from his shame and guilt, to return to God in repentance, as +the penitent son returns to his father. Whether we regard sin as +estrangement from God or as a disturbance of the divine order, it has a +detrimental effect on both body and soul, and leads inevitably to death. +On this point the Bible affords many historical illustrations and +doctrinal teachings.(766) If man had no way to escape from sin, then he +would be the most unfortunate of creatures, in spite of his god-like +nature. Therefore the merciful God opens the gate of repentance for the +sinner, saying as through His prophets of old: “I have no pleasure in the +death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”(767) + +2. The great value of the gift of divine grace, by which the sinner may +repent and return to God with a new spirit, appears in the following +rabbinical saying: “Wisdom was asked, ‘What shall be the sinner’s +punishment?’ and answered, ‘Evil pursues sinners’;(768) then Prophecy was +asked, and answered, ‘The soul that sinneth, it shall die’;(769) the +Torah, or legal code, was consulted, and its answer was: ‘He shall bring a +sin-offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be +forgiven.’(770) Finally God Himself was asked, and He answered:(771) ‘Good +and upright is the Lord; therefore doth He instruct sinners in the +way.’ ”(772) The Jewish idea of atonement by the sinner’s return to God +excludes every kind of mediatorship. Neither the priesthood nor sacrifice +is necessary to secure the divine grace; man need only find the way to God +by his own efforts. “Seek ye Me, and live,”(773) says God to His erring +children. + +3. _Teshubah_, which means return, is an idea peculiar to Judaism, created +by the prophets of Israel, and arising directly from the simple Jewish +conception of sin. Since sin is a deviation from the path of salvation, a +“straying” into the road of perdition and death, the erring can return +with heart and soul, end his ways, and thus change his entire being. This +is not properly expressed by the term repentance, which denotes only +regret for the wrong, but not the inner transformation. Nor is _Teshubah_ +to be rendered by either penitence or penance. The former indicates a sort +of bodily self-castigation, the latter some other kind of penalty +undergone in order to expiate sin. Such external forms of asceticism were +prescribed and practiced by many tribes and some of the historical +religions. The Jewish prophets, however, opposed them bitterly, demanding +an inner change, a transformation of soul, renewing both heart and spirit. + + + “Let the wicked forsake his way, + And the man of iniquity his thoughts; + And let him return unto the Lord, and He will have compassion upon + him, + And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”(774) + + +Judaism considers sin merely moral aberration, not utter corruption, and +believes in the capability of the very worst of sinners to improve his +ways; therefore it waits ever for his regeneration. This is truly a return +to God, the restoration of the divine image which has been disfigured and +corrupted by sin. + +4. The doctrine of _Teshubah_, or the return of the sinner, has a +specially instructive history, as this most precious and unique conception +of Judaism is little understood or appreciated by Christian theologians. +Often without intentional bias, these are so under the influence of the +Paulinian dogma that they see no redemption for man corrupted by sin, +except by his belief in a superhuman act of atonement. It is certainly +significant that the legal code, which is of priestly origin, does not +mention repentance or the sinner’s return. It prescribes various types of +sin-offerings, speaks of reparation for wrong inflicted, of penalties for +crime, and of confession for sins, but it does not state how the soul can +be purged of sin, so that man can regain his former state of purity. This +great gap is filled by the prophetic books and the Psalms. The book of +Deuteronomy alone, written under prophetic influence, alludes to +repentance, in connection with the time when Israel would be taken captive +from its land as punishment for its violation of the law. There we read: +“Thou shalt return unto the Lord thy God, ... with all thy heart, and all +thy soul, then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have +compassion upon thee.”(775) + +Amos, the prophet of stern justice, has not yet reached the idea of +averting the divine wrath by the return of the sinner.(776) Hosea, the +prophet of divine mercy and loving-kindness, in his deep compassion for +the unfaithful and backsliding people, became the preacher of repentance +as the condition for attaining the divine pardon. + + + “Return, O Israel, unto the Lord thy God; + For thou hast stumbled in thine iniquity. + Take with you words (of repentance), + And return unto the Lord; + Say unto Him, “Forgive all iniquity, + And accept that which is good; + So will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.’ ”(777) + + +The appeal of Jeremiah is still more vigorous: + + + “Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord.... + Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed + against the Lord thy God.... + Break up for you a fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.... + O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be + saved; + How long shall thy baleful thoughts lodge within thee?... + Return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and + your doings.”(778) + + +Ezekiel, while emphasizing the guilt of the individual, preached +repentance still more insistently. “Return ye, and turn yourselves from +all your transgressions; so shall they not be a stumbling-block of +iniquity to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions, wherein ye +have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why will +ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that +dieth, saith the Lord God; wherefore turn yourselves, and live.”(779) The +same appeal recurs after the exile in the last prophets, Zechariah(780) +and Malachi.(781) The latter says: “Return unto Me, and I shall return +unto you.” Likewise the penitential sermon written in a time of great +distress, which is ascribed to the prophet Joel, contains the appeal: + + + “Turn ye unto Me with all your heart, + And with fasting, and with weeping, and with lamentation; + And rend your heart, and not your garments, + And turn unto the Lord your God; + For He is gracious and compassionate, + Long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, + And repenteth Him of the evil.”(782) + + +This prophetic view, which demands contrition and craving for God instead +of external modes of atonement, is expressed in the penitential Psalms as +well,(783) especially in Psalm LI. The idea is expanded further in the +parable of the prophet Jonah, which conveys the lesson that even a heathen +nation like the people of Nineveh can avert the impending judgment of God +by true repentance.(784) From this point of view the whole conception took +on a larger aspect, and the entire history of mankind was seen in a new +light. The Jewish sages realized that God punishes man only when the +expected change of mind and heart fails to come.(785) + +5. The Jewish plan of divine salvation presents a striking contrast to +that of the Church, for it is built upon the presumption that all sinners +can find their way back to God and godliness, if they but earnestly so +desire. Even before God created the world, He determined to offer man the +possibility of _Teshubah_, so that, in the midst of the continual struggle +with the allurements of the senses, the repentant sinner can ever change +heart and mind and return to God.(786) Without such a possibility the +world of man could not endure; thus, because no man can stand before the +divine tribunal of stern justice, the paternal arm of a merciful God is +extended to receive the penitent. This sublime truth is constantly +reiterated in the Talmud and in the liturgy, especially of the great Day +of Atonement.(787) Not only does God’s long-suffering give the sinner time +to repent; His paternal love urges him to return. Thus the Haggadists +purposely represent almost all the sinners mentioned in the Bible as +models of sincere repentance. First of all comes King David, who is +considered such a pattern of repentance, as the author of the fifty-first +Psalm, that he would not have been allowed to sin so grievously, if he had +not been providentially appointed as the shining example of the penitent’s +return to God.(788) Then there is King Manasseh, the most wicked among all +the kings of Judah and Israel, who had committed the most abominable sins +of idolatrous worship. Referring to the story told of him in Chronicles, +it is said that God responded to his tearful prayers and incessant +supplications by opening a rift under His throne of mercy and receiving +his petition for pardon. Thus all mankind might see that none can be so +wicked that he will not find the door of repentance open, if he but seek +it sincerely and persistently.(789) Likewise Adam and Cain, Reuben and +Judah, Korah, Jeroboam, Ahab, Josiah, and Jechoniah are described in +Talmud, Midrash, and the apocalyptic literature as penitent sinners who +obtained at last the coveted pardon.(790) The optimistic spirit of Judaism +cannot tolerate the idea that mortal man is hopelessly lost under the +burden of his sins, or that he need ever lose faith in himself. No one can +sink so low that he cannot find his way back to his heavenly Father by +untiring self-discipline. As the Talmud says, nothing can finally +withstand the power of sincere repentance: “It reaches up to the very seat +of God;” “upon it rests the welfare of the world.”(791) + +6. The rabbis follow up the idea first announced in the book of Jonah, +that the saving power of repentance applies to the heathen world as well. +Thus they show how God constantly offered time and opportunity to the +heathens for repentance. For example, when the generation of the flood, +the builders of the Tower of Babel, and the people of Sodom and Gomorrah +were to be punished, God waited to give them time for Repentance and +improvement of their ways.(792) Noah, Enoch, and Abraham are represented +as monitors of their contemporaries, warning them, like the prophets, to +repent in time lest they meet their doom.(793) Thus the whole Hellenistic +literature of propaganda, especially the Sibylline books, echoes the +warning and the hope that the heathen should repent of their grievous sins +and return to God, whom they had deserted in idolatry, so that they might +escape the impending doom of the last judgment day. According to one +Haggadist,(794) even the Messiah will appear first as a preacher of +repentance, admonishing the heathen nations to be converted to the true +God and repent before Him, lest they fall into perdition. Indeed, it is +said that even Pharaoh and the Egyptians were warned and given time for +repentance before their fate overtook them. + +7. Accordingly, the principle of repentance is a universal human one, and +by no means exclusively national, as the Christian theologians represent +it.(795) The sages thus describe Adam as the type of the penitent sinner, +who is granted pardon by God. The “sign” of Cain also was to be a sign for +all sinners, assuring them they might all obtain forgiveness and +salvation, if they would but return to God.(796) In fact, the prophetic +appeal to Israel for repentance, vain at the time, effected the +regeneration of the people during the Exile and gave rise to Judaism and +its institutions. In the same way, the appeal to the heathen world by the +Hellenistic propaganda and the Essene preachers of repentance did not +induce the nations at once to prepare for the coming of the Messianic +kingdom, but finally led to the rise of the Christian religion, and, +through certain intermediaries, of the Mohammedan as well. + +However, the long-cherished hope for a universal conversion of the heathen +world, voiced in the preachments and the prayers of the “pious ones,” gave +way to a reaction. The rise of antinomian sects in Judaism occasioned the +dropping of this pious hope, and only certain individual conversions were +dwelt on as shining exceptions.(797) The heathen world in general was not +regarded as disposed to repent, and so its ultimate fate was the doom of +Gehenna. Experience seemed to confirm the stern view, which rabbinical +interpretation could find in Scripture also, that “Even at the very gate +of the nether world wicked men shall not return.”(798) The growing +violence of the oppressors and the increasing number of the maligners of +Judaism darkened the hope for a universal conversion of humanity to the +pure faith of Israel and its law of righteousness. On the contrary, a +certain satisfaction was felt by the Jew in the thought that these enemies +of Judaism should not be allowed to repent and obtain salvation in the +hereafter.(799) + +8. The idea of repentance was applied all the more intensely in Jewish +life, and a still more prominent place was accorded it in Jewish +literature. The rabbis have numberless sayings(800) in the Talmud and also +in the Haggadic and ethical writings concerning the power and value of +repentance. In passages such as these we see how profoundly Judaism dealt +with the failings and shortcomings of man. The term _asa teshubah_, do +repentance, implies no mere external act of penitence, as Christian +theologians often assert. On the contrary, the chief stress is always laid +on the feeling of remorse and on the change of heart which contrition and +self-accusation bring. Yet even these would not be sufficient to cast off +the oppressive consciousness of guilt, unless the contrite heart were +reassured by God that He forgives the penitent son of man with paternal +grace and love. In other words, religion demands a special means of +atonement, that is, _at-one-ment_ with God, to restore the broken relation +of man to his Maker. The true spiritual power of Judaism appears in this, +that it gradually liberates the kernel of the atonement idea from its +priestly shell. The Jew realizes, as does the adherent of no other +religion, that even in sin he is a child of God and certain of His +paternal love. This is brought home especially on the Day of Atonement, +which will be treated in a later chapter. + +9. At all events, the blotting out of man’s sins with their punishment +remains ever an act of grace by God.(801) In compassion for man’s frailty +He has ordained repentance as the means of salvation, and promised pardon +to the penitent. This truth is brought out in the liturgy for the Day of +Atonement, as well as in the Apocalyptic Prayer of Manasseh. At the same +time, Judaism awards the palm of victory to him who has wrestled with sin +and conquered it by his own will. Thus the rabbis boldly assert: “Those +who have sinned and repented rank higher in the world to come than the +righteous who have never sinned,” which is paralleled in the New +Testament: “There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repenteth than +over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.”(802) No +intermediary power from without secures the divine grace and pardon for +the repentant sinner, but his own inner transformation alone. + + + + +Chapter XL. Man, the Child of God + + +1. The belief that God hears our prayers and pardons our sins rests upon +the assumption of a mutual relation between man and God. This belief is +insusceptible of proof, but rests entirely upon our religious feelings and +is rooted purely in our emotional life. We apply to the relation between +man and God the finest feelings known in human life, the devotion and love +of parents for their children and the affection and trust the child +entertains for its parents. Thus we are led to the conviction that +earth-born man has a Helper enthroned in the heavens above, who hearkens +when he implores Him for aid. In his innermost heart man feels that he has +a special claim on the divine protection. In the words of Job,(803) he +knows that his Redeemer liveth. He need not perish in misery. Unlike the +brute creation and the hosts of stars, which know nothing of their Maker, +man feels akin to the God who lives within him; he is His image, His +child. He cannot be deprived of His paternal love and favor. This truly +human emotion is nowhere expressed so clearly as in Judaism. “Ye are the +children of the Lord your God.”(804) “Have we not all one Father? Hath not +one God created us?”(805) “Like as a father hath compassion on his +children, so hath the Lord compassion upon them that fear Him.”(806) + +2. Still, this simple idea of man’s filial relation to God and God’s +paternal love for man did not begin in its beautiful final form. For a +long time the Jew seems to have avoided the term “Father” for God, because +it was used by the heathen for their deities as physical progenitors, and +did not refer to the moral relation between the Deity and mankind. Thus +worshipers of wooden idols would, according to Scripture, “say to a stock, +Thou art my father.”(807) Hosea was the first to call the people of Israel +“children of the living God,”(808) if they would but improve their ways +and enter into right relations with Him. Jeremiah also hopes for the time +when Israel would invoke the Lord, saying, “Thou art my Father,” and in +return God would prove a true father to him.(809) However, Scripture calls +God a Father only in referring to the people as a whole.(810) The “pious +ones” established a closer relation between God and the individual by +means of prayer, so that through them the epithets, “Father,” “Our +Father,” and “Our Father in heaven” came into general use. Hence, the +liturgy frequently uses the invocation, “Our Father, Our King!” We owe to +Rabbi Akiba the significant saying, in opposition to the Paulinian dogma, +“Blessed are ye, O Israelites! Before whom do you purify yourselves (from +your sins)? And who is it that purifies you? Your Father in heaven.”(811) +Previously Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanos dwelt on the moral degeneration of +his age, which betokened the end of time, and exclaimed: “In whom, then, +shall we find support? In our Father who is in heaven.”(812) The +appellative “Father in heaven” was the stereotyped term used by the “pious +ones” during the century preceding and the one following the rise of +Christianity, as a glance at the literature of the period indicates.(813) + +3. It is instructive to follow the history of this term. In Scripture God +is represented as speaking to David, “I will be to him for a father, and +he shall be to Me for a son,”(814) or “He shall call unto Me: Thou art my +Father, ... I also will appoint him first-born.”(815) So in the apocryphal +writings God speaks both to Israel and to individual saints: “I shall be +to them a Father, and they shall be My children.”(816) Elsewhere it is +said of the righteous, “He calls God his Father,” and “he shall be counted +among the sons of God.”(817) We read concerning the Messiah: “When all +wrongdoing will be removed from the midst of the people, he shall know +that all are sons of God.”(818) Obviously only righteousness or personal +merit entitles a man to be called a son of God. In fact, we are expressly +told of Onias, the great Essene saint, that his intimate relation with God +emboldened him to converse with the Master of the Universe as a son would +speak with his father.(819) According to the Mishnah the older generation +of “pious ones” used to spend “an hour in silent devotion before offering +their daily prayer, in order to concentrate heart and soul upon their +communion with their Father in heaven.”(820) Thus it is said of +congregational prayer that through it “Israel lifts his eyes to his Father +in heaven.”(821) In this way prayer took the place of the altar, of which +R. Johanan ben Zakkai said that it established peace between Israel and +his Father in heaven.(822) Afterwards the question was discussed by Rabbi +Meir and Rabbi Jehuda whether even sin-laden Israel had a right to be +called “children of God.” Rabbi Meir pointed to Hosea as proof that the +backsliders also remain “children of the living God.”(823) + +4. In the Hellenistic literature, with its dominating idea of universal +monotheism, God is frequently invoked or spoken of as the Father of +mankind. The implication is that each person who invokes God as Father +enters into filial relation with Him. Thus what was first applied to +Israel in particular was now broadened to include mankind in general, and +consequently all men were considered “children of the living God.” The +words of God to Pharaoh, speaking of Israel as His “first-born son,”(824) +were taken as proof that all the nations of the earth are sons of God and +He the universal Father. Israel is the first-born among the sons of God, +because his patriarchs, prophets, and psalmists first recognized Him as +the universal Father and Ruler. From this point of view Judaism declared +love for fellow-men and regard for the dignity of humanity to be +fundamental principles of ethics. “As God is kind and merciful toward His +creation, be thou also kind and merciful toward all fellow-creatures,” is +the oft-repeated teaching of the rabbis.(825) Likewise, “Whoever takes +pity on his fellow-beings, on him God in heaven will also take pity.”(826) +Love of humanity has so permeated the nature of the Jew that the rabbis +assert: “He who has pity on his fellow-men has the blood of Abraham in his +veins.”(827) This bold remark casts light upon the strange dictum: “Ye +Israelites are called by the name of man, but the heathen are not.”(828) +The Jewish teachers were so deeply impressed with man’s inhumanity to man, +so common among the heathen nations, and the immorality of the lives by +which these desecrated God’s image, that they insisted that the laws of +humanity alone make for divine dignity in man. + +5. Rabbi Akiba probably referred to the Paulinian dogma that Jesus, the +crucified Messiah, is the only son of God, in his well-known saying: +“Beloved is man, for he is created in God’s image, and it was a special +token of love that he became conscious of it. Beloved is Israel, for they +are called the children of God, and it was a special token of love that +they became conscious of it.”(829) Here he claims the glory of being a son +of God for Israel, but not for all men. Still, as soon as the likeness of +man to God is taken in a spiritual sense, then it is implied that all men +have the same capacity for being a son of God which is claimed for Israel. +This is unquestionably the view of Judaism when it considers the Torah as +entrusted to Israel to bring light and blessing to all the families of +men. Rabbi Meir, the disciple of Rabbi Akiba, said: “The Scriptural words, +‘The statutes and ordinances which _man_ shall do and live thereby,’ and +similar expressions indicate that the final aim of Judaism is not attained +by the Aaronide, nor the Levite, nor even the Israelite, but by +mankind.”(830) Such a saying expresses clearly and emphatically that God’s +fatherly love extends to all men as His children. + +6. According to the religious consciousness of modern Israel man is made +in God’s image, and is thus a child of God. Consequently Jew and non-Jew, +saint and sinner have the same claim upon God’s paternal love and mercy. +There is no distinction in favor of Israel except as he lives a higher and +more god-like life. Even those who have fallen away from God and have +committed crime and sin remain God’s children. If they send up their +penitent cry to the throne of God, “Pardon us, O Father, for we have +sinned! Forgive us, O King, for we have done evil!”; their prayer is heard +by the heavenly Father exactly like that of the pious son of Israel. + + + + +Chapter XLI. Prayer and Sacrifice + + +1. The gap between man and the sublime Master of the universe is vast, but +not absolute. The thoughts of God are high above our thoughts, and the +ways of God above our ways, baffling our reason when we endeavor to solve +the vexatious problems of destiny, of merit and demerit, of retribution +and atonement. Yet religion offers a wondrous medium to bring the heart of +man into close communion with Him who is enthroned above the heavens, one +that overleaps all distances, removes all barriers, and blends all +dissonances into one great harmony, and that is—Prayer. As the child must +relieve itself of its troubles and sorrows upon the bosom of its mother or +father in order to turn its pain into gladness, so men at all times seek +to approach the Deity, confiding to Him all their fears and longings in +order to obtain peace of heart. Prayer, communion between the human soul +and the Creator, is the glorious privilege enjoyed by man alone among all +creatures, as he alone is the child of God. It voices the longing of the +human heart for its Father in heaven. As the Psalmist has it, “My soul +thirsteth for God, for the living God.”(831) + +2. However, both language, the means of intercourse between man and man, +and prayer, the means of intercourse between man and God, show traces of a +slow development lasting for thousands of years, until the loftiest +thoughts and sublimest emotions could be expressed. The real efficacy of +prayer could not be truly appreciated, until the prophetic spirit +triumphed over the priestly element in Judaism. In the history of speech +the language of signs preceded that of sounds, and images gradually +ripened into abstract thoughts. Similarly, primitive man approaches his +God with many kinds of gifts and sacrificial rites to express his +sentiments. He acts out or depicts what he expects from the Deity, whether +rain, fertility of the soil, or the extermination of his foes. He shares +with his God his food and drink, to obtain His friendship and protection +in time of trouble, and sacrifices the dearest of his possessions to +assuage His wrath or obtain His favor. + +3. In the lowest stage of culture man needed no mediator in his +intercourse with the Deity, who appeared to him in the phenomena of nature +as well as in the fetish, totem, and the like. But soon he rose to a +higher stage of thought, and the Deity withdrew before him to the +celestial heights, filling him with awe and fear; then rose a class of men +who claimed the privilege to approach the Deity and influence Him by +certain secret practices. Henceforth these acted as mediators between the +mass of the people and the Deity. In the first place, these were the +magicians, medicine-men, and similar persons, who were credited with the +power to conjure up the hidden forces of nature, considered either divine +or demoniac. After these arose the priests, distinguished from the people +by special dress and diet, who established in the various tribes temples, +altars, and cults, under their own control. Then there were the saints, +pious penitents or Nazarites, who led an ascetic life secluded from the +masses, hoping thus to obtain higher powers over the will of the Deity. +All these entertained more or less clearly the notion that they stood in +closer relation to the Deity than the common people, whom they then +excluded from the sanctuary and all access to the Deity. + +The Mosaic cult, in the so-called Priestly Code, was founded upon this +stage of religious life, forming a hierarchical institution like those of +other ancient nations. It differed from them, however, in one essential +point. The prime element in the cult of other nations was magic, +consisting of oracle, incantation and divination, but this was entirely +contrary to the principles of the Jewish faith. On the other hand, all the +rites and ceremonies handed down from remote antiquity were placed in the +service of Israel’s holy God, in order to train His people into the +highest moral purity. The patriarchs and prophets, who are depicted in +Scripture as approaching God in prayer and hearing His voice in reply, +come under the category of saints or elect ones, above the mass of the +people. + +4. Foreign as the entire idea of sacrifice is to our mode of religious +thought, to antiquity it appeared as the only means of intercourse with +the Deity. “In every place offerings are presented unto My name, even pure +oblations,”(832) says the prophet Malachi in the name of Israel’s God. +Even from a higher point of view the underlying idea seems to be of a +simple offering laid upon the altar. Such were the meal-offering +(_minha_);(833) the burnt offering (_olah_), which sends its pillar of +smoke up toward heaven, symbolizing the idea of self-sacrifice; while the +various sin-offerings (_hattath_ or _asham_) expressed the desire to +propitiate an offended Deity. However, since the sacrificial cult was +always dominated by the priesthood in Israel as well as other nations, the +lawgiver made no essential changes in the traditional practice and +terminology. Thus it was left to the consciousness of the people to find a +deeper spiritual meaning in the sacrifices instead of stating one +directly. The want was supplied only by the later Haggadists who tried to +create a symbolism of the sacrificial cult. The laying on of hands by the +individual who brought the offering, seems to have been a genuine symbolic +expression of self-surrender. In the case of sin-offerings the Mosaic cult +added a higher meaning by ordering a preceding confession of sin. Here, +indeed, the individual entered into personal communion with God through +his prayer for pardon, even though the priest performed the act of +expiation for him. + +5. The great prophets of Israel alone recognized that the entire +sacrificial system was out of harmony with the true spirit of Judaism and +led to all sorts of abuses, above all to a misconception of the worship of +God, which requires the uplifting of the heart. In impassioned language, +therefore, they hurled words of scathing denunciation against the practice +and principle of ritualism: “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will +take no delight in your solemn assemblies. + +Yea, though ye offer Me burnt-offerings and your meal-offerings, I will +not accept them; Neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat +beasts. + +Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; and let Me not hear the +melody of thy psalteries. + +But let justice well up as waters, and righteousness as a mighty +stream.”(834) + +Thus speaks Amos in the name of the Lord. And Hosea: + + + “For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God + rather than burnt-offerings.”(835) + + +Isaiah spoke in a similar vein: + + + “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? + saith the Lord; I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the + fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or + of lambs, or of he-goats.... + + Bring me no more vain oblations; it is an offering of abomination + unto Me; new moon and sabbath, the holding of convocations—I + cannot endure iniquity along with the solemn assembly.... + + And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide Mine eyes from + you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands + are full of blood. + + Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings From + before Mine eyes, cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek + justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for + the widow.”(836) + + +Most striking of all are the words of Jeremiah, spoken in the name of the +Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt-offerings unto your +sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor +commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, +concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices, but this thing I commanded +them, saying; ‘Hearken unto My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall +be My people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may +be well with you.’ ”(837) + +6. However, the mere rejection of the sacrificial cult was quite negative, +and did not satisfy the normal need for communion with God. Therefore the +various codes established a sort of compromise between the prophetic ideal +and the priestly practice, in which the ideal was by no means supreme. +Sometimes the prophetic spirit stirred the soul of inspired psalmists, and +their lips echoed forth again the divine revelation: + +“Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against +thee: God, thy God, am I. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices; and +thy burnt-offerings are continually before Me. I will take no bullock out +of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest +is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.... Do I eat the flesh of +bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”(838) Another psalmist says: +“Sacrifice and meal-offering thou hast no delight in; Mine ears hast Thou +opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.”(839) + +Still, the sacrificial cult was too deeply rooted in the life of the +people to be disturbed by the voice of the prophets or the words of a few +psalmists. It was connected with the Temple, and the Temple was the center +of the social life of the nation. The few faint voices of protest went +practically unheeded. The priestly pomp of sacrifice could only be +displaced by the more elevating and more spiritual devotion of the entire +congregation in prayer, and this process demanded a new environment, and a +group of men with entirely new ideas. + +7. The need of a deeper devotion through prayer was not felt until the +Exile. There altar and priesthood were no more, but the words of the +prophets and the songs of the Levites remained to kindle the people’s +longing for God with a new zeal. Until then prayer was rare and for +special occasions. Hannah’s prayer at Shiloh filled even the high priest +with amazement.(840) The prophets alone interceded in behalf of the +people, because the ordinary man was not considered sufficiently clean +from sin to approach the Deity in prayer. But on foreign soil, where +sacrifices could not be offered to the God of Israel, the harp of David +resounded with solemn songs expressing the national longing toward God. +The most touching psalms of penitence and thanksgiving date from the +exile. A select class of devout men, called the godly or pious ones, +_Hasidim_ or _Anavim_,(841) assembled by the rivers of Babylon for regular +prayer, turning their faces toward Jerusalem, that the God of Israel might +answer them from His ancient seat.(842) Thus the great seer of the exile +voiced the hope for “a house of prayer for all peoples” to stand in the +very place where the sacrifices were offered to God.(843) The congregation +of Hasidim elaborated a liturgy under the Persian influence, in which +prayer was the chief element, and the secondary part, the instruction from +the Torah and the monitions of the prophets. The Synagogue, the house of +meeting for the people, spread all over the world, and by its light of +truth and glow of fervor it soon eclipsed the Temple, with all its worldly +pomp. In fact, the priesthood of the Temple were finally compelled to make +concessions to the lay movement of the Hasidim. They added a prayer +service, morning and evening, to the daily sacrifices, and opened the Hall +of Hewn Stones, the meeting place of the High Court of Justice, as a +Synagogue in charge of the priests.(844) + +8. In this manner the ancient sacrificial cult, thus long monopolized by +the priesthood, was gradually superseded by congregational prayer which +was no longer confined to a certain time or class, and justly called by +the rabbis “a service of the heart.”(845) Moreover, the Temple itself lost +much of its hold upon the hearts of the people, owing to the more +spiritual character of the Synagogue. Thus the torch of the Roman soldiery +which turned the Temple into a heap of ashes broke only the national bond, +but left the religious bond of the Synagogue unbroken. True, the hope for +the restoration of the Temple with the priestly sacrifices was not +relinquished, and officially the daily prayers were considered only a +“temporary substitute” for the divinely ordained sacrificial cult.(846) + +Nevertheless, the deeper religious consciousness of the people felt that +the celestial gate of divine mercy opens only to prayer, which emanates +from the innermost depths of the soul. Accordingly, some of the Haggadists +try to prove from Scripture that prayer ranks above sacrifice,(847) while +others even identify worship with prayer.(848) They represent God as +appearing to Moses in the guise of one who leads the congregation in +prayer, His face covered by the prayer-shawl (_tallith_), in order to +teach man for all time the mode and power of prayer.(849) Still these +remain isolated expressions of an underlying sentiment; on the whole, the +rabbis regarded the Mosaic legislation, with its emphasis on sacrifice, +far too highly to accord prayer any but a secondary place, either +accompanying sacrifice or as its substitute.(850) + +9. Through many centuries, then, the belief in the divine origin of the +sacrificial cult remained, even though it could no longer be carried out. +The liturgy contained prayers for the speedy restoration of the Temple and +the sacrifices, which were preserved by tradition, and nowhere was even an +echo heard of the bold words of Jeremiah denying the divine character of +the sacrifices,(851) even though the idea of the restoration of the old +cult must have been repugnant to thinkers. The sages of former ages could +only resort to a compromise or an allegorical interpretation. It is +noteworthy that the Haggadist Rabbi Levi considered the sacrifices a +concession of God to the people, who were disposed to idolatry, in order +to win them gradually for the pure monotheistic ideal.(852) This view was +adopted by the Church Fathers, and later by Maimonides and other medieval +thinkers. On the other hand, an allegorical meaning was assigned to the +sacrifices by Philo and Jehuda ha Levi, as well as by Samson Raphael +Hirsch in modern times.(853) + +Reform Judaism, recognizing the results of Biblical research and the law +of religious progress, adopted the prophetic view of the sacrifices. +Accordingly, the sacrificial cult of the Mosaic code has no validity for +the liberal movement, and all reference to it has been eliminated from the +reform liturgy. In this, however, the connection with the past was by no +means severed. The main part of the service remains the same, although +much of the character and many of the details have been changed.(854) Only +the allusions to the Temple worship and the sacrifices were eliminated, +and the entire form of the service was made more solemn and inspiring “by +combining ancient time-honored formulas with modern prayers and +meditations in the vernacular and in the spirit of the age.” The morning +and evening services retained their places, while the additional festal +service (_mussaf_) was abrogated, because it stood for the additional +festal sacrifice. As to the voluntary element in the old sacrificial +system, the peace, sin, and thank-offerings, this is replaced in the +reform ritual, as in the traditional practice, by private devotions for +special occasions, to be selected by the individual. + +The traditional Jewish prayer has certainly a wondrous force. It remains a +source of inspiration from which the religious consciousness will ever +draw new strength and vitality. It echoes the voice of Israel singing the +song of redemption by the Red Sea: “This is My God, and I will glorify +Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”(855) Consequently our liturgy +must ever respond to a double demand; it must throb with the spirit of +continuity with our great past, to make us feel one with our fathers of +yore; and it must express clearly and fully our own views and needs, our +convictions and our hopes. + + + + +Chapter XLII. The Nature and Purpose of Prayer + + +1. Prayer is the expression of man’s longing and yearning for God in times +of dire need and of overflowing joy, an outflow of the emotions of the +soul in its dependence on God, the ever-present Helper, the eternal Source +of its existence. Springing from the deepest necessity of human weakness, +the expression of a momentary wish, prayer is felt to be the proud +prerogative of man as the child of God, and at last it becomes adoration +of the Most High, whose wisdom and whose paternal love and goodness +inspire man with confidence and love. + +2. Every prayer is offered on the presumption that it will be heard by God +on high. “O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee doth all flesh come,” +sings the Psalmist.(856) No doubt of the efficacy of prayer can arise in +the devout spirit. There can be only the question whether, and how far, +the Deity can allow its decrees to be influenced by human wishes. +Childlike faith anticipates divine interference in the natural order at +any time, because it has not yet attained the conception of a moral order +in the universe and, therefore, expects from prayer also miraculous +effects on life. As the Deity can suddenly send or withhold rain or +drought, barrenness or birth, life or death, so the inference is that the +man of God can do the same with his prayer. This is the point of view of +the Biblical and Talmudic periods, as well as of the entire ancient world. +It seems almost childish to our religious consciousness when, according to +Talmudic tradition, the high priest petitioned God in the Sanctuary on the +Day of Atonement for a year rich in rain and blessed with sunshine and +with dew, and at the same time expressed the entreaty that the prayers of +travelers for dry or cool weather should find no hearing.(857) That the +prayers of the pious may alter God’s decree is not doubted for a moment by +the rabbis; only they insist that God has taken into account beforehand +the efficacy of this prayer in deciding the fate of the pious, in order +that they may petition for that which He actually plans to do. “God longs +for the prayer of the pious”; for that reason, they say, the Mothers of +Israel were afflicted with barrenness, until the prayers of the Patriarchs +had accomplished the transformation in their constitutions.(858) On the +other hand, the rabbis warn against excessive pondering over prayer and +its efficacy, as through it that childlike faith would be weakened, which +is the basis of all prayer.(859) + +3. According to the rabbinic viewpoint, prayer has the power to reverse +every heavenly decree, inasmuch as it appeals from the punitive justice of +God, which has decided thus, to His attributes of grace and mercy, which +can at any time effect a change. When the prophet Isaiah came to King +Hezekiah with the message: “Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die,” +he replied, “Finish thy message and go; I have received the tradition from +my royal ancestor David that, even when the sword already touches the +neck, man shall not desist from an appeal to the divine mercy.”(860) Nay +more, the rabbis believed that God Himself prays, saying, “Oh, that My +mercy shall prevail over My justice!”(861) Only after the divine judgment +has been executed prayer becomes vain. In general, the entire Talmudic +period ascribed miraculous power to prayer, especially the prayers of the +pious, like the popular saint Onias or Hanina ben Dosa.(862) In many such +cases the invocation of God was combined with the use of the sacred name, +the tetragrammaton, to which magical powers were ascribed.(863) + +4. The two attributes of God, Justice and Mercy, correspond to the double +nature of mankind, as the sinful man, who deserves punishment, is called +to account by the former, while the righteous man may appeal to the +latter. Accordingly, the efficacy of prayer could be so explained that, +before it can influence the decision of God, it demands the reformation of +man. While the unregenerate man meets an evil destiny, the reformed man +has become a different being, and hence instead of justice mercy will +control his fate. Albo pleads for this view of prayer, when he cites the +Talmudic incident about R. Meir. It is said that R. Meir interceded for +the people of Mimla, who all seemed to have been doomed to die on +attaining manhood because they inherited the curse of the priestly family +of Eli.(864) But he also recommended to them that they should devote their +lives to worthy deeds, as it is said in the Proverbs:(865) “The hoary head +is a crown of glory, it is found in the way of righteousness.”(866) + +Other thinkers ascribe to prayer the power to change the fate determined +by the stars, because it exalts man into a higher sphere of godliness, +exactly like the spirit of prophecy. Of course, this conception is +connected with the belief in astrology, which swayed even clear thinkers +like Ibn Ezra.(867) + +5. According to our modern thinking there can be no question of any +influence upon a Deity exalted above time and space, omniscient, +unchangeable in will and action, by the prayer of mortals. Prayer can +exert power only over the relation of man to God, not over God Himself. +This indicates the nature and purpose of prayer. Man often feels lonely +and forlorn in a world which overpowers him, to which he feels superior, +and yet which he cannot master. Therefore he longs for that unseen Spirit +of the universe, with whom alone he feels himself akin, and in whom alone +he finds peace and bliss amid life’s struggle and unrest. This longing is +both expressed and satisfied in prayer. Following the natural impulse of +his soul, man must pour out before his God all his desires and sighs, all +the emotions of grief and delight which sway his heart, in order that he +may find rest, like a child at its mother’s bosom. Therefore the childlike +mind believes that God can be induced to come down from His heavenly +heights to offer help, and that He can be moved and influenced in human +fashion. The truth is that every genuine prayer lifts man up toward God, +satisfies the desire for His hallowing presence, unlocks the heavenly gate +of mercy and bliss, and bestows upon man the beatific and liberating sense +of being a child of God. The intellect may question the effect of prayer +upon the physical, mental, or social constitution of man, or may declare +prayer to be pious self-deception. The religious spirit experiences in +prayer the soaring up of the soul toward union with God in consecrated +moments of our mortal pilgrimage. This is no deception. The man who prays +receives from the Godhead, toward whom he fervently lifts himself, the +power to defy fate, to conquer sin, misery, and death. “The Lord is nigh +to all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.”(868) + +6. To pray, then, is to look up to God and to pour out before Him one’s +wishes, thoughts, sorrows, and joys. Certainly the All-knowing does not +require to be told by us what we desire or what we need. “For there is not +a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.”(869) But +we mortals merely aspire toward Him who bears the world on His eternal +arms, to express in His presence our agony and our jubilation, because we +are certain of His paternal sympathy. When we praise and extol Him for the +happiness and the many pleasures which He has granted us, He becomes the +Partaker and Protector of our fortune, just as He is our sympathetic +Helper when we cry out to Him under the burden of sin or grief, in the +anxiety of danger or of guilt. Every genuine prayer realizes deeply the +truth of the words, “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain +thee.”(870) + +7. Self-expression before God in prayer has thus a double effect; it +strengthens faith in God’s love and kindness, as well as in His all-wise +and all-bountiful prescience. But it also chastens the desires and +feelings of man, teaching him to banish from his heart all thoughts of +self-seeking and sin, and to raise himself toward the purity and the +freedom of the divine will and demand. The essence of every prayer of +supplication is that one should be in unison with the divine will, to sum +up all the wishes of the heart in the one phrase, “Do that which is good +in Thine own eyes, O Lord.”(871) On the other hand, only the prayer which +avoids impure thoughts and motives can venture to approach a holy God, as +the sages infer from the words of Job, “There is no violence in my hands, +and my prayer is pure.”(872) + +8. Every prayer, teach the sages, should begin with the praise of God’s +greatness, wisdom, and goodness, in order that man should learn submission +and implicit confidence before he proffers his requests.(873) While +looking up to the divine Ideal of holiness and perfection, he will strive +to emulate Him, and seek to grow ever nearer to the holy and the perfect. +But only when he prays with and for others, that is, in public worship, +will he realize that he is a member of a greater whole, for then he prays +only for that which advances the welfare of all. “He who prays with the +community,” say the rabbis, “will have his prayer granted.”(874) + +Another saying of theirs is that he who prays should have his face +directed to the sanctuary, and when he stands on its sacred precincts, he +should turn his face toward the Holy of Holies.(875) By this they meant +that the attitude of the suppliant should ever be toward the highest, +making the soul soar up to the Highest and Holiest in reverent awe and +adoration, transforming the worshiper into a new character, pure from all +dross. + +9. Therefore prayer offered with the community upon the sanctified ground +of the house of God exerts a specially powerful influence upon the +individual. In the silent chamber the oppressed spirit may find calm and +composure in prayer; but the pure atmosphere of heavenly freedom and bliss +is attained with overwhelming might only by the united worship of hundreds +of devout adorers, which rings out like the roaring of majestic billows: +“The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before +Him.”(876) The familiar strains from days of yore touch the deep, +long-silent chords of the heart, and awaken dormant sentiments and +repressed thoughts, endowing the soul with new wings, to lift itself up +toward God, the Father, from whom it had felt itself alienated. In the +ardor of communal worship the traditional words of the prayer-book obtain +invigorating power; the heart is newly strengthened; the covenant with +heaven sealed anew. To such communal prayer, which springs from the heart, +the rabbis refer the Biblical words, “to serve Him with the whole +heart.”(877) The synagogal worship exerts an ennobling influence upon the +spirit of the individual as well as that of the community. For after all +the main object is that the soul which aspires toward God may learn to +find God. “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call ye upon Him while +He is near.”(878) No man is so poor as he who calls in agony: “O God!” and +to whom neither the heaven above nor the heart within answers, “Behold, +God is here.” Nor is any man so rich with all his possessions as he who +realizes, like the Psalmist, that “the nearness of God is the true good,” +and imbued with this thought exclaims, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? +And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.”(879) + + + + +Chapter XLIII. Death and the Future Life + + +1. The vision of man is directed upwards and forwards; he will not resign +himself to decay in the dust like the beast. As he bears in his breast the +consciousness of a higher divine world, he is equally confident of his own +continuity after death. He cannot and will not believe that with the +giving up of his last living breath his being would become dust like that +of the animal; or that his soul, which has hitherto accomplished and +planned so much, should now suddenly cease altogether to exist. The +longing for a future life, however expressed, has filled him and buoyed +him up since the very beginning of history. Even the most primitive tribe +does not allow its dead to lie and rot like the carcasses of the beast, +but lays them to rest in the grave with all their possessions, in the +expectation that somewhere and somehow, under, over or beyond the earth, +they will continue their lives, even in a better form than before. + +This longing for immortality implanted in the human soul is so represented +in the legend of Paradise that the tree whose fruit bestowed upon the +celestial beings the gift of eternal life—like the Greek ambrosia, “the +food of the gods”—was originally intended for mankind also in the divine +“Garden of Bliss.” But after man fell through sin, all access to it was +denied him, in order that he might not stretch out his hand for it and +thereby attain that immortality which was vouchsafed only to divine +beings.(880) According to his original destiny, therefore, man should live +forever; and, just as legend allows those divinely elected, like Enoch and +Elijah,(881) to ascend to heaven alive, so at a later period prophecy +predicts a time when God will annihilate death forever.(882) Accordingly, +through the power of his divine soul man possesses a claim to immortality, +to eternal life with God, the “Fountain of life.” + +2. It was just this keen longing for an energetic life on earth, this +mighty yearning to “walk before God in the land of the living,”(883) which +made it more difficult for Judaism to brighten the “valley of the shadow +of death” and to elevate the vague notion of a shadowy existence in the +hereafter into a special religious teaching. Until long after the Exile +the Jewish people shared the view of the entire ancient world,—both the +Semitic nations, such as the Babylonians and Phœnicians, and the Aryans, +such as the Greeks and Romans,—that the dead continue to exist in the +shadowy realm of the nether world (_Sheol_), the land of no return +(_Beliyaal_),(884) of eternal silence (_Dumah_), and oblivion +(_Neshiyah_),(885) a dull, ghostly existence without clear consciousness +and without any awakening to a better life. We must, however, not overlook +the fact that even in these most primitive conceptions a certain +imperishability is ascribed to man as marking his superiority over the +animal world, which is altogether abandoned to decay. Hence the belief in +the existence of the shades, the _Refaim_ in Sheol.(886) But throughout +the Biblical period no ethical idea yet permeated this conception, and no +attempt was made to transform the nether world into a place of divine +judgment, of recompense for the good and evil deeds accomplished on +earth,(887) as did the Babylonians and Egyptians. Both the prophets and +the Mosaic code persist in applying their promises and threats, in fact, +their entire view of retribution, to this world, nor do they indicate by a +single word the belief in a judgment or a weighing of actions in the world +to come. + +3. Whether the Mosaic-prophetic writings be regarded from the standpoint +of traditional faith or of historical criticism, the limitation of their +teaching and exhortation to the present life can be considered narrowness +only by biased expounders of the “Old Testament.” The Israelitish lawgiver +could not have been altogether ignorant of the Egyptian or the Babylonian +conceptions of the future world. Obviously Israel’s prophets and lawgivers +deliberately avoided giving any definite expression to the common belief +in a future life after death, especially as the Canaanitish magicians and +necromancers used this popular belief to carry on their superstitious +practices, so dangerous to all moral progress.(888) The great task which +prophetic Judaism set itself was to place the entire life of men and +nations in the service of the God of justice and holiness; there was thus +no motive to extend the dominion of JHVH, the God of life, to the +underworld, the playground of the forces of fear and superstition. As late +as the author of the book of Job and of the earlier Psalms, Sheol was +known as the despot of the nether world with its demoniacal forms, as the +“king of terrors” who extends his scepter over the dead.(889) Only +gradually does the thought find expression in the Psalms that the +Omnipotent Ruler of heaven could also rescue the soul out of the power of +Sheol,(890) and that His omnipresence included likewise the nether +world.(891) In this trustful spirit the Hasidic Psalmist expressed the +hope: “Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol, neither wilt Thou suffer +Thy godly one to see the pit. Thou makest me to know the path of life; in +Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand bliss forevermore.”(892) + +4. Biblical Judaism evinced such a powerful impetus toward a complete and +blissful life with God, that the center and purpose of existence could not +be transferred to the hereafter, as in other systems of belief, but was +found in the desire to work out the life here on earth to its fullest +possible development. Virtue and wisdom, righteousness and piety, signify +and secure true life; vice and folly, iniquity and sin, lead to death and +annihilation. This is the ever recurring burden of the popular as well as +of the prophetic and priestly wisdom of Israel.(893) In the song of thanks +of King Hezekiah after his recovery, the Jewish soul expresses itself, +when he says:(894) “I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the +land of the living.... But Thou hast delivered my soul from the pit of +corruption. For the nether world cannot praise Thee; death cannot +celebrate Thee. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this +day. The father to the children shall make known Thy truth.” Therefore the +author of the seventy-third Psalm, ennobled by trials, finds sufficient +comfort and happiness in the presence of God that he can spurn all earthly +treasures.(895) Job, too, in his affliction longed for death as release +from all earthly pain and sorrow, but not to bring him a state of rest and +peace like the Nirvana of the Indian beggar-monk, or an outlook into a +better world to come. Such an awakening to a new life seems to him +unthinkable,—although many commentators have often endeavored to read such +a hope into certain of his expressions.(896) Instead, his belief in God as +the Ruler of the infinite world, with His lofty moral purpose far +outreaching all human wisdom, lent him courage and power for further +effort and persistent striving on earth. Since to this suffering hero, +impelled to deeds by his own energy, life is a continuous battle, a +hereafter as a “world of reward and punishment” can hardly solve the great +enigma of human existence in a satisfactory manner for him. The wise +ones—says a Talmudic maxim—find rest neither in this world nor in the +world to come, but “they shall ascend from strength to strength, until +they appear before God on Zion.”(897) + +5. In the course of time, however, the question of existence after death +demanded more and more a satisfactory answer. Under the severe political +and social oppression that came upon the Jewish people, the pious ones +failed to see a just equation of man’s doings and his destiny in this +life. The bitter disappointment which they experienced made them look to +the God of justice for a future, when virtue would receive its due reward +and vice its befitting punishment. The community of the pious especially +awaited in vain the realization of the great messianic hope with which the +prophetic words of comfort had filled their hearts. They had willingly +offered up their lives for the truth of Judaism, and the God of +faithfulness could not deceive them. Surely the shadowy realm of the +nether world could not be the end of all. So the voice of promise came to +them from the book of Isaiah, where these encouraging and comforting words +were inserted by a later hand: “Thy dead shall live; thy (My) dead bodies +shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for Thy dew is as +the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the shades.”(898) Even +before this time the God of Israel had been praised as “He who killeth and +maketh alive, who bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.”(899) So was +also the miraculous power of restoring the dead to life ascribed to the +prophets.(900) Furthermore, the vision of the prophet Ezekiel concerning +the dry bones which arose to new life, in which he beheld the divine +revelation of the approaching event of the restoration of the Jewish +nation,(901) shows how familiar the idea of resurrection must have been to +the people. Hence the minds of the Jewish people were sufficiently +prepared to adopt the Persian belief in the resurrection of the dead. + +6. This, however, led to a tremendous process of transformation in Judaism +with a wide chasm between Mosaism and Rabbinism, or, more accurately, +between the Sadducees, who adhered to the letter of the law, and the +Pharisees, who embodied the progressive spirit of the people. On the one +hand, Jesus ben Sira, who at the close of his book speaks with great +admiration of the high-priest Simon the Just as his contemporary, knew as +yet nothing of a future life, and like Koheleth saw the end of all human +existence in the dismal realm of the nether world. Yet at the same time, +the Hasidim or pious ones and their successors, the Pharisees, were +developing after the Persian pattern the thought of a divine judgment day +after death, when the just were to awaken to eternal life, and the +evil-doers to shame and everlasting contempt.(902) This advanced moral +view, frequently overlooked, transformed the ancient Semitic Sheol from +the realm of shades to a place of punishment for sinners, and thus +invested it with an ethical purpose.(903) After this the various Biblical +names for the nether world became the various divisions of hell.(904) +Indeed, the Psalmists and the Proverbs had announced to the wicked their +destruction in Sheol, and on the other hand held out for the godly the +hope of deliverance from Sheol and a beatific sight of God in the land of +the living. Thus the transition was prepared for the new world-conception. +All the promises and threats of the law and the prophets, when they did +not receive fulfillment in this world, appeared now to point forward to +the world to come. Moreover, the Pharisees in their disputes with the +Sadducees made use of every reference, however slight, to the future +life,—even of such passages as those which speak of the Patriarchs as +receiving the promise of possessing the Holy Land, as if they were still +alive,—as proofs of the continued life of the dead, or of their +resurrection.(905) Thus it came about that the leading authorities of +rabbinic Judaism were in the position to declare in the Mishnah: “He who +says that the belief in the resurrection of the dead is not founded on the +Torah (and therefore does not accept it) shall have no share in the world +to come.”(906) + +7. The founders of the liturgy of the Synagogue, in opposition to the +Sadducees, formulated therefore the belief in resurrection in the second +of the “Eighteen (or Seven) Benedictions” of the daily prayer in the +following words: “Thou, O Lord, art mighty forever. Thou revivest the +dead. Thou art mighty to save. Thou sustainest the living with +loving-kindness, revivest the dead with great mercy, supportest the +falling, healest the sick, loosest the bound, and keepest Thy faith to +them that sleep in the dust. (This refers to the Patriarchs, to whom God +has promised the land of the future.) Who is like unto Thee, O Lord of +mighty acts, and who resembleth Thee, O King, who killest and bringest to +life, and causest salvation to spring forth? Yea, faithful art Thou to +revive the dead. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who revivest the dead.” In this +prayer dating from the age of the Maccabees(907) the Jewish consciousness +of two thousand years found a twofold hope,—the national and the +universally human. The national hope, which combined the belief in the +restoration of the kingdom of David and of the sacrificial cult with the +resurrection of the dead in the Holy Land, can be understood only in +connection with a historic view of Israel’s place in the world, and is +treated in the third part of this book. The purely human hope for the +continuity or the renewal of life rests on two fundamental problems which +must be examined more closely in the next two chapters. The one belongs to +the province of psychology and considers the question: What is the eternal +divine element in man? The other goes more deeply into the religious and +moral nature of man and considers the question: Where and how does divine +retribution—reward or punishment—take place in human life? To both of +these questions our modern view, with its special aim toward a unified +grasp of the totality of life, requires a special answer. This can be +neither that of rabbinic Judaism, which rests upon Persian dualism, nor +that of medieval philosophy, which was under the Platonic-Aristotelian +influence. + + + + +Chapter XLIV. The Immortal Soul of Man + + +1. The idea of immortality has been found in Scripture in a rather obscure +and probably corrupt passage,(908) “In the way of righteousness is life, +and in the pathway thereof there is no death.” In the same spirit Aquila, +the Bible translator, who belonged to the school of R. Eliezer and R. +Joshua, renders the equally obscure passage from the Psalms,(909) “He will +lead us to immortality,” reading _al maveth_, the Al with _Alef_, for _al +muth_, the Al with _Ayin_. There is more solid foundation for the view +that the verse, “God created man in His own image” implies that there is +an imperishable divine essence in man. In fact, that which distinguishes +man from the animal as well as from the rest of creation, both the starry +worlds above and the manifold forms of life on earth about him, is his +self-conscious personality, his ego, through which he feels himself akin +with God, the great world-ruling _I Am_. This self-conscious part of man, +which lends to his every manifestation its value and purpose, can no more +disappear into nothingness than can God, who called into existence this +world with all its phenomena, who set it in motion and directs it. +Whatever thought the crudest of men may have of his ego, his self,(910) or +however the most learned scholar may explain the marvelous action and +interaction of physical and psychical or spiritual forces which culminates +in his own self-conscious personality, it appears certain that this ego +cannot cease to be with the cessation of the bodily functions. There is in +us something divine, immortal, and the only question is wherein it may be +found. + +2. The creation of man which is described in the Bible in the words, “God +formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the +breath of life, and man became a living soul”(911) corresponds to the +child-like conceptions of a primitive people. On the other hand, Scripture +speaks of death in parallel terms, “The dust returneth to the earth as it +was, and the spirit (Ruah, the life-giving breath) returneth unto God who +gave it.”(912) + +The conception that the soul enters into man as the breath of life and +leaves him at his death, flying toward heaven like a bird,(913) is quite +as ancient and as universal as the other, that the soul descends into the +nether world as a shadowy image of the body, there to continue a dull +existence. The two are related to one another, and in the Bible, as well +as in the literature of other peoples, they have given rise to diverse +definitions of the soul. This was the point of departure for the +development of the conception of immortality in one or the other +direction, according to whether the body was considered a part of the +personality which somehow survives after death, or only the spiritual +substance of the soul was thought to live on in celestial regions as +something divine. The former led to the theory of the resurrection of the +body and its reunion with the soul; the latter to the belief in a future +life for the soul, after it had been separated or released from the body. + +3. When once the soul was felt to be a “lamp of the Lord,” filling the +body with light when man is awake,(914) it was easy to imagine that the +soul had escaped and temporarily returned to God in sleep. This induced +the teachers of the Synagogue to prescribe a morning prayer of thanks +which reads, “Blessed art Thou, O God, who restorest the souls unto dead +bodies.”(915) The conception underlying this prayer throws light upon the +entire belief in resurrection. Death to the pious is only a prolonged +sleep. On that account the prophet in the passage from Isaiah already +referred to, as well as the Hasidic author of the Book of Daniel,(916) +could express the hope that “those who sleep in the dust shall awake.” As +at every awakening from sleep in the morning, so at the great awakening in +the future, the souls which have departed in death shall return again to +their bodies. These bodies could then hardly be conceived of as subject to +decomposition, and the picture in Ezekiel’s vision of resurrection(917) +had to be accepted as fact. Still R. Simeon b. Yohai in the especially +instructive thirty-fourth chapter of Pirke de R. Eliezer assumes the +complete disintegration of the body, in order to render the miracle of +resurrection so much the greater. Later still arose the legend of an +indestructible bone of the spinal column, called _Luz_, which was to form +the nucleus for the revival of the whole body.(918) The name Luz, which +denotes an almond tree and is the name given in the Bible to a city +also,(919) seemed to point to a connection with two legends, a fabulous +city into which death could not enter,(920) and the tree of resurrection +in the Osiris cycle.(921) + +4. Still, no clear, consistent view of the soul prevailed as yet in the +rabbinic age. The popular belief, influenced by Persian notions, was that +the soul lingers near the body for a certain time after it has +relinquished it, either from three to seven days or for an entire +year.(922) Furthermore it was said that after death the souls hovered +between heaven and earth in the form of ghosts, able to overhear the +secrets of the future decreed above and to betray them to human beings +below. In fact, the rabbis of the Talmud, especially the Hasidim, never +hesitated to accept these ghost stories.(923) Some sages of the Talmudic +period taught that the souls of the righteous ascend to heaven, there to +dwell under the throne of the divine majesty, awaiting the time of the +renewal of the world, while the souls of the godless hovered over the +horizon of the earth as restless demoniacal spirits, finally to succumb to +the fate of annihilation, after they had been cast down into the fiery pit +of Gehenna or Sheol.(924) Of course, this view, which prevails in both the +Talmud and the New Testament, according to which the souls of the wicked +are to be consumed in the fire of Gehenna, is inconsistent with the +conception of the purely spiritual nature of the soul. + +Nevertheless at this same epoch we find the higher idea expressed that the +soul is an invisible, god-like essence, pervading the body as a spiritual +force and differing from it in nature in much the same way as God is +differentiated from the world.(925) “Thou wishest to know where God +dwells, who is as high as are the heavens above the earth; tell me then +where dwells thy soul, which is so near,” replied R. Gamaliel to a +heathen.(926) The prevailing view of the schools is that God implants the +soul in the embryo while in the mother’s womb, together with all the +spiritual potentialities which make it human. In fact, R. Simlai, the +third-century Haggadist, advances the Platonic conception of the +preëxistence of the soul, as a being of the highest intelligence, which +sees before birth all things throughout the world, but forgets all at +birth, so that all subsequent learning is only a recollection.(927) In +Hellenistic Judaism especially the doctrine seems to have been general of +the preëxistence of the soul, or of the creation of all human souls +simultaneously with the creation of the world.(928) Of course, the soul +which emanates from a higher world must be eternal. + +5. The first clear idea of the nature of the soul came with the +philosophically trained thinkers, who were dependent either on Plato, main +founder of the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, or on Aristotle, +who ascribes immortality only to the creative spirit of God, the supreme +Intelligence as a cosmic power. The nearest approach to Plato was +Philo,(929) who saw in the three Biblical names for the soul, _nefesh_, +_ruah_, and _neshama_, the three souls of the Platonic system,—the +sensuous soul, which has its seat in the abdomen; the courageous or +emotional soul, situated in the breast; and the intellectual soul, which +dwells in the brain and contains the imperishable divine nature. This last +is kept in its physical environment as in a prison or a grave, and ever +yearns for liberation and reunion with God. The soul of the righteous +enters the world of angels after death; that of the wicked the world of +demons. + +Saadia, who was under the influence of Aristotle interpreted from the +neo-Platonic viewpoint, did not share the Platonic dualism of matter and +spirit, nor did he divide the soul into three parts, seated in various +parts of the human body. He finds the soul to be a spiritual substance +created simultaneously with the body, and uniting the three forces of the +soul distinguished in Scripture into one inseparable whole, the seat of +which is in the heart,—wherefore soul and heart are often synonymous in +the Bible. This indivisible substance possesses a luminous nature like +that of the spheres, but is simpler, finer, and purer than they, and +endowed with the power of thought. It was created by God out of the primal +ether from which He made the angels, simultaneously with the body and +within it. By this union it was qualified to display that moral activity +prescribed for it in the divine teaching, the neglect of which would +defile and tarnish it. According to Saadia some kind of material substance +adheres to the soul as well as to the angels, and on that account he does +not hesitate to accept the Talmudic expressions about the abode of the +soul after death, or the last judgment which is to take place as soon as +the appointed number of souls shall have made their entrance into their +earthly bodies, when the souls of the righteous will have their angelic +nature recognized, and those of the wicked will have their lower character +revealed. However, Saadia combats with so much greater fervor the Hindu +teaching of metempsychosis, which had been adopted by Plato and +Pythagoras.(930) + +Bahya connects his theory with the three souls of Plato, and likewise +ascribes to the soul an ethereal essence.(931) He holds that its destiny +is to raise itself to the order of the angels through self-purification, +and finally to return to God as the divine Source of light. To this end +the intellectual soul, which has its being from the primal light, must +overcome the lower sensuous soul which leads to sin. + +6. The conception that the soul is a substance derived from the luminous +primal matter, like the heavenly spheres and the angels, was now +persistently retained by the Jewish thinkers, who explained thereby its +immortality. In adopting the Aristotelian theory that the soul is the +form-principle of the body, the Platonic doctrine of its preexistence was +gradually relinquished, and its existence ascribed to a creative act of +God at the birth of the child or at its conception. But Jehuda ha-Levi, +the most pious of all the philosophers, emphasized vigorously the +indivisibility of the soul, its incorporeality and its reality apart from +the condition of the body, and—in opposition to the Aristotelian +free-thinkers, who expected the human soul to be absorbed into the divine +soul, the active intellect,—he declared the immortality of the individual +a fundamental article of faith.(932) + +Now some of the Jewish thinkers, following Jehuda ha Levi, Ibn Daud, and +others, though Aristotelians, shrank from the logical conclusion of +denying all individuality to the soul, and attributed to it rather a +process of purification, which ends with the elevation of the soul-essence +to angelic rank and thus guarantees its immortality. Not so Maimonides, +who accepted with inexorable earnestness the Aristotelian idea of form as +the perfection of matter. The essence of the human soul is, for him, that +force or potentiality which qualifies it for the highest development of +the intellect, and is alone capable of grasping the divine. Yet it can +acquire a part in the creative World-spirit only in the same degree as it +unfolds this potentiality to share the divine intellect, whose seat is the +highest sphere of the universe. By dint of this acquired intelligence it +can live on as an independent intellect, in the image of God, and thus +attain beatitude in the contemplation of Divinity.(933) + +7. Naturally the view of Maimonides, that a certain measure of immortality +is granted only to the wise,—though they must be morally perfect as +well,—aroused great opposition. Hasdai Crescas proves its untenableness by +asking, “Why shall the wise alone share in immortality? Furthermore, how +can something that came into existence in the course of human life +suddenly acquire eternal duration? Or how can there be any bliss in the +knowledge of God where there is no personality, no self-conscious ego to +enjoy it?” Therefore Crescas ascribed to the soul an indestructible +spiritual essence whose perfection is attained, not by mere intellect or +knowledge, but by love of God manifested in a religious and moral life, +and which is thereby made to share in eternal bliss.(934) + +8. All these various thinkers find the future life either expressed or +suggested in the Scriptures as a truth based upon reason. This is +especially the conception of Abraham ibn Daud, who, contrary to his +Aristotelian successor Maimonides, sees in self-consciousness, by which +the soul differentiates itself from the body as a personality, the proof +that it cannot be subject to dissolution with the body.(935) + +Besides the philosophic doctrine of the immortality of the soul, however, +the traditional belief in the resurrection of the body demanded some +consideration on the part of these philosophers. Saadia defends the latter +with all his might, endeavoring to reconcile the two as best he can.(936) +All the rest leave us in doubt whether resurrection is to be understood +literally or symbolically. Maimonides especially involves himself in +difficulties, inasmuch as in his commentary on the Mishna he considers the +resurrection of the dead an unalterable article of faith, whereas in his +Code(937) and in the Moreh he speaks only of immortality; and again before +the end of his life he wrote, obviously in self-defense, a work which +seems to favor bodily resurrection, yet without clarifying his conceptions +at any time.(938) The belief in resurrection had taken too deep a root in +the Jewish consciousness and had been too firmly established through the +liturgy of the Synagogue for any philosopher to touch it without injuring +the very foundations of faith. + +Moreover, beside external caution a certain inner need seems to have +impelled toward the acceptance of resurrection. As soon as one thinks of +the soul as existing or continuing to live in an incorporeal state, one is +involuntarily led toward the belief in the soul’s preëxistence or even in +the possibility of metempsychosis. Thus it seemed more reasonable to +believe in a new formation of the human body together with a new creation +of the world. Therewith came the disposition to assign to the soul in the +future world a body of finer substance, like that assumed by the mystic +Nahmanides,(939) in order to assure to the new humanity a wondrous +duration of life like that of Elijah. + +9. While the popular philosopher Albo rightly declares that the nature of +the soul is as far beyond all human understanding as is the nature of +God,(940) the mystics sought all the more to penetrate its secrets. The +Cabbalah also divides the soul into three different substances according +to the three Biblical names, assigning their origins to the three +different spheres of the universe, and reiterating the Platonic theory of +the preexistence of the soul and its future transmigration. This division +into three parts provided scope for all types of theories concerning the +soul in its sensuous, its moral, and its intellectual nature. +Fundamentally the Cabbalah considered the soul an emanation from the +divine intellect with a luminous character just like the philosophers. But +in the Platonic view of the ascending order of creation, which forms the +basis of the Cabbalah, this mundane life is an abyss of moral degradation, +so that the soul yearns toward the primal Source of light, finally to find +freedom and bliss with God.(941) Thus the later Cabbalah returned to the +teachings of Philo, the Jewish Plato, for whom death was only the +stripping off of the earthly frame in order to enter the pure and luminous +world of God. + +10. With Moses Mendelssohn, who in his _Phædon_ tried to translate Plato’s +proof of immortality into modern terms, a new attitude toward the nature +and destiny of the soul arose in Judaism among both the philosophers and +the educated laity. Mendelssohn not only endeavored to prove the +immortality of the soul through its indivisibility and incorporeality, as +all the neo-Platonists and Jewish philosophers had done before him; he +also attempted to show from the harmonious plan which pervades and +controls all of God’s creation, that the soul may enter a sphere of +existence greater in extent and content than the little span of earthly +life which it relinquishes. The progress of the soul toward its highest +unfolding, unsatisfied in this life, demands a future growth in the +direction of god-like perfection.(942) At this point the philosopher +enters the province of faith, and thus furnishes for all time the cardinal +point of the belief in immortality. The divine spirit in man, which is +evinced in the self-conscious, morally active personality, bears within +itself the proof and promise of its future life. Moreover, this +corresponds with the belief in God as One who rules the world for the +eternal purposes and aims of perfection, who cannot deceive the hope of +the human heart for a continued living and striving onward and forward, +without thereby impairing His own perfection. For we all close our lives +without having attained the goal of moral and spiritual perfection toward +which we strive; and therefore our very nature demands a world where we +may reach the higher degree of perfection for which we long. In this sense +we may interpret the Psalmist’s verse: “I shall be satisfied, when I +awake, with (beholding) Thy likeness.”(943) That is: our spirit, when no +longer bound to the earth, shall behold the divine glory,—a vision which +transcends our powers of thought. + +11. In the light of modern investigation, body and soul are seen to be +indissolubly bound together by a reciprocal relation which either benefits +or impedes them both. Wherein the spiritual bond exists that renders both +the physical organs with their muscular and nervous systems and the +magnetic or electric currents which set them in motion subservient to the +will of the intellect; what the mind actually _is_, into whose deepest +recesses science is casting its search-light to illumine its +processes,—these are problems which will probably remain ever incapable of +solution by human knowledge, and will therefore always afford new food for +the imagination. Yet it is just in periods like ours, when the belief in +God is weakening, that the human spirit is especially solicitous to guard +itself against the thought of the complete annihilation of its god-like +self-conscious personality. This gives rise to the superstitious effort to +spy out the soul by sensory means and to find ways of seeing or hearing +the spirits of the dead,—a tendency which is as dangerous to the spiritual +and moral welfare of humanity as was the ancient practice of +necromancy.(944) It is therefore all the more important to base the belief +in immortality solely on the God-likeness of the human soul, which is the +mirror of Divinity. Just as one postulate of faith holds that God, the +Creator of the world, rules in accordance with a moral order, so another +is the immortality of the human soul, which, amidst yearning and groping, +beholds God. The question where, and how, this self-same ego is to +continue, will be left for the power of the imagination to answer ever +anew. + +12. Certainly it is both comforting and convenient to imagine the dead who +are laid to rest in the earth as being asleep and to await their +reawakening. As the fructifying rain awakens to a new life the seeds +within the soil, so that they rise from the depths arrayed in new raiment, +so, when touched by the heavenly dew of life, will those who linger in the +grave arise to a new existence, clad in new bodies. This is the belief +which inspired the pious founders of the synagogal liturgy even before the +period of the Maccabees, when they expressed their praise of God’s power +in that He would send the fertilizing rain upon the vegetation of the +earth, and likewise in due time the revivifying dew upon the sleeping +world of man. Both appeared to the sages of that age to be evidences of +the same wonder-working power of God. Whoever, therefore, still sees God’s +greatness, as they did, revealed through miracles, that is, through +interruptions of the natural order of life, may cling to the traditional +belief in resurrection, so comforting in ancient times. On the other hand, +he who recognizes the unchangeable will of an all-wise, all-ruling God in +the immutable laws of nature must find it impossible to praise God +according to the traditional formula as the “Reviver of the dead,” but +will avail himself instead of the expression used in the Union Prayer Book +after the pattern of Einhorn, “He who has implanted within us immortal +life.”(945) + + + + +Chapter XLV. Divine Retribution: Reward and Punishment. + + +1. The feeling of equity is deeply rooted in human nature, demanding +reparation for every wanton wrong and yielding recognition to every +benevolent act. In fact, upon this universal principle is based all +justice and to a certain extent all morality. Judaism of every age +compresses this demand of the religious and moral nature of man into the +doctrine: God rewards the good and punishes the evil. This doctrine, which +is the eleventh of Maimonides’ articles of faith, constitutes the +underlying presumption of all the Biblical narratives as well as of the +prophetic threats and warnings and those of the Mosaic law, in so far as +earthly success and prosperity were regarded as the rewards of God and +earthly misfortune and misery as His punishments. In the same degree, +however, as experience contradicted this doctrine, and as examples +multiplied of wicked persons revelling in prosperity and innocent ones +laboring under adversity and woe, it became necessary to defer the divine +retribution more and more to the future—at first to a future on earth and +later to one in the world to come, until finally it developed into a pure +spiritual conception in full accord with a higher ethical view of life. + +2. As long as in the primitive process of law the family or the clan was +held responsible for the crime of the individual, ancient Israel also +adhered to the idea that “God visits the sins of the fathers upon the +third and fourth generation,” as Jeremiah still did(946) in full accord +with the second commandment. It was in a far later stage that the rabbis +interpreted the words “of those who hate Me” in the sense of individual +responsibility.(947) Only in accordance with the Deuteronomic law which +says: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither +shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put +to death for his own sin,”(948) did the religious consciousness rebel +against the thought that a later generation should suffer for the sins of +its ancestors, and hence the popular adage arose, “The fathers have eaten +sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.”(949) It is +the prophet Ezekiel who refutes once and for all the idea of a guilt +transmitted to children and consequently of hereditary sin and punishment, +insisting on the doctrine that personal responsibility alone determines +divine retribution.(950) But here a new element affects divine +retribution. God’s long-suffering and mercy do not desire the immediate +punishment, the death of the sinner. He should be given time to return to +a better mode of life.(951) + +But the great enigma of human destiny, which vexes the author of the +seventy-third Psalm and that of the book of Job, still presses for a +better solution. It is true that the popular belief and popular legends +which are preserved in post-Biblical writings as well, insisted on a +justice which requites “measure for measure.”(952) Still insight into +actual life does not confirm the teaching of the popular philosophy that +the “righteous will be requited in the earth” and that “evil pursueth +sinners.”(953) The unshakeable belief in the justice of God had to find +another solution for life’s antinomies, and was forced to reach out for +another world in which the divine righteousness would find its complete +realization. + +3. Biblical Judaism with few exceptions recognized only the present world +and the subterranean world of shadows, a view preserved in its essentials +by Ben Sira and the Sadducees, who were subsequently declared heretics. In +contrast to them Pharisaic or Rabbinic Judaism teaches a resurrection +after death for a life of eternal bliss or eternal torment, according as +the divine judgment finds one righteous and another wicked. We may leave +aside the consideration that the first impulse toward a Jewish belief in +resurrection came from the non-fulfillment of the national hope, wherefore +it was always bound up with the soil of the Holy Land, as will be seen in +Chapter LIV. The fact remains that the divine judgment to follow upon +resurrection was consistently regarded as a great world-judgment, which +was to decide the future lot of all men and spirits. It must be noted also +that the apocalyptic and midrashic literature often identifies the pious +with the God-fearing Israelites as those who shall arise to eternal life, +while the wicked are identified with the idolatrous heathen, who are +condemned to eternal death, or, as it is frequently expressed, to a second +death.(954) + +4. Exactly as the old Persian Mazdaism expected the resurrection of all, +both good and bad, the believers in Ahura Mazda as well as the rest of +humanity, so the apocalyptic writers prior to the Talmudic period describe +resurrection as universal: “In those days the earth will give back those +who have been entrusted to her, and the nether-world will release that +which it has received,” according to Enoch LI, 1. Similarly fourth Esdras +remarks: “And after seven days of silence for all creatures, the new order +of the world shall be raised up, and mortality itself shall perish; and +the earth shall restore those that are asleep in her; and so shall the +dust give back those that dwell in silence; and the chambers shall deliver +those souls that were committed unto them. The Most High shall appear on +the throne of judgment, and shall say: Judgment only shall remain, truth +shall stand, and faith shall wax strong. The good deeds shall be of force, +and wicked deeds shall no longer sleep. The lake of torment shall be +revealed, and opposite to it the place of joy; the furnace of Gehinnom +will be visible, and opposite to it the bliss of Paradise. Then the Most +High will speak to the heathen nations, who have awakened: behold now Him +whom ye have denied, whom ye have not served, whose command ye have +abhorred. Gaze now here and there,—here bliss and rest, there fire and +torment.”(955) + +The rabbinic form of the doctrine of resurrection is quite unambiguous: +“Those born into the world are destined to die; the dead, to live again; +and those who enter the world to come, to be judged.”(956) And wherever +the rabbinic or apocalyptic literature mentions the share of the pious, or +of Israel, in eternal life, this implies that, while these enter the world +to come, the evil-doers or idolaters shall enter hell for eternal death; +the understanding being that there is a universal resurrection for the +world-judgment. + +5. The whole system of eschatology in connection with resurrection arose +undoubtedly from the Persian doctrine, according to which death together +with all that is evil and unclean is created by Ahriman, the evil +principle, and will suffer annihilation with him, as soon as the good +principle, Ahura Mazda, has achieved the final victory. Then Soshiosh “the +Savior,” the descendant of Zoroaster, will begin his kingdom of eternal +life for the righteous, coincident with the awakening of the dead.(957) +Pharisaic Judaism, however, gave the hope of resurrection a deeper moral +and religious meaning. The proofs, or rather analogies from nature, of the +seeds springing from the earth in a new form, of men awakening from sleep +in the morning, or of the original creation, are shared by the rabbis and +the New Testament writers with the Persians. On the other hand, proofs +based on the prophetic hope for the future are purely national. So also +are those proofs based on the Biblical passage that the God of the fathers +had sworn to the Patriarchs to give them the Promised Land.(958) Likewise +the reference to the wondrous resurrections related in the history of +Elijah and Elisha offers no proof of a universal resurrection. A striking +point and one which deepens the idea of retribution is the simile of the +Lame and the Blind(959) employed by Jehuda ha Nasi in a dialogue with the +Emperor Antoninus. The latter had said that at the last judgment both soul +and body might deny all guilt. The body may say: “The soul alone has +sinned, for since it has parted from me, I have lain motionless as a +stone.” And the soul, on its part, may reply: “It must be the body that +sinned, for since I have parted from it I soar about in the air free as a +bird.” To this Jehuda ha Nasi answered: “A king once possessed a garden +with splendid fig-trees, and appointed as watchmen in it a blind man and a +lame man. Then the lame man spoke to the blind man, ‘I see fine figs up +there; take me upon your shoulders, and I shall pick them, and we can +enjoy them together.’ They did so, and when the king entered the garden, +the figs were gone. But when they were held to account for it, the lame +man said, ‘How could I have taken them, since I cannot walk?’ And the +blind man said, ‘And I cannot see.’ Then the king had the lame man placed +upon the shoulders of the blind man and judged them both together. In like +manner will God treat the body and the soul, as it is said:(960) ‘He +calleth to the heavens above—that is, the heavenly element, the soul—and +to the earth beneath—the earthly body—and places them together before His +throne of judgment.’ ” + +6. It cannot be denied that the idea that the soul and body, having +committed good or evil deeds together in this life, should receive in +common their reward or punishment in the world to come, satisfied the +Jewish sense of justice better than the conception developed by +Hellenistic Judaism (after the Platonic and, in the last resort, the +Egyptian view) that the soul alone should partake of eternal bliss or +torment. Nevertheless the philosophically trained Jewish thinkers of +Alexandria could not bring themselves to accept a bodily resurrection, and +therefore emphasized so much more strongly the great day of judgment and +the reward and punishment of the soul in the world to come. Still we find +much inconsistency among various authors, sometimes even in the same work, +in the conception of future bliss for the good and torture for the wicked. +These varied according to the more sensuous or more spiritual view taken +of the soul and the celestial world, and according to the literal or +figurative interpretation of the Biblical allusions to “fire,” “worms,” +and the like in the punishment of evil-doers, and of the delights awaiting +the righteous in the future.(961) + +On this point free play was allowed to the imagination of the people and +the fancy of the Haggadists. Still, throughout, the solemn thought found +its echo that mortal man must give account to the inexorable Judge of the +living and the dead for the life just completed, in order to be ushered, +according to his deserts, into the portals of the celestial Paradise or of +hell.(962) This led to the view that this whole mundane life is but like a +wayfarers’ inn for the life to come, or the vestibule of the palace (more +precisely the “banquet-hall”) of the future.(963) + +7. A further development of the principle of justice in application to +future retribution led not merely to such a depiction of the tortures of +hell and the delights of heaven that the maxim: “measure for measure,” so +often deviated from in this life, could find complete realization in the +world to come. An intermediate stage also was devised for those whose +merit or guilt would enroll them neither among the righteous for eternal +bliss, nor among the wicked for eternal punishment. While the stern +teachers of the school of Shammai insisted that these mediocre ones must +undergo a twelve-month process of purification in the fires of Gehenna, +the milder school of Hillel maintained that the divine mercy would grant +them admission into Paradise even without the fires of purgatory(964), +either through the merit of the patriarchs(965) or owing to the deserts of +a son who has been trained to reverence for God, as is indicated by the +legend concerning the Kaddish prayer.(966) In any case, the teaching of +Hillel concerning the all-sufficing mercy of God swept aside the old +hopeless conception that eternal suffering in hell awaits the average man, +which was adhered to by the Christian church in connection with its dogma +of the atoning blood of Christ. Likewise, in the dispute of schools as to +whether or not the bliss of eternal life would be accorded also to the +righteous among the heathen, the more humane view of Joshua ben Hananiah +prevailed over the gloomier one of the Shammaite Eliezer ben Hyrcanos, and +therefore the doctrine became generally accepted, “The righteous of all +nations shall have a share in the world to come.”(967) + +8. The apocalyptic writers, who largely influenced the New Testament, and +also the Haggadists refer with fond interest to the banquet of the pious +in the world to come, where they would be served with heavenly manna as +bread, with wine preserved from the days of the creation, and with the +flesh of the Leviathan or the fruit of the Tree of Life.(968) On the other +hand they elaborated the tortures of the evil-doers in hell which are to +afford a pleasing sight to the pious in heaven, just as the torments of +the sinners are aggravated by the sight of the righteous enjoying all +delights.(969) But at the same time we meet with a more refined and +spiritual conception of future reward and punishment among the disciples +of R. Jehuda ha Nasi, in the Babylonian Rab, and the Palestinian R. +Johanan and his pupil Simeon ben Lakish. “In the future world,” says Rab, +“there are no sensual enjoyments nor passions, but the righteous sit at +the table of God with wreaths upon their heads (like the Greek sages at a +symposium!), feeding on the radiance of the divine majesty, as did the +chosen ones of Israel on the heights of Sinai.”(970) R. Johanan teaches, +“All the promises held forth in Scripture in definite form as reward for +the future, refer to the Messianic era, whereas in regard to the bliss +awaiting the pious in the world to come, the words of Isaiah hold good: +‘No eye hath seen it, O God, beside Thee.’ ”(971) Simeon ben Lakish even +went so far as to say, “There is neither hell nor paradise. Instead, God +sends out the sun in its full strength from its encasement, and the wicked +are consumed by its heat, while the pious find delight and healing in its +beams.”(972) + +However, the popular imagination demanded more perceptible pictures of +heaven and hell, if fear of punishment was to deter men from sin, and hope +of reward to lead them to virtue. The description of the modes of reward +and punishment for the future in the Koran is the outcome of mingled +Persian and Jewish popular conceptions, and its crass sensuousness exerted +in turn a decisive influence upon the entire Gaonic period,(973) leaving +its mark upon even so clear a thinker as Saadia. Not only does he admit +into his philosophic work all the crude and conflicting descriptions of +the future world, but he also argues for the eternity of the punishments +of hell and of the delights of heaven as logical necessities, because only +such could sufficiently deter or allure mankind, and a righteous God must +certainly carry out His threats and promises.(974) + +9. The entire Jewish philosophy or theology of the Middle Ages remained +under the influence of the traditional belief in resurrection. Even +Maimonides, whose purely spiritual conception of the soul and of salvation +is utterly irreconcilable with the belief in bodily resurrection, and who +accordingly dwells instead, in both his Moreh and his Code, on the future +world of spirits, with explicit emphasis on their incorporeality, did not +have the courage to break altogether with the traditional belief in +resurrection. In his apologetic treatise on resurrection he even attempts +to present it as a miraculous act of God beyond the grasp of the +intellect. He omits, however, to specify what purpose this miracle may +serve, since in the Maimonidean system reward and punishment would be +administered in the world of spirits in a much purer and more satisfactory +manner.(975) The same standpoint is taken also by Jehuda ha Levi as well +as by Crescas and Albo.(976) If then resurrection be a miracle, it falls +outside the scope of philosophic speculation and becomes a matter of +faith; accordingly the mystics from Nahmanides down to Manasseh ben Israel +associated with it the grossest conceptions.(977) + +10. The actual view of Maimonides concerning future retribution is +expressed clearly and unambiguously in both his early product, the +commentary on the Mishna, and in the ripest fruit of his life work, the +Mishneh Torah, where he says “Not immortality, but the power to win +eternal life through the knowledge and the love of God is implanted in the +human soul. If it has the ability to free itself from the bondage of the +senses and by means of the knowledge of God to lift itself to the highest +morality and the purest thinking, then it has attained divine bliss, true +immortality, and it enters the realm of the eternal Spirit together with +the angels. If it sinks into the sensuousness of earthly existence, then +it is cut off from eternal life; it suffers annihilation like the beast. +In reality this life eternal is not the future, but is already potentially +present and invariably at hand in the spirit of man himself, with its +constant striving toward the highest. When the rabbis speak of paradise +and hell, describing vividly the delights of the one and the torments of +the other, these are only metaphors for the agony of sin and the happiness +of virtue. True piety serves God neither from fear of punishment nor from +desire for reward, as servants obey their master, but from pure love of +God and truth. Thus the saying of Ben Azai is verified, ‘The reward of a +good deed is the good deed itself.’(978) Only children need bribes and +threats to be trained to morality. Thus religion trains mankind. The +people who cannot penetrate into the kernel need the shell, the external +means of threats and promises.”(979) These splendid words of the great +thinker require supplementing or modification in only one direction, and +that has been afforded by the keenest critic among Jewish philosophers, +Hasdai Crescas. Too deeply enmeshed in the Aristotelian system, Maimonides +found the happiness and immortality of man solely in the acquired +intellectual power which becomes part of the divine intellect, and the +mere knowledge of God is to him tantamount to the blissful enjoyment of +the pious in the radiance of God’s majesty. Consequently those who strive +and soar heavenward through their moral conduct and noble aspirations, +without at the same time being thinkers, receive no reward. Against this +Aristotelian one-sidedness Crescas emphasizes God’s love and goodness for +which the righteous yearn, and in whose pursuit man finds perfection and +happiness. Not for the sake of attaining bliss shall we love God and +practice virtue and truth, but to love God and practice virtue is itself +true bliss. This is the nearness of God referred to by the Psalmist and +declared to be man’s highest good.(980) There is no need of any other +reward than this, and there is no greater punishment than to be deprived +of this boon forever.(981) + +11. In the face of these two great thinkers, to whom Spinoza owes the +fundamental ideas of his ethics,(982) the question considered by Albo, +whether the eternal duration of the tortures of hell is reconcilable with +the divine mercy,(983) a question which still plays an important rôle in +Christian theology, and which was probably suggested to Albo through his +disputations with representatives of the Church,—is for us superfluous and +superseded. Our modern conceptions of time and space admit neither a place +or a world-period for the reward and punishment of souls, nor the +intolerable conception of eternal joy without useful action and eternal +agony without any moral purpose. Modern man knows that he bears heaven and +hell within his own bosom. Indeed, so much more difficult is the life of +duty which knows of no other reward than happiness through harmony with +God, the Father of the immortal soul, and of no other punishment than the +soul’s distress at its inner discord with the primal Source and the divine +Ideal of all morality. All the more powerfully is modern man controlled by +the thought that the universe permits no stagnation, no barren enjoyment +or barren suffering, but that every death marks the transition to a higher +goal for greater accomplishment. This yearning of the soul finds +expression in the Talmudic maxim, “The righteous find rest neither in this +world, nor in the world to come, as it is said, ‘They go from strength to +strength, until they appear before God on Zion.’ ”(984) + + + + +Chapter XLVI. The Individual and the Race + + +1. In every system of belief the object of divine care and guidance is the +individual. His soul and his conscience raise him up, especially according +to the Jewish doctrine, to the divine image, to Godchildship. His freedom +and moral responsibility are the patent of nobility for his divine nature; +his ego, controlling external forces and carrying out its own designs, +vouches for his immortality. Nevertheless the spirit of the Biblical +language indicates rightly that the individual is only a son of man,—_ben +adam_,—that is, a segment or member of the human race, but not the perfect +typical exemplification of the whole of mankind. From the social organism +he receives what he is, what he has, and what he ought to do, both his +nature and his destiny; and only in association with the community and +under the guidance of the highest ideal of humanity can he attain true +perfection. Only mankind as a whole, in its coöperation, as it extends +over the vast expanse of the earth, and in its succession which reaches +through the centuries of the world’s history, can bring to full +development the divine image in man, his moral and religious nature with +all its varied potentialities. It is man collectively who in the first +chapter of Genesis receives the command to subject the earth with all its +creatures to his cultural purposes.(985) In whatever stage of culture we +meet man, his modes of thought and speech, his customs and moral views, +even his spiritual faculties are the result of a long historic process of +development, the product of an extremely complicated past, as well as the +basis of a future which expands in all directions. The ancients expressed +this in their suggestive way, remarking in connection with the verse of +the Psalm, “Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance, and in Thy book +they were all written,”(986) that at the creation of the first man God +recorded the succession of races with their sages, seers and leaders until +the end of time.(987) And when the Haggadists say that in creating man God +took dust from every part of the world, so that he would be everywhere at +home,(988) again they were thinking of mankind. Similarly in the passage +from the Psalms, “Thou hast hemmed me in behind and before,” they explain +that God made the first man with two faces, one looking forward and the +other backward, that is, with a Janus head; and thus they regard man in +his relation to the past and the future, in his historic continuity.(989) +As both physically and spiritually he is the heir of innumerable ancestors +who have transmitted to him with their blood all their idiosyncrasies and +capacities in a peculiar combination, so will he transmit both consciously +and unconsciously the inherited possessions of mankind to future +generations for continued growth or for degeneration. He forms but a link +in the great chain of history, whose goal is the perfected ideal of +humanity, the completed idea of man. This was the underlying thought of +Ben Azzai in his dispute with R. Akiba, who held that the principal maxim +of Jewish teaching is “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” In +opposition to this Ben Azzai presented as the most important lesson of the +Bible the verse which says, “This is the book of the generations of man; +in the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him.”(990) +The godlikeness of man develops more and more through the evolution of the +human race. This is the basic force for all human love and all human +worth. + +2. This social bond existing between the individual and the race imposes +upon him in accordance with his occupation certain duties in the same +degree as it confers benefits. Ben Zoma, a colleague of Ben Azzai, +expressed this as follows: When he saw great crowds of people together, he +exclaimed, “Praised be Thou who hast created all these to serve me.” In +explanation of this blessing he said, “How hard the first man in his +loneliness must have toiled, until he could eat a morsel of bread or wear +a garment, but I find everything prepared. The various workmen, from the +farmer to the miller and the baker, from the weaver to the tailor, all +labor for me. Can I then be ungrateful and be oblivious of my duty?”(991) +In the same sense he interprets the last verse in Koheleth, “This is the +end of the matter; fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the +whole duty of man.” That is to say, all mankind toils for him who does so. +Thus does human life rest upon a reciprocal relation, upon mutual +duty.(992) + +3. Man is a social being who must strike root in many spheres of life in +order that the variegated blossoms and fruits of his spiritual and +emotional nature may sprout forth. The more richly the communal life is +specialized into professions and occupations, the more does the province +of the individual expand, and the more difficult it is for him to attain +perfection on all sides. According to his faculties and predisposition he +must always develop one or the other side of human endeavor and pursue now +the beautiful, now the good, now the true and now the useful, if as the +image of God he is to emulate the Ideal of all existence, the Pattern of +all creation. Consequently he may reflect some radiance of the divine +glory in his character and achievements, whether as moral hero, as sage +and thinker, as statesman and battler for freedom, as artist, or as the +discoverer of new forces and new worlds; and yet the full splendor of +God’s greatness is mirrored only by mankind as a whole through its +ceaseless common action and interaction. Therefore Judaism deprecates +every attempt to present a single individual, be he ever so noble or wise, +as the ideal of all human perfection, as a perfect man, free from fault or +blemish. “There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside Thee,” +says Scripture.(993) Instead of extolling any single mortal as the type or +ideal of perfection, our sages rather say with reference to the lofty +characters of the Bible: “There is no generation which cannot show a man +with the love for righteousness of an Abraham, or the nobility of spirit +of a Moses, or the love for truth of a Samuel.”(994) That is to say, every +age creates its own heroes, who reflect the majesty of God in their own +way. + +4. As man is the keystone of all creation, so he is called upon to take +his full share in the progress of the race. “He who formed the earth +created it not a waste; He formed it to be inhabited,” says the +prophet.(995) True humanity has its seat, not in the life of the recluse, +but in the family circle, amid mutual love and loyalty between husband and +wife, between parents and children. The sages, with their keen insight +into the spirit of the Scripture, point to the fact that it is man and +wife together who first receive the name of “man,” because only the mutual +helpfulness and influence, the care and toil for one another draw forth +the treasures of the soul, and create relations which warrant permanency +and give promise of a future.(996) + +5. Still the family circle itself is only a segment of the nation, which +creates speech and custom, and assigns to each person his share in the +common activity of the various classes of men. Only within the social bond +of the nation or tribe is the interdependence of all brought home to the +consciousness of the individual, together with all the common moral +obligations and religious yearnings. Through the few elect ones of the +nation or tribe, God’s voice is heard as to what is right in both custom +and law, and through them the individual is roused to a sense of duty. It +is society which enables the human mind to triumph over physical necessity +by ever new discoveries of tools and means of life, thus to attain freedom +and prosperity, and, through meditation over the continually expanding +realm of God’s world, to build up the various systems of science and of +art. + +6. But the single nation also is too dependent upon the conditions of its +historic past, of its land and its racial characteristics, to bring the +divine image to its full development in a perfect man. Humanity as a whole +comes to its own, to true self-consciousness, only through the reciprocal +contact of race with race, through the coöperation of the various circles +and classes of life which extend beyond the narrow limits of nationality +and have in view common interests and aims, whether in the pursuit of +truth, in the achievement of good, or in the creation of the useful and +the beautiful. Only when the various nations and groups of men learn to +regard themselves as members of one great family, will the life of the +individual find its true value in relation to the idea and the ideal of +humanity. Then only will the unity and harmony of the entire cosmic life +find its reflection in the blending of the factors and forces of human +society. + +7. Judaism has evolved the idea of the unity of mankind as a corollary of +its ethical monotheism. Therefore the Bible begins the history of the +world with the creation of Adam and Eve, the one human pair. The covenant +which God concluded after the flood with Noah, the father of the new +mankind, has its corresponding goal at the end of time in the divine +covenant which is to include all tribes of men in one great brotherhood; +and so also the dispersion of man through the confusion of tongues at the +building of the Tower of Babel has its counterpart in the rallying of all +nations at the end of time for the worship of the One and Only God in a +pure tongue and a united spirit on Zion’s heights.(997) Whatever the +civilizations of Greece and Rome and the Stoic philosophy have achieved +for the idea of humanity, Judaism has offered in its prophetic hope for a +Messianic future the guiding idea for the progress of man in history, thus +giving him the impulse to ceaseless efforts toward the highest of all aims +for the realization of which all nations and classes, all systems of faith +and thought, must labor together for millenniums to come. + + + + +Chapter XLVII. The Moral Elements of Civilization + + +1. Because Judaism sees the attainment of human perfection only when the +divine in man has reached complete development through the unimpeded +activity of all his spiritual, moral, and social forces, it insists upon +the full recognition of all branches of human society as instruments of +man’s elevation, either individually or collectively. It deprecates the +idea that any force or faculty of human life be regarded as unholy and +therefore be suppressed. It thus rejects on principle monastic +renunciation and isolation, pointing to the Scriptural verse, “He who +formed the earth created it not a waste; He formed it to be +inhabited.(998)” + +2. Accordingly Judaism regards the establishment of family life through +marriage as a duty obligatory on mankind, and sees in the entrance into +the marital relation an act of life’s supreme consecration. In contrast to +the celibacy sanctioned by the Church and approved by the rabbis only +under certain conditions, and exceptionally for their holy exercises by +the Essenes, the Tannaite R. Eliezer pronounces the man who through +bachelorhood shirks the duty of rearing children to be guilty of murder +against the human race. Another calls him a despoiler of the divine image. +Another rabbi says that such a one renounces his privilege of true +humanity, in so far as only in the married state can happiness, blessing, +and peace be attained.(999) It is significant as to the spirit of Judaism +that, while other religions regard the celibacy of the priests and saints +as signs of highest sanctity, the Jewish law expressly commands that the +high priest shall not be allowed to observe the solemn rites of the Day of +Atonement if unmarried.(1000) Love for the wife, the keeper and guardian +of the home, must attune his heart to tenderness and sympathy, if he is to +plead for the people before the Holy God. He can make intercession for the +household of Israel only if he himself has founded a family, in which are +practiced faithfulness and modesty, love and regard for the +life-companion, all the domestic virtues inherited from the past. + +3. Another moral factor for human development is industry, which secures +to the individual his independence and his dignity when he engages in +creative labor after the divine pattern, and which rewards him with +comfort and the joy of life. This also is so highly valued by Judaism that +industrial activity, which unlocks from the earth ever new treasures to +enrich human life, is enjoined upon all, even those pursuing more +spiritual vocations. “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall +stand before kings.”(1001) “When thou eatest the labor of thy hands, happy +art thou and it shall be well with thee.”(1002) In commenting on this last +verse, the sages say: “This means that thou wilt be doubly blessed; happy +art thou in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to +come.”(1003) Again they say, “No labor, however humble, is +dishonoring,”(1004) also: “Idleness, even amid great wealth, leads to the +wasting of the intellect.”(1005) Moreover it is said, “Whoever neglects to +train his son to a trade, rears him to become a robber.”(1006) True, there +were some among the pious who themselves abstained from participation in +industry, and therefore proclaimed, in the same tenor as the Sermon on the +Mount, “Behold the beasts of the field and the birds of heaven, they sow +not and reap not, and their heavenly Father cares for them.”(1007) But +these formed an exception, while the majority of Jewish teachers extolled +the real blessing of labor and its efficacy in ennobling heart and +spirit.(1008) + +4. Neither does Judaism begrudge man the joy of life which is the fruit of +industry, nor rob it of its moral value. On the contrary, that ascetic +spirit which encourages self-mortification and rigid renunciation of all +pleasure is declared sinful.(1009) Instead, we are told that in the world +to come man shall have to give account for every enjoyment offered him in +this life, whether he used it gratefully or rejected it in +ingratitude.(1010) Abstinence is declared to be praiseworthy only in +curbing wild desires and passions. For the rest, true piety lies in the +consecration of every gift of God, every pleasure of life which He has +offered, and using it in His service, so that the seal of holiness shall +be imprinted even upon the satisfaction of the most sensuous desires. + +5. Judaism, then, lays special emphasis upon sociability as advancing all +that is good and noble in man. The life of the recluse, according to its +teaching, is of little use to the world at large and hence of no moral +value. Only in association with one’s fellow-men does life find incentive +and opportunity for worthy work. “Either a life among friends or death” is +a Talmudic proverb.(1011) Unselfish friendship like that of David and +Jonathan is lauded and pointed out for imitation.(1012) Through it man +learns to step beyond the narrow boundaries of his ego, and in caring for +others he will purify and exalt his own soul, until at last its love will +include all mankind. + +6. “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his +friend,” says the book of Proverbs,(1013) and the sages derive from this +verse the doctrine that learning does not thrive in solitude.(1014) A +single log does not nourish the flame; to keep up the fire one must throw +in one piece of wood after the other. This applies also to learning; it +lacks in vigor, if it is not communicated to others. Wisdom calls to her +votaries on the highways, in order that the stream of knowledge may +overflow for many. For both the culture of the intellect and the ennobling +of the soul it is necessary that man should step out of the narrow limits +of self and come into touch with a larger world. Only in devotion to his +fellows is man made to realize his own godlike nature. In the same measure +as he honors God’s image in others, in foe as well as in friend, in the +most lowly servant as well in the most noble master, man increases his own +dignity. This is the fundamental thought of morality as expressed in Job, +especially in the beautiful thirty-first chapter, and as embodied in +Abraham,(1015) and later reflected in various Talmudic sayings about the +dignity of man.(1016) Everywhere man’s relation to society becomes a test +of his own worth. The idea of interdependence and reciprocal duty among +all members of the human family forms the outstanding characteristic of +Jewish ethics. For it is far more concerned in the welfare of society than +in that of the individual, and demands that those endowed with fortune +should care for the unfortunate, the strong for the weak, and those +blessed with vision for the blind. As God Himself is Father to the +fatherless, Judge of the widows, and Protector of the oppressed, so should +man be. “Works of benevolence form the beginning and the end of the +Torah,” points out R. Simlai.(1017) + +7. It is in the life of the nation that the individual first realizes that +he is only a part of a greater whole. The nation to which he belongs is +the mother who nourishes him with her spirit, teaches him to speak and to +think, and equips him with all the means to take part in the achievements +and tasks of humanity. In fact, the State, which guarantees to all its +citizens safety, order and opportunity under the law, and which arranges +the relations of the various groups and classes of society that they may +advance one another and thus promote the welfare and progress of all, is +human society in miniature. Here the citizen first learns obedience to the +law which is binding upon all alike, then respect and reverence for the +authority embodied in the guardians of the law who administer justice +“which is God’s,” and hence also loyalty and devotion to the whole, +together with reciprocal obligation and helpfulness among the separate +members and classes of society. The words of Jeremiah to his exiled +brethren, “Seek ye the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be +carried away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace +thereof shall ye have peace,”(1018) became the guiding maxim of Jewry when +torn from its native soil. It impressed upon them, once for all, the +deeply rooted virtues of loyalty and love for the country in which they +dwelt. To pray for the welfare of the State and its ruler, under whose +dominion all citizens were protected, and so in modern times for its +legislative and administrative authorities, has become a sacred duty of +the Jewish religious community. To sacrifice one’s life willingly, if need +be, for the welfare of the country in which he lived, was a demand of +loyalty which the Jew has never disregarded. “The law of the State is as +the law of God”(1019) taught Samuel the Babylonian, and another sage of +Babylon said, “The government on earth is to be regarded as an image of +God’s government in heaven.”(1020) + +8. But, after all, the community of the State or the nation is too +confined in its cultural work by its special interests and particular +tasks ever to reach the universal ideal of man, that is, a perfected +humanity. Where the interests of one State or nation come into conflict +with those of another, far too often the result is enmity and murderous +warfare. Therefore there must be a higher power to quench the brands of +war whenever they flare up, to cultivate every motive leading toward peace +and harmony among nations, to impel men toward a higher righteousness and +to obviate all conflict of interests, because in place of selfishness it +implants in the heart the self-forgetfulness of love. Religion is the +power which trains peoples as well as individuals toward the conception of +one humanity, in the same measure as it points to the one and only God, +Ruler over all the contending motives of men, the Source and Shield of all +righteousness, truth, and love, the Father of mankind as the only +foundation upon which the grand edifice of human civilization must +ultimately rest. Thus it teaches us to regard the common life and endeavor +of peoples and societies as one household of divine goodness. Every system +of belief, every religious denomination which transcends the limits of the +national consciousness with a view to the broader conception of mankind, +and binds the national groups and interests into a higher unity to include +and influence all the depths and heights of the human spirit, paves the +way toward the attainment of the mighty goal. In the same sense the united +efforts of the various classes and societies or States for the common +advance of culture, prosperity, national welfare and international +commerce, as well as of science and art, tend unceasingly toward that full +realization of the idea of humanity which constitutes the brotherhood of +man. + +9. Not yet has any religious body, however great and remarkable its +accomplishments may have been, nor any of the religious, scientific, or +national organizations, much as they have achieved, performed the sublime +task which the prophets of Israel foretold as the goal of history. Each +one has drawn to itself only a portion of mankind, and promised it success +or redemption and bliss, while the rest have been excluded and denied both +temporal and eternal happiness. Each one has singled out one side of human +nature in order to link to it the entire absolute truth, but at the same +time has underestimated or cast aside all other sides of human life, and +thereby blocked the road to complete truth, which can never be presented +in final form, nor ever be the exclusive possession of one portion of +humanity. Judaism, which is neither a religious nor a national system +_solely_, but aims to be a _covenant with God_ uniting all peoples, lays +claim to no exclusive truth, and makes its appeal to no single group of +mankind. The Messianic hope, which aims to unite all races and classes of +men into a bond of brotherhood, has become an impelling force in the +history of the world, and both Christianity and Islam, in so far as they +owe their existence to this hope and to the adoption of Jewish teachings, +constitute parts of the history of Judaism. Between these world-religions +with their wide domains of civilization stands the little Jewish people as +a cosmopolitan element. It points to an ideal future, with a humanity +truly united in God, when, through ceaseless progress in the pursuit of +ever more perfect ideals, truth, justice, and peace will triumph,—to the +realization of the kingdom of God. + + + + + +PART III. ISRAEL AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD + + + + +Chapter XLVIII. The Election of Israel + + +1. The central point of Jewish theology and the key to an understanding of +the nature of Judaism is the doctrine, “God chose Israel as His people.” +The election of Israel as the chosen people of God, or, what amounts to +the same, as the nation whose special task and historic mission it is to +be the bearer of the most lofty truths of religion among mankind, forms +the basis and the chief condition of revelation. Before God proclaimed the +Ten Words of the Covenant on Sinai, He addressed the people through His +chosen messenger, Moses, saying: “Ye have seen what I did unto the +Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto +Myself. Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice, indeed, and keep +My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples, +for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, +and a holy nation.”(1021) + +2. The fact of Israel’s election by God as His peculiar nation is repeated +in Deuteronomy, with the special declaration that God had found delight in +them as the smallest of the peoples, on account of the love and the faith +He had sworn to the Patriarchs.(1022) It is accentuated in the Synagogal +liturgy, especially in the prayer for holy days which begins with the +words: “Thou hast chosen us from all peoples; Thou hast loved us and found +pleasure in us and hast exalted us above all tongues; Thou hast sanctified +us by Thy commandments and brought us near unto Thy service, O King, and +hast called us by Thy great and holy name.”(1023) Inasmuch as the election +of Israel is connected with the deliverance of the people from Egypt, the +whole relation of the Jewish nation to its God assumes from the outset an +essentially different character from that of other nations to their +deities. The God of Israel is not inseparably connected with His people by +mere natural bonds, as is the case with every other ancient divinity. He +is not a national God in the ordinary sense. He has chosen Israel freely +of His own accord. “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of +Egypt I called My son,” says God through Hosea,(1024) and thus prefers to +call Himself “thy God from the land of Egypt.” This election from love is +echoed also in Jeremiah, who said, “Israel is the Lord’s hallowed portion, +His first-fruits of the increase.”(1025) The moral relation between God +and Israel is most clearly characterized, however, by Amos, in the words: +“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will +visit upon you all your iniquities.”(1026) Here is stated in explicit +terms that the God of history selected Israel as an instrument for His +plan of salvation, in the expectation that he would remain faithful to His +will. + +3. The real purpose of the election and mission of Israel was announced by +the great prophet of the Exile when he called Israel the “servant of the +Lord,” who has been formed from his mother’s bosom and delivered from +every other bondage, in order that he may declare the praise of God among +the peoples, and be a harbinger of light and a bond of union among the +nations, the witness of God, the proclaimer of His truth and righteousness +throughout the world.(1027) The entire history of Israel as far back as +the Patriarchs was reconstructed in this light, and we find the election +of Abraham also similarly described in the Psalms(1028) and in the +liturgy. Indeed, in every morning prayer for the past two thousand years +the Jewish people have offered thanks to God for the divine teaching that +has been intrusted to their care, and praised Him “who has chosen Israel +in love.”(1029) + +4. The belief in the election of Israel rests on the conviction that the +Jewish people has a certain superiority over other peoples in being +especially qualified to be the messenger and champion of religious truth. +In one sense this prerogative takes into account every people which has +contributed something unique to any department of human power or +knowledge, and therein has served others as pattern and guide. From the +broader standpoint, all great historic peoples appear as though appointed +by divine providence for their special cultural tasks, in which others can +at most emulate them without achieving their greatness. Yet we cannot +speak in quite the same way of the election of the Greeks or Romans or of +the nations of remote antiquity for mastery in art and science, or for +skill in jurisprudence and statecraft. The fact is that these nations were +never fully conscious that they had a historic or providential destiny to +influence mankind in this special direction. Israel alone was +self-conscious, realizing its task as harbinger and defender of its +religious truth as soon as it had entered into its possession. Its +election, therefore, does not imply presumption, but rather a grave duty +and responsibility. As the great seer of the Captivity had already +declared, to be the servant of the Lord is to undergo the destiny of +suffering, to be “the man of sorrow,” from whose bruises comes healing +unto all mankind.(1030) + +5. Accordingly the election of Israel cannot be regarded as a single +divine act, concluded at one moment of revelation, or even during the +Biblical period. It must instead be considered a divine call persisting +through all ages and encompassing all lands, a continuous activity of the +spirit which has ever summoned for itself new heralds and heroes to +testify to truth, justice, and sublime faith, with an unparalleled scorn +for death, and to work for their dissemination by words and deeds and by +their whole life. Judaism differs from all other religions in that it is +neither the creation of one great moral teacher and preacher of truth, nor +seeks to typify the moral and spiritual sublimity which it aims to develop +in a single person, who is then lifted up into the realm of the +superhuman. Judaism counts its prophets, its sages, and its martyrs by +generations; it is still demonstrating its power to reshape and regenerate +religion as a vital force. Moreover, Judaism does not separate religion +from life, so as to regard only a segment of the common life and the +national existence as holy. The entire people, the entire life, must bear +the stamp of holiness and be filled with priestly consecration. Whether +this lofty aim can ever be completely attained is a question not to be +decided by short-sighted humanity, but only by God, the Ruler of history. +It is sufficient that the life of the individual as well as that of the +people should aspire toward this ideal. + +6. Of course, the election of Israel presupposes an inner calling, a +special capacity of soul and tendency of intellect which fit it for the +divine task. The people which has given mankind its greatest prophets and +psalmists, its boldest thinkers and its noblest martyrs, which has brought +to fruition the three great world-religions, the Church, the Mosque, +and—mother of them both—the Synagogue, must be the religious people _par +excellence_. It must have within itself enough of the heavenly spark of +truth and of the impetus of the religious genius as to be able and eager, +whenever and wherever the opportunity is favorable, to direct the +spiritual flight of humanity toward the highest and holiest. In fact, the +soul of the Jewish people reveals a peculiar mingling of characteristics, +a union of contrasts, which makes it especially fit for its providential +mission in history. Together with the marked individuality of each person +we find a common spirit highly sensitive to every encroachment. Here there +is a tenacious adherence to what is old and traditional, and there an +eager assimilation of what is new and strange. On the one hand, a +materialistic self-interest; on the other, an idealism soaring to the +stars.(1031) The sages of the Tannaitic period already remarked that +Israel has been intrusted with the law which it is to defend and to +disseminate, just because it is the boldest and most obstinate of +nations.(1032) On the other hand, the three special characteristics of the +Jewish people according to the Talmud are its chastity and purity of life, +its benevolence and its active love for humanity.(1033) A heathen scoffer +calls Israel “a people of generous impulses which promised at Sinai to do +what God would command, even before it had hearkened to the +commandments.”(1034) “Gentle and shy as a dove, it is also willing like +the dove to stretch out its neck for the sacrifice, for love of its +heavenly Father,” says the Haggadist.(1035) And yet R. Johanan remarks +that Israel, called to be the bearer of light to the world, must be +pressed like the olive before it will yield its precious oil.(1036) Every +individual in Israel possesses the requisite qualities for a holy +priest-people, according to a Midrash of the Tannaitic period, and hence +we read in Deuteronomy, “The Lord hath chosen thee to be His own treasure +out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.”(1037) + +7. All these and similar sayings disprove completely the idea that the +election of Israel was an arbitrary act of God. It is due rather to +hereditary virtues and to tendencies of mind and spirit which equip Israel +for his calling. To this must be added the important fact that God +educated the people for its task through the Law, which was to make it +conscious of its priestly sanctity and keep it ever active in mind and +heart. The election of Israel is emphasized in Deuteronomy especially in +connection with the prohibition of marriage with idolaters and with the +prohibition of unclean animals, which also originated in the priestly +laws.(1038) The underlying idea is that the mission of Israel to battle +for the Most High imperatively demands separation from the heathen +peoples, and on the other hand, that its priestly calling necessitates an +especial abstinence. And as has the law in its development and realization +for thousands of years, so has also God’s wise guidance trained Israel in +the course of history so as to render him at times the unyielding +preserver and defender and at other times the bold champion and +protagonist of the highest truth and justice, according as the outlook and +the mental horizon of the period were narrow or broad. + +8. It is true that the thought of Israel’s calling and mission in +world-history first became clear when its prophets and sages attained a +view of great world-movements from the lofty watch-tower of the centuries, +so that they could take cognizance of the varying relations of Judaism to +the civilized peoples around. The summons of the Jewish people to be +heralds of truth and workers for peace is first mentioned in Isaiah and +Micah,(1039) while only in the great movement of nations under Cyrus did +the seer of the Exile recognize the peculiar mission of Israel in the +history of the world. If in gloomy periods the outlook became dark, still +the hope for the fulfillment of this mission was never entirely lost. In +fact, the contact of the Jewish people with Greek culture after Alexander +the Great gave new power and fresh impetus to the conception of Israel’s +mission,(1040) as the rich Hellenistic literature and the vision of Daniel +in chapter VII testify. In fact, Abraham, the ancestor of the Jewish +people, became for the earliest Haggadists a wandering missionary and a +great preacher of the unity of God, and his picture was the pattern for +both Paul and Mohammed.(1041) The election of Israel is clearly and +unequivocally expressed by Rabbi Eleazar ben Pedath in the words, “God +sent Israel among the heathen nations that they may win a rich harvest of +proselytes, for, as God said through Hosea, ‘I will sow her unto Me in the +land,’ so He wishes from this seed to reap a bountiful and world-wide +harvest.”(1042) + +9. In the Middle Ages, when the historical viewpoint and the idea of human +progress were both lacking, the belief in the mission of Israel was +confined to the Messianic hope. Both Jehuda ha Levi and Maimonides, +however, regard Christianity and Islam as preparatory steps for the +Messiah, who is to unify the world through the knowledge of God.(1043) +“The work of the Messiah is the fruit, of which Israel will be universally +acknowledged as the root,” says the Jewish sage in the Cuzari. Therefore +he rightly accepts the election of Israel as a fundamental doctrine of +belief. Modern times, however, with their awakened historical sense and +their idea of progress, have again placed in the foreground the belief in +the election and mission of Israel. The founders of reform Judaism have +cast this ancient doctrine in a new form. On the one hand, they have +reinterpreted the Messianic hope in the prophetic spirit, as the +realization of the highest ideals of a united humanity. On the other, they +have rejected the entire theory that Israel was exiled from his ancient +land because of his sins, and that he is eventually to return there and to +restore the sacrificial cult in the Temple at Jerusalem. Therefore the +whole view concerning Israel’s future had to undergo a +transformation.(1044) The historic mission of Israel as priest of humanity +and champion of truth assumed a higher meaning, and his peculiar position +in history and in the Law necessarily received a different interpretation +from that of Talmudic Judaism or that of the Church. As individuals, +indeed, many Jews have taken part in the achievements and efforts of all +civilized peoples; the Jewish people as such has accomplished great things +in only one field, the field of religion. The following chapters will +consider more closely how Judaism has taken up and carried out this sacred +mission. + + + + +Chapter XLIX. The Kingdom of God and the Mission of Israel + + +1. The hope of Judaism for the future is comprised in the phrase, “the +kingdom of God,”—_malkuth shaddai_ or _malkuth Shamayim_,—which means the +sovereign rule of God. From ancient times the liturgy of the Synagogue +concludes regularly with the solemn _Alenu_, in which God is addressed as +the “King of kings of kings”—king of kings being the Persian title for the +ruler of the whole Empire—and directly after this the hope is expressed +that “we may speedily behold the glory of Thy might, when Thou wilt remove +the abominations from the earth, and the idols will be utterly cut off; +when the world will be perfected under the kingdom of the Almighty, and +all the children of flesh will call upon Thy name; when Thou wilt turn +unto Thyself all the wicked of the earth. Let all the inhabitants of the +earth perceive and know that unto Thee every knee must bend, and every +tongue give homage. Let them all accept the yoke of Thy kingdom, and do +Thou reign over them speedily, and forever and ever.”(1045) At the close +of the Torah lesson in the house of learning the assembly regularly +recited the blessing, “Praised be Thy name! May Thy kingdom soon +come!”—afterwards known as the _Kaddish_,(1046) and reëchoed in the +so-called “Lord’s Prayer” of the Church. The words of the prophet, “The +Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall the Lord be One, +and His name One,”(1047) voiced for all ages this ideal of the future, and +thus gave a goal and a purpose to the history of the world and at the same +time centered it in Israel, the chosen people of God. + +2. The establishment of the kingdom of the One and Only God throughput the +entire world constitutes the divine plan of salvation toward which, +according to Jewish teaching, the efforts of all the ages are tending. +This “Kingdom of God” is not, however, a kingdom of heaven in the world to +come, which men are to enter only after death, and then only if redeemed +from sin by accepting the belief in a supernatural Savior as their +Messiah, as is taught by the Church. Judaism points to God’s Kingdom on +_earth_ as the goal and hope of mankind, to a world in which all men and +nations shall turn away from idolatry and wickedness, falsehood and +violence, and become united in their recognition of the sovereignty of +God, the Holy One, as proclaimed by Israel, His servant and herald, the +Messiah of the nations. It is not the hope of bliss in a future life +(which is the leading motive of Christianity), but the building up of the +divine kingdom of truth, justice, and peace among men by Israel’s teaching +and practice.(1048) In this sense God speaks through the mouth of the +prophet, “I will also give thee for a light of the nations, that My +salvation may be unto the end of the earth.”(1049) “All the ends of the +earth shall see the salvation of our God.”(1050) “The remnant of Jacob +shall be in the midst of many peoples, as dew from the Lord, as showers +upon the grass.”(1051) + +3. Clearly, the idea of a world-kingdom of God arose only as the result of +the gradual development of the Jewish God-consciousness. It was necessary +at first that the prophetic idea of God’s kingship, the theocracy in +Israel, should triumph over the monarchical view and absorb it. The +patriarchal life of the shepherd was certainly not favorable to a +monarchical rule. “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule +over you, the Lord shall rule over you,” said Gideon in refusing the title +of king which the people had offered him.(1052) According to one tradition +Samuel blamed the people for desiring a king and thereby rejecting the +divine kingship.(1053) “I give thee a king in Mine anger,” says God +through Hosea.(1054) The more the monarchy, with its exclusively worldly +and materialistic aims, came into conflict with the demands of the +prophets and their religious truth, the higher rose the prophetic hope for +the dawning of a day when God alone would rule in absolute sovereignty +over the entire world. Now, in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes, with its +frequently changing dynasties, the old patriarchal conception was +dominant, while in the kingdom of Judah, which remained loyal to the house +of David, the monarchical idea developed. Isaiah, living in Jerusalem and +favorably disposed towards the monarchy, prophesied that a shoot from the +house of David, endowed with marvelous spiritual powers, should come +forth, occupying the throne in the place of God, and through his victories +would plant righteousness and the knowledge of God everywhere upon earth, +and establish throughout the world a wonderful reign of peace.(1055) Upon +this royal “shoot” of David(1056) rested the Messianic hope during the +Exile, and amidst the disappointments of the time this vision became all +the more idealized. In contrast to this the great prophet of the Exile +announced the establishment of the absolute dominion of God as the true +“King of Israel”(1057) over all the earth by the nucleus of Israel, “the +servant of God,” who would become conscious of his great historic mission +in the world and be willing to offer his very life in its cause. In all +this the prophet makes no reference to the royal house of David, but makes +bold to confer the title of the “anointed of God”—that is, Messiah—upon +Cyrus, the king of Persia, as the one who was to usher in the new +era.(1058) Subsequently these two divergent hopes for the future run +parallel in the Psalms and the liturgy as well as in the apocryphal and +rabbinic literature. + +4. While the Messianic aspirations as such bore rather a political and +national character in Judaism (as will be explained in Chapter LIII), yet +the religious hope for a universal kingdom of God took root even more +deeply in the heart of the Jewish people. It created the conception of +Israel’s mission and also the literature and activity of the Hellenistic +propaganda, and it gave a new impetus to the making of proselytes among +the heathen, to which both Christianity and Islam owe their existence. The +words of Isaiah, repeated later by Habakkuk, “The earth will be full of +the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea,”(1059) became now +an article of faith. While in earlier times the rule of Israel’s God, +JHVH, was attached to Zion, from whose holy mount He ruled as invisible +King,(1060) later on we find Zechariah proclaiming Him who was enthroned +in heaven as having dominion over the entire earth,(1061) and the Psalter +summons all nations to acknowledge, adore, and extol Him as King of the +world.(1062) Nay, at the very time when Judah lay humbled to the ground, +the prophet exclaimed, “Who would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? +for it befitteth Thee; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, +and in all their royalty there is none like unto Thee.”(1063) Israel’s +great hope for the future is expressed most completely and in most sublime +language in the New Year liturgy: “O Lord our God, impose Thine awe upon +all Thy works, and let Thy dread be upon all that Thou hast created, that +they may all form one single band to do Thy will with a perfect heart.... +Our God and God of our fathers, reveal Thyself in Thy splendor as King +over all the inhabitants of the world, that every handiwork of Thine may +know that Thou hast made it, and every creature may acknowledge that Thou +hast created it, and whatsoever hath breath in its nostrils may say: the +Lord God of Israel is King, and His dominion ruleth over all.”(1064) + +5. In the earlier period, then, the rule of JHVH seems to have been +confined to Israel as the people of His covenant. During the Second Temple +Jerusalem was called the “city of the great King”(1065) and the +constitution was considered by Josephus to have been a theocracy, that is, +a government by God.(1066) Indeed, the entire Mosaic code has as its main +purpose to make Israel a “kingdom of priests,” over which JHVH, the God of +the covenant, was alone to rule as King. The chief object of the strict +nationalists, in opposition to the cosmopolitanism of the Hellenists, was +that this government of God, in its intimate association with the Holy +Land and the Holy People, should be maintained unchanged for all the +future. Thus the book of Daniel predicts the speedy downfall of the fourth +world-kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom of God through Israel, +“the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom is an +everlasting kingdom.”(1067) Naturally, such a purely nationalistic +conception of the rulership of God does not admit the thought of a mission +or its corollary, the conversion of the heathen.(1068) These appear among +the liberal school of Hillel in their opposition to the more rigorous +Shammaites and the party of the Zealots.(1069) It is, therefore, quite +consistent that the modern nationalists should again dispute the mission +of Israel. + +6. As soon as Jewish monotheism had once been conceived by the Jewish mind +as the universal truth, the idea of the mission of Israel as a bearer of +light and a witness of God for the nations, as enunciated by +Deutero-Isaiah, became ever more firmly established. Many Psalms exhort +the people to make known the wondrous doings of God among the nations, so +that the heathen world might at last acknowledge the One and Only +God.(1070) Nay, Israel is even called God’s anointed and prophet,(1071) +and in one Psalm we find Zion, the city of God, elevated to be the +religious metropolis of the world.(1072) The book of Jonah is simply a +refutation of the narrow nationalistic conception of Judaism; it holds +forth the hope of the conversion of the heathen to the true knowledge of +God. In the same spirit Ruth the Moabitess became the type of the heathen +who are eager to “take refuge under the wings of God’s majesty.”(1073) The +author of the book of Job no longer knows of a national God; to him God is +the highest ideal of morality as it lives and grows in the human heart. +The wisdom literature also teaches a God of humanity. Under His wings Shem +and Japheth, the teaching of the Jew and the wisdom of the Greek, can join +hands; the religious truth of the one and the philosophic truth of the +other may harmoniously blend. + +7. Thus a new impulse was given to Jewish proselytism in Alexandria, and +the earlier history of Israel, especially the pre-Israelite epoch with its +simple human types, was read in a new light. Enoch(1074) and Noah(1075) +became preachers of penitence, heralds of the pure monotheism from which +the heathen world had departed. Abraham especially, the progenitor of +Israel, was looked upon as a prototype of the wandering missionary people, +converting the heathen.(1076) Wherever he journeyed, his teaching and his +example of true benevolence won souls for the Lord proclaimed by him as +the “God of the heaven and the earth.”(1077) In this sense of missionary +activity were now interpreted the words, “Be thou a blessing ... and in +thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.”(1078) This was no +longer understood in the original sense, that Abraham by his prosperity +should be an example of a blessed man, to be pointed out in blessing +others; the words were given the higher meaning that Abraham with his +descendants should become a source of blessing for mankind through his +teachings and his conduct, so that all the families of men should attain +blessing and salvation by following his doctrine and example. Thus the +idea of the Jewish mission was connected with Abraham, the “father of a +multitude of nations,”(1079) and this was later on adopted by Paul and +Mohammed in establishing the Church and the Mosque. + +8. In contradistinction, then, to the political concept of the kingdom of +God, which Ezekiel still hoped to see established by the exercise of +external power,(1080) the idea assumed now a purely spiritual meaning. +This kingdom of God is accepted by the pious Jew every morning through his +confession of the divine Unity in the Shema. Abraham had anticipated this, +say the rabbis, when he swore by the God of heaven and earth, and so also +had Israel in accepting the Torah at Sinai and at the Red Sea.(1081) In +fact, the kingdom of God began, we are told, with the first man, since, +when he adored God freely as King of the world, every living creature +acknowledged Him also. But only when Israel as a people proclaimed God’s +dominion at the Red Sea, was the throne of God and His kingdom on earth +established for eternity.(1082) And when Ezekiel says: “With a mighty hand +will I be King over you,” they explain this to mean that the people chosen +as the servant of God will be continually constrained anew by the prophets +to recognize His kingdom.(1083) Yea, the closing words of the Song at the +Red Sea, “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever” were taken to imply that +all the nations would in the end recognize only Israel’s One God as King +of the world.(1084) As a matter of fact, the rabbinical view is that every +proselyte, in “taking upon himself the yoke of the sovereignty of God,” +enters that divine Kingdom which at the end of time will embrace all men +and nations.(1085) In the book of Tobit and the Sibylline Oracles also we +find this universalistic conception of the Messianic age expressed.(1086) + +9. Accordingly, proselytism found open and solemn recognition both before +and after the time of the Maccabees, as we see in the Psalms,—especially +those which speak of proselytes in the term, “they that fear the +Lord,”(1087) and also in the ancient synagogal liturgy, where the +“proselytes of righteousness” are especially mentioned.(1088) The school +of Hillel followed precisely this course. Matters changed, however, under +the Roman dominion, which was contrasted to the dominion of God especially +from the time of Herod, when the belief became current that “only when the +one is destroyed, will the other arise.”(1089) Particularly after the +Christian Church had become identified with Rome, all missionary endeavors +by the Jews were considered dangerous and were therefore discouraged as +much as possible. In their place arose the hope for a miraculous +intervention of God. In Hellenistic circles the Messiah was believed to be +the future founder of the kingdom of God,(1090) which assumed more and +more of an other-worldly nature, such as the Church developed for it later +on. + +10. The more the harsh oppression of the times forced the Jew to isolate +himself and to spend his life in studying and practicing the law,—which +was tantamount to “placing himself under the kingdom of God,”(1091) the +more he lost sight of his sublime mission for the world at large. Only +individual thinkers, such as Jehuda ha Levi and Maimonides, kept a vision +of the world-mission of Israel, when they called Jesus and Mohammed, as +founders of Christianity and Islam, messengers of God to the idolatrous +nations, divinely appointed to bring them nearer to Israel’s truth,(1092) +or when they pointed forward to the time when all peoples will recognize +in the truth their common mother and in God the Father of all +mankind.(1093) A most instructive Midrash on Zechariah IX, 9 gives the +keynote of this belief. “At that time God as the King of Zion will speak +to the righteous of all times, and say to them, ‘Dear as the words of My +teaching are to Me, yet have ye erred in that ye have followed only My +Torah, and have not waited for My world-kingdom. I swear to you that I +shall remember for good him who has waited for My kingdom, as it is said, +Wait ye for Me until the day that I rise up as a witness.’ ”(1094) + +On the other hand, it was owing to the sad consequences of the missionary +endeavors of the Church that the idea of the mission of Judaism was given +a different direction. Not conversion, but conviction by teaching and +example, is the historic task of Judaism, whose maxim is expressed in the +verse of Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith +the Lord of hosts.”(1095) It is not the creed, but the deed, which tells. +Not the confession, but conduct, with the moral principles which govern +it, counts. Such a view is implied in the well-known teaching of Joshua +ben Hananiah, “The righteous of all nations will have a share in the world +of eternal bliss.”(1096) Judaism does not deny salvation to those +professing other religions, which would tend to undermine the foundation +of their spiritual life. Standing upon the high watchtower of time, it +rather strives ever to clarify and strengthen the universal longing for +truth and righteousness which lies at the heart of all religion, and is +thus to become a bond of union, an all-illuminating light for the world. +To quote the beautiful words of Leopold Stein in his _Schrift des +Lebens_:(1097) “Judaism, while recognizing the historic justification of +all systems of thought and faith, does not cherish the ambition to become +the Church Universal in the usual sense of the term, but aims rather to be +the focus, or mirror, of religious unity for all the rest. ‘The people +from of old,’ as the prophet called them, are to accompany mankind in its +progress through the ages and the continents, until it reaches the goal of +the kingdom of God on earth, the ‘new heaven and new earth’ of the +prophetic vision.”(1098) The thought of the Jewish mission is most +adequately expressed in the Neilah service of the Union Prayer Book, based +upon the Einhorn Prayerbook, which reads as follows:(1099) “Endow us, our +Guardian, with strength and patience for our holy mission. Grant that all +the children of Thy people may recognize the goal of our changeful career, +so that they may exemplify by their zeal and love for mankind the truth of +Israel’s watchword: One humanity on earth, even as there is but One God in +heaven. Enlighten all that call themselves by Thy name with the knowledge +that the sanctuary of wood and stone, which erst crowned Zion’s hill, was +but a gate through which Israel should step out into the world, to +reconcile all mankind unto Thee!” + + + + +Chapter L. The Priest-people and its Law of Holiness + + +1. The checkered, stormy, and yet triumphant march of the Jewish people +through the ages remains the great enigma of history for all those who do +not believe in a divine plan of salvation to be consummated through +Israel. The idea of Israel’s mission alone throws light on its law and its +destiny. Even before God had revealed to the people at Mt. Sinai the Ten +Commandments, the foundation of all religion and morality, and there +concluded with them a covenant for all time, He spoke: “Ye shall be unto +Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” thus consecrating them to be a +priest-people among the nations, and enjoining them to a life of especial +holiness. Possessing as a heritage from the Patriarchs the germ of a +higher religious consciousness, in distinction from all other peoples, +they were to make the cultivation, development, and promotion of the +highest religious truth their life-task, and thus to become the people of +God. At first they were to establish in the Holy Land a theocratic +government, a State in which God alone was the Ruler, while they lived in +priestly isolation from all the nations around. Thus they prepared +themselves for the time when, scattered over all the earth, they might +again work as the priest-people through the ages for the upbuilding of the +universal kingdom of God. This was Israel’s destiny from the very first, +as expressed by the great seer of the Exile when he beheld Israel +wandering forth among the nations, “Ye shall be named the priests of the +Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God.”(1100) + +2. Among all religions the priest is considered especially holy as the +mediator between God and man, and in his appearance as well as in his mode +of life he must observe special forms of purity and holiness. He alone may +approach the Godhead, ascertain its will, and administer the sacrificial +cult in the sanctuary. He must represent the Divinity in its relation to +the people, embody it in his outward life, enjoy nothing which it abhors, +and touch nothing which could render him impure. These priestly rules +exist among all the nations of antiquity in striking similarity, and +indicate a common origin in the prehistoric period, during which the +entire cult developed through a priestly caste, beginning with simple, +primitive conceptions and transmitted in ever more elaborate form from +father to son. It goes without saying that the priests of the original +Hebrew race, which migrated from Babylonia, retained the ancient customs +and rules. They must also have adopted many other things from neighboring +peoples. During the entire period of the first temple, the priests—despite +all prophetic warnings—preferred the heathen cult with its vainglorious +pomp to the simple worship of the patriarchal times. As everywhere else, +the priesthood of Israel, and later of Judæa as well, thought only of its +own interests, of the retention of its ancient prerogatives, unmindful of +the higher calling to which it had been chosen, to serve the God of truth +and justice, to exemplify true holiness, to stand for moral rather than +ceremonial purity. Yet the sacerdotal institutions were indispensable so +long as the people required a sanctuary where the Deity should dwell, and +where the sacrificial cult should be administered. Every trespass by a +layman on the sanctuary reserved for the priests was considered sacrilege +and called for divine punishment. It was thus necessary to deepen the +popular notion of holiness and of the reverence due the sanctuary, before +these could be elevated into the realm of spirituality and morality. The +priesthood had to be won for the service of the loftier religious ideas, +so that it might gradually educate the people in general for its sublime +priestly mission. This conception underlies both the Mosaic law and its +rabbinical interpretation. + +3. Through Biblical and post-Biblical literature and history there runs a +twofold tendency, one anti-sacerdotal,—emanating from the prophets and +later the Hasideans or Pharisees,—the other a mediating tendency, +favorable to the priesthood. The ritualistic piety of the priests was +bitterly assailed by the prophets as being subversive of all morality, and +later on the Sadducean hierarchy also constituted a threat to the moral +and spiritual welfare of the people. Before even the revelation at Sinai +was to take place, we read that warning was given to the priests “not to +break through” and stand above the people.(1101) + +On the other hand, the law demands of the Aaronites a peculiar degree of +holiness, since “they offer the bread of their God upon the altar.”(1102) +Their blood must be kept pure by the avoidance of improper marriages. +Everything unclean or polluting must be kept far from them.(1103) The law, +following a tradition which probably arose in ancient Babylon, prescribed +minutely their mode of admission into the divine service, their vestments +and their conditions of life, the ritual of sacrifice and of purity; and +every violation of these laws, every trespass by a layman, was declared to +be punishable with death.(1104) The sanctuary contains no room for the +_nation_ of _priests_; no layman durst venture to cross its threshold. +Even in the legal system of the rabbis the ancient rights and privileges +of the priesthood, dating from the time when they possessed no property, +remained inviolate, and their precedence in everything was +undisputed.(1105) + +The glaring contrast between the idea of a universal priesthood of the +people and the institution of the Aaronites is explained by a deeper +insight into history. The success of the reformation under Josiah on the +basis of the Deuteronomic code rested in the last analysis on the fact +that the priests of the house of Zadok at Jerusalem were placed in the +service of the higher prophetic teaching by being rendered the guardians, +executors, and later, in conjunction with the Levites, the teachers of the +Law, as it was presented in the book of the law of Moses, soon afterward +completed. The priesthood, deprived of everything that might remind one of +the former idolatry and heathenish practices, was, in its purer and holier +character, to lead the priest-people to true moral holiness through its +connection with the sanctuary and its ancient cult. Still the impulse for +the moral rebirth of the nation, for the establishment of a priest-people, +did not emanate from the Temple priesthood, nor even from the sacred soil +of Palestine; but from the Synagogue, which began in the Exile, under the +influence of the prophetic word and the Levitical song, in the form of +public worship by the congregation of the pious. Here arose a generation +of godly men, a class of singularly devout ones, living in priestly +holiness, who consecrated their lives to the practice of the law, and whom +the exile seer had designated as the true Israel, the servant of the Lord, +and these formed the nucleus of the renewed Israel. + +4. That which the prophet Ezekiel had attempted in his proposed +constitution(1106) was accomplished in a far more thorough manner by the +Holiness Code, which emanated from his school and became the central +portion of the Mosaic books, and by the so-called Priestly Code, which +followed later. The object was to bring about the sanctification of the +entire people upon the holy soil of the national land, through +institutions embodying the ideal of the holiness of God in the life and +cult of the people. Circumcision, idealized by the prophetic author of +Deuteronomy,(1107) was to be made the sign of the covenant to mark as holy +the progeny of Abraham;(1108) strict laws of marriage were to put an end +to all heathenish unchastity; the Sabbath rest was to consecrate the +labors of the week, the Sabbatical month and year the produce of the +soil.(1109) The prohibition of unclean foods, heretofore reserved, as +among other nations, for the priests and other consecrated persons, was +now applied to the whole community in order that Israel should learn “to +set itself apart from all other nations as a holy people.”(1110) Even +their apparel was to proclaim the priestly holiness of the people by a +blue fringe at the border of the garments.(1111) + +Whereas from the time of Ezra to Simon the Just priestly rulers endeavored +to promote the work of educating the people for holiness, the pious men +from among the people made still greater efforts to assert the claim of +holiness for the entire Jewish people as a priest-nation.(1112) The +repasts of these pious fellowships should be in no way inferior in +sanctity to those of the priests in the Temple. New ceremonies of +sanctification were to open and close the Sabbaths and festivals. Symbols +of priestly consecration should adorn forehead and arm in the form of the +phylacteries (_tefillin_), and should be placed at the entrance of every +house in the so-called _mezuzzah_. “God has given unto all an heritage +(the Torah), the kingdom, the priesthood, and the sanctuary”(1113)—this +became the _leitmotif_ for the Pharisaic school, who constantly enlarged +the domain of piety so that it should include the whole of life. Whoever +did not belong to this circle of the pious was regarded with scorn as one +of the lower class (_am ha-aretz_). + +5. The chief effort of the pious, the founders of the Judaism of the +Synagogue, was to keep the Jewish people from the demoralizing influences +of pagan nature-worship, represented first by Semitic and later by Greek +culture. The leaders of the Pharisees “built a fence about the law”(1114) +extending the prohibition of mingling with the heathen nations so as also +to prohibit eating with them and participating in their feasts and social +gatherings,—not for the preservation of the Jewish race merely, as +Christian theologians maintain, but for the sake of keeping its inner life +intact and pure.(1115) “God surrounded us with brazen walls, hedged us in +with laws of purity in regard to food and drink and physical contact, yea, +even to that which we see and hear, in order that we should be pure in +body and soul, free from absurd beliefs, not polluted by contact with +others or through association with the wicked; for most of the peoples +defile themselves with their sexual practices, and whole lands pride +themselves upon it. But we hold ourselves aloof from all this”—so spoke +Eleazar the priest to King Ptolemy Philadelphus, according to the Letter +of Aristeas, thus giving expression to the sentiment most deeply rooted in +the souls of the pious of that period.(1116) They strove to build up a +nation of whom the Tannaim could say, “Whoever possesses no sense of shame +and chastity, of him it is certain that his ancestors did not stand at +Sinai.”(1117) + +Naturally enough, the Greek and Roman people took offense at this +aloofness and separation from every contact with the outer world, and +explained it as due to a spirit of hostility to mankind. Even up to the +present it has been the lot of Jewry and Judaism to be misunderstood by +the world at large, to be the object of either its hate or its pity. The +world disregards the magnificence of the plan by which an entire people +were to be reared as a priest-nation, as citizens of a kingdom of God, +among whom, in the course of centuries, the seed of prophetic truth was to +germinate and sprout forth for the salvation of humanity. If, in complete +contrast to heathen immorality, the Jew in his life, his thinking, and his +will was governed by the strictest moral discipline; if, in spite of the +most cruel persecutions and the most insidious temptations, the Jewish +people remained steadfast to its pure belief in God and its traditional +standards of chastity, exhibiting a loyalty which amazed the nations and +the religious sects about, but was neither understood nor followed by +them, this was mainly due to the hallowing influences of the priestly +laws. They steeled the people for the fulfillment of their duty and +shielded them against all hostile powers both within and without. The very +_burden_ of the law, so bitterly denounced by Christianity since the time +of Paul, lent Judaism its dignity at all times, protecting it from the +assaults of the tempter; and that which seemed to the outsider a heavy +load was to the Jew a source of pride in the consciousness of his divine +election.(1118) + +6. But most significant in the character and development of Judaism is the +fact that all the leading ideas and motives which emanated from the +priesthood of the Jewish people were concentrated in one single focus, the +_hallowing of the name of God_. Two terms expressed this idea in both a +negative and a positive form, the warning against “_Hillul ha +Shem_”—profanation of the name of God—and the duty of “_Kiddush ha +Shem_”—sanctification of God’s name. These exerted a marvelous power in +curbing the passions and self-indulgence of the Jew and in spurring him on +to the greatest possible self-sacrifice and to an unparalleled willingness +to undergo suffering and martyrdom for the cause. These terms are derived +from the Biblical verse, “Ye shall not profane My holy name, but I will be +hallowed among the children of Israel; I am the Lord who halloweth +you.”(1119) This verse forms the concluding sentence of the precepts for +the Aaronitic priesthood and warns them as the guardians of the sanctuary +to do nothing which might in the popular estimation degrade them or the +divine cause intrusted to them. When, however, during the Maccabean wars, +the little band of the pious proved themselves to be the true priesthood +in their Opposition to the faithless Aaronites, offering their very lives +as a sacrifice for the preservation of the true faith in God, the +Scriptural word received a new and higher meaning. It came to signify the +obligation of the entire priest-people to consecrate the name of God by +the sacrifice of their lives, and also their duty to guard against its +profanation by any offensive act. In connection with this Scriptural +passage the sages represent God as saying, “I have brought you out of +Egypt only on the condition that you are ready to sacrifice your lives, if +need be, to consecrate My name.”(1120) From that period it became a duty +and even a law of Judaism, as Maimonides shows in his Code, for each +person in life and in death to bear witness to His God.(1121) “Ye are My +witnesses, saith the Lord, and I am God”(1122)—and witnesses being in the +Greek version martyrs, the word afterward received the meaning of +“blood-witnesses.”—This passage of the prophet is commented on by Simeon +ben Johai, one of the great teachers who suffered under Hadrian’s +persecution, in the following words, “If ye become My witnesses, then am I +your Lord, God of the world; but if ye do not witness to Me, I cease to +be, as it were, the Lord, God of all the world.”(1123) That is to say, it +is the martyrdom of the pious which glorifies God’s name before all the +world. Or, as Felix Perles says so beautifully, “As every good and noble +man must ever bear in mind that the dignity of humanity is intrusted to +his hand, so should each earnest adherent of the Jewish faith remember +that the glory of God is intrusted to his care.”(1124) The Jewish people +has fulfilled this priestly task through a martyrdom of over two thousand +years and has scornfully resisted every demand to abandon its faith in +God, not consenting to do so even in appearance. Surely historians or +philosophers who can ridicule or commiserate such resistance betray a +hatred which blinds their sense of justice. As a matter of fact, it was +the consciousness of the Jewish people of its priestly mission that has +made it a pattern of loyalty for all time. + +7. Moreover, the fear of profaning the divine name became the highest +incentive to, and safeguard of the morality of the Jew. Every misdeed +toward a non-Jew is considered by the teachers of Judaism a double sin, +yea, sometimes, an unpardonable one, because it gives a false impression +of the moral standard of Judaism and infringes upon the honor of God as +well as that of man. The disciples of Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach once bought +an ass for him from an Arab, and to their joy found a precious stone in +its collar. “Did the seller know of this gem?” asked the master. On being +answered in the negative, he called out angrily, “Do you consider me a +barbarian? Return the Arab his precious stone immediately!” And when the +heathen received it back, he cried out, “Praised be the God of Simeon ben +Shetach!”(1125) Thus the conscientious Jew honors his God by his conduct, +says the Talmud, referring to this and many similar examples. Such lessons +of the Jew’s responsibility for the recognition of the high moral purity +of his religion have ever constituted a high barrier against immoral acts. + +The words, “Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” form +significantly the introduction to the chapter on the love of man, the +nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, placed at the very center of the entire +Priestly Code. “Your self-sanctification sanctifies Me, as it were,” says +God to Israel, according to the interpretation of this verse by the +sages.(1126) In contrast to heathendom, which deifies nature with its +appeal to the senses, Judaism teaches that holiness is a moral quality, as +it means the curbing of the senses. And in order to prevent Israel, the +bearer of this ideal of holiness, from sinking into the mire of heathen +wantonness and lust, the separation of the Jew from the heathen world, +whether in his domestic or social life, was a necessity and became the +rule and maxim of his life for that period. All the many prohibitions and +commands had for their object the purification of the people in order to +render the highest moral purity a hereditary virtue among them, according +to the rabbis.(1127) + +8. It is true that the accumulation of “law upon law, prohibition upon +prohibition” by the rabbis had eventually the same injurious effect which +it had exerted upon the priests in the Temple. The formal law, “the +precepts learned by rote,” became the important factor, while their +purpose was lost to sight. The shell smothered the kernel, and blind +obedience to the letter of the law came to be regarded as true piety. It +cannot be denied that adherence to the mere form, which was transmitted +from the Temple practice to the legalism of the Pharisees and the later +rabbinic schools with their casuistry, impaired and tarnished the lofty +prophetic ideal of holiness. It almost seems as if the clarion notes of +such sublime passages as that of the Psalmist, + + + “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord, + And who shall stand in His holy place? + He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; + Who hath not taken My name in vain, and hath not sworn + deceitfully,”(1128) + + +no longer found its full resonance in the heart of Judaism. In the +practice of external acts of piety religion became petrified and the +spirit took flight. That which is of secondary importance became of +primary consideration. This is the fundamental error into which the +practice and the development of the Law in Judaism lapsed, and to which no +careful observer can or dares close his eyes. Undoubtedly the Law, as it +embraced the whole of life in its power, sharpened the Jewish sense of +duty, and served the Jew as an iron wall of defense against temptations, +aberrations, and enticements of the centuries. As soon as the modern Jew, +however, undertook to free himself from the tutelage of a blind acceptance +of authority and inquired after the purpose of all the restrictions which +the Law laid upon him, his ancient loyalty to the same collapsed and the +pillars of Judaism seemed to be shaken. Then the leaders of Reform, imbued +with the prophetic spirit, felt it to be their imperative duty to search +out the fundamental ideas of the priestly law of holiness, and, +accordingly, they learned how to separate the kernel from the shell. In +opposition to the orthodox tendency to worship the letter, they insisted +on the fact that Israel’s separation from the world—which it is ultimately +to win for the divine truth—cannot itself be its end and aim, and that +blind obedience to the law does not constitute true piety. Only the +fundamental idea, that Israel as the “first-born” among the nations has +been elected as a priest-people, must remain our imperishable truth, a +truth to which the centuries of history bear witness by showing that it +has given its life-blood as a ransom for humanity, and is ever bringing +new sacrifices for its cause. + +Only because it has kept itself distinct as a priest-people among the +nations could it carry out its great task in history; and only if it +remains conscious of its priestly calling and therefore maintains itself +as the people of God, can it fulfill its mission. Not until the end of +time, when all of God’s children will have entered the kingdom of God, may +Israel, the high-priest among the nations, renounce his priesthood. + + + + +Chapter LI. Israel, the People of the Law, and its World Mission + + +1. Judaism differs from all the ancient religions chiefly in its +intrusting its truth to the whole people instead of a special priesthood. +The law which “Moses commanded us is an inheritance of the Congregation of +Jacob,”(1129) is the Scriptural lesson impressed upon every Jew in early +childhood. As soon as the Torah passed from the care of the priests into +that of the whole nation, the people of the book became the priest-nation, +and set forth to conquer the world by its religious truth. This aim was +expressed by all the prophets beginning with Moses, who said: “Would that +all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His spirit +upon them.”(1130) The prophetic ideal was that “they shall all know Me +(God), from the least of them unto the greatest of them,”(1131) and that +“all thy (Zion’s) children shall be taught of the Lord.”(1132) After the +people came to realize that the Law was “their wisdom and understanding in +the sight of the peoples,”(1133) they soon felt the hope that one day “the +isles shall wait for His teaching,”(1134) and confidently expected the +time when “many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the +mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach +us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go +forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”(1135) Once +liberated from the dominance of the priesthood, religion became the +instrument of universal instruction, the factor of general spiritual and +moral advancement. In addition it endowed humanity with an educational +ideal, destined to regenerate its moral life far more deeply than Greek +culture could ever do. The object was to elevate all classes of the people +by the living word of God, by the reading and expounding of the Scripture +for the dissemination of its truth among the masses. + +2. Those who define Judaism as a religion of law completely misunderstand +its nature and its historic forces. This is done by all those Christian +theologians who endeavor to prove the extraordinary assertion of the +apostle Paul that the Jewish people was providentially destined to produce +the Old Testament law and become enmeshed in it, like the silkworm in its +cocoon, finally to dry up and perish, leaving its prophetic truth for the +Church. This fateful misconception of Judaism is based upon a false +interpretation of the word _Torah_, which denotes moral and spiritual +instruction as often as law, and thus includes all kinds of religious +teaching and knowledge together with its primary meaning, the written and +the oral codes.(1136) In fact, in post-Biblical times it comprised the +entire religion, as subject of both instruction and scientific +investigation. True, law is fundamental in Jewish history; Israel accepted +the divine covenant on the basis of the Sinaitic code; the reforms of King +Josiah were founded on the Deuteronomic law;(1137) and the restoration of +the Judean commonwealth was based upon the completed Mosaic code brought +from Babylon by Ezra the Scribe.(1138) This book of law, with its further +development and interpretation, remained the normative factor for Judaism +for all time. Still, from the very beginning the Law of the covenant +contained a certain element which distinguished it from all the priestly +and political codes of antiquity. Beside the traditional juridical and +ritualistic statutes, which betray a Babylonian origin, it contains laws +and doctrines of kindness toward the poor and helpless, the enemy and the +slave, even toward the dumb beast, in striking contrast to the spirit of +cruelty and violence in the Babylonian law.(1139) In the name of the +all-seeing, all-ruling God it appeals to the sympathy of man. These +exhortations to tenderness increase in later codes of law under the +prophetic influence, until finally the rabbis extended them as far as +possible. They held that every negligence which leads to the loss of life +or property by the neighbor, every neglect of a domestic animal, even +every act of deceit by which one attempts to “steal” the good opinion of +one’s fellow-men, is a violation of the law.(1140) Hence Rabbi Simlai, the +Haggadist, said that from beginning to end the Law is but a system of +teachings of human love,(1141) while another sage tried to prove from the +books of Moses that God implanted mercy, modesty, and benevolence in the +souls of Israel as hereditary virtues.(1142) In the same spirit Rabbi Meir +described the law of Israel as the law of humanity, supporting his +statement by a number of biblical passages.(1143) + +3. But, as light by its very nature illumines its surroundings, so the +Torah in the possession of the Jewish people was certain to become the +light of mankind. First of all, the book of Law itself insists that the +father shall teach the word of God to his children, using many signs and +ceremonies that they may meditate on the works of God and walk in the path +of virtue, and that the divine commands should be “in the mouth and in the +heart of all to do them.”(1144) It was made incumbent upon the high priest +or king to read the Law at least once every seven years to the whole +people assembled in the holy city for the autumnal festival,—men, women, +children, and the sojourners in the gates,—so that it should become their +common property.(1145) This precept probably gave rise to the triennial +and later the annual system of Torah reading on the Sabbath. But in +addition to the book of Law the prophetic words of consolation were read +to the people, a custom which originated in the Babylonian exile, and was +continued under the name of _Haftarah_ (“dismissal” of the +congregation).(1146) The seer of the exile refers to these prophetic words +of comfort which were offered to the people on the Sabbath as well as +other feasts and fasts: “Attend unto Me, O My people, and give ear unto +Me, O My nation, for instruction (Torah) shall go forth from Me, and My +right on a sudden for a light of the people.... Hearken unto Me, ye that +know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law; fear ye not the +taunt of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. For the moth +shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; +but My favor shall be forever, and My salvation unto all +generations.”(1147) Moved by such stirring ideals, Synagogues arose in +Jewish settlements all over the globe, and the book of the Law, in its +vernacular versions, Greek and Aramaic, together with the words of the +prophets, became the general source of instruction. In the words of the +Psalms, it became “the testimony of the Lord, making wise the simple,” +“rejoicing the heart,” “enlightening the eyes,” “more to be desired than +gold.”(1148) Nay more, the study of the Law became the duty of every man, +and he who failed to live up to the precepts of the devotees of the Law, +the Pharisean fellowships, was scorned as belonging to the lower class, +_am haaretz_. Every morning the pious Jew, first thanking God for the +light of day, followed this up by thanking Him for the Torah, which +illumines the path of life. “The welfare of society rests upon the study +of the Law, divine service and organized charity,” was a saying of Simon +the Just, a high priest of the beginning of the third pre-Christian +century.(1149) Thus learning and teaching became leading occupations for +the Jew, and the two main departments of Jewish literature, +correspondingly, are _Torah_ and _Talmud_, that is, the written Law and +its exposition. Indeed, the highest title which the rabbis could find for +Moses was simply “Moses our Teacher.” Nay, God Himself was frequently +represented as a venerable Master, teaching the Law in awful +majesty.(1150) + +4. Later under the successive influence of Babylonian and Greek culture, +the wisdom literature was added to the Prophets and the Psalms, giving to +the whole Torah a universal scope, like that claimed for Greek philosophy. +The Jewish love of learning led to an ever greater longing for truth by +adding the wisdom of other cultured nations to its own store of knowledge. +This motive for universalism became all the stronger, as the faith became +more centered in the sublime conception of God as Master of all the world. +As the God of Israel appeared the primal source of all truth, so the +revealed word of God was considered the very embodiment of divine +wisdom.(1151) In fact, the men of hoary antiquity described in the opening +chapters of Genesis were actually credited with being the instructors of +the Greeks and other nations.(1152) We read a strange story by a pupil of +Aristotle that the great sage admired a Jew, whom he happened to meet, as +both wise and pious, so that the little Jewish nation was often +considered, like the wise men of India, to be a sect of +philosophers.(1153) Indeed, Judaism became a matter of curiosity to the +pagan world on account of the Synagogue, which attracted them as a unique +center of religious devotion and instruction, and especially because of +the Bible, which was read and expounded in its Greek garb from Sabbath to +Sabbath. The Jewish people raised themselves to be a nation of thinkers, +and largely through association with Greek thought. For example, in the +Greek translation of the Scriptures all anthropomorphic expressions are +avoided. As the personal name of Israel’s God of the covenant, *JHVH*, was +replaced by the name _Adonai_, “the Lord,”(1154) the universality of the +Jewish God became still more evident. Thus the pagan world could find God +in the Scriptures to be the living God who dwells in the heart and is +sought by all mankind. The Jew became the herald of the One God of the +universe, his Bible a book of universal instruction. Many of the heathen, +without merging themselves into the community of the covenant people and +without accepting all its particularistic customs, rallied around its +central standard as simple theists, “worshipers of God,” or “they who fear +the Lord,” according to the terminology of the Psalms.(1155) + +5. An old rabbinical legend, which is reflected in the New Testament +miracle of Pentecost, relates that the Ten Words of Sinai were uttered in +seventy tongues of fire to reach the known seventy nations of the +earth.(1156) We are told that when the people entered Canaan, the words of +the Law were engraved in seventy languages on the stones of the altar at +Mount Ebal.(1157) That is, the law of Sinai was intended to provide the +foundation for all human society. One Haggadist even asserts that the +heathen nations all refused to accept the Law, and if Israel also had +rejected it, the world would have returned to chaos.(1158) Israel was, so +to speak, _forced_ by divine Providence to accept the Law on behalf of the +entire race. Hillel, under the Romanized reign of Herod, was fully +conscious of this world-mission when he said: “Love your fellow creatures +and lead them to the study of the Law.”(1159) + +6. The outlook for the Jewish people, however, became darker and darker +through its struggle with Rome. The fanatical Zealots entirely opposed the +spreading of the knowledge of the Torah among those who did not belong to +the household of Israel.(1160) Then the Church sent forth her missionaries +to convert the pagan world by constant concessions to its polytheistic +views and practices. The seed sown by Hellenistic Judaism yielded a rich +harvest for the Church, even though it was won at the sacrifice of pure +Jewish monotheism. The Ten Words of Sinai, the Mosaic laws of marriage, +the poor laws, and other Biblical statutes became the cornerstone of +civilization, but in a different guise; the heritage of Judaism was +transplanted to the Christian and Mohammedan world in a new garb and under +a new name. Henceforth the Jew, dispersed, isolated, and afflicted, had to +struggle to preserve his faith in its pristine purity. The very danger +besetting the study of the Law during the Hadrianic persecutions, which +followed the Bar Kochba revolt, increased his zeal and courage. “Devoid of +the Torah, our vital element, we are surely threatened with death,” said +Rabbi Akiba, applying to himself the fable of the fox and the fishes, as +he defied the Roman edict.(1161) The fear lest the Torah should be +forgotten, stimulated the teachers and their disciples ever anew to its +pursuit. The Torah was regarded as the bond and pledge of God’s nearness; +hence the many rabbinical sayings concerning its value in the eyes of God, +which are frequently couched in poetic and extravagant language.(1162) The +underlying idea of them all is that Israel could dispense with its State +and its Temple, but not with its storehouse of divine truth, from which it +constantly derives new life and new youth. + +7. One important question, however, remains, which must be answered: Has +the Jewish people, shut up for centuries by the ramparts of Talmudic +Judaism, actually renounced its world mission? In transmitting part of its +inheritance to its two daughter-religions, has Judaism lost its claim to +be a world-religion? The Congregation of Israel, according to the Midrash, +answers this question in the words of the Shulamite in the Song of Songs: +“I sleep, but my heart waketh.”(1163) During the sad period of the Middle +Ages, Judaism in its relation to the outer world slept a long +winter-sleep, now in one land and now in another, but its inner life +always manifested a splendid activity of mind and soul, exerting a mighty +influence upon the history of the world. It was declared dead by the +ruling Church, and yet it constantly filled her with alarm by the truths +it uttered. The Jewish people was given over to destruction and +persecution a thousand times, but all the floods of hatred and violence +could not quench its flame. Its marvelous endurance constituted the +strongest possible protest against the creed of the Church, which claimed +to possess an exclusive truth and the only means of salvation. To suffer +and die as martyrs by thousands and tens of thousands, at the stake and +under the torture of bloodthirsty mobs, testifying to the One Only God of +Israel and humanity, was, to say the least, as heroic a mission as to +convert the heathen. Indeed, the Jew, in reciting the Shema each morning +in the house of God, renewed daily his zeal and faith, by which he was +encouraged to sacrifice himself for his sacred heritage. + +8. But the cultivation of the Torah, obligatory upon every Jew, effected +more even than the preservation of monotheism. Alongside of the Church, +which did its best to suppress free thought, Islam provided a culture +which encouraged study and investigation, and this brought the leading +spirits in Judaism to a profounder grasp of their own literary treasures. +Bold truth-seekers arose under the Mohammedan sway who had the courage to +break the chains of belief in the letter of the Scripture, and to claim +the right of the human reason to give an opinion on the highest questions +of religion. The leading authorities of the Synagogue followed a different +course from that of the Church, which had brought the Deity into the +sphere of the senses, divided the one God into three persons, and induced +the people to worship the image of Mary and her God-child rather than God +the Father. They insisted on the absolute unity and spirituality of God, +eliminated all the human attributes ascribed to Him in Scripture, and +strove to attain the loftiest and purest possible conception of His being. +It took a mighty effort for the people of the Law to reëxamine the entire +mass of tradition in order to harmonize philosophy and religion, and +invest the divine revelation with the highest spiritual character. This +mental activity exerted a great influence upon the whole course of thought +of subsequent centuries and even upon modern philosophy. Again Israel +became conscious of his mission of light. Jewish thinkers, often combining +rabbi, physician, and astronomer in one person, carried the torch of +science and free investigation, directly or indirectly, into the cell of +many a Christian monk, rousing the dull spirit of the Middle Ages and +bringing new intellectual nurture to the Church, else she might have +starved in her mental poverty. + +The Jews of Spain became the teachers of Christian Europe. The forerunners +of the Protestant Reformation sat at the feet of Jewish masters. Jewish +students of the Hebrew language, scientifically trained, opened up the +simple meaning of the Scriptural word, so long hidden by traditional +interpretation. The Lutheran and the English translations of the Bible +were due to their efforts, and thus also the rise of Protestantism, which +inaugurated the modern era. Yet this intellectual revival, this wonderful +activity of various thinkers among medieval Jewry, required a soil +susceptible to such seeds, an atmosphere favorable to this intense search +for truth. This existed only in the Jewish people, since the universal +study of the Torah brought it about that “all the children of Israel had +light in their dwellings” even while dense darkness covered the nations of +the medieval world. + +9. We must not underrate the cultural mission of the Jewish people, with +its striking contrast to the New Testament point of view, which created +monasteries and the celibate ideal, and thus discouraged industry, +commerce, and scientific inquiry. Dispersed as they were, the Jewish +people cultivated both commerce and science, and thus for centuries were +the real bearers of culture, the intermediaries between East and West. +While the Church divided mankind into heirs of heaven and hell, thus +sowing discord and hatred, the little group of Jews maintained their ideal +of an undivided humanity. But even their industrial and commercial +activity had more than a mere economic significance. Forced upon the Jew +by external pressure, it was favored by Jewish teaching as a means of +promoting spiritual life. Not poverty and beggary, but wealth begotten by +honest toil has the sanction of Judaism in accordance with the saying +“Where there is no flour for bread, there can be no support for the study +of the Torah.”(1164) Moreover, the rabbis interpreted the verse, “Rejoice, +O Zebulun, in thy going out, and thou, Issachar, in thy tents,”(1165) as +meaning that Zebulun, the seafarer, shared the profit of his commerce with +Issachar, who taught the law in the tents of the Torah, that he, in turn, +might share his brother’s spiritual reward. Indeed, the Jew used his gains +won by trade in the service of the promotion of learning, and thus his +entire industry assumed a higher character. Our modern civilization, with +its higher values of life, owes much to the cultural activity of the +medieval Jew, which many leaders of the ruling Church still ignore +completely. It is true that the hard struggle for their very existence +kept the people unconscious of their cultural mission, and only now that +they have attained the higher historical point of view can they exclaim +with Joseph their ancestor: “As for you, ye meant evil against me; but God +meant it for good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much +people alive.”(1166) The fact is that Jewish commerce has been an +important cosmopolitan factor in the past, and is still working, to a +certain extent, in the same direction.(1167) + +10. New and great tasks have been assigned by divine Providence to the Jew +of modern times, who is a full citizen in the cultural, social, and +political life of the various nations. These tasks are most holy to him as +Jew, the bearer of a great mission to the world, which is embodied in his +heritage, the Torah. However splendid may have been his achievements in +the fields of industry and commerce, of literature and art, his own +peculiar possession is the Torah alone, the religious truth for which he +fought and suffered all these centuries past; this must forever remain the +central thought, the aim of all his striving.(1168) Every achievement of +the Jewish people, every attainment in power, knowledge, or skill, must +lead toward the completion of the divine kingdom of truth and justice; +that for which the Jew laid the foundation at the beginning of his history +is still leading forward the entire social life of man to render it a +divine household of love and peace. In order that it may carry out the +world mission mapped out by its great seers of yore, the Jewish people +must guard against absorption by the multitude of nations as much as +against isolation from them. It must preserve its identity without going +back into a separation rooted in self-adulation and clannishness. Instead, +the great goal of Israel will be reached only by patient endurance and +perseverance, confidently awaiting the fulfillment in God’s own time of +the glorious prophecy that all the nations shall be led up to the mountain +of the Lord by the priest-people, there to worship God in truth and +righteousness. The Law is to go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord +from Jerusalem, as a spiritual, not a geographical center. This vision +forms the highest pinnacle of human aspiration, rising higher and higher +before the mind, as man ascends from one stage of culture to another, +striving ever for perfection, for the sublimest ideal of life. This is +characteristically expressed by the Midrash, which refers to the Messianic +vision: “And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain +of the Lord’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and +shall be exalted above the hills.”(1169) “One great mountain of the earth +will be piled upon the other, and Mount Zion will be placed upon the top +as the culminating point of all human ascents.” Taken in a figurative +sense, in which alone the saying is acceptable, this means that all the +heights of the various ideals will finally merge into the loftiest of all +ideals, when Israel’s one holy God will be acknowledged as the One for +whom all hearts yearn, whom all minds seek as the Ideal of all ideals. + + + + +Chapter LII. Israel, the Servant of the Lord, Martyr and Messiah Of the +Nations + + +1. “If there are ranks in suffering, Israel takes precedence. If the +duration of sorrows and the patience with which they are borne, ennoble, +the Jews are among the aristocracy of every land. If a literature is +called rich which contains a few classic tragedies, what shall we say to a +national tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years, in which the poets and +the actors are also the heroes?” With these classic words Leopold Zunz +introduces the history of sufferings which have occasioned the hundreds of +plaintive and penitential songs of the Synagogue described in his book, +_Die Synagogale Poesie des Mittelalters_. They are the cries of a nation +of martyrs, resounding through the whole Jewish liturgy, and appearing +already in many of the Psalms: “Thou hast given us like sheep to be eaten; +and hast scattered us among the nations. Thou makest us a taunt to our +neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. All +this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we been +false to Thy covenant: Nay, for Thy sake are we killed all the day; we are +accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord? +Arouse Thyself, cast not off forever. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and +forgettest our affliction and our oppression?”(1170) Thus the congregation +of Israel laments; and what is the answer of Heaven? + +2. The Bible contains two answers: the first by Ezekiel, priest and +prophet; the other by the great unknown seer of the Exile whose words of +comfort are given in the latter part of Isaiah. Ezekiel gave a stern and +direct answer: “The nations shall know that the house of Israel went into +captivity because of their iniquity, because they broke faith with Me, and +I hid My face from them; so I gave them into the hand of their +adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. According to their +uncleanness and according to their transgressions did I unto them; and I +hid My face from them. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Now will I bring +back the captivity of Jacob, and have compassion upon the whole house of +Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. And they shall bear their +shame, and all their breach of faith which they committed against +Me.”(1171) These words are echoed in the harrowing admonitory chapter of +Leviticus, which, however, closes with words of comfort: “And they shall +confess their iniquity ... if then perchance their uncircumcised heart be +humbled, and they then be paid the punishment of their iniquity; then will +I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and +also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the +land.”(1172) This view of divine justice as external and punitive was +basic to the Synagogue liturgy and the entire rabbinic system. The +priestly idea of atonement, that sin could be wiped out by sacrifice, made +a profound impression, not only upon individual sinners, but also upon the +nation. Hence it was applied especially to the people in exile when they +could not bring sacrifices to their God. Still, one means of atonement +remained, the exile itself, which could lead the people to repentance and +finally to God’s forgiveness.(1173) Thus the people retained a hope of +return from their captivity. They were assured by their prophetic monitors +that the faithful community of the Lord would again be received in favor +by the God of faithfulness. They even built their hope upon the portions +of the Law, which was read to assembled worshipers that they might know +and observe it on their return to the land of their fathers. Israel could +say with the Psalmist: “Unless Thy law had been my delight, I should then +have perished in mine affliction.”(1174) According to a Palestinian +Haggadist, “Israel would never have persevered so long, had not the Torah, +the marriage contract of Israel with its God, pledged to it a glorious +future on the holy soil.”(1175) Wait patiently for God’s mercy, which in +His own time will rebuild Israel’s State and Temple!—this is the keynote +of all the prayers and songs of the Synagogue. + +3. But the great seer of the exile, whose anonymity lends still greater +impressiveness to his words of comfort, stood on a higher historical plane +than that of Ezekiel the priest. He witnessed the transformation of the +entire political world of his time through the victory of Cyrus the Mede +over the Babylonian empire, and thus was able to attain a profounder grasp +of the destiny of his own nation. Hence he was not satisfied with the view +of Ezekiel. The latter had applied the popular saying, “The fathers have +eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,”(1176) to +refute the belief that an individual was punished for the sins of his +fathers; but he failed to extend this doctrine to the whole nation. +Whatever sins were committed by the generation who were exiled, their +children ought not to suffer for them “in double measure.”(1177) Moreover, +the realm of love has a higher law than atonement through retribution. +Love brings its sacrifice without asking why. By willing sacrifice of self +it serves its higher purpose. He who struggles and suffers silently for +the good and true is _God’s servant_, who cannot perish. He attains a +higher glory, transcending the fate of mortality. This is the new +revelation that came to the seer, as he pondered on the destiny of Israel +in exile, illumining for him that dark enigma of his people’s tragic +history. + +The problem of suffering, especially that of the servant of God, or the +pious, occupied the Jewish mind ever since the days of Jeremiah and +especially during the exile. The author of the book of Job elaborated this +into a great theodicy, speaking of Job also as the “servant of the +Lord.”(1178) Whatever pattern our exilic seer employed, beside the +chapters about the Servant of the Lord,(1179) whatever tragic fate of some +great contemporary the plaintive song in the fifty-second and fifty-third +chapters referred to (some point to Jeremiah, others to Zerubabel),(1180) +or whether the poet had in mind only the tragic fate of Israel, as many +modern exegetes think; in any case he conceived the unique and pathetic +picture of Israel as the suffering Servant of the Lord, who is at last to +be exalted:(1181) + +“Behold, My servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and +shall be very high. According as many were appalled at thee—so marred was +his visage unlike that of a man, and his form unlike that of the sons of +men—so shall he startle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths +because of him; for that which had not been told them they shall see, and +that which they had not heard shall they perceive. Who would have believed +our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he +shot up right forth as a sapling, and as a root out of a dry ground; he +had no form nor comeliness, that we should look upon him, nor beauty that +we should delight in him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of +pains, and acquainted with disease, and as one from whom men hide their +face; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely our diseases he did +bear, and our pains he carried; whereas we did esteem him stricken, +smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded because of our +transgressions, he was crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement +of our welfare was upon him, and with his stripes we were healed. All we, +like sheep, did go astray, we turned every one to his own way; and the +Lord hath made to light on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, +though he humbled himself, and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led +to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he +opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away, and +with his generation who did reason? For he was cut off out of the land of +the living, for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. +And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb; +although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet +it pleased the Lord to crush him by disease; to see if his soul would +offer itself in restitution, that he might see his seed, prolong his days, +and that the purpose of the Lord might prosper by his hand. Of the travail +of his soul he shall see to the full, even My servant, who by his +knowledge did justify the Righteous One to the many, and their iniquities +he did bear. Therefore will I divide him a portion among the great, and he +shall divide his soul with the mighty; because he bared his soul unto +death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of +many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” + +4. Whatever be the historical background of this great elegy, our seer +uses it to portray Israel as the tragic hero of the world’s history. His +prophetic genius possessed a unique insight into the character and destiny +of his people, seeing Israel as a man of woe and grief, chosen by +Providence to undergo unheard-of trials for a great cause, by which, at +the last, he is to be exalted. Bent and disfigured by his burden of misery +and shame, shunned and abhorred as one laden with sin, he suffers for no +guilt of his own. He is called to testify to his God among all the +peoples, and is thus the _Servant of the Lord_, the atoning sacrifice for +the sins of mankind, from whose bruises healing is to come to all the +nations,—an inimitable picture of a self-sacrificing hero, whose death +means life to the world and glory to God, and who will at last live +forever with the Lord whom he has served so steadfastly. Our seer mentions +in earlier passages the Servant of the Lord who “gave his back to the +smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; and hid not his +face from shame and spitting.”(1182) Yet “he shall set his face like a +flint,” so that “he shall not fail nor be crushed, till he have set the +right in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his teaching.”(1183) +Still more directly, he says: “And He said unto Me, ‘Thou art My servant, +Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’ ... It is too light a thing that +thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to +restore the offspring of Israel; I will also give thee for a light of the +nations, that My salvation may be unto the end of the earth. Thus saith +the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him who is despised of +men, to him who is abhorred of nations, to a servant of rulers: kings +shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because +of the Lord that is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen +thee.”(1184) + +5. It was, however, no easy matter for men reared in the old view to reach +the lofty conception of a suffering hero. Even the dramatic figure of Job +seemed to lack the right solution. Job protests his guiltlessness, defies +the dark power of fate, and even challenges divine justice, but God +himself announces at the end that no man can grasp the essence of His plan +for the world. A later and more naïve writer, who added the conclusion of +the book, reversed Job’s destiny and compensated him by a double share of +what he had lost in both wealth and family.(1185) As if the great problem +of suffering could be solved by such external means! Neither would the +problem of the great tragedy of Israel, the martyr-priest of the +centuries, the Job of the nations, ever find its solution in a national +restoration. A mere political rebirth could never compensate for the +thousandfold death and untold woe of the Jew for his God and his faith! +But the people at large could not grasp such a conception as is that of +Deutero-Isaiah’s of the mission of Israel to be the suffering servant of +the Lord, the witness of God—which is “martyr” in the Greek version,—the +redeemer of the nations. They were eager to return to Palestine, to +rebuild State and Temple under the leadership of the heir to the throne of +David. But when their hope had failed that Zerubbabel would prove to be +the “shoot of Jesse,”(1186) the prophetic elegy was referred to the +Messiah, and the belief gained ground that he would have to suffer before +he would triumph.(1187) Thus many a pseudo-Messiah fell a victim to the +tyranny of Rome in both Judæa and Samaria,—for the Samaritans also hoped +for a Messiah, a redeemer of the type of Moses.(1188) Finally a belief +arose that there would be two Messiahs, one of the house of Joseph, that +is, the tribe of Ephraim, who would fall before the sword of the +enemy,(1189) and the other of the house of David, who was to conquer the +heathen nations and establish his throne forever.(1190) + +The Church referred the pathetic figure of the man of sorrow to her +crucified Messiah or Christ. Yet he who was to be a world-savior bore +through his followers damnation to his own kinsmen, and thus was rendered +the chief cause of the persecution of the martyr-race of Israel. + +6. We learn, however, from Origen, a Church father of the third century, +that Jewish scholars, in a controversy with him, expressed the view that +the Servant of the Lord refers to the Jewish people, which, dispersed +among the nations and universally despised, would finally obtain the +ascendancy over them, so that many of the heathen would espouse the Jewish +faith.(1191) Most of the medieval Jewish exegetes, including Rashi, who +usually follows the traditional view, refer the chapter likewise to the +Jewish people. As a matter of fact, the earlier chapters which speak of +the Servant of the Lord can have no other meaning, while many points in +the description of the suffering hero, especially the reference to his +seed after his death, do not fit the Nazarene at all. Hence all +independent Christian scholars to-day have abandoned the tradition of the +Church, and admit that Israel alone is declared by the prophet to be the +one singled out by God to atone for the sins of the nations, to arouse all +humanity to a deeper spiritual vision, and finally to triumph over all the +heathen world.(1192) + +7. Thus the strange history of the martyr people is put in the right light +and the great tragedy of Israel explained. Israel is the champion of the +Lord, chosen to battle and suffer for the supreme values of mankind, for +freedom and justice, truth and humanity; the man of woe and grief, whose +blood is to fertilize the soil with the seeds of righteousness and love +for mankind. From the days of Pharaoh to the present day, every oppressor +of the Jews has become the means of bringing greater liberty to a wider +circle; for the God of Israel, the Hater of bondage, has been appealed to +in behalf of freedom in the old world and the new. Every hardship that +made life unbearable to the Jew became a road to humanity’s triumph over +barbarism. All the injustice and malice which hurled their bitter shafts +against Israel, the Pariah of the nations, led ultimately to the greater +victory of right and love. So all the dark waves of hatred and fanaticism +that beat against the Jewish people served only to impress the truth of +monotheism, coupled with sincere love of God and man, more deeply upon all +hearts and to consign hypocrisy and falsehood to eternal contempt. Such is +the belief confidently held by the people of God, and ever confirmed anew +by the history of the ages. “He is near that justifieth me; who will +contend with me? let us stand up together; who is mine adversary? let him +come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall +condemn me?”(1193) Thus speaks the Servant of the Lord, certain that he +will finally triumph, because he defends God’s cause, and is bound +indissolubly to Him.(1194) Indeed, God says of him: “Surely, he that +toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine (his) eye.”(1195) + +8. The great importance which the rabbis attached to Israel’s martyrdom is +shown by the following remarks in connection with the laws of sacrifice: +“Behold, how the Torah selects for the sacrificial altar only such animals +as belong to the pursued, not the pursuers: the ox which is pursued by the +lion; the lamb which is pursued by the wolf; the goat which is pursued by +the panther, but none of those which feed on prey. In like manner God +chose for His own the persecuted ones: Abel, who was persecuted by his +brother Cain; Noah, who was derided by the generation of the flood; +Abraham, who had to flee before the tyrant Nimrod; and Isaac, Jacob, and +Joseph, who met with unkindness from their own brothers. In the same way +God has chosen Israel from among the seventy nations, as the lamb hunted, +as it were, by seventy wolves, that it should bear His law to +mankind.”(1196) This idea is expressed also in the Haggadic saying: “Those +shall be privileged to see the majesty of God in full splendor who meet +humiliation, but do not humiliate others; who bear insult, but do not +inflict it on others; and who endure a life of martyrdom in pure love of +God.”(1197) + +Indeed, the medieval Jew accepted his sad lot in this spirit of +resignation. But the modern Jew is in a different situation. In the mighty +effort of our age for higher truth, broader love and larger justice, he +beholds the nearing of the prophetic goal of a united humanity, based on +the belief in God, the King and Father of all. Accordingly, modern Judaism +proclaims more insistently than ever that the Jewish people is the Servant +of the Lord, the suffering Messiah of the nations, who offered his life as +an atoning sacrifice for humanity and furnished his blood as the cement +with which to build the divine kingdom of truth and justice. Indeed, the +cosmopolitan spirit of the Jew is the one element needed for the +universality of culture. On the other hand, the world at large is to-day +learning more and more to regard the superb loyalty of the Jew to his +ancestral faith with greater fairness and admiration and to accord larger +appreciation to him and his religion. Once the flood of hatred, +dissension, and prejudice that brought such untold havoc shall have +disappeared from the earth; once religion emerges from the nebulous +atmosphere of other-worldliness, and directs its longing for God toward a +life of godliness on earth in the spirit of the ancient prophets, then the +historic mission of the Jew will also be better understood. Israel, the +hunted dove, which found no resting-place for the sole of its foot during +the flood of sin and persecution, will then appear with the olive-branch +of peace for all humanity, to open the hearts of men that all may enter +the covenant with the universal Father. Then, and not till then, will the +shame of those thousands of years be rolled away, when the world will +recognize that not _a_ Jew, but _the_ Jew has been the suffering Messiah, +and that he was sent forth to be the savior of the nations. + + + + +Chapter LIII. The Messianic Hope + + +1. Recent investigators have brought to light many a vision of an era of +heavenly bliss brought about by some powerful ruler, voiced in hoary +antiquity by seer or singer in addressing the royal masters of Babylon or +Egypt.(1198) But no word in the entire vocabulary of ancient poetry or +prose can so touch the deeper chords of the heart, and so voice the +highest hopes of mankind, as does the name _Messiah_ (“God’s anointed”). +From a simple title for any of the kings of Israel, it grew in meaning +until it comprised the highest hopes of the nation. The Jewish vision of +the future was not the twilight of the gods, which meant the end of the +world with its deities, but the dawn of a new world, bright with the +knowledge of God and blessed by the brotherhood of man. This, the +Messianic ideal, is the creation of the prophetic genius of Israel, and in +turn it influenced man’s conception of God, lifting Him out of the +national bounds, and making Him the God of humanity, Ruler of history. +Israel’s Messianic hope has become the motive power of civilization. In +the time of deepest national humiliation it gave the prophets their power +to surmount the present and soar to heights of vision; through it the +Jewish people attained their strength to resist oppression, buoyed up by +perfect confidence and sublime hope. At the same time its magic luster +captivated the non-Jewish nations, spurring them on to mighty deeds. Thus +it has actually conquered the whole world of man. With every step in +culture it points forward to higher aims, still unattained; it promises to +lead mankind, united in God, the Only One, to truth and justice, +righteousness and love. As the banner of Israel, the Messiah of the +nations, it is destined to become the lode-star of all nations and all +religions. This is the kernel of the Jewish doctrine concerning the +Messiah. + +2. This Messianic hope, on closer analysis, reveals two elements, both of +prophetic origin: one national, the other religious and universal. The +latter is the logical outcome of the monotheism of the great exilic seer, +who based his stirring pictures of the glorious future of Israel upon the +all-encompassing knowledge of God possessed by the Chosen People. The +classic expression of this hope appears in Isaiah II, 1-4, and Micah IV, +1-14: “And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of +the Lord’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains, and +shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And +many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye and let us go up to the mountain +of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His +ways, and we will walk in His paths,’ for out of Zion shall go forth the +law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between +the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their +swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation +shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any +more.” We note, indeed, that no reference to the Messiah or a king of the +house of David appears either in this passage or any of the prophecies of +Deutero-Isaiah. Justice and peace for all humanity are expected through +the reign of God alone. The specific Messianic character of this prophecy +took shape only in its association with the older national hope, voiced by +the prophet Isaiah. + +3. The real Messianic hope involved the reëstablishment of the throne of +David, and was expressed most perfectly in the words of Isaiah: “And there +shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a twig shall grow +forth out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, +the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, +the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall +be in the fear of the Lord; and he shall not judge after the sight of his +eyes, neither decide after the hearing of his ears; but with righteousness +shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the land; +and he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath +of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the +girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. And the +wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the +kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a +little child shall lead them.... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My +holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, +as the waters cover the sea.”(1199) + +This pattern of the ideal ruler may have been modeled after some ancient +Babylonian formula for the adoration of kings, as has been asserted of +late; and the same may be true of the mystic titles given by Isaiah to the +royal heir: “Wonderful counselor, divine hero, father of spoil, prince of +peace.”(1200) When the little kingdom of Judæa fell, the prospect of a +realization of the great prophetic vision seemed gone forever. Therefore +the exiles in Babylon fastened their hopes so much more firmly on the +“Shoot,” particularly on Zerubabel (“the seed born in Babylon”), the +object of the fondest hopes of the later prophets.(1201) When he, too, +disappointed their expectations, probably due to Persian interference, +they transferred the advent of the Messiah more and more into the realm of +miracle, and popular fancy dwelt fondly on his appearance as God’s +champion against the hosts of heathendom (Gog and Magog).(1202) + +4. The conception of the priest-prophet Ezekiel is very significant in +this connection; for him the kingdom of Israel’s God could only be +established by the restoration of the throne of David, the servant of the +Lord, and by the utter destruction of the hosts of heathendom, who were +hostile to both God and Israel. In accordance with this hope the author of +the second Psalm presents a dramatic picture of the Messiah triumphing +over the heathen nations, a picture which became typical for all the +future. “Why are the nations in an uproar? And why do the peoples mutter +in vain? The kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel +together against the Lord, and against His anointed: ‘Let us break their +bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.’ He that sitteth in +heaven laugheth, the Lord hath them in derision. Then will He speak unto +them in His wrath, and affright them in His sore displeasure: ‘Truly it is +I that have established My king upon Zion, My holy mountain.’ I will tell +of the decree: The Lord said unto me: ‘Thou art My son, this day have I +begotten thee. Ask of Me, and I will give the nations for thine +inheritance, and the ends of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt +break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a +potter’s vessel.’ ” Henceforth the conception of the Messiah alternated +between Isaiah’s prince of peace and the world-conqueror of the +Psalmist.(1203) The name Messiah does not occur in Scripture in the +absolute form, but always occurs in the construct with JHVH or a pronoun, +signifying “the Anointed of the Lord.” Accordingly, it expresses the +relation of the Anointed to God, his sovereign, in striking contrast to +the heathen kings who themselves claimed adoration as gods. The very name +Messiah excludes the possibility of deification. The term Messiah was used +with the article only in much later times, _ha Meshiah_, or in the +Aramaic, _Meshiha_, from which we derive the name, Messiah. + +5. In the course of time, however, as the people waited in vain for a +redeemer, the expected Messiah was lifted more and more into the realm of +the ideal. The belief took hold especially in the inner circle of the +pious (Hasidim) that the Messiah was hidden somewhere, protected by God, +to appear miraculously after having vanquished the hostile powers. The +Essenes, the representatives of the secret lore, developed this conception +in the Apocalyptic writings, thus giving the Messiah a certain cosmic or +supernatural character. They probably modeled their thoughts upon the +Zoroastrian system, where _Soshiosh_, the world savior, would appear in +the last millennium as the messenger of Ormuzd to destroy forever the +kingdom of evil and establish the dominion of the good.(1204) Thus, when +Isaiah says of the Messiah that “by the breath of his mouth he shall slay +the wicked,” this is referred to the principle of evil, Satan or Belial, +who was sometimes actually identified with the Persian Ahriman.(1205) +Moreover, after the Persian system, the whole process of history was +divided into six millenniums of strife between the principle of good and +evil, represented by the Torah and the ungodliness of the world, and a +seventh millennium, the kingdom of God or the Messianic age. The dates of +these were calculated upon the basis of the book of Daniel, with its four +world-kingdoms and mysterious numbers.(1206) + +6. The Biblical passages which refer to “the end of days” were also +connected with the advent of the Messianic age, and the so-called +eschatological writings speak of fixed periods following one another. In +accordance with certain prophetic hints, they expected first the +“birth-throes”(1207) or “vestiges” of the Messianic age, a great physical +and moral crisis with the turmoil of nature, plagues, and moral +degeneracy. Before the Messiah would suddenly appear from his hiding +place, the prophet Elijah was to return from heaven, whither he had +ascended in a fiery chariot. But, while he had lived in implacable wrath +against idolaters, he was now to come as a messenger of peace, reconciling +the hearts of Israel with God and with one another, preparing the way to +repentance, and thus to the redemption and reunion of Israel.(1208) The +next stage is the gathering together of Israel from all corners of the +earth to the holy land under the leadership of the Messiah, summoned by +the blast of the heavenly trumpet.(1209) Then begins that gigantic warfare +on the holy soil between the hosts of Israel and the vast forces of +heathendom led by the half-mystic powers of Gog and Magog, a conflict +which, according to Ezekiel, is to last for seven years and to end with +the annihilation of the powers of evil. Before the real Messiah, the son +of David, appears in victory, another Messiah of the tribe of Ephraim is +to fall in battle, according to a belief dating from the second century +and possibly connected with the Bar Kochba war.(1210) In another +tradition, probably older, the true Messiah himself is to suffer and +die.(1211) At all events, he must destroy Rome, the fourth world-kingdom. +But he is also to slay the arch-fiend Ahriman, afterwards known as +Armillus. Moreover, he will redeem the dead from Sheol, as he possesses +the key to open all the graves of the holy land, and thus all the sons of +Israel will partake in the glory of his kingdom. Then at last the city of +Jerusalem will arise in splendor, built of gold and precious stones, the +marvel of the world, and in its midst the Temple, a structure of +surpassing magnificence. The holy vessels of the tabernacle, hidden for +ages in the wilderness, will appear, and the nations will offer the wealth +of the whole earth as their tribute to the Messiah. All will practice +righteousness and piety, and will be rewarded by bliss and numerous +posterity.(1212) + +Opinions differ widely as to the duration of the Messianic age. They range +from forty to four hundred years, and again from three generations to a +full millennium.(1213) This difference is partly caused by the distinction +between the national hope, with the temporary welfare of the people of +Israel, and the religious hope concerning the divine kingdom, which is to +last forever. A very late rabbinic belief holds that the Messiah will be +able to give a new law and even to abrogate Mosaic prohibitions.(1214) + +7. At any rate, no complete system of eschatology existed during the +Talmudic age, as the views of the various apocalyptic writers were +influenced by the changing events of the time and the new environments, +with their constant influence upon popular belief. A certain uniformity, +indeed, existed in the fundamental ideas. The Messianic hope in its +national character includes always the reunion of all Israel under a +victorious ruler of the house of David, who shall destroy all hostile +powers and bring an era of supreme prosperity and happiness as well as of +peace and good-will among men. The Haggadists indulged also in dreams of +the marvelous fertility of the soil of Palestine in the Messianic +time,(1215) and of the resurrection of the dead in the holy land. But in +Judaism such views could never become dogmas, as they did in the Church, +even though they were common in both the older and younger Haggadah. These +national expectations were expressed in the liturgy by the Eighteen +Benedictions, composed by the founders of the Synagogue, the so-called Men +of the Great Synagogue; here the prayers for “the gathering of the +dispersed” and the “destruction of the kingdom of Insolence” precede those +for the “rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the throne of +David.” But the mystic speculations on the origin, activity, and sojourn +of the Messiah, which were a favorite theme of the apocalyptic writers and +the Haggadists during the pre-Christian and the first Christian centuries, +gave way to a more sober mode of thought, in the disappointment that +followed the collapse of the great Messianic movements. On the one hand, +the Church deified its Messiah and thus relapsed into paganism; on the +other, Bar Kochba, “the son of the star,” whom the leading Jewish masters +of the law actually considered the Messiah who would free them from Rome, +proved to be a “star of ill-luck” to the Jewish people.(1216) “Like one +who wanders in the dark night, now and then kindling a light to brighten +up his path, only to have it again and again extinguished by the wind, +until at last he resolves to wait patiently for the break of day when he +will no longer require a light,” so were the people of Israel with their +would-be deliverers, who appeared from time to time to delude their hopes, +until they exclaimed at last: “In Thy light alone, O Lord, we behold +light.”(1217) Samuel the Babylonian, of the third century, in opposition +to the Messianic visionaries of his time, declared: “The Messianic age +differs from the present in nothing except that Israel will throw off the +yoke of the nations and regain its political independence.”(1218) Another +sage said: “May the curse of heaven fall upon those who calculate the date +of the advent of the Messiah and thus create political and social unrest +among the people!”(1219) A third declared: “The Messiah will appear when +nobody expects him.”(1220) Most remarkable of all is the bold utterance of +Rabbi Hillel of the fourth century, a lineal descendant of the great +master Hillel and the originator of the present Jewish calendar system. In +all likelihood many of his contemporaries were busy calculating the advent +of the Messianic time according to the number of Jubilees in the +world-eras, whereupon he said: “Israel need not await the advent of the +Messiah, as Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled by the appearance of King +Hezekiah.”(1221) + +8. Throughout the Middle Ages, when the political or national hopes rose +high, we find various Messianic movements in both East and West revived by +religious aspirations. But Maimonides, the great rationalist, in his +commentary on the Mishnah and in his Code, formulated a Messianic belief +which was quite free from mystical and supernatural elements. His twelfth +article of faith declares that “the Jew, unless he wishes to forfeit his +claim to eternal life by denial of his faith, must, in acceptance of the +teachings of Moses and the prophets down to Malachi, believe that the +Messiah will issue forth from the house of David in the person of a +descendant of Solomon, the only legitimate king; and he shall far excel +all rulers in history by his reign, glorious in justice and peace. Neither +impatience nor deceptive calculation of the time of the advent of the +Messiah should shatter this belief. Still, notwithstanding the majesty and +wisdom of the Messiah, he must be regarded as a mortal being like any +other and only as the restorer of the Davidic dynasty. He will die and +leave a son as his successor, who will in his turn die and leave the +throne to his heir. Nor will there be any material change in the order of +things in the whole system of nature and human life; accordingly Isaiah’s +picture of the living together of lamb and wolf cannot be taken literally, +nor any of the Haggadic sayings with reference to the Messianic time. We +are only to believe in the coming of Elijah as a messenger of peace and +the forerunner of the Messiah, and also in the great decisive battle with +the hosts of heathendom embodied in Gog and Magog, through whose defeat +the dominion of the Messiah will be permanently established.” “The +Messianic kingdom itself,” continues Maimonides with reference to the +utterance of Samuel quoted above, “is to bring the Jewish nation its +political independence, but not the subjection of all the heathen nations, +nor merely material prosperity and sensual pleasure, but an era of general +affluence and peace, enabling the Jewish people to devote their lives +without care or anxiety to the study of the Torah and universal wisdom, so +that by their teachings they may lead all mankind to the knowledge of God +and make them also share in the eternal bliss of the world to come.”(1222) + +9. Against this rationalized hope for the Messiah, which merges the +national expectation into the universal hope for the kingdom of God, +strong objections were raised by Abraham ben David of Posquieres, the +mystic, a fierce opponent of Maimonides, who referred to various Biblical +and Talmudical passages in contradiction to this view.(1223) On the other +hand, Joseph Albo, the popular philosopher, who was trained by his public +debates against the representatives of the Church, emphasized especially +the rational character of the Jewish theology, and declared that the +Messianic hope cannot be counted among the fundamental doctrines of +Judaism, or else Rabbi Hillel could never have rejected it so +boldly.(1224) + +On this point we must consider the fine observation of Rashi that Hillel +denied only a personal Messiah, but not the coming of a Messianic age, +assuming that God himself will redeem Israel and be acknowledged +everywhere as Ruler of the world. As a matter of fact, too much difference +of opinion existed among the Tanaim and Amoraim on the personality of the +Messiah and the duration of his reign to admit of a definite article of +faith on the question. The expected Messiah, the heir of the Davidic +throne, naturally embodied the national hope of the Jewish people in their +dispersion, when all looked to Palestine as their land and to Jerusalem as +their political center and rallying point in days to come. Traditional +Judaism, awaiting the restoration of the Mosaic sacrificial cult as the +condition for the return of the _Shekinah_ to Zion, was bound to persist +in its belief in a personal Messiah who would restore the Temple and its +service. + +10. A complete change in the religious aspiration of the Jew was brought +about by the transformation of his political status and hopes in the +nineteenth century. The new era witnessed his admission in many lands to +full citizenship on an equality with his fellow-citizens of other faiths. +He was no longer distinguished from them in his manner of speech and +dress, nor in his mode of education and thought; he therefore necessarily +identified himself completely with the nation whose language and +literature had nurtured his mind, and whose political and social destinies +he shared with true patriotic fervor. He stood apart from the rest only by +virtue of his religion, the great spiritual heritage of his hoary past. +Consequently the hope voiced in the Synagogal liturgy for a return to +Palestine, the formation of a Jewish State under a king of the house of +David, and the restoration of the sacrificial cult, no longer expressed +the views of the Jew in Western civilization. The prayer for the +rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the Temple with its +priestly cult could no longer voice his religious hope. Thus the leaders +of Reform Judaism in the middle of the nineteenth century declared +themselves unanimously opposed to retaining the belief in a personal +Messiah and the political restoration of Israel, either in doctrine or in +their liturgy.(1225) They accentuated all the more strongly Israel’s hope +for a Messianic age, a time of universal knowledge of God and love of man, +so intimately interwoven with the religious mission of the Jewish people. +Harking back to the suffering Servant of the Lord in Deutero-Isaiah, they +transferred the title of Messiah to the Jewish nation. Reform Judaism has +thus accepted the belief that Israel, the suffering Messiah of the +centuries, shall at the end of days become the triumphant Messiah of the +nations.(1226) + +11. This view taken by reform Judaism is the logical outcome of the +political and social emancipation of the Jew in western Europe and +America. Naturally, it had no appeal to the Jew in the Eastern lands, +where he was kept apart by mental training, social habits and the +discrimination of the law, so that he regarded himself as a member of a +different nationality in every sense. Palestine remained the object of his +hope and longing in both his social and religious life. When modern ideas +of life began to transform the religious views and habits in many a +quarter, and terrible persecutions again aroused the longing of the +unfortunate sufferers for a return to the land of their fathers, the term +Zionism was coined, and the movement rapidly spread. It expressed the +purely national aims of the Jewish people, disregarding the religious +aspirations always heretofore connected with the Messianic hope. This term +has since become the watchword of all those who hope for a political +restoration of the Jewish people on Palestinian soil, as well as of others +whose longings are of a more cultural nature. Both regard the Jewish +people as a nation like any other, denying to it the specific character of +a priest-people and a holy nation with a religious mission for humanity, +which has been assigned to it at the very beginning of its history and has +served to preserve it through the centuries. On this account Zionism, +whether political or cultural, can have no place in Jewish theology. Quite +different is the attitude of religious Zionism which emphasizes the +ancient hopes and longings for the restoration of the Jewish Temple and +State in connection with the nationalistic movement. + +12. Political Zionism owes its origin to the wave of Anti-Semitism which +rose as a counter-movement to the emancipation of the Jew, that alienated +many of the household of Israel from their religion. Thus it has the merit +of awakening many Jews upon whom the ancestral faith had lost its hold to +a sense of love and loyalty to the Jewish past. In many it has aroused a +laudable zeal for the study of Jewish history and literature, which should +bring them a deeper insight into, and closer identification with, the +historic character of Israel, the suffering Messiah of the nations, and +thus in time transform the national Jew into a religious Jew. The study of +Israel’s mighty past will, it is hoped, bring to them the conviction that +the power, the hope and the refuge of Israel is in its God, and not in any +territorial possession. We require a regeneration, not of the nation, but +of the faith of Israel, which is its soul. + + + + +Chapter LIV. Resurrection, a National Hope + + +1. The Jewish belief in resurrection is intimately bound up with the hope +for the restoration of the Israelitish nation on its own soil, and +consequently rather national; indeed, originally purely local and +territorial.(1227) True, the rabbis justified their belief in resurrection +by such Scriptural verses as: “I kill and I make alive”(1228) and “The +Lord killeth, and maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave, and +bringeth up.”(1229) Founded on such passages, the belief would have to +include all men, and could be confined neither to the Jewish people nor to +the land of Judea. However, we find no trace of such a belief in the +entire Bible save for two late post-exilic passages(1230) which are in +fact apocalyptic, being based upon earlier prophecies, and themselves, in +turn, basic to the later dogma of the Pharisees. + +2. The picture of a resurrection was first drawn by the prophet Hosea, who +applied it to Israel. In his distress over the destiny of his people he +says: “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He +will heal us, He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will +He revive us, on the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in +His presence.”(1231) Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones which rose to a new +life under the mighty sway of the spirit of God,(1232) gave more definite +shape to the picture, although in the form of allegory. As the prophet +himself says, he aimed to describe the resurrection of Judah and Israel +from their grave of exile. The obscure Messianic prophecy in Isaiah, +chapters XXIV to XXVII, strikes a new note. First the author deals with +the terrible slaughter which God will inflict upon the heathen, after +which “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away +tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away +from off all the earth.”(1233) Finally, when the oppressors of Israel are +completely annihilated, exclaims the seer: “Thy dead shall live, thy dead +bodies shall arise—awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust—for thy dew +is a fructifying dew, and the earth shall bring to life the shades.”(1234) +Daniel speaks in a similar vein: “And many of them that sleep in the dust +of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to reproaches +and everlasting abhorrence.”(1235) + +3. In this hope for resurrection at the end of days the leading thought is +that the prophecies which have been unfulfilled during the lifetime of the +pious, and particularly the martyrs, shall be realized in the world to +come.(1236) In the oldest apocalyptic writings this life of the future is +still conceived as earthly bliss, inasmuch as the writers think only of +the Messianic time of national glory, depicted in such glowing colors by +the prophets. Unbounded richness of the soil and numerous offspring, +abundant treasures brought by remote nations and their rulers, peace and +happiness far and wide—such are the characteristics of the Messianic age. +In order that the dead may share in all this, it is to be preceded by the +resurrection and the great _Day of Judgment_ in the valley of Jehoshaphat +or Gehinnom (Gehenna), where the righteous are to be singled out to +participate in the realm of the Messiah.(1237) As a national prospect the +Messianic hope was based upon the passage in Deutero-Isaiah: “Thy people +also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land forever.”(1238) +Consequently an ancient Mishnah taught that “All Israel shall have a share +in the world to come.”(1239) In fact, the term “inherit the land” was used +as late as the Mishnah to express the idea of sharing in the future life; +so also in the New Testament, where the resurrection was expected before +the coming of the kingdom of the Messiah.(1240) + +4. The logical assumption was, accordingly, that only the dead of the holy +land should enjoy the resurrection. The prophetic verses were cited: “I +will set glory in the land of the living,”(1241) and “He that giveth +breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein,”(1242) +and were interpreted in the sense that God would restore the breath of +life only to those buried in the holy land.(1243) Likewise the verse of +the Psalmist, “I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living,” +was referred to Palestine, as the land where the dead shall awaken to a +new life.(1244) Hence the rabbis held the strange belief that when the +great heavenly trumpet is sounded to summon all the tribes of Israel from +the ends of the earth to the holy land,(1245) those who have been buried +outside of Palestine must pass through cavities under the earth, until +they reach the soil where the miracle of the resurrection will be +performed.(1246) It has, therefore, become a custom of the pious among the +Orthodox to this very day, in case they could not bury the dead in +Palestine, to put dust of the holy land beneath their head, that they +might arise wherever they were buried. + +5. We may take it for granted that this naïve conception of the +resurrection could not be permanent, and so was modified to include a +double resurrection: the first, national, to usher in the Messianic +kingdom, and the other, universal, to usher in the everlasting life of the +future. The former offered scant room for the heathen world, at best only +for those who had actually joined the ranks of Judaism; the latter, +however, included the last judgment for all souls and thus opened the way +for the salvation of the righteous among the nations as well as the people +of Israel. At this point the conception of resurrection led to higher and +more spiritual ideas, as has been shown in Chapter XLIII. + +6. However, the belief in the resurrection of the body, though expressed +in the ancient liturgy, is in such utter contradiction to our entire +attitude toward both science and religion, that it may be considered +obsolete for the modern Jew. Orthodoxy, which clings to it in formal +loyalty to tradition, regards it as a miracle which God will perform in +the future, exactly like the many Biblical miracles which defy reason. + +7. The Zionist movement has given many Jews a new attitude toward the +national resurrection of Israel. The nationalists expect the Jewish nation +to awaken from a sleep of eighteen hundred years to new greatness in its +ancient home, not as a religious, but as a political body, and in +renouncing all allegiance to the priestly mission of Israel and its +ancestral faith they are as remote from genuine Orthodoxy as from Reform +Judaism. They assert that the soul of the Jewish people requires a +national body rooted in its ancient soil in order that it may fulfill its +appointed task among the nations; they even go so far as to declare all +the achievements brought about by the assimilation of the culture of the +surrounding nations to be a deterioration of the genuine character of the +Jewish nation. The fact is that, as in nature there is nowhere a +resurrection of the dead but an ever renewed regeneration of life, so is +the history of the Jew and of Judaism a continuous process of regeneration +manifested at every great turning-point of history, when the ideas and +cultural elements of a new civilization exert their powerful influence on +life and thought. There never was, nor will be an exclusively Jewish +culture. It is the wondrous power of assimilation of the Jew which ever +created and fashioned his culture anew. That which constitutes the +peculiarity of the Jew and his life force is his religion fostered through +the ages, preserved amidst the most antagonistic influences and hostile +environments, and ever rejuvenated by its unique universalistic spirit +when revived by contact with kindred movements. To maintain and propagate +this, his religion in all lands and amidst all civilizations, is the task +assigned to him by Providence, until God’s Kingdom has been established +all over the globe. + + + + +Chapter LV. Israel and the Heathen Nations + + +1. As there is but one Creator and Ruler of the universe, so there is +before Him but one humanity. All the nations are under His guidance, while +Israel, His chosen people, points to the kingdom of God which is to +embrace them all. Israel was called the “first-born son” of God(1247) at +the very moment of his election, implying that all the sons of men are His +children. All of them are links in the divine plan of salvation. In the +same sense God spoke through Isaiah: “Blessed be Egypt, My people, and +Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.”(1248) As the +first page of Scripture assigns a common origin to them all in the first +man, so, the prophets tell us, at the end of time they shall all be filled +with longing for the one God and form with Israel one community on earth, +a great brotherhood of man serving the common Father above.(1249) Still, +the actual world began, not with the unity, but with the wide diversity +and dispersion of mankind. The idea of the unity of man came as a +corollary to the kindred conception of the unity of God, after a long +historical process. + +Just as the creation of the world opens with the separation of light from +darkness, so the process of the spiritual and moral development of mankind +begins, according to the divine plan of salvation, with the separation of +Israel from the heathen nations.(1250) The sharper the contrast became +between the spiritual God of Israel and the crude sensual gods of +heathendom, the wider grew the chasm between Judaism and heathenism, +between Israel and the nations. As light is opposed to darkness, so +Israel’s truth stood opposed to the idolatry of the nations, until +Christianity and Islam, its daughter-religions, arose between the two +extremes. Henceforth Israel waits with still more confidence for the age +whose dawning will bring the full knowledge of God to all mankind, leading +the world from the night of error and discord to the noon-day brightness +of truth and unity, when a universal monotheism will make all humanity +one. + +2. Nothing was more remote from ancient Israel than the hatred of the +stranger or hostility to other nations, so often attributed to it.(1251) +In the time of the patriarchs and under the monarchy, the Hebrews fostered +a spirit of friendly intercourse with their neighbors, which was often +confirmed by peaceful alliances.(1252) Of course, during war time the +spirit of hostility had full sway, particularly as ancient warfare imposed +a relentless ban upon both booty and human life among the vanquished. But +even then the kings of Israel were called compassionate also toward their +enemies when compared with other rulers.(1253) Indeed, the code of Israel +is distinguished from all other codes of antiquity by mildness and tender +compassion. On the other hand, the God of justice, revealed through Amos, +Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk, punishes Israel and the nations +impartially on account of their moral transgressions.(1254) He avenges +acts of treachery, even when committed against pagan tyrants. “Shall not +the Judge of all the earth do justly?”(1255) Such is the recurrent thought +that governs Israel, demanding the same standard of judgment for Israelite +and stranger. + +3. The simple sense of justice inherent in the Jewish people admits so +little difference between our own God-consciousness and that of others, +that Scripture represents the Philistine King Abimelech as receiving a +warning from Abraham’s God *JHVH*.(1256) As the Bible holds up Job, the +Bedouin Sheik, as the pattern of a blameless servant of God and true lover +of mankind,(1257) so the Talmud cites the Philistine Dama ben Nethina as +an example of filial piety.(1258) Altogether, the merits of the heathen +receive their full measure of appreciation throughout Jewish +literature,(1259) even though a narrow dissenting view occurs now and +then.(1260) + +4. Still from the very beginning a tendency to relentless harshness +existed in one direction, when the pure worship of Israel’s one and only +God was endangered. The early Book of the Covenant forbade every alliance +with idolatrous nations,(1261) and the Deuteronomic Code made this more +stringent by prohibiting intermarriage and even the toleration of +idolaters in the land, lest they seduce the people of God to turn away +from Him.(1262) The Pharisean leaders, the founders of Rabbinism, went +still further by placing an interdict upon eating with the heathen or +using food and wine prepared by them, thus aiming at a complete separation +from the non-Jewish world.(1263) + +The contrast between Judaism and heathenism was further heightened by the +view of the prophets and psalmists, showing that the great nations were +the very embodiment of idolatrous iniquity, murderous violence and sexual +impurity, a world of arrogance and pride, defying God and doomed to +perdition, because they opposed the kingdom of God proclaimed by +Israel.(1264) Henceforth the term “the nations” (_goyim_) was taken by the +religious as meaning the wicked ones, who would not be able to stand the +divine judgment in the future life, but would go down to Sheol, or +Gehenna, to fall a prey to everlasting corruption, to the fire that is +never quenched.(1265) + +5. Yet such a wholesale condemnation could not long be maintained; it was +too strongly contradicted in principle by the prophets and Psalmists, and +quite as much by the apocalyptic writers and Haggadists of later times. +The book of Jonah testifies that Israel’s God sent His prophet to the +heathen of Nineveh to exhort them to repentance, that they might obtain +forgiveness and salvation like repentant Israel.(1266) Heathenism is +doomed to perish, not the heathen; they are to acknowledge the heavenly +Judge in their very punishments and return to Him. Such is the conclusion +of all the exhortations of the prophets predicting punishment to the +nations. Moreover, those heathen who escape the doom of the world-powers +are to proclaim the mighty deeds of the Lord to the utmost lands. Nay, +according to the grand vision of the exilic seer, among the many nations +that shall assemble at the end of days to worship the Lord in Zion, select +ones will be admitted to the priesthood with the sons of Aaron.(1267) The +name _Hadrak_, understood as “he who bringeth back,” suggested itself to +the rabbis as a title of the Messiah, the converter of the heathen +nations.(1268) So in both the Talmud and the Sibylline books(1269) Noah is +represented as a preacher of repentance to the nations before the flood, +and accordingly the latter book adjures the Hellenic world to repent of +their sinful lives before they would be overwhelmed by the flood of fire +at the great judgment day. In the same spirit the Haggadists tell that God +sent Balaam, Job, and other pious men as prophets of the heathen to teach +them the way of repentance.(1270) And the rabbis actually say that, if the +heathen nations had not refused the Torah when the Lord offered it to them +at Sinai, it would have been the common property of all mankind.(1271) + +6. The leading minds of Judaism felt only pity for the blind obstinacy of +the great mass of heathen, who worshiped the creatures instead of the +Creator, or the stars of heaven instead of Him who is enthroned above the +skies. They regarded heathenism either as evidence of spiritual want and +weakness, or as the result of destiny. Indeed, the words of the +Deuteronomist sound like an echo of Babylonian fatalism when he asserts +that God himself assigned to the nations the worship of the stars as their +inheritance.(1272) Later the opinion gained ground that the heathen +deities were real demons, holding dominion over the nations and leading +them astray.(1273) The exilic seer attacked idolatry most vigorously as +folly and falsehood, and thus the note of derision and irony is struck by +Deutero-Isaiah, the Psalms, and in many of the propaganda writings of the +Hellenistic age, in their references to heathenism. + +On the other hand, it is very significant that the Palestinian sages and +their successors condemned heathenism as a moral plague, conducing to +depravity, lewdness, and bloodshed. They regarded the powers of the world, +especially Edom (Rome), as being under the dominion of the Evil One, and +therefore doomed to perish in the flames of Gehenna. As they rejected the +Ten Commandments out of love for bloodshed, lust, and robbery, so, +according to the Haggadists, they will be unable to withstand the last +judgment and will suffer eternal punishment. Since their one desire was to +enjoy the life of this world, their lot in the future will be Gehenna; +while the gates of the Garden of Eden will be open for Israel, the people +oppressed and sorely tried, yet ever faithful to the covenant of +Abraham.(1274) Of course, this view implied both comfort and vengeance, +but we must not forget that the harsh statements contained in the Talmud +owe their origin to bitter distress and cannot be considered Jewish +doctrines, as unfriendly critics frequently do.(1275) + +7. As has been shown above, the dominant view of the Synagogue is that +eternal salvation belongs to the righteous among the nations as well as +those of Israel. In this sense, Psalm IX, 18, is understood to the effect +that “all those heathens who have forgotten God will go down to the nether +world.”(1276) One of the sages expresses a still broader view: “When +judging the nations, God determines their standard by their best +representatives.”(1277) Many rabbis held the belief that circumcision +secured for the Jew a place in “Abraham’s bosom” while the uncircumcised +are consigned to Gehenna, thus assigning to circumcision a corresponding +place to that of baptism in the Christian Church. This belief seems to be +based upon a passage in Ezekiel, where the prophet speaks of the _arelim_, +or “uncircumcised,” as dwelling in the nether world.(1278) But a number of +passages in the Talmud, especially in the Tosefta,(1279) show that +circumcision was not believed to have the power to save a sinner from +Gehenna, On the other hand, we have the great teaching of R. Johanan ben +Zakkai in opposing his disciple Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, telling that the +sacrifices which atoned for the sins of Israel are paralleled by deeds of +benevolence, which can atone for the sins of the heathen.(1280) Both the +Talmud and Philo state that the seventy bullocks which were offered up +during the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles were brought by Israel +as sacrifices for the seventy nations of the world.(1281) + +8. Where no cause existed to fear the influence of idolatry, friendly +relations with non-Jews were always recommended and cultivated. A non-Jew +who devotes his life to the study and practice of the law, said Rabbi +Meir, is equal to the high priest; for Scripture says: “The laws which, if +a man do, he shall live by them,” implying that pure humanity is the one +essential required by God.(1282) Indeed, Rabbi Meir enjoyed a close +friendship with Œnomaos of Gadara,(1283) a heathen philosopher spoken of +admiringly in Talmudic sources and placed on a par with Balaam as noble +representatives of heathendom. Obviously this good opinion was held, +because both spoke favorably of Judaism, whose “synagogues and +schoolhouses formed the strongest bulwark against the attacks of +Jew-haters.” Other friendships which were described in popular legends and +held up as examples for emulation are those between Jehuda ha Nasi and the +Emperor Antoninus (Severus)(1284) and that of Samuel of Babylonia with +Ablat, a Persian sage.(1285) + +9. The Mosaic and Talmudic law prescribed quite different treatment for +those heathen who persisted in idolatrous practices and refused to observe +the laws of humanity, called the seven Noahitic laws, as will be explained +more fully in the next chapter. No toleration could be granted them within +the ancient jurisdiction; “Thou shall show them no mercy” was the phrase +of the law for the seven tribes of Canaan, and this was applied to all +idolaters.(1286) Hence Maimonides lays down the rule in his Code that +“wherever and whenever the Mosaic law is in force, the people must be +compelled to abjure heathenism and accept the seven laws of Noah in the +name of God, or else they are doomed to die.”(1287) + +On the other hand, in the very same Code, Maimonides writes in the spirit +of Rabbi Meir: “Not only the Jewish tribe is sanctified by the highest +degree of human holiness, but every human being, without difference of +birth, in whom is the spirit of love and the power of knowledge to devote +his life exclusively to the service of God and the dissemination of His +knowledge, and who, walking uprightly before Him, has cast off the yoke of +the many earthly desires pursued by the rest of men. God is his portion +and his eternal inheritance, and God will provide for his needs, as He did +for the priest and the Levite of yore.”(1288) + +10. To be sure, a statement of this nature presents a different judgment +of heathenism from that of the ancient national law. But the historical +and comparative study of religions has caused us to entertain altogether +different views of the various heathen religions, both those representing +primitive stages of childlike imagination and superstition, and those more +developed faiths which inculcate genuine ideals of a more or less lofty +character. Certainly the laws of Deuteronomy, written when the nation had +dwindled down to the little kingdom of Judæa, and those further expounded +in the Mishnah enjoining the most rigorous intolerance toward every +vestige of paganism, had only a theoretical value for the powerless Jewish +nation; while both the Church and the rulers of Islam were largely guided +by them in practical measures. The higher view of Judaism was expressed by +the last of the prophets: “ ‘For from the rising of the sun even unto the +going down of the same My name is great among the nations; and in every +place offerings are presented unto My name, even pure oblations, for My +name is great among the nations,’ saith the Lord of hosts.”(1289) The fact +is that heathenism seeks the God whom Israel by its revelation has found. +In this spirit both Philo and Josephus took the Scriptural passage, “Thou +shalt not curse God,” taking the Hebrew _Elohim_ in the plural sense, “the +gods”; thus they said a Jew must not offend the religious sense of the +heathen by scorn or ridicule, however careful he must be to avoid the +imitation of their practices and superstitions.(1290) + +As a matter of fact, the Code of Law aimed to separate Israel and the +nations in order to avoid the crude worship of idols, animals and stars +practiced by the heathen of antiquity. It was not framed for masters like +Socrates, Buddha, and Confucius, with their lofty moral views and their +claims upon humanity. The God who revealed himself to Abraham, Job, Enoch, +and Balaam, as well as to Moses and Isaiah, spoke to them also, and the +wise ones of Israel have ever hearkened to their inspiring lessons. Their +words are echoed in Jewish literature together with Solomon’s words of +wisdom. Plato, Plotinus, and Aristotle received the most friendly +hospitality from the rabbinic philosophers and mystic writers of Jewry, +and so Buddhist sayings and views penetrated into Jewish ethics and +popular teachings. Both the Jew and his literature are cosmopolitan, and +Judaism never withholds its appreciation of the merits of the heathen +world.(1291) + +11. We must especially emphasize one claim of the Jewish people above +other nations which the rabbis call _zekuth aboth_, “the merit of the +fathers,” and which we may term “hereditary virtue.” The election of +Israel, in spite of its own lack of merit, is declared in Deuteronomy and +elsewhere to be due to the merit of the fathers, with whom God concluded +His covenant in love.(1292) The promise is often repeated that God will +ever remember His covenant with the fathers and not let the people perish, +even though their sins were great; therefore the rabbis assumed that the +patriarchs had accumulated a store of merit by their virtues which would +redound before God to the benefit of their descendants, supplementing +their own weaknesses.(1293) This merit or righteousness of the fathers +formed a prominent part of the hope and prayer, nay, of the whole +theological system of the Jewish people. They regarded the patriarchs and +all the great leaders of the past as patterns of loyalty and love for God, +so that, according to the Midrash, Israel might say in the words of the +Shulamite: “Black am I” considering my own merit, “but comely” when +considering the merit of the fathers.(1294) Whether this store of merit +would ever be exhausted is a matter of controversy among the rabbis. Some +referred to God’s own words that He will ever remember His covenant with +the fathers; others pointed to the verse in Deutero-Isaiah: “For the +mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not +depart from thee, neither shall My covenant of peace be removed,” which +they interpreted symbolically to mean: when the merit of the patriarchs +and matriarchs of Israel is exhausted, God’s mercy and compassion for +Israel will be there never to depart.(1295) Translated into our own mode +of thinking, this merit of the fathers claimed for Israel signifies the +unique treasure of a spiritual inheritance which belongs to the Jew. This +inheritance of thousands of years provides such rare examples and such +high inspiration that it incites to the highest virtue, the firmest +loyalty, and the greatest love for truth and justice. Judaism, knowing no +such thing as original sin, points with pride instead to hereditary +virtue, deriving an inexhaustible source of blessing from its historical +continuity of four thousand years. + + + + +Chapter LVI. The Stranger and the Proselyte + + +1. Among all the laws of the Mosaic Code, that which has no parallel in +any other ancient code is the one enjoining justice, kindness and love +toward the stranger. The Book of the Covenant teaches: “And a stranger +shall thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were +strangers in the land of Egypt,”(1296) and “A stranger shalt thou not +oppress; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in +the land of Egypt.” The Deuteronomic writer lays special stress on the +fact that Israel’s God, “who regardeth not persons nor taketh bribes, doth +execute justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger, +in giving him food and raiment.” He then concludes: “Love ye therefore the +stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”(1297) The Priestly +Code goes still further, granting the stranger the same legal protection +as the native.(1298) + +2. We would, however, misunderstand the spirit of all antiquity, including +ancient Israel, if we consider this as an expression of universal love for +mankind and the recognition of every human being as fellow-man and +brother. Throughout antiquity and during the semi-civilized Middle Ages, a +stranger was an enemy unless he became a guest. If he sought protection at +the family hearth or (in the Orient) under the tent of a Sheik, he thereby +entered into a tutelary relation with both the clan or tribe and its +deity. After entering into such a relation, temporary or permanent, he +became, in the term which the Mosaic law uses in common with the general +Semitic custom, a _Ger_ or _Toshab_, “sojourner” or “settler,” entitled to +full protection.(1299) This relation of dependency on the community is +occasionally expressed by the term: “thy stranger that is within thy +gates.”(1300) Such protection implied, in turn, that the _Ger_ or +_protegé_ owed an obligation to the tribe or community which shielded him. +He stood under the protection of the tribal god, frequently assumed his +name, and thus dared not violate the law of the land or of its deity, lest +he forfeit his claim to protection. + +3. In accordance with this, the oft-repeated Mosaic command for +benevolence toward the stranger, which placed him on the same footing with +the needy and helpless, imposed certain religious obligations upon him. He +was enjoined, like the Israelite, not to violate the sanctity of the +Sabbath by labor, nor to provoke God’s anger by idolatrous practices, and, +according to the Priestly Code, to avoid the eating of blood and the +contracting of incestuous marriages as well as the transgression of the +laws for Passover and the Day of Atonement. Naturally, in criminal cases +such as blasphemy he was subject to the death-penalty just like the +native.(1301) Still, the _Ger_ was not admitted as a citizen, and in the +Mosaic system of law he was always a tolerated or protected alien, unless +he underwent went the rite of circumcision and thus joined the Israelitish +community.(1302) + +4. With the transformation of the Israelitish State into the Jewish +community—in other words, with the change of the people from a political +to a religious status,—this relation to the non-Jew underwent a decided +change. As the contrast to the heathen became more marked, the _Ger_ +assumed a new position. As he pledged himself to abandon all vestiges of +idolatry and to conform to certain principles of the Jewish law, he +entered into closer relations with the people. Accordingly, he adopted +certain parts of the Mosaic code or the entire law, and thus became either +a partial or a complete member of the religious community of Israel. In +either case he was regarded as a follower of the God of the Covenant. In +spite of the exclusive spirit which was dominant in the period following +Ezra, two forces favored the extending of the boundaries of Judaism beyond +the confines of the nation. On the one hand, the Babylonian Exile had +visualized and partially realized the prophecy of Jeremiah: “Unto Thee +shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say: ‘Our +fathers have inherited naught but lies, vanity and things wherein there is +no profit.’ ”(1303) For example, Zechariah announced a time when “many +peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in +Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord,” and “Ten men shall take +hold, out of all the languages of nations, shall even take hold of the +skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have +heard that God is with you.’ ”(1304) Another prophet said at the time of +the overthrow of Babylon: “For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob, and +will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land, and the stranger +(_Ger_, or proselyte) shall join himself with them, and they shall cleave +to the house of Jacob.”(1305) The Psalmists especially refer to the +heathen who shall join Israel,(1306) so that _Ger_ now becomes the regular +term for proselyte.(1307) + +In addition to this inward religious desire we must consider the social +and political impulse. The handful of Judæans who had returned from +Babylonia were so surrounded by heathen tribes that, while the Samaritans +had attracted the less desirable groups, they were glad to welcome the +influx of such as promised to become true worshipers of God. The chief +problem was how to provide a legal form for these to “come over,” +_proselyte_ being the Greek term for “him who comes over.” By such a form +they could enter the community while accepting certain religious +obligations. In fact, such obligations had been stated before in the +Priestly Code, which admitted into the political community as “sojourners” +or “indwellers” those who pledged themselves to abstain from idolatry, +blasphemy, incest, the eating of blood or of flesh from living animals, +and from all violence against human life and property. They were debarred +only from marriage into the religious community, “the congregation of the +Lord.” Henceforth _Ger_ and _Ger Toshab_ became juridical terms, the +social and legal designation of those proselytes who had abjured +heathenism and joined the monotheistic ranks of Judaism as “worshipers of +God.” + +5. Thus the first great step in the progress of Judaism from a national +system of law to a universal religion was made in Judæa. The next step was +to recognize the idea of the revelation of God to the “god-fearing men” of +the primeval ages, as described in the Mosaic books, and thus to open the +gates of the national religion for heathen who had become “God-fearing +men” or “worshipers of the Lord.” Thus the Psalms, after enumerating the +customary two or three classes, “the house of Israel,” “of Aaron,” and “of +Levi,” often add the “God-fearing” proselyte.(1308) The Synagogue was +especially attractive to the heathen who sought religious truth because of +its elevating devotion and its public instruction in the Scripture, +translated into Greek, the language of the cultured world. This sponsored +a new system for propagating the Jewish faith. The so-called Propaganda +literature of Alexandria laid its chief stress upon the ethical laws of +Judaism, not seeking to submit the non-Jew to the observance of the entire +Mosaic law or to subject him to the rite of circumcision. The Jewish +merchants, coming into contact with non-Jews in their travels on land and +sea, endeavored especially to present their religious tenets in terms of a +broad, universal religion. As a universal faith forms the background of +the entire Wisdom literature, particularly the book of Job, a simple +monotheism could be founded upon a divine revelation to mankind in +general, corresponding to the one to Noah and his sons after the flood. +The laws connected with this covenant, called the Noahitic laws, were +general humanitarian precepts. We find these enumerated in the Talmud as +six, seven, and occasionally ten. Sometimes we read of thirty such laws to +be accepted by the heathen, probably founded upon the nineteenth chapter +of Leviticus, at one time central in Jewish ethics.(1309) At any rate, the +observance of the so-called Noahitic laws was demanded of all worshipers +of the one God of Israel. + +Strange to say, however, this extensive propaganda of the Alexandrian Jews +during the two or three pre-Christian centuries left few traces in the +history and literature of Palestinian Judaism. Two reasons seem at hand; +the growth of the Paulinian Church, which absorbed the missionary activity +of the Synagogue, and the effort of Talmudic Judaism to obliterate the old +missionary tradition. To judge from occasional references in Josephus and +the New Testament, as well as many inscriptions all over the lands of the +Mediterranean,(1310) the number of heathen converts to the Synagogue was +very large and caused attacks on Judaism in both Rome and Alexandria. +Josephus tells us that Jews and proselytes in all lands sent sacrificial +gifts to Jerusalem in such abundance as to excite the avarice of the +Romans.(1311) The Midrash preserves a highly interesting passage which +casts light on the earlier significance of the winning of heathen +converts, reading as follows: “When it is said in Zephaniah II, 5: ‘Woe to +the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of Kerethites’; this means +that the inhabitants of the various pagan lands would be doomed to undergo +_Kareth_, ‘perdition,’ save for the one God-fearing proselyte, who is won +over to Judaism each year and set up to save the heathen world.”(1312) In +other words, the merit of the one proselyte whose conversion awakens the +hope for the winning of the entire heathen world to pure monotheism, is an +atoning power for all. Such was the teaching of the Pharisees, whom the +gospel of Matthew brands as hypocrites because of their zeal in making +proselytes. + +6. This kind of proselytism was encouraged only by Alexandrian or +Hellenistic Judaism. In Palestine, however, the social system of the +nation was quite unfavorable to the simple “God-worshiper,” who remained +merely a tolerated alien, even though protected, and never really entered +the national body. Legally he was termed _Ger Toshab_, “settler,” which +meant semi-proselyte. The type of this class was Naaman, the Syrian +general who was instructed by Elijah to bathe in the Jordan to cure his +leprosy, and then became a worshiper of the God of Israel.(1313) +Similarly, whatever the real origin of the proselyte’s bath may have been, +a baptismal bath was prescribed for the proselyte to wash off the stain of +idolatry.(1314) He was regarded as one who had “fled from his former +master” (in heaven) to find refuge with the only God;(1315) therefore he +was legally entitled to shelter, support, and religious instruction from +the authorities.(1316) Certain places were assigned where he was to +receive protection and provision for his needs, but he was not allowed to +settle in Jerusalem, where only full proselytes were received as +citizens.(1317) According to Philo, special hospices were fitted out for +the reception of semi-proselytes.(1318) + +7. In order to enjoy full citizenship and equal rights, the proselyte had +to undergo both the baptismal bath and the rite of circumcision, thus +accepting all the laws of the Mosaic Code equally with the Israelite born. +Beside this, he had to bring a special proselyte’s sacrifice as a +testimony to his belief in the God of Israel. In distinction from the _Ger +Toshab_, or semi-proselyte, he was then called _Ger ha Zedek_ or _Ger +Zedek_. This name, usually translated as “proselyte of righteousness,” +obviously possesses a deeper historical meaning. The Psalmist voices a +pure ethical monotheism in his query: “O Lord, who shall be a guest +(_Ger_, sojourner) in thy tent?” which he answers: “He that walketh +uprightly and worketh righteousness and speaketh truth in his +heart.”(1319) But the legal view of the priestly authorities was that only +the man who offers a “sacrifice of righteousness” and pledges himself to +observe all the laws binding upon Israel might become a “guest” in the +Temple on Zion, an adopted citizen of Jerusalem, the “city of +righteousness.”(1320) In illustration of this view a striking +interpretation to a Deuteronomic verse is preserved: “They shall call +people unto the mountain, there shall they offer sacrifices of +righteousness: that is, the heathen nations with their kings who come to +Jerusalem for commerce with the Jewish people shall be so fascinated by +its pure monotheistic worship and its simple diet, that they will espouse +the Jewish faith and bring sacrifices to the God of Israel as +proselytes.”(1321) + +The prominence of the full proselyte in the early Synagogue appears in the +ancient benediction for the righteous leaders and Hasidim, the Soferim and +Synedrion, the ruling authorities of the Jewish nation, where special +mention is made of “the Proselytes of (the) Righteousness.”(1322) These +full proselytes pushed aside the half-proselytes, so that, while both are +mentioned in the earlier classification, only the latter are considered by +the later Haggadah.(1323) With the dissolution of the Jewish State no +juridical basis remained for the _Ger Toshab_, the “protected stranger.” +R. Simeon ben Eleazar expressed this in the statement: “With the cessation +of the Jubilee year there was no longer any place for the _Ger Toshab_ in +Judæa.”(1324) We read in Josephus that no proselytes were accepted in his +time unless they submitted to the Abrahamitic rite and became full +proselytes.(1325) + +However, as Josephus tells us, a strong desire to espouse the Jewish faith +existed among the pagan women of neighboring countries, especially of +Syria.(1326) The same situation existed in Rome according to the +rabbinical sources, Josephus, Roman writers, and many tomb +inscriptions.(1327) Conspicuous among these proselytes was Queen Helen of +Adiabene, who won lasting fame by her generous gifts to the Jewish people +in time of famine and to the Temple at Jerusalem; her son Menobaz, at the +advice of a Jewish teacher, underwent the rite of circumcision in order to +rise from a mere God-worshiper to a full proselyte.(1328) The +Midrash(1329) enumerates nine heathen women of the Bible who became +God-worshipers: Hagar; Asenath, the wife of Joseph, whose conversion is +described in a little known but very instructive Apocryphal book by that +name;(1330) Zipporah, the wife of Moses; Shifra and Puah, the Egyptian +midwives;(1331) Pharaoh’s daughter, the foster-mother of Moses, whom the +rabbis identified with Bithia (_Bath Yah_, “Daughter of the Lord”);(1332) +Rahab, whom the Midrash represents as the wife of Joshua and ancestress of +many prophets;(1333) Ruth and Jael. Philo adds Tamar, the daughter-in-law +of Judah, as a type of a proselyte.(1334) + +8. Beside the term _Ger_, with its derivatives, which gave legal standing +to the proselyte, the religious genius of Judaism found another term which +illustrated far better the idea of conversion to Judaism. The words of +Boaz to Ruth: “Be thy reward complete from the Lord thy God of Israel, +under whose wings thou art come to take refuge,”(1335) were applied by the +Pharisean leaders to all who joined the faith as Ruth did. So it became a +technical term for converts to Judaism, “to come, or be brought, under the +wings of the divine majesty” (Shekinah).(1336) Philo frequently expresses +the idea that the proselyte who renounces heathenism and places himself +under the protection of Israel’s God, stands in filial relation to Him +exactly like the born Israelite.(1337) Therefore Hillel devoted his life +to missionary activity, endeavoring “to bring the soul of many a heathen +under the wings of the Shekinah.” But in this he was merely following the +rabbinic ideal of Abraham,(1338) and of Jethro, of whom the Midrash says: +“After having been won to the monotheistic faith by Moses, he returned to +his land to bring his countrymen, the Kenites, under the wings of the +Shekinah.”(1339) The proselyte’s bath in living water was to constitute a +rebirth of the former heathen, poetically expressed in the Halakic rule: +“A convert is like a newborn creature.”(1340) The Paulinian idea that +baptism creates a new Adam in place of the old is but an adaptation of the +Pharisaic view. Some ancient teachers therefore declared the proselyte’s +bath more important than circumcision, since it forms the sole initiatory +rite for female proselytes, as it was with the wives of the +patriarchs.(1341) + +9. The school of Hillel followed in the footsteps of Hellenistic Judaism +in accentuating the ethical element in the law;(1342) so naturally it +encouraged proselytism as well. The Midrash preserves the following +Mishnah, handed down by Simeon ben Gamaliel, but not contained in our +Mishnaic Code: “If a _Ger_ desires to espouse the Jewish faith, we extend +to him the hand of welcome in order to bring him under the wings of the +Shekinah.”(1343) Both the Midrash and the early Church literature reveal +traces of a Jewish treatise on proselytes, containing rules for admission +into the two grades, which was written in the spirit of the Hellenistic +propaganda, but was afterward rewritten and adopted by the Christian +Church. The school of Shammai in its rigorous legalism opposed proselytism +in general, and its chief representative, Eliezer ben Hyrcanos, distrusted +proselytes altogether.(1344) On the other hand, the followers of Hillel +were decidedly in favor of converting the heathen and were probably +responsible for many Haggadic passages extolling the proselytes. Thus the +verse of Deutero-Isaiah: “One shall say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’ and another +shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with +his hand unto the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel” is +peculiarly applied in the Midrash. The first half, we are told, denotes +two classes of Israelites, those who are without blemish, and those who +have sinned and repented; the second half includes the two classes of +proselytes, those who have become full Jews (_Gere ha Zedek_) and those +who are merely worshippers of God (_Yir’e Shamayim_). A later Haggadic +version characteristically omits the last, recognizing only the full +converts (_Gere Emeth_) as proselytes.(1345) The following parable in the +spirit of the Essenes illustrates their viewpoint. In commenting upon the +verse from the Psalms: “The Lord keepeth the strangers,” the story is +told: A king possessed a flock of sheep and goats and noted that a deer +joined them, accompanying them to their pasture and returning with them. +So he said to the herdsmen: “Take good care of this deer of mine which has +left the free and broad desert to go in and out with my flock, and do not +let it suffer hunger or thirst.” Likewise God takes special delight in the +proselytes who leave their own nation, giving up their fellowship with the +great multitude in order to worship Him as the One and Only God, together +with the little people of Israel.(1346) Similarly the Biblical verse +concerning wisdom: “I love them that love me, and those that seek me +earnestly shall find me”(1347) is referred to the proselytes, “who give up +their entire past from pure love of God, and place their lives under the +sheltering wings of the divine majesty.” All these Midrashic passages and +many others are but feeble echoes of the conceptions of the Hellenistic +propaganda, which were so ably set forth by Philo and the Book of Asenath. +Indeed, Judaism must have exerted a powerful influence upon the cultured +world of Hellas and Rome in those days, as is evidenced both in the +Hellenistic writings of the Jew and in the Greek and Roman writers +themselves. Their very defamation of Judaism unwittingly gives testimony +to the danger to which Judaism exposed the pagan conception of life, and +to the hold it took upon many of the heathen.(1348) + +10. The reaction against this missionary movement took place in Judea. The +enforced conversion of the Idumeans to Judaism by John Hyrcanus benefited +neither the nation nor the faith of the Jew, and turned the school of +Shammai, which belonged to the party of the Zealots, entirely against the +whole system of proselytism. On the whole, bitter experience taught the +Jews distrust of conversions due to fear, such as those of the Samaritans +who feared the lions that killed the inhabitants, or to political and +social advantage, like those under David and Solomon, or in the days of +Mordecai and Esther, or still later under John Hyrcanus.(1349) Instead, +all stress was laid upon religious conviction and loyalty to the law. In +fact, Josephus mentions many proselytes who in his time fell away from +Judaism,(1350) who may perhaps have been converts to Christianity. The +later Halakah, fixed under the influence of the Hadrianic persecution and +quoted in the Talmud as Baraitha, prescribes the following mode of +admission for the time after the destruction of the Temple, omitting +significantly much that was used in the preceding period:(1351) “If a +person desires to join Judaism as a proselyte, let him first learn of the +sad lot of the Jewish people and their martyrdom, so as to be dissuaded +from joining. If, however, he persists in his intention, let him be +instructed in a number of laws, both prohibitory and mandatory, easy and +hard to observe, and be informed also as to the punishment for their +disobedience and the reward for fulfillment. After he has then declared +his willingness to accept the belief in God and to adhere to His law, he +must submit to the rite of circumcision in the presence of two members of +the Pharisean community, take the baptismal bath, and is then fully +admitted into the Jewish fold.” It is instructive to compare this Halakic +rule with the manual for proselytes preserved by the Church under the name +of “The Two Ways,” but in a revised form.(1352) The mode of admission in +the Halakah seems modeled superficially after the more elaborate one of +the earlier code, where the Shema as the Jewish creed and the Ten +Commandments, possibly with the addition of the eighteenth and nineteenth +chapters of Leviticus and the twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy, seem +to have formed the basis for the instruction and the solemn oath of the +proselyte. + +11. As long as the Jewish people possessed a flourishing world-wide +commerce, unhampered by the power of the Church, they were still joined by +numerous proselytes in the various lands and enjoyed general confidence. +Indeed, many prominent members of the Roman nobility became zealous +adherents of Judaism, such as Aquilas, the translator of the Bible, and +Clemens Flavius, the senator of the Imperial house,(1353) and many +prominent Jewish masters were said to be descendants of illustrious +proselytes.(1354) All this changed as soon as the Christian Church girded +herself with “the sword of Esau.” From that time on proselytism became a +peril and a source of evil to the Jew. The sages no longer took pride in +the prophetic promise that “the stranger will join himself to Israel,” nor +did they find in the words “and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob” +an allusion to the prediction that some of these proselytes would be added +“to the priesthood of the Lord,” as some earlier teachers had interpreted +the passage.(1355) R. Helbo of the fourth century, on the contrary, +explained that proselytes have become a plague like “leprosy” for the +house of Jacob, taking the Hebrew _nispehu_ as an allusion to the word +_Sappahat_, “leprosy.”(1356) Henceforth all attempts at proselytism were +deprecated and discouraged, while uncircumcised proselytes,—probably +meaning the persecuting Christians—were relegated to Gehinnom.(1357) + +12. This view was not shared by all contemporaries, however. R. Abbahu of +Cæsarea, who had many an interesting and bitter dispute with his Christian +fellow-citizens,(1358) was broad-minded enough to declare the proselytes +to be genuine worshipers of God.(1359) Joshua ben Hanania encouraged the +proselyte Aquilas and prognosticated great success for proselytes in +general as teachers of both the Haggada and Halakah. So other Haggadists +urged special love and compassion for the half-proselyte,(1360) and +entertained a special hope of the Messianic age that many heathen should +turn to God in sincerity of heart.(1361) At all events, it was considered +a great sin to reproach a convert with his idolatrous past.(1362) Indeed, +the phrase, “they that fear the Lord,” used so often in the Psalms, is +referred by the Haggadists to the proselytes; true, the chief stress is +laid upon the full proselytes, the _Gere Zedek_, but a foremost place in +the world to come is still reserved for God-worshipers like the Emperor +Antoninus.(1363) Thus Psalm CXXVIII, which speaks of the “God-fearing +man,” was applied to the proselyte, to whom were therefore promised +temporal bliss and eternal salvation, rejoicing in the Law, in deeds of +love and bounteous blessing from Zion.(1364) While the Halakah remained +antagonistic to proselytism on account of its narrow adherence to the +spirit of the Priestly Code, the Haggadah exhibits a broader view. +Resonant with the spirit of prophecy, it beckons to all men to come and +seek shelter under the wings of the one and only God, in order to +disseminate light and love all over the world. + +13. Modern Judaism, quickened anew with the spirit of the ancient seers of +Israel, cannot remain bound by a later and altogether too rigid Halakah. +At the very beginning of the Talmudic period stands Hillel, the liberal +sage and master of the law, who, like Abraham of old, extended the hand of +fellowship to all who wished to know God and His law; he actually pushed +aside the national bounds to make way for a faith of love for God and the +fellow man. For this is the significance of his answer to the Roman +scoffer who wanted to hear the law expounded while he was standing on one +foot: “Whatever is hateful to thee, do not do to thy fellow man! That is +the law; all the rest is only commentary.”(1365) Thus the leaders of +progressive Judaism also have stepped out of the dark prison walls of the +Talmudic Ghetto and reasserted the humanitarian principles of the founders +of the Synagogue, who welcomed the proselytes into Israel and introduced +special blessings for them into the liturgy. They declare again, with the +author of Psalm LXXXVII, that Zion, the “city of God,” should be, not a +national center of Israel, but the metropolis of humanity, because Judaism +is destined to be a universal religion.(1366) + +Not that Judaism is to follow the proselytizing methods of the Church, +which aims to capture souls by wholesale conversion without due regard for +the attitude or conviction of the individual. But we can no longer afford +to shut the gate to those who wish to enter, impelled by conviction or +other motives having a religious bearing, even though they do not conform +to the Talmudic law.(1367) This attitude guided the leaders of American +Reform Judaism at the rabbinical conference under the presidency of Isaac +M. Wise, when they considered the admission of proselytes at the present +time. In their decision they followed the maxim of the prophet of yore: +“Open the gates (of Judaism) that a righteous nation may enter that +keepeth the faith.”(1368) + +14. It is interesting to observe how Philo of Alexandria contrasts those +who join the Jewish faith with those who have become apostates. The +former, he says, become at once prudent, temperate, modest, gentle, kind, +human, reverential, just, magnanimous, lovers of truth, and superior to +the temptations of wealth and pleasure, whereas the latter are +intemperate, unchaste, unjust, irreverent, low-minded, quarrelsome, +accustomed to falsehood and perjury, and ready to sell their freedom for +sensual pleasures of all kinds.(1369) In the times of Hellenic culture +apostasy made its appearance among the upper classes of the Jews. As the +higher-minded among the heathen world were drawn towards the sublime +monotheistic faith of the Jew, so the pleasure-seeking and worldly-minded +among the Jews were attracted by the allurements of Greek culture to +become faithless to the God of Israel, break away from the law, and +violate the covenant. Especially under Syrian rule, apostasy became a real +danger to the Jewish community, and many measures had to be decided upon +to avert it. The desertion of the ancestral faith was looked upon as +rebellion and treason against God and Israel.(1370) With the rise of the +Christian Church to power and influence the number of apostates increased, +and with it also the danger to the small community of the Jews in the +various lands. In the same measure as the Church made a meritorious +practice of the conversion of the Jews, whether by persuasive means or by +force and persecution, the authorities of Judaism had to provide the Jew +with spiritual weapons of self-defense in the shape of polemical and +apologetic writings,(1371) and to warn him against too close a contact +with the apostate, which was too often fraught with peril for the whole +community. As a number of these apostates became actual maligners of the +Jews under the Roman empire, a special malediction against sectarians, the +so-called _Birkat ha-Minim_, was inserted in the Eighteen Benedictions +under the direction of Gamaliel II.(1372) “Those who have emanated from my +own midst hurt me most,” says the Synagogue, referring to herself the +words of the Sulamite in the Song of Songs.(1373) While every other +offender from among the Jewish people is declared to be “brother,” +notwithstanding his sin,(1374) the apostate was declared to be one from +whom no free-will offering was to be accepted,(1375) and to whom the gates +of repentance and the gates of salvation are forever closed.(1376) The +feeling of bitterness against him grew in intensity, as throughout Jewish +history he often played the despicable rôle of an accuser of his former +coreligionists and betrayer of their faith. The modern Jew also, though he +sympathizes with every liberal movement among men and respects every +honest opinion, however radically different from his own, cannot but +behold in the attitude of him who deserts the small yet heroic band of +defenders of his ancient faith and joins the great and powerful majority +around him, a disloyalty and weakness of character unworthy of a son of +Abraham, the faithful. Since the beginning of the new era in the time of +Mendelssohn, apostasy has made great inroads upon the numerical and +intellectual strength of Judaism, especially among the upper classes. It +is no longer, however, of an aggressive character, but rather a result of +the lack of Jewish self-respect and religious sentiment, against which +measures tending to a revival of the Jewish spirit are being taken more +and more. The Jews are called by the rabbis “the faithful sons of the +faithful.” The apostate must be made to feel that he is of a lower type, +since he has become a deserter from the army of the battlers for the Lord, +the Only One God of Israel. + + + + +Chapter LVII. Christianity and Mohammedanism, the Daughter-Religions Of +Judaism + + +1. “It shall come to pass on that day that living waters shall go out from +Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the +western sea.... And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day +shall the Lord be One, and His name one.”(1377) These prophetic words of +Zechariah may be applied to the two great world-religions which emanated +from Judaism and won fully half of the human race, as it exists at +present, for the God of Abraham. Though they have incorporated many +non-Jewish elements in their systems, they have spread the fundamental +truths of the Jewish faith and Jewish ethics to every part of the earth. +Christianity in the West and Islam in the East have aided in leading +mankind ever nearer to the pure monotheistic truth. Consciously or +unconsciously, both found their guiding motive in the Messianic hope of +the prophets of Israel and based their moral systems on the ethics of the +Hebrew Scriptures. The leading spirits of Judaism recognized this, +declaring both the Christian and Mohammedan religions to be agencies of +Divine Providence, intrusted with the historical mission of coöperating in +the building up of the Messianic Kingdom, thus preparing for the ultimate +triumph of pure monotheism in the hearts and lives of all men and nations +of the world. These views, voiced by Jehuda ha Levi, Maimonides, and +Nahmanides,(1378) were reiterated by many enlightened rabbis of later +times. These point out that both the Christian and Mohammedan nations +believe in the same God and His revelation to man, in the unity of the +human race, and in the future life; that they have spread the knowledge of +God by a sacred literature based upon our Scripture; that they have +retained the divine commandments essentially as they are phrased in our +Decalogue; and have practically taught men to fulfill the Noahitic laws of +humanity.(1379) On account of the last fact the medieval Jewish +authorities considered Christians to be half-proselytes,(1380) while the +Mohammedans, being pure monotheists, were always still closer to Judaism. + +2. In general, however, rabbinic Judaism was not in a position to judge +Christianity impartially, as it never learned to know primitive +Christianity as presented in the New Testament. We see no indication in +either the oldest Talmudic sources or Josephus that the movement made any +more impression in Galilee or Jerusalem than the other Messianic +agitations of the time. All that we learn concerning Jesus from the rabbis +of the second century and later is that magic arts were practiced by him +and his disciples who exorcised by his name; and, still worse, that the +sect named after him was suspected of moral aberrations like a few Gnostic +sects, known by the collective name of _Minim_, “sectarians.”(1381) As a +matter of fact, the early Church was chiefly recruited from the Essenes +and distinguished itself little from the rest of the Synagogue. Its +members, who are called Judæo-Christians, continued to observe the Jewish +law and changed their attitude to it only gradually.(1382) Matters took a +different turn under the influence of Paul, the apostle to the heathen, +who emphasized the antinomian spirit; the Judæo-Christian sects were then +pushed aside, hostility to Judaism became prominent, and the Church strove +more and more for a _rapprochement_ with Rome.(1383) Then the rabbis awoke +to the serious danger to Judaism from these heretics, _Minim_, when after +the tragic downfall of the Jewish nation they grew to world-power as +allies of the Roman Empire. Thus Isaac Nappaha, a Haggadist of the fourth +century, declared: “The turning point for the advent of the Messiah, the +son of David, will not come until the whole (Roman) Empire has been +converted to Christianity (_Minuth_).”(1384) This is supplemented by the +Babylonian Rabbah, who plays with a Biblical phrase, saying: “Not until +the whole (Roman) world has turned to the Son (of God).”(1385) Henceforth +Christian Rome was termed _Edom_, like pagan Rome from the days of Herod +the Idumean. In fact, her imperial edicts showed the fratricidal hatred of +Esau, with hardly a trace of the professed religion of love. No wonder the +Haggadists identified Rome with the Biblical “Boar of the forest,” and +waited impatiently for the time when she would have to give up her rule as +the fourth world-empire to the people of God, ushering in the Messianic +era.(1386) + +3. Meanwhile the relapse of Christianity from monotheism became more +steady and more apparent. The One God of the Jew was pushed into the +background by the “Son of Man”; and the Virgin-Mother with her divine +child became adored like the Queen of Heaven of pagan times, showing +similarity especially to Isis, the Egyptian mother-goddess, with Horus, +the young son-god, on her lap. The pagan deities of the various lands were +transformed into saints of the Church and worshiped by means of images, in +order to win the pagan masses for the Christian faith. The original pure +and absolute monotheism and the stern conception of holiness were thus +turned into their very opposites by the hierarchy and monasticism of the +Church. How, then, could the Jewish people recognize the crucified Christ +as one of their own? One whose preaching seemed to bring them only +damnation and death instead of salvation and life, even while speaking in +the name of Israel’s God after the manner of the prophets of yore? How +could they see in the strange doctrines of the Church any resemblance to +their own system of faith, especially as the very doctrines which repelled +them were those most emphasized by Christianity? Maimonides considered the +adherents of the Roman Church to be idolaters,(1387) a view which was +modified by the Jewish authorities in the West, as they became better +acquainted with Christian doctrines.(1388) + +4. The world-empire of the Church was subsequently divided between Rome, +which the Jewish writers called _Edom_,(1389) and Byzantium, which they +named _Yavan_, but neither showed any real advance in religious views and +ideals. On the contrary, they both persecuted with fire and sword the +little people who were faithful to their ancient monotheism, and +suppressed what remained of learning and science. As the Church had the +great task of disciplining wild and semi-barbarous races, there was little +room left for learning or for high ideals. At this time a rigorous avenger +of the persecuted spirit of pure monotheism arose among the sons of +Ishmael in the desert of Arabia in the person of Mohammed, a camel-driver +of Mecca, a man of mighty passions and void of learning, but imbued with +the fire of the ancient prophets of Israel. He felt summoned by Allah, the +God of Abraham, to wage war against the idolatry of his nation and restore +the pure faith of antiquity. He kindled a flame in the hearts of his +countrymen which did not cease, until they had proclaimed the unity of God +throughout the Orient, had put to flight the trinitarian dogma of the +Church in both Asia and Africa, and extended their domain as far as the +Spanish peninsula. He offered the Jews inducements to recognize him as the +last, “the seal,” of the prophets, by promising to adopt some of their +religious practices; but when they refused, he showed himself fanatical +and revengeful, a genuine son of the Bedouins, unrelenting in his wrath +and ending his career as a cruel, sensuous despot of the true Oriental +type. Nevertheless, he created a religion which led to a remarkable +advancement of intellectual and spiritual culture, and in which Judaism +found a valuable incentive to similar endeavors. Thus Ishmael proved a +better heir to Abraham than was Esau, the hostile brother of Jacob.(1390) + +5. The important, yet delicate question, which of the three religions is +the best, the Mohammedan, Christian or Jewish, was answered most cleverly +by Lessing in his _Nathan the Wise_, by adapting the parable of the three +rings, taken from Boccaccio. His conclusion is that the best religion is +the one which induces men best to promote the welfare of their fellow +men.(1391) But the question itself is much older; it was discussed at the +court of the Kaliphs in Bagdad as early as the tenth century, where the +adherents of every religion there represented expressed their opinions in +all candor. For centuries it was the subject of philosophical and +comparative investigations.(1392) Among these, the most thorough and +profound is the _Cuzari_ by the Jewish philosopher and poet, Jehuda ha +Levi. But the parable of the three rings also has been traced through +Jewish and Christian collections of tales dating back to the thirteenth +century, and seems to be originally the work of a Jewish author. Standing +between the two powerful faiths with their appeal to the temporal arm, the +Jew had to resort to his wit as almost his only resource for escape. Two +Jewish works have preserved earlier forms of the parable. In Ibn Verga’s +collection of histories of the fifteenth century, it is related that “Don +Pedro the Elder, King of Aragon (1196-1213), asked Ephraim Sancho, a +Jewish sage, which of the two religions, the Jewish or Christian, was the +better one. After three days’ deliberation, the sage told the king a story +of two sons who had each received a precious stone from their father, a +jeweler, when he went on a journey. The sons then went to a stranger, +threatening him with violence, unless he would decide which of the jewels +was the more valuable. The king, believing the story to be a fact, +protested against the action of the two sons, whereupon the Jew explained: +Esau and Jacob are the two sons who have each received a jewel from their +heavenly Father. Instead of asking me which jewel is the more precious, +ask God, the heavenly Jeweler. He knows the difference, and can tell the +two apart.”(1393) + +An older and probably more original form of the parable was discovered by +Steinschneider in a work by Abraham Abulafia of the thirteenth century, +running as follows: “A father intended to bequeath a precious jewel to his +only son, but was exasperated by his ingratitude, and therefore buried it. +His servants, however, knowing of the treasure, took it and claimed to +have received it from the father. In the course of time they became so +arrogant that the son repented of his conduct, whereupon the father gave +him the jewel as his rightful possession.” The story ends by stating that +Israel is the son and the Moslem and Christian the servants. + +Beside this witty solution of a delicate problem, some Mohammedans made +attempts very early, doubtless on account of discussions with learned +Jews, to prove the justification of the three religions from the Jewish +Scriptures themselves. Thus they referred the verse speaking of the +revelation of God on Sinai, Mount Seir, and Mount Paran(1394) to the +religious teachings of Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Naturally, the Jewish +exegetes and philosophers objected vigorously to such an interpretation. + +6. The question which religion is the best, has been most satisfactorily +answered for Judaism by R. Joshua ben Hanania, who said that “the +righteous of the heathen have also a share in the world to come.”(1395) +The question which religion is true, has been, alas, too long arbitrated +by the sword, and will be decided peacefully only when the whole earth +will be full of the knowledge of God. Our own age, however, has begun to +examine the title to existence of every religion from the broad standpoint +of history and ethnology, assigning to each its proper rank. In this large +purview even the crude beliefs of savages are shown to be of value, and +the various heathen religions are seen to have a historical task of their +own. Each of them has to some extent awakened the dormant divine spark in +man; one has aided in the growth of the ideal of the beautiful in art, +another in the rise of the ideal of the true in philosophy and science; a +third in the cultivation of the ideal of the good and in stimulating +sympathy and love so as to ennoble men and nations. Thus after a careful +examination of the historical documents of the Christian and Mohammedan +religions, it is possible to state clearly their great historic mission +and their achievements in the whole domain of civilization. The Jewish +religion, as the mother who gave birth to both, must deliver the verdict, +how far they still contribute to the upbuilding of God’s kingdom on earth. +In fulfilling their appointed mission, each has given rise to valuable and +peculiar institutions, and each has fallen short of the Messianic ideal as +visualized by our great prophets of old. Only an impartial judgment can +say which one has reached the higher stage of civilization. + +7. Christianity’s origin from Judaism is proved by its religious documents +as well as by its very name, which is derived from the Greek for the title +Messiah (_Christos_), bestowed on the Nazarene by his followers. Still the +name Christianity arose in Antioch among non-Jews who scarcely knew its +meaning. All the sources of the New Testament, however much they conflict +in details, agree that the movement of Christianity began with the +appearance of John the Baptist, a popular Essene saint. He rallied the +multitude at the shore of the Jordan, preparing them for the approaching +end of the Roman world-kingdom with the proclamation, “Wash yourselves +clean from your sins!” that is, “Take the baptismal bath of repentance, +for the kingdom of heaven is nigh.”(1396) He conferred the baptismal bath +of repentance upon Jesus of Nazareth and the first apostles.(1397) Jesus +took up this message when John was imprisoned and finally killed by Herod +Antipas on account of his preachment against him.(1398) The life of Jesus +is wrapt in legends which may be reduced to the following historical +elements:(1399) The young Nazarene was of an altogether different +temperament from that of John the Baptist, the stern, Elijah-like preacher +in the wilderness;(1400) he manifested as preacher and as a healer of the +sick a profound love for, and tender sympathy with suffering humanity, a +trait especially fostered among the Essenes. This drew him toward that +class of people who were shunned as unclean by the uncompromising leaders +of the Pharisees, and also by the rigid brotherhoods of the Essenes, whose +chief object was to attain the highest degree of holiness by a life of +asceticism. His simple countrymen, the fishers and shepherds of Galilee, +on hearing his wise and humane teachings and seeing his miraculous cures, +considered him a prophet and a conqueror of the hosts of demons, the +workers of disease. In contrast to the learned Pharisees, he felt it to be +his calling to bring the good tidings of salvation to the poor and +outcast, to “seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and win them for +God. He soon found himself surrounded by a multitude of followers, who, on +a Passover pilgrimage to Jerusalem, induced him to announce himself as the +expected Messiah. He attracted the people in Jerusalem by his vehement +attacks upon the Sadducean hierarchy, which he threatened with the wrath +of heaven for its abuses, and also by his denunciations of the +self-sufficient Pharisean doctors of the law. Soon the crisis came when he +openly declared war against the avarice of the priests, who owned the +markets where the sacrificial fowl for the Temple were sold, overthrowing +the tables of the money-changers, and declaring the Temple to have become +“a den of robbers.”(1401) The hierarchical council delivered him to +Pontius Pilatus, the Roman prefect, as an aspirant to the royal title of +Messiah, which in the eyes of the Romans meant a revolutionary leader. The +Roman soldiers crucified him and mocked him, calling him, “Jesus, the king +of the Jews.”(1402) + +The fate of crucifixion, however, did not end the career of Jesus, as it +had that of many other claimants to the Messiahship in those turbulent +times. His personality had impressed itself so deeply upon his followers +that they could not admit that he had gone from them forever. They awaited +his resurrection and return in all the heavenly glory of the “Son of Man,” +and saw him in their ecstatic visions, attending their love-feasts,(1403) +or walking about on the lake of Nazareth while they were fishing from +their boats, or hovering at the summit of the mountains.(1404) This was +but the starting point of that remarkable religious movement which grew +first among the lower classes in northern Palestine and Syria,(1405) then +gradually throughout the entire Roman Empire, shaking the whole of +heathendom until all its deities gave way to the God of Israel, the divine +Father of the crucified Messiah. The Jewish tidings of salvation for the +poor and lowly offered by the Nazarene became the death-knell to the proud +might of paganism. + +8. But the ways of Providence are as inscrutable as they are wonderful. +The poor and lowly members of the early Christian Churches, with their +leaders, called “apostles” or “messengers” of the community,—elected +originally to carry out works of charity and love,(1406)—would never have +been able to conquer the great world, if they had persisted in the Essene +traditions. They owed their success to the large Hellenistic groups who +joined them at an early period and introduced the Greek language as their +medium of expression. Henceforth the propaganda activity of the +Alexandrian Jews was adopted by the young Church, which likewise took up +all the works of wisdom and ethics written in Greek for the instruction of +the proselytes and the young, scarcely known to the Palestinian schools. +The Essene baptism for repentance was replaced by baptism for conversion +or initiation into the new faith, while the neophyte to be prepared for +this rite was for a long time instructed mainly in the doctrines of the +Jewish faith.(1407) Subsequently collections of wise sayings and moral +teachings ascribed to the Nazarene and handed down in the Aramaic +vernacular, orally or in writing, were translated into Greek. These +together with the manuals for proselytes were the original Church +teachings. The Greek language paved the way for the Church to enter the +great pagan world, exactly as the Greek translation of the Bible in +Alexandria brought the teachings of Judaism to the knowledge of the +outside world. + +At first the same obstacle confronted the early Church which had prevented +the Synagogue from becoming a world conqueror, namely, the rite of +circumcision, which was required for full membership. Without this, +baptized converts were only half-proselytes and could not be fully +assimilated. This classification was still upheld by the Apostolic +Convention, which met under the presidency of James the Elder.(1408) The +time was ripe for a bold and radical innovation, and at this psychological +moment arose a man of great zeal and unbridled energy as well as of a +creative genius and a mystical imagination,—Saul of Tarsus, known by his +Roman name Paulus.(1409) He had been sent by the authorities at Jerusalem +to pursue the adherents of the new sect, but when he had come as far as +Damascus in Syria, he suddenly turned from a persecutor into the most +ardent promoter of the nascent Church, impelled by a strange +hallucination. Paul was a carpet weaver by trade, born and reared in +Tarsus, a seaport of Asia Minor, where he seems to have had a Greek +training and to have imbibed Gnostic or semi-pagan ideas beside his +Biblical knowledge. In this ecstatic vision on his journey he beheld the +figure of Jesus, “the crucified Christ,” whose adherents he was pursuing, +yet whom he had never seen in the flesh, appearing as a heavenly being +whom Paul identified as the heavenly Adam, the archetypal “godlike” man. + +Upon this strange vision he constructed a theological system far more +pagan than Jewish in type, according to which man was corrupt through the +sin of the first couple, and the death of Jesus on the cross was to be the +atoning sacrifice offered by God himself, who gave His own son as a ransom +for the sins of humanity. This doctrine he used as a lever with which, at +one bold stroke, he was to unhinge the Mosaic law and make the infant +Church a world-religion. Through baptism in the name of the Christ, the +old sin-laden Adam was to be cast off and the new heavenly Adam, in the +image of Christ, put on instead. The new covenant of God’s atoning love +was to replace the old covenant of Sinai, to abolish forever the old +covenant based upon the Jewish law, and to set mankind free from all law, +“which begets sin and works wrath.” In Christ, “who is the end of the +law,” the sinfulness of the flesh should be overcome and the gates of +salvation be opened to a world redeemed from both death and sin.(1410) The +one essential for salvation was to accept the _mystery_ concerning the +birth and death of Christ, after the manner of the heathen +mystery-religions, and to employ as sacramental symbols of the mystery the +rites of baptism and communion with Christ. + +9. This system of Paul, however, demanded a high price of its votaries. +Acceptance of the belief meant the surrender of reason and free thinking. +This breach in pure monotheism opened the door for the whole heathen +mythology and the worship of the heathen deities in a new form. But the +saddest result was the dualism of the system; the kingdom of God predicted +by the prophets and sages of Israel for all humanity was transferred to +the hereafter, and this life with all its healthy aspirations was +considered sinful and in the hands of Satan. The cross, originally a sign +of life,(1411) became from this time and through the Middle Ages a sign of +death, casting a shadow of sin upon the Christian world and a shadow of +terror upon the Jew. + +The greatest harm of all, however, was done to Judaism itself. Paul made a +caricature of the Law, which he declared to be a rigid, external system, +not elevating life, but only inciting to transgression and engendering +curse. He even aroused a feeling of hatred toward the Law, which grew in +intensity, until it became a source of untold cruelty for many centuries. +This spirit permeated the Gospels more and more in their successive +appearance, even finding its way into the Sermon on the Mount. In the +simple form given in the Gospel of Luke this was a teaching of love and +tenderness; in Matthew, Jesus is represented as offering a new +dispensation to replace the revelation of Sinai.(1412) Here the Mosaic law +is presented as a system of commandments demanding austere adherence to +the letter with no regard to the inner life, whereas, on the other hand, +the actual teachings of the Nazarene were animated by love and sympathy, +emanating from the ethical spirit of the Law. Yet the very words of Jesus +in this same sermon disavow every hint of antinomianism: “Verily I say +unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no +wise pass from the Law till all be fulfilled.”(1413) As a matter of fact, +the very teachings of love and inwardness which are embodied in both the +Sermon on the Mount and the epistles of Paul were largely adopted from the +Pharisean schools and Hasidean works as well as from the Alexandrian +Propaganda literature and the Proselyte Manuals preserved by the Church. + +In fact, part of this criticism was voiced by the Pharisees, as they +attacked the Sadducean insistence upon the letter of the Law. The +Pharisean spirit of progress applied new methods of interpretation to the +Mosaic Code and especially to the Decalogue, deriving from them a higher +conception of God and godliness, breaking the fetters of the letter, and +working mainly for the holiness of the inner life and the endeavor to +spread happiness about.(1414) Taking no heed of the actual achievements of +the Synagogue, the Paulinian Church rose triumphantly to power after the +downfall of the Jewish State and impregnated the Christian world with +hostility to Judaism and the Jew, which lasts to this very day, thus +turning the gospel of love into a source of religious hatred. + +10. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that Paulinian Christianity, while +growing into a world-conquering Church, achieved the dissemination of the +Sinaitic doctrines as neither Judaism nor the Judæo-Christian sect could +ever have done. The missionary zeal of the apostle to the heathen caused a +fermentation and dissolution in the entire neo-Jewish world, which will +not end until all pagan elements are eliminated. Eventually the whole of +civilization will accept, through a purified Christianity, the Fatherhood +of God, the only Ruler of the world, and the brotherhood of all men as His +children. Then, in place of an unsound overemphasis on the principle of +love, justice will be the foundation of society; in place of a pessimistic +other-worldliness, the optimistic hope for a kingdom of God on earth will +constitute the spiritual and ethical ideal of humanity. We must not be +blind to the fact that only her alliance with Rome, her holding in one +hand the sword of Esau and in the other the Scriptures of the house of +Jacob, made the Church able to train the crude heathen nations for a life +of duty and love, for the willing subordination to a higher power, and +caused them to banish vice and cruelty from their deep hold on social and +domestic life. Only the powerful Church was able to develop the ancient +Jewish institutions of charity and redeeming love into magnificent systems +of beneficence, which have led civilization forward toward ideals which it +will take centuries to realize. + +Nor must we overlook the mission of the Church in the realm of art, a +mission which Judaism could never have undertaken. The stern conception of +a spiritual God who tolerated no visible representation of His being made +impossible the development of plastic art among the Jews. The semi-pagan +image worship of the Christian Church, the representation of God and the +saints in pictorial form, favored ecclesiastical art, until it broadened +in the Renaissance into the various arts of modern times. Similarly, the +predominance of mysticism over reason, of the emotions over the intellect +in the Church, gave rise to its wonderful creation of music, endowing the +soul with new powers to soar aloft to undreamed-of heights of emotion, to +be carried along as upon Seraph’s wings to realms where human language +falters and grows faint. Beyond dispute Christianity deserves great credit +for having among all religions opened wide the flood gates of the soul by +cultivating the emotions through works of art and the development of +music, thereby enriching human life in all directions. + +11. Islam, the other daughter of Judaism, for its part, fostered the +intellectual side of humanity, so contemptuously neglected by the Church. +The cultivation of philosophy and science was the historical task assigned +to the Mohammedan religion. From the sources of information we have about +the life and revelation of Mohammed, we learn that the origin of the +belief in Allah, the God of Abraham, goes back to an earlier period when +Jewish tribes settled in south Arabia. Among these Jews were traders, +goldsmiths, famous warriors, and knights endowed with the gift of song, +who disseminated Jewish legends concerning Biblical heroes.(1415) Amid +hallucinations and mighty emotional outbursts this belief in Allah took +root in the fiery soul of Mohammed, who thus received sublime conceptions +of the one God and His creation, and of the world’s Judge and His future +Day of Judgment. The sight of idolatry, cruelty, and vice among his +countrymen filled him with boundless indignation, so that he began his +career as a God-sent preacher of repentance, modeling his life after the +great prophets of yore. With drastic threats of the last Judgment he tried +to force the idolaters to return to Allah in true repentance. But few of +his hearers believed in his prophetic mission, and the leading men of the +city of Mecca, who derived a large income from the heathen sanctuary +there, opposed him with fierce and violent measures. + +Thus he was forced to flee to the Jewish colony of Yathrib, afterwards +called Medina, “the city” of the prophet. He hoped for recognition there, +especially after he had made certain concessions, such as turning the face +toward Jerusalem in prayer, and keeping the Day of Atonement on the tenth +of Tishri. In addition, he emphasized the unity of God in the strongest +possible manner, and opposed every encroachment upon it by the belief in +additional powers or persons, attacking the Christians on the one hand and +his Arabian countrymen on the other, with the sarcastic phrase: “Verily, +God has neither a son, nor has He any daughter.” In spite of all these +facts, the Jews could not be brought to recognize the uneducated son of +the desert as a prophet. Therefore his proffered friendship was turned to +deadly hatred and passionate revenge. His whole nature underwent a great +change; his former enthusiasm and prophetic zeal were replaced by +calculation and worldly desire, so that the preacher of repentance of +Mecca became at the last a lover of bloodshed, robbery and lust. Instead +of Jerusalem he chose Mecca with its heathen traditions as the center of +his religious system and aimed chiefly to win the Arabian tribes for his +divine revelation. + +Thus the entire Arabian nation, full of youthful energy, burning with the +impulse of great deeds, bore the faith of the One God to the world by the +sword. Like Israel of old, it stepped forth from the desert with a divine +revelation contained in a holy book. It conquered first the Christian +lands of the East, which under the Trinitarian dogma had lapsed from pure +monotheism, then the northern coast of Africa, and it finally unfurled the +green flag of Islam over the lands of the West to free them from the +fanatical Church. Henceforth war was waged for centuries between the One +God of Abraham and the triune God of the Church in both Spain and +Palestine. Then might the genius of history ask: “Watchman, what of the +night? Watchman, what of the night?” And again the words are heard, as +from on high: “The morning cometh, and also the night.” The final victory +is yet to come. + +12. It cannot be denied that the Mohammedan monotheism has a certain +harshness and bluntness. It cannot win the heart by the mildness of heaven +or the recognition of man’s individuality. _Islam_, as the name denotes, +demands blind submission to the will of God, and it has led to a fatalism +which paralyzes the sense of freedom, and to a fanaticism which treats +every other faith with contempt. Islam has remained a national religion, +which has never attained the outlook upon the whole of humanity, so +characteristic of the prophets of Israel. Its view of the hereafter is +crude and sensuous, while its picture of the Day of Judgment bears no +trace of the divine mercy. On the other hand, we must recognize that the +reverence of the Koran lent the “Men of the Book,” the representatives of +culture, greater dignity, and provided a mighty incentive to study and +inquiry. Damascus and Bagdad became under the Caliphs centers of learning, +of philosophical study and scientific investigation, uniting Nestorian, +Jew, and Mohammedan in the great efforts towards general enlightenment. +The consequence was that Greek science and philosophy, banished by the +Church, were revived by the Mohammedan rulers and again cultivated, so +that Judaism also felt their fructifying power. Our modern Christian +civilization, so-called by Christian historians, is largely the fruit of +the rich intellectual seeds sown by Mohammedans and Jews, after the works +of ancient Greeks had been translated into Syrian, Arabic, and Hebrew by a +group of Syrian Unitarians (the Nestorians) assisted by Jewish +scholars.(1416) + +As for instance the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II, the friend of +Jewish and other liberal thinkers, was much more of an investigator than a +believer, so did the spirit of investigation derived from Islam and +Judaism pervade Christendom, and create the great intellectual movements +which finally undermined its creeds and shattered its solidarity into +contending sects. _Return_ to the Bible and the God of the Bible, to a +Sabbath devoted to instruction in the word of God, and to the recognition +of human freedom and the sanctity of the family—this was the watchword of +the Reformation. Return to the right of free thought and free conscience, +which implies the pure worship of God as He lives in the heart, is now the +watchword of those who endeavor to reform the Protestant Church. That is, +both are moved by a desire to return to the principles and ideals set +forth by Israel’s prophets of old. + +13. Both the Church, Protestant and Catholic, and the Mosque have a +Providential mission which they must fulfill through the ages of history, +until all the heathen have learned to worship God as the spirit of +holiness in man, instead of seeking Him in the blind forces of nature or +of destiny. True, the Mohammedan religion is predisposed to sensuality and +still awaits the process of purification to become completely +spiritualized; yet indications are not lacking that a process of reform is +approaching to bring out the gold of pure monotheism and cast off the +dross of Oriental voluptuousness and superstition. We must remember that +during the dark night of medieval ignorance and barbarism Islam carried +throughout all lands the torch of philosophy and scientific investigation +and of the pure faith in God. Even to-day it accomplishes far more for the +advancement of life in the east of Asia and the south of Africa than did +the Russian Church with her gross superstition and idolatry, or even some +branches of Protestantism, with their deification of a human being. + +Between Church and Mosque, hated and despised by both, stood and still +stands the Synagogue, proudly conscious of its divine mission. It feels +itself the banner-bearer of a truth which brooks no compromise, of a +justice which insists on the rights of all men. It offers the world a +religion of peace and love, admitting no division or discord among +mankind, waiting for the day when the God of Sinai shall rear high His +throne in the hearts of all men and nations. To-day the Synagogue, +rejuvenated by the influences of modern culture, looks with ever greater +confidence to a speedy realization of its Messianic hope for all humanity. + +Hitherto Judaism was restrained by its two daughter-religions from +pursuing its former missionary activity. It was forced to employ all its +energy in the single effort for self-preservation. But in the striking +contrasts of our age, when the enlightened spirit of humanity struggles so +bitterly with the forces of barbarism and brutality, we may well see the +approaching dawn of a new era. That glorious day, we feel, will witness +the ultimate triumph of justice and truth, and out of the day which is +“neither day nor night” will bring forth the time when “the Lord shall be +King over all the earth, the Lord shall be One and His name One.”(1417) +This will be an auspicious time for Israel to arise with renewed prophetic +vigor as the bearer of a world-uniting faith, as the triumphant Messiah of +the nations. Through Israel the monotheistic faiths of the world may find +a union so that, in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy,(1418) its Sabbath +may be a world-Sabbath and its Atonement Day a feast of at-one-ment and +reconciliation for all mankind. “He that believeth shall not make +haste.”(1419) + +Yet just because of this universalistic Messianic hope of Judaism it is +still imperative, as it has been throughout the past, that the Jewish +people must continue its separateness as “a Kingdom of priests and a holy +nation,” and for the sake of its world-mission avoid intermarrying with +members of other sects, unless they espouse the Jewish faith.(1420) +Israel’s particularism, says Professor Lazarus,(1421) has its universalism +as motive and aim. + + + + +Chapter LVIII. The Synagogue and its Institutions + + +1. Every religion, as soon as it attains any degree of self-consciousness, +aims to present a convincing form of truth to the individual and to win +adherents in increasing numbers. Nevertheless the maintenance of a +religion does not rest upon its doctrines, which must differ according to +the intellectual capacity of the people and the prevailing views of each +age. Its stability is based upon those forms and institutions which lend +it a peculiar character, and which express, symbolically or otherwise, +definite ideas, religious, ethical, and historical. For this reason many +exponents of Judaism would entirely discard the idea of a systematic +theology, and insist on the observance of the ceremonial laws as the one +essential. In following tradition in this manner, they forget that the +forms of religious practice have undergone many changes in the course of +time. In fact, the vitality of Judaism lies in its unique capacity for +development. Its ever youthful mind has constantly created new forms to +express the ideas of the time, or has invested old ones with new +meanings.(1422) + +2. The greatest and, indeed, the unique creation of Judaism is the +Synagogue, which started it on its world-mission and made the Torah the +common property of the entire people. Devised in the Exile as a substitute +for the Temple, it soon eclipsed it as a religious force and a rallying +point for the whole people, appealing through the prayers and Scriptural +lessons to the congregation as a whole. The Synagogue was limited to no +one locality, like the Temple, but raised its banner wherever Jews settled +throughout the globe. It was thus able to spread the truths of Judaism to +the remotest parts of the earth, and to invest the Sabbath and festivals +with deeper meaning by utilizing them for the instruction and elevation of +the people. What did it matter, if the Temple fell a prey to the flame for +a second time, or if the whole sacrificial cult of the priesthood with all +its pomp were to cease forever? The soul of Judaism lived indestructibly +in the house of prayer and learning. In the Synagogue was fanned the holy +flame which kindled the heart with love of God and fellow-men; here were +offered sacrifices more pleasing to God than the blood and fat of beasts, +sacrifices of love and charity.(1423) + +3. The Synagogue has its peculiar institutions and ceremonies, but no +sacraments like those of the Church. Its institutions, such as the +festivals, aim to preserve the historic memory of the people; its +ceremonies, called “signs” or “testimonies” in the Scripture, are to +sanctify the life of the nation, the family, or the individual. Neither +possesses a sacramental power, as does baptism or communion in the Church, +in giving salvation, or imparting something of the nature of the Deity, or +making one a member of the religious community. The Jew is a member of the +Jewish community by his birth, which imposes upon him the obligations of +the covenant which God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. Judaism is a +religious heritage intrusted to a nation of priests, and is not acquired +by any rite of consecration or confession of faith. Such a form of +consecration and confession is required only in the case of +proselytes.(1424) It is superfluous to state that Confirmation does not +bestow the character of Jew upon the young, any more than the former rite +of Bar Mizwah did upon the young Israelite who was called up to the +reading from the Law in his thirteenth year as a form of initiation into +Jewish life.(1425) + +4. The rite of circumcision is enjoined upon the father in the Mosaic Code +as a “sign” of the covenant with Abraham, to be performed on every son on +the eighth day after birth.(1426) Therefore it is held in high esteem, and +the father terms the act in his benediction “admission into the covenant +of Abraham”;(1427) but in spite of this it is not a sacrament and does not +determine membership in the Jewish community. The operation was not to be +performed by a person of sacred calling such as priest or rabbi, but in +ancient Biblical times was performed by women,(1428) and in the Talmudic +period by the surgeon.(1429) In fact, if no Jewish surgeon was at hand, +some Talmudic authorities held that a non-Jewish surgeon could perform it. +Moreover, where hygienic reasons forced the omission of the rite, the man +was still a Jew.(1430) The rite itself underwent a change; it was +performed with stone knives in Biblical times, just as in Egypt and even +to-day in Arabia and Syria.(1431) It became a mark of distinction for the +people during the Exile.(1432) But the act was invested with special +religious sanctity during the Syrian persecution, when many Jewish youths +“violated the covenant” in order to appear uncircumcised when they +appeared in the arena with the heathen.(1433) At this time new methods +were introduced to guard the “seal” of the covenant,(1434) while pious +mothers faced martyrdom willingly to preserve the rite of Abraham among +their children. Later on the rabbis even declared circumcision to be a +safeguard against the pit of Gehenna(1435) and made Elijah the guardian of +the covenant.(1436) The rite may be traced back to primitive life, when +the operation was usually performed at the time of puberty and as a +preliminary to marriage,(1437) but in Jewish life it assumed a religious +meaning and became endeared to the people as the consecration of the child +as the future head of a family. The idea underlying the institution (as +Zunz correctly calls it)(1438) is the sanctification of the Jewish +household as represented by its male members. The member of a people that +is to be holy unto God must bear the seal of the covenant on his flesh; as +a potential father of another generation, the sign he bore had a deeper +meaning for the future of the people.(1439) The rationalistic view that +the Mosaic law is merely hygienic, although found as early as Philo, is +quite erroneous.(1440) + +5. The same rationalist view(1441) is often applied to the dietary laws of +the Mosaic Code, but without any justification from the Biblical point of +view. These laws prohibit as unclean various species of animals, or such +as have fallen dead or as the prey of wild beasts, or certain portions +like blood and suet.(1442) The Holiness Code states its reason for these +prohibitions very emphatically: “I am the Lord your God, who have set you +apart from the peoples. Ye shall therefore separate between the clean +beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean; and ye +shall not make your souls detestable by beast, or by fowl, or by any thing +wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have set apart for you to hold +unclean. And ye shall be holy unto Me; for I the Lord your God am holy, +and have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be Mine.”(1443) +The Deuteronomic Code gives the same reason for the prohibition of the +unclean beasts: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God.” It +seems that these prohibitions of “unclean” foods were intended originally +for the priesthood and other holy men, as appears in Ezekiel and +elsewhere.(1444) As a matter of fact, the same class of animals from which +the Israelites were commanded to abstain were also forbidden to the +priests or saints of India, Persia, Mesopotamia, and partly of +Egypt.(1445) The natural conclusion is that the Mosaic law intended these +rules as a practical expression of its general principle that Israel was +to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”(1446) In other words, +Israel was to fill the usual place of the priest among the nations of the +ancient world, a priest-people observing the priestly laws of +sanctification. Whatever the origin of these customs may have been, +whether they were tabu laws in connection with totemism or some other +primitive view, the Priestly Code itself admits their lack of an +Israelitish origin by recognizing that they were known to Noah.(1447) They +were simply adopted by the law-giver of Israel to make the whole people +feel their priestly calling. + +In later times the dietary laws, especially abstinence from the flesh of +swine, became a mark of distinction which separated the Jew from his +heathen surroundings; and they became a symbol of Jewish loyalty in the +Syrian persecutions when pious Jews faced martyrdom for them as willingly +as for the refusal to adore the Syrian idols.(1448) In fact, Pharisaism +adopted the principle of separation from the heathen in every matter +pertaining to diet, and this spirit of separatism was strengthened by the +scorn of the Greeks and Romans and afterward by the antinomian spirit of +Christianity. While Hellenistic writers, eager to find a universal meaning +in these laws, assigned certain physical or psychic reasons for +them,(1449) the rabbis of the Talmud insisted that they were given solely +for the moral purification of Israel. Thus they were to be observed as +tests of Israel’s submission to the divine will and not because of +personal distaste. In their own words, “We must overcome all desire for +the sake of our Father in heaven”; and “Only to those who wrestle with +temptation does the kingdom of God come.”(1450) In the course of time +these prohibitions were steadily extended, until they encircled the whole +life of the Jew, forming an insurmountable wall which secluded him from +his non-Jewish environment. Finally, separation from the world came to be +regarded as an end in itself.(1451) + +Now, it cannot be denied that these laws actually disciplined the medieval +Jew, so that during centuries of wild dissipation he practiced sobriety +and moderation; as Maimonides says,(1452) they served as lessons in +self-mastery, in curbing carnal desire, and keeping him clean in soul as +well as body. The question remains whether they still fulfill their real +object of consecrating Israel to its priestly mission among the nations. +Certainly the priestly character of these laws is no longer understood, +and the great majority of the Jewish people who live among the various +nations have long discarded them. Orthodox Judaism, which follows +tradition without inquiring into the purpose of the laws, is entirely +consistent in maintaining the importance of every item of the traditional +Jewish life. Reform Judaism has a different view, as it sees in the +humanitarianism of the present a mode of realizing the Messianic hope of +Israel. Therefore it cannot afford to encourage the separation of the Jew +from his environment in any way except through the maintenance of his +religion, and cannot encourage the dietary laws as a means of separatism. +Its great problem is to find other methods to inculcate the spirit of +holiness in the modern Jew, to render him conscious of his priestly +mission, while he lives in unison and fellowship with all his +fellow-citizens.(1453) + +6. The tendency to distinguish the Jew from his non-Jewish neighbor in the +course of time found expression in the laws for wearing phylacteries +(_tefillin_) on his forehead and arm, a special sign on the doorpost of +his house (_mezuzzah_) and fringes (_zizith_) on the four corners of his +shawl (_tallith_).(1454) As a matter of fact, the original Biblical +passages had no such meaning, but acquired it through rabbinical +interpretation. The Mosaic law said: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign +upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And +thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates.” +This refers clearly to the words of God, admonishing the people to keep +them in mind, as the preceding verse indicates. Likewise, the precept +regarding the fringes upon the four-cornered garment emphasizes rather the +blue thread in the fringes, which is to help the people remember the +commandments of the Lord, that they may not go astray, “following after +the promptings of their own hearts and eyes.” As the name phylacteries +shows, these were originally talismans or amulets. True, the law as stated +in Deuteronomy may be taken symbolically;(1455) but the corresponding +passage in Exodus, which is traditionally referred to the phylacteries, +indicates its origin by its close relation to the Passover sacrifice. The +blood of this was, no doubt, put originally on the arm and forehead,(1456) +which is still done by the Samaritans(1457) and has striking parallels in +the practice of the Fellahin in Palestine and Syria.(1458) Originally the +sacrificial blood was supposed to ward off evil spirits from men, beasts +and houses or tents, and gradually this pagan custom was transformed into +a religious precept to consecrate the body, life, and home of the Jew. In +more ancient times the phylacteries were worn by pious men and women all +day and not merely during the time of prayer, and seem to have served both +as a religious symbol and an amulet. This was certainly the case with the +_mezuzzah_ on the doorpost and probably with the blue thread at the +corners of the _tallith_.(1459) As both phylacteries and _tallith_ came +into use at the divine service in connection with the recital of the +_Shema_ and the chapter on the _zizith_, the symbols assumed a higher +meaning. Arrayed in his vestments, the pious Jew offered daily allegiance +to his Maker, feeling that he was thereby protected from evil within and +without; similarly, the sacred sign upon the door both consecrated and +protected his home. Even with this conception the talismanic character was +never quite forgotten. Throughout the Middle Ages these ceremonies were +observed as divine commandments; and tradition having seemingly fixed them +for all time, the Jew took great pride in the fact that he was +“distinguished” in many ways, and especially in his forms of +worship.(1460) Of course, they distinguished him far more when these +ceremonies were practiced for the entire day. Since the modern era has +brought the Jew nearer to his neighbors and he has opened the Synagogue to +invite the non-Jewish world to hear its teachings, these practices have +lost their hold upon the people, becoming meaningless forms. The wearing +of these sacred symbols while at prayer seems superfluous as a means of +“turning men’s hearts away from frivolous and sinful thoughts.”(1461) + +7. The most important institution of the Synagogue, and the one most +fraught with blessing for all mankind, is the Sabbath. Although its name +and existence point to a Babylonian origin,(1462) it is still the peculiar +creation of the Jewish genius and a chief pillar of the Jewish religion. +As a day of rest crowning the daily labor of the week, it testifies to the +Creator of the universe who made all that is in accordance with His divine +plan of perfection. The underlying idea expressed in Scripture is that the +Sabbath is a divine institution. As God himself worked out His design for +the world in absolute freedom and rested with delight at its completion, +so man is to follow His example, working during six days of the week and +then enjoying the rest of the Sabbath with a mind elated by higher +thoughts. Moreover, the day of rest observed by Israel should recall his +redemption from the slavery and continual labor of Egypt. Thereby every +creature made in God’s image, the slave and stranger as well as the born +Israelite, is given the heavenly boon of freedom and recreation to hallow +the labor of the week. There are thus two explanations given for the +Sabbath, one in the Decalogue of Exodus, the Holiness Code and Priestly +Code,(1463) the other in the Decalogue of Deuteronomy and the Book of the +Covenant.(1464) + +These two views, in turn, gave rise to different conceptions of the +Sabbath laws. Many ancient teachers laid chief stress on the letter of the +law which bids men cease from labor. Others, who penetrated farther into +the spirit of Deuteronomy and the Covenant Code, emphasized the human need +for relaxation and refreshment of soul. The older school, especially the +Sadducees, demanded absolute cessation of labor on pain of death for any +work, however insignificant, and even for the moving from one place to +another. They thought of the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant between God +and Israel, and hence held that it should be observed as punctiliously as +possible.(1465) In the same measure as the Pharisees, with their program +of religious democracy and common sense, obtained the upper hand, the +Biblical strictness of the Sabbath law was modified. The term labor was +defined by analogy with the work done for the tabernacle, and so +restricted as to make the death penalty much more limited.(1466) Moreover, +the Pharisees held that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the +Sabbath;(1467) so, although they adhered strictly to the prohibition of +labor, the Sabbath received at their hands more of the other element, and +became a day for the elevation of the soul, “a day of delight” for the +spirit.(1468) The whole man, body and soul alike, should enjoy God’s gifts +more fully on this day; he should cast off care and sanctify the day by +praise offered to God at the family table. At a very early period in +Israel the Sabbath was distinguished by the words of instruction and +comfort offered by the prophets to the people who consulted them on the +day of rest.(1469) During the Exile and afterward the people assembled on +the Sabbath to hear the word of God read from the Torah and the prophets +and to join in prayer and song, which soon became a permanent +institution.(1470) Thus the Sabbath elevated and educated the Jewish +people, and afterward transferred its blessings also to the Christian and +Mohammedan world. Especially during the Middle Ages the Sabbath became an +oasis, a refreshing spring of water for the Jew. All through the week he +was a Pariah in the outside world, but the Sabbath brought him bliss in +his home and spiritual power in his Synagogue and school. Cheerfully he +bore the yoke of statutes and ordinances that grew ever heavier under the +rabbinical amplification; for he hailed the Sabbath as the “queen” that +raised him from a hated wanderer to a prince in his own domain.(1471) + +Modern life has worked great changes in the Jewish observance of the +Sabbath. Caught up in the whirl of commercial and industrial competition, +the Jew, like Ixion in the fable, is bound to his wheel of business, and +enjoys neither rest for his body nor elevation for his soul on God’s holy +day. True, the Synagogue still preserves the sanctity of the ancient +Sabbath, however small may be the attendance at the divine service, and in +many pious homes the family still rallies around the festive table, +lighted by the Sabbath lamp and decorated by the symbolic cup of wine. But +for the majority of Western Jews the Sabbath has lost its pristine +sanctity and splendor, to the great detriment of Jewish religious life. +Therefore many now ask: “Is it sufficient to have a vicarious observance +of the historical Sabbath, the ‘sign between God and Israel,’ by an hour +or two in the Synagogue, but without rest for the entire day? Or shall the +civic day of rest, though Christian in origin and character, take the +place of the Jewish Sabbath with its sacred traditions, so that possibly +at last it may become the Sabbath day predicted by the seer upon which +‘all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord’?”(1472) In the halcyon +days of the reform movement in Germany this view was often expressed when +the radical reformers celebrated the civic day of rest as the Jewish +Sabbath, not in the spirit of dissension, but for the sake of giving +Judaism a larger scope and a wider outlook. In America, too, the idea of +transferring the Sabbath to Sunday was broached by some leading Reform +rabbis and met with hearty support on the part of their congregations. +Since then a more conservative view has taken hold of most of the liberal +elements of Jewry also in America. While divine service on Sundays has +been introduced with decided success in many cities and eminent preachers +bring the message of Judaism home to thousands that would otherwise remain +strangers to the house of God and to the influence of religion, the +conviction has become well established that the continuity with our great +past must be upheld, and the general feeling is that the historical +Sabbath should under no condition be entirely given up. It is inseparably +connected with the election of Israel as a priest-people, while the +Christian “Lord’s Day” represents views and tendencies opposed to those of +Judaism, whether considered in its original meaning or in that given it by +the Church.(1473) The Jew may properly use the civic day of rest in common +with his Christian fellow-citizen for religious devotion and instruction +for young and old; it will supplement his neglected Sabbath service, until +conditions have changed. Perhaps the Jew in Mohammedan countries may even +at some time observe Friday as is done by the Mosque, and accordingly +consecrate this day in common with his fellow-citizens. Still, between the +Sabbath observed by the Church and the one of the Mosque stands the Jewish +Sabbath in solemn grandeur and patriarchal dignity, waiting with Israel, +its keeper and ally, for the day when all humanity will worship the one +holy God of Abraham, and when our ancient Sabbath may truly become the +Sabbath of the world. + +8. In all lands time was originally regulated by the movements of the +moon, which are within the observation of all. The alternation of its +increase and decrease divided the month into two parts, which were then +subdivided into four. Therefore the original month among both the +Babylonians and the Hebrews consisted of four weeks of seven days each, +the last day of each week being the Sabbath, the “day of standstill,” and +two days of the new moon.(1474) Both the new moon and full moon were +special days of celebration,(1475) and later two other Sabbath days were +added between them to correspond to the four phases of the moon. Still +later the week was detached altogether from the moon and made a fixed +period of seven days, solemnly ended by the Sabbath. Thus Judaism raised +the Sabbath above all dependence on nature and into the realm of holiness. +The Jewish Sabbath became the witness to God, the Creator ruling above +nature in absolute freedom.(1476) + +Still the ancient festival of the new moon was preserved as an observance +in the Temple, and it afterward survived only in the liturgy of the +Synagogue. While ancient Israel had observed the New Moon as a day of rest +even more sacred than the Sabbath,(1477) the Priestly Code placed it among +the festivals only as a day of sacrifice, but as neither a day of rest nor +of popular celebration.(1478) Beside the recital of the _Hallel_ Psalms +and the _Mussaf_ (“additional”) prayer in the Synagogue no religious +significance was attached to it in the daily life of the people. Still the +fact that the Jewish calendar was regulated by the moon, while that of +other nations depended on the solar year, led the rabbis to compare the +unique history of Israel to the course of the moon. As the moon changes +continually, waxing and waning but ever renewing itself after each +decline, so Israel renews itself after every fall; while the proud nations +of the world, which count their year by the course of the sun, rise and +set, as it does, with no hope of renewal.(1479) At the same time, +assurance was found in the prophetic words that “the light of the moon +shall be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun shall be +sevenfold as the light of the seven days” and “thy (Israel’s) sun shall no +more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall +be thine everlasting light.”(1480) + +9. The various Jewish festivals, like the Sabbath, were detached from +their original relation to nature and turned into historical memorials, +eloquent testimonies to the great works of God and of Israel’s power of +rejuvenation. The Passover was originally the spring festival of the +shepherds when they hallowed the thresholds,(1481) but was later +identified with the agricultural Feast of Unleavened Bread in Palestine, +and at an early period was further transformed into a festival of +redemption. The former rites of consecration of tent and herd were taken +as symbols of the wondrous deliverance of the Hebrews from the Egyptian +yoke. The sacrifice of the “passing over the threshold,” with the +sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts and lintels of each house, +observed each spring exactly as is still done among the semi-pagan +inhabitants of Syria and Arabia, was reinterpreted. According to the +Mosaic code it indicated the wondrous passing of the angel of death over +the thresholds of the Israelites in Egypt, while he entered the homes of +the Egyptians to slay the first-born and avenge the wrongs of +Israel.(1482) Likewise the cakes of bread without leaven (the _Mazzoth_) +baked for the festival were taken as reminders of the hasty exodus of the +fathers from the land of oppression. Thus the spring festival became a +memorial of the springtime of liberty for the nation and at the same time +a consecration of the Jewish home to the covenant God of Israel. God was +to enter the Jewish home as He did in Egypt, as the Redeemer and Protector +of Israel. Young and old listened with perennial interest to the story of +the deliverance, offering praise for the wonders of the past and voicing +their confidence in the future redemption from oppression and woe. + +However burdensome the Passover minutiæ, especially in regard to the +prohibition of leaven, became to the Jewish household, the predominant +feature was always an exuberance of joy. In the darkest days of +medievalism the synagogue and home resounded with song and thanksgiving, +and the young imbibed the joy and comfort of their elders through the +beautiful symbols of the feast and the richly adorned tale of the +deliverance (the _Haggadah_). The Passover feast with its “night of divine +watching” endowed the Jew ever anew with endurance during the dark night +of medieval tyranny, and with faith in “the Keeper of Israel who +slumbereth not nor sleepeth.”(1483) Moreover, as the springtide of nature +fills each creature with joy and hope, so Israel’s feast of redemption +promises the great day of liberty to those who still chafe under the yoke +of oppression. The modern Jew is beginning to see in the reawakening of +his religious and social life in western lands the token of the future +liberation of all mankind.(1484) The Passover feast brings him the clear +and hopeful message of freedom for humanity from all bondage of body and +of spirit. + +10. The Feast of Weeks or Festival of the First Fruits in Biblical times +was merely a farmer’s holiday at the end of the seven weeks of harvest. At +the beginning of the harvest parched grains of barley were offered, while +at its end two loaves of the new wheat flour were brought as a +thank-offering for the new crop.(1485) Rabbinical Judaism, however, +transformed it into a historical feast by making it the memorial day of +the giving of the Ten Words on Mount Sinai. It was thus given a universal +significance, as the Midrash has it, “turning the Feast of the First +Fruits into a festival commemorating the ripening of the first fruits of +the spiritual harvest for the people of the covenant.”(1486) Henceforth +the Ten Words were to be solemnly read to the congregation on that day, +and the pledge of loyalty made by the fathers thereby renewed each year by +Israel’s faithful sons. The leaders of Reform Judaism surrounded the day +with new charm by the introduction of the confirmation ceremony,(1487) +thus rendering it a feast of consecration of the Jewish youth to the +ancient covenant, of yearly renewal of loyalty by the rising generation to +the ancestral faith. + +11. The main festival in Biblical times was the Feast of _Sukkoth_, or +Tabernacles, the great harvest festival of autumn, when the people flocked +to the central sanctuary in solemn procession, carrying palms and other +plants. Hence this was called the _Hag_ or Pilgrimage Feast.(1488) In the +post-exilic Priestly Code this festival also was made historical, and the +name Feast of Sukkoth (which denoted originally Feast of Pilgrimage Tents) +was connected with the exodus from Egypt, when the town of _Sukkoth_ +(possibly named from the tents of their encampment) was made the rallying +point of the fugitive Hebrews at their departure from Egypt. The +commentators no longer understood this connection, and traced the name to +the tents erected by the people in their wanderings through the +wilderness.(1489) It seems that from very ancient times popular rites were +performed at this feast, which took a specially solemn form in the holding +of a procession from the pool of Shiloah at the foot of the Temple mount +to the altar in the Temple, to offer there a libation of water, which was +a sort of symbolic prayer for rain for the opening year. Obviously, it is +this feast which is referred to in the last chapter of Zechariah, while +this outburst of popular joy found a deep response among the pious leaders +of the people and is echoed in the liturgy of the medieval +Synagogue.(1490) The Halakic rules concerning the tabernacle and the four +plans for it tended to obscure the real significance of the +festival;(1491) yet in the synagogue and the home it retained its original +character as a “season of gladness.” The joyous gratitude to God for His +protection of Israel during the forty years of wanderings through the +wilderness expanded into thanksgiving for His guidance throughout the +forty centuries of Israel’s pilgrimage through all lands and ages. This +joy culminated on the last day in the Feast of Rejoicing in the Law, when +the annual cycle of readings from the Pentateuch was completed in the +Synagogue amid overflowing pride in the possession of God’s law by +Israel.(1492) The rabbis gave Sukkoth a universal significance by taking +the seventy bullocks prescribed for the seven days as offerings for the +salvation of the seventy nations of the world, while the one bullock +offered on the last day suggested the uniqueness of Israel as God’s +peculiar people.(1493) + +12. The highest point of religious devotion in the synagogue is reached on +the New Year’s day and the Day of Atonement preceding the Feast of +Sukkoth. These are first mentioned in the Priestly Code and were +undoubtedly instituted after the time of Ezra;(1494) they were then +brought into closer connection by the Pharisees and permeated with lofty +ideas which struck the deepest chords of the human heart and voiced the +sublimest truths of religion for all time to come. + +The New Year’s Day on the first of Tishri appears in the Mosaic Code +simply as the memorial “Day of the Blowing of the Trumpet,” because of the +increased number of trumpet blasts to usher in the seventh or Sabbatical +month with its great pilgrim feast. Under Babylonian influence, however, +it received a new name and meaning. The Babylonian New Year was looked +upon as a heavenly day of destiny when the fates of all beings on earth +and in heaven were foretold for the whole year from the tables of destiny. +The leaders of Jewish thought also adopted the first day of the holy month +of Tishri as a day of divine judgment, when God allots to each man his +destiny for the year according to his record of good and evil deeds in the +book of life.(1495) Accordingly, the stirring notes of the Shofar were to +strike the hearts of the people with fear, that they might repent of their +sins and improve their ways during the new year. As fixed by tradition, +the liturgy contained three blasts of the Shofar to proclaim three great +ideas of Judaism:(1496) the recognition of God as King of the world; as +Judge, remembering the actions and thoughts of men and nations for their +reward and punishment; and as the Ruler of history, who revealed Himself +to Israel in the trumpet-blasts of Sinai and will gather all men and +nations by the trumpet-blasts of the Judgment Day at the end of time. + +The main purpose of the New Year was to render it a day of renewal of the +heart, so that man might put himself in harmony with the great Judge on +high and receive life anew from His hand, while he fills his spirit with +new and better resolves for the future. Judaism does not place the day of +judgment after death, when repentance is beyond reach and the sinner can +only await damnation, as is done by Christianity after the apocalyptic +views adopted from the Parsees. The Jewish judgment day occurs at the +beginning of every year, a day of self-examination and improvement of men +before God. On this day—in the orthodox Synagogue on the second day of the +New Year—the chapter is read from the Torah describing Abraham’s great act +of faith on Mount Moriah, the heroic pattern of Jewish martyrdom, and +stirring prayers, litanies, and songs prepare the worshiper for the “great +day” of the year, the Day of Atonement, which is to come on the tenth day +of Tishri, the last of the ten Days of Repentance. + +13. The Day of Atonement figures in the Mosaic Code as the day when the +high priest in the Temple performed the important function of expiation +for the sanctuary, the priesthood, and the people. The mass of the people +were to observe the day from evening to evening as a Sabbath and a fast +day to obtain pardon for their sins before God.(1497) A very primitive +rite which survived for this day was the selection of two goats, one of +which was to be sent to Azazel, the demon of the wilderness, to bear away +the sins of the people, while the other was to be offered to the Lord as a +sacrifice. We learn from the Mishnaic sources that the sending forth of +the scapegoat was accompanied by strange practices betraying intense +popular interest, and its arrival at the bottom of the wild ravine, where +Azazel was supposed to dwell, was announced by signals from station to +station, until they reached the Temple mount, and the news of it was then +received with wild bursts of joy by the people. The young men and maidens +assembled on the heights of Jerusalem, like the men at the pilgrimage +feast at Shiloh, and held, as it were, nuptial dances.(1498) The day was +one of communion with God for the high-priest alone; he confessed his sins +and those of the people and implored forgiveness, and it was actually +believed that he beheld the Majesty of God on that day when he entered the +Holy of Holies with the incense shrouding his face.(1499) + +In contrast to this priestly monopoly of service with its external and +archaic forms of expiation, the founders of the Synagogue invested the Day +of Atonement with a higher meaning in accord with the spirit of the +prophets of old, the doctrine of God’s mercy and paternal love. Atonement +could no longer be obtained by the priest with the sacrificial blood, the +incense, or the scapegoat; it must come through the repentance of the +sinner, leading him back from the path of error to the way of God. As the +high-priest in the Temple, so now every son of Israel was to spend the day +in the house of prayer, confessing his sins before God with a contrite +heart, awaiting with awe the realization of God’s promise to Moses: “I +have pardoned according to thy word.”(1500) Indeed, a forward step in the +history of religion is represented in the interpretation of the verse: +“For on this day _he_—that is, the high-priest—shall make atonement for +you to cleanse you,” which was now understood to refer to God: “He shall +make atonement for you through this day.”(1501) Therefore R. Akiba could +exclaim proudly, as he thought of the Paulinian doctrine of vicarious +atonement: “Happy are ye Israelites! Before whom do you cleanse yourselves +from sin, and who cleanses you? Your Father in heaven!”(1502) No mediator +was needed between man and his heavenly Father from the moment that each +individual learned to approach God in true humility on the Day of +Atonement, imploring His pardon for sin and promising to amend his ways. +With profound intuition the rabbis attributed God’s pardon to the petition +of Moses, saying that He revealed Himself in His attribute of mercy on the +very tenth of Tishri, foreshadowing for all time the divine forgiveness of +sin on the Day of Atonement.(1503) + +As the Mishnah expressly states, even the Day of Atonement cannot bring +forgiveness so long as injustice cleaves to one’s hand or evil speech to +the lips and no attempt is made to repair the injury and appease one’s +fellow-man.(1504) Where justice is lacking, divine love cannot exert its +saving power. God’s mercy and long-suffering cannot remove sin, unless the +root of evil is removed from the heart and every wrong redressed in +sincere repentance. The spirit of God is invoked on these great days at +the year’s commencement only that the penitent soul may thus receive +strength to improve its ways, that good conduct in the future may atone +for the errors of the past. Surely no religion in the world can equal the +sublime teachings of the New Year’s day and the Day of Atonement, first +filling the heart of mortal man with awe before the Judge of the world and +then cheering it with the assurance of God’s paternal love being ever +ready to extend mercy to His repentant children. While the other festivals +of the year are specifically Jewish in historic associations and meaning, +these two days on the threshold of each new year are universally human, +and the chief prayers for this day are of a universal character, appealing +to every human heart. Indeed, it is characteristic that both the +concluding service for the day, the _Neilah_, and the Scriptural reading +of the _Minhah_ Service, selected from the book of Jonah, tell that God’s +all-forgiving mercy extends to the non-Jewish world as well as to the +Jew.(1505) + +14. Altogether, the Synagogue gave to the annual cycle of the Jewish life +a beautiful rhythm in its alternation of joy and sorrow, lending a higher +solemnity to general experience. All the festivals mentioned above were +preceded by a series of Sabbaths to prepare the congregation for the +coming of the sad or the joyful season with its historical reminiscences. +So the memorial day of the destruction of Jerusalem, the ninth of Ab, had +three weeks previously to herald in a day commemorating the siege of +Jerusalem, the seventeenth of Tammuz; but it had also seven Sabbath days +to follow, which afforded words of consolation and hope of a more glorious +future for the mourning nation.(1506) Of course, the brighter days of the +present era have greatly modified the lugubrious character of these +eventful days of the past, even in those circles where the hope for the +restoration of the Jewish nation and Temple is still expressed in prayer. +At the same time, the commemoration of the destruction of State and +Temple, the great turning-point in the history of the Jew, ought to be +given a prominent place in the Reform Synagogue as well, though celebrated +in the spirit of progressive Judaism. + +The feast of Hanukkah with its lights and song, jubilant with the +Maccabean victory in the battle for Israel’s faith, still resounds in the +Jewish home and the house of God with the prophetic watchword: “Not by +might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.”(1507) + +The mirthful feast of Purim, with its half-serious, half-jovial use of the +scroll of Esther and its popular rejoicing, assumed in the course of time +a more earnest character, because the plot of Haman and the rescue of the +Jews became typical in Jewish history. Therefore the story of Amalek, the +arch-foe of Israel, is read in the Synagogue on the preceding Sabbath as a +reminder of the constant battle which Israel must wage for its supreme +religious task.(1508) + +15. Through the entire history of Judaism since the Exile, the Synagogue +brought its religious truth home to the people each Sabbath and holy day +through the reading and expounding of the Torah and the prophets. These +words of consolation and admonition struck a deep chord in the hearts of +the people, so that learning was the coveted prize of all and ignorance of +the law became a mark of inferiority. Beside these stated occasions, all +times of joy or sadness such as weddings and funerals were given some +attention in the Synagogue, as linking the individual to the communal +life, and linking his personal joy and sorrow with the past sadness and +future glory of Jerusalem, as if they but mirrored the greater events of +the people. Thus the whole life was to be placed in the service of the +social body, and could not be torn asunder or divided into things holy and +things profane. Religion must send forth its rays like the sun, illumining +and warming all of man’s deeds and thoughts. + +16. The weakness of the Synagogue was its Orientalism. Amid all the +changes of time and environment, it remained separated from the +surrounding world to such an extent that it could no longer exert an +influence to win outsiders for its great truths. Until recently the Hebrew +language was retained for the entire liturgy, although it had become +unintelligible to the majority of the Jews in western lands, and even +though the rabbis had declared in Talmudic times that the verse: “Hear O +Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One” indicates that the words +should be spoken in a language which can be heard and understood by the +people.(1509) The Torah likewise was, and in the ancient Synagogue is +still read exclusively in the Hebrew original, in spite of the fact that +the original reading under Ezra was accompanied by a translation and +interpretation in the Aramaic vernacular. Thus only could the Torah become +“the heritage of the whole congregation of Jacob,” which fact gave rise to +both the Aramaic and Greek translations of the Bible which carried the +truths of Judaism to the wider circle of the world. These plain facts were +ignored through the centuries to the detriment of the Jewish faith, and +this neglect, in turn, engendered a false conception of Judaism, making it +seem ever more exclusive and narrow. Instead of becoming “our wisdom and +understanding before all the nations,”(1510) knowledge of the Torah +dwindled to a possession of the few, while the ceremonial laws, observed +by the many, were performed without any understanding of their origin or +purpose. But in the last century under the banner of Reform Judaism many +of these points were altered. The vernacular was introduced into the +Synagogue, so that the modern Jew might pray in the same tongue in which +he feels and thinks, thus turning the prayers from mechanical recitations +into true offerings of the soul, and bringing the Scriptural readings +nearer to the consciousness of the congregation. Likewise the +reintroduction of the sermon in the vernacular as part of the divine +service for Sabbath and holy days became the vehicle to awaken religious +sentiments in the hearts of the people, and thereby to revive the spirit +of the ancient prophets and Haggadists.(1511) + +17. This Orientalism is especially marked in the attitude of the older +Synagogue to women. True enough, woman was honored as the mistress of the +home. She kindled the Sabbath light, provided for the joy and comfort of +domestic life, especially on the holy days, observed strictly the laws of +diet and purity, and awakened the spirit of piety in her children. Still +she was excluded from the regular divine service in the Synagogue. She did +not count as a member of the religious community, which consisted +exclusively of men. She had to sit in the gallery behind a trellis during +the service and could not even join the men in saying grace at table. A +few rare women were privileged to study Hebrew, such as the daughter of +Rashi, but as a rule woman’s education was neglected as if “she had no +claim on any other wisdom than the distaff.”(1512) More and more Judaism +lost sight of its noble types of women in antiquity; it forgot the +Biblical heroines such as Miriam and Deborah, Hannah and Hulda, and +Talmudic ones such as Beruria the wife of Rabbi Meir. Such women as these +might have repeated the words: “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only through +Moses? Hath He not also spoken through us?”(1513) Aside from the sphere of +religion, in which woman always manifests a splendid wealth of sentiment, +she was held in subjection by Oriental laws in both marital and social +relations,(1514) and her natural vocation as religious teacher of the +children in the home failed to receive full recognition also. + +The first attempt to liberate the Jewish woman from the yoke of +Orientalism was made in the eleventh century by Rabbi Gershon ben Jehudah +of Mayence, at that time the leading rabbi of Germany. Under the influence +of Occidental ideas he secured equal rights for men and women in +marriage.(1515) But only in our own time were full rights accorded her in +the Synagogue, owing to the reform movement in Germany and Austria. As a +matter of fact, the confirmation of children of both sexes, which was +gradually introduced in many conservative congregations also, was the +virtual recognition of woman as the equal of man in Synagogue and +school.(1516) Finally, upon the initiative of Isaac M. Wise, then Rabbi in +Albany, N. Y., family pews were introduced in the American Synagogue and +woman was seated beside her husband, son, father, and brother as their +equal. With her greater emotional powers she is able to lend a new +solemnity and dignity to the religious and educational efforts of the +Synagogue, wherever she is admitted as a full participant in the service. + +18. Another shortcoming of the Synagogue and of Rabbinical Judaism in +general was its formalism. Too much stress was laid upon the perfunctory +“discharge of duty,” the outward performance of the letter of the law, and +not enough upon the spiritual basis of the Jewish religion. The form +obscured the spirit, even though it never quite succeeded in throttling +it. This formalism of the ignorant, but observant multitude was censured +as early as the eleventh century by Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakudah in his +“Duties of the Heart,” a philosophical work in which he emphatically urges +the need of inwardness for the Jewish faith.(1517) Later the mystics of +Germany and Palestine, while strong supporters of the law, opposed the +one-sidedness of legalism and intellectualism, and endeavored to instill +elements of deeper devotion into the Jewish soul through the introduction +of their secret lore, _Cabbalah_, or “esoteric tradition.”(1518) Their +offering, however, was anything but beneficial to the soul of Judaism. A +mysticism which attempts to fathom the unfathomable depth of the divine +accords but ill with the teaching of Judaism, which says: “The secret +things belong unto the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed +belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words +of this law.”(1519) The Cabbalah was but the reaction to the excessive +rationalism of the Spanish-Arabic period. As the ultimate source of +religion is not reason but the heart, so the cultivation of the intellect +at the expense of the emotions can be only harmful to the faith. The +legalism and casuistry of the Talmud and the Codes appealed too much to +the intellect, disregarding the deeper emotional sources of religion and +morality; on the other hand, the mysticism of the Cabbalists +overemphasized the emotional element, and eliminated much of the rational +basis of Judaism. True religion grasps the whole of man and shows God’s +world as a harmonious whole, reflecting in both mind and heart the +greatness and majesty of God on high. In order to open the flood-gates of +the soul and render religion again the deepest and strongest force of +life, the Synagogue must revitalize its time-honored institutions and +ceremonies. Thus only will they become real powers of the Jewish spirit, +testimonies to the living God, witnessing to the truth of the Biblical +words: “For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too +hard for thee, neither is it too far off. It is not in heaven, that thou +shouldest say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, and +make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that +thou shouldest say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto +us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very nigh +unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”(1520) + +19. The Synagogue need no longer restrict itself to the ancient forms of +worship in its appeal to the Jewish soul. It must point to the loftiest +ideals for the future of all humanity, if it is to be true to its +prophetic spirit of yore. “My house shall be called a house of prayer for +all peoples,” exclaimed the seer of the exile.(1521) “Hear O Israel, the +Lord our God, the Lord is one” must be echoed in all lands and languages, +by all God-seeking minds and hearts, to realize the prophetic vision: “And +the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be +One, and His name One.”(1522) Just as there is but one truth, one justice, +and one love, however differently the various races and classes of men may +conceive them, so Israel shall uphold God, the only One, as the bond of +unity for all men, despite their diversity of ideas and cultures, and His +truth will be the beacon-light for all humanity. As the Psalms, prophets, +and the opening chapters of the Pentateuch speak a language appealing to +the common sense of mankind, so the divine worship of the Synagogue must +again strike the deeper chords of humanity, in its weal and woe, its hope +and fear, its aspirations and ideals. Therefore it is not enough that the +institutions and ceremonies of the Synagogue are testimonies to the great +past of Israel. They must also become eloquent heralds and monitors of the +glorious future, when all mankind will have learned the lessons of the +Jewish festivals, the ideals of liberty, law, and peace, the thoughts of +the divine judgment and the divine mercy. They must help also to bring +about the time when the ideal of social justice, which the Mosaic Code +holds forth for the Israelitish nation, will have become the motive-power +and incentive to the reëstablishment of human society upon new +foundations. + +Jehudah ha Levi, the lofty poet of medieval Jewry,(1523) speaks of Israel +as the “heart of humanity,” because it has supplied the spiritual and +moral life-blood of the civilized world. Israel provides continually the +rejuvenating influence of society. Israel’s history is the history of the +world in miniature. As the Midrash says,(1524) the confession of God’s +unity imposes upon us the obligation to lead all God’s children to love +Him with heart and soul and might, thus working toward the time when “the +earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the +waters cover the sea.”(1525) All the social, political, and intellectual +movements of our restless, heaven-storming age, notwithstanding temporary +lapses into barbarism and hatred, point unerringly to the final goal, the +unity of all human and cosmic life under the supreme leadership of God on +high. In the midst of all these movements of the day stands the Jew, God’s +witness from of old, yet vigorous and youthful still, surveying the +experiences of the past and voicing the hope of the future, exclaiming in +the words of his traditional prayers: “Happy are we; how goodly is our +portion! how pleasant our lot! how beautiful our inheritance!”(1526) Our +faith is the faith of the coming humanity; our hope of Zion is the kingdom +of God, which will include all the ideals of mankind. + + + + +Chapter LIX. The Ethics of Judaism and the Kingdom of God + + +1. The soul of the Jewish religion is its ethics. Its God is the +Fountainhead and Ideal of morality. At the beginning of the summary of the +ethical laws in the Mosaic Code stands the verse: “Ye shall be holy, for I +the Lord your God am holy.”(1527) This provides the Jew with the loftiest +possible motive for perfection and at the same time the greatest incentive +to an ever higher conception of life and life’s purpose. Accordingly, the +kingdom of God for whose coming the Jew longs from the beginning until the +end of the year,(1528) does not rest in a world beyond the grave, but (in +consonance with the ideal of Israel’s sages and prophets) in a complete +moral order on earth, the reign of truth, righteousness and holiness among +all men and nations. Jewish ethics, then, derives its sanction from God, +the Author and Master of life, and sees its purpose in the hallowing of +all life, individual and social. Its motive is the splendid conception +that man, with his finite ends, is linked to the infinite God with His +infinite ends; or, as the rabbis express it, “Man is a co-worker with God +in the work of creation.”(1529) + +2. Both the term ethics (from the Greek _ethos_) and morality (from the +Latin _mores_) are derived from custom or habit. In distinction to this, +the Hebrew Scripture points to God’s will as perceived in the human +conscience as the source of all morality. Those ethical systems which +dispense with religion fail to take due cognizance of the voice of duty +which says to each man: “Thou shalt” or “Thou shalt not!” Duty +distinguishes man from all other creatures. However low man may be in the +scale of freedom, he is moved to action by an impulse from within, not by +a compulsion from without. Of course, morality must travel a long road +from the primitive code, which does not extend beyond the near kinsmen, to +the ideal of civilized man which encompasses the world. Still man’s steps +are always directed by some rule of duty. The voice of conscience, heard +clearly or dimly, is not, as is so often asserted, the product, but the +original guiding factor of human society. The divine inner power of +morality has made man, not man morality. Morality and religion, +inseparably united in the Decalogue of Sinai, will attain their perfection +together in the kingdom of God upon the Zion heights of humanity. + +3. Ethical elements, greater or smaller, enter into all religions and +codes of law of the various nations. Ancient Egypt, Persia and India even +connected ethical principle and the future of the soul so closely, that +certain ethical laws were to determine one’s fate in heaven or hell. This +led to the idea that this life is but the preparatory stage to the great +hereafter. But antiquity also witnessed more or less successful attempts +to emancipate ethics from religion. When the old beliefs no longer +satisfied the thinking mind and no longer kept men from corruption, +various philosophers attempted to provide general principles of morality +as substitutes for the departed deities. Confucius built up in China a +system of common-sense ethics based upon the communal life, but without +any religious ideals; this satisfied the commonplace attitude of that +country, but could not pass beyond the confines of the far East. A +semi-religious ascetic system was offered at about the same time by +Gautama Buddha of India, a prince garbed as a mendicant friar, who +preached the gospel of love and charity for all fellow creatures. His +leading maxims were blind resignation and self-effacement in the presence +of the ills, suffering and death which rule the entire domain of life. All +existence was evil to him, with its pleasure, passion and desire, its +thought and feeling; his aim was a state of apathy and listlessness, +_Nirvana_; while sympathy and compassion for fellow creatures were to +offer some relief to a life of delusion and despair. The Hindu conception +of the unbearable woe of the world corresponded more or less with the hot +climate, which renders the people indolent and apathetic. In striking +contrast to this was the vigorous manhood of the ethical systems developed +on the healthy soil of Greece, under the azure canopy of a sky that fills +the soul with beauty and joy. Life should be valued for the happiness it +offers to the individual or to society. The good should be loved for its +beauty, the just admired for its nobility. Greek ethics was thus both +aristocratic and utilitarian; it took no heed of the toiling slave, the +suffering poor, or the unprotected stranger. Both the Buddhist and the +Hellenic systems lacked the energizing force and motive of the highest +purpose of life, because both have left out of their purview the great +Ruler who summons man to his duty, saying: “I am the Lord thy God; thou +shalt and thou shalt not!” + +4. Between the two extremes, the Hellenic self-expansion and the Buddhist +self-extinction, Jewish ethics labors for self-elevation under the +uplifting power of a holy God. The term which Scripture uses for moral +conduct is, very significantly, “to walk in the ways of God.” The rabbis +explain this as follows: “As God is merciful and gracious, so be thou +merciful and gracious. As God is called righteous, so be thou righteous. +As God is holy, so do thou strive to be holy.”(1530) Another of their +maxims is: “How can mortal man walk after God, who is an all-consuming +fire? What Scripture means is that man should emulate God. As He clothes +the naked, nurses the sick, comforts the sorrowing, and buries the dead, +so should man.”(1531) In other words, human life must take its pattern +from the divine goodness and holiness. + +5. Obviously, Jewish ethics had to go through the same long process of +development as the Jewish religion itself. A very high stage is +represented by that disinterested goodness taught by Antigonus of Soko in +the second pre-Christian century and by ben Azzai in the second century of +the present era, which no longer anticipates reward or punishment, but +does good for its own sake and shuns evil because it is evil.(1532) As +long as the law tolerated slavery, polygamy, and blood vengeance, and +man’s personality was not recognized on principle as being made in the +image of God, the practical morality of the Hebrews could not rise above +that of other nations, except in so far as the shepherd’s compassion for +the beast occasioned sympathy also for the fellow-man. After all, Jewish +ethics became the ethics of humanity because of the God-conception of the +prophets,—the righteous, merciful, and holy God, the God “who executeth +the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger in +giving him food and raiment.”(1533) The conception of Jewish ethics as +human ethics is voiced in the familiar verse: “It hath been told thee, O +man, what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee: only to do +justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.”(1534) The +all-ruling and all-seeing God of the Psalmist made men feel that only such +a one can stand in His holy place “who hath clean hands and a pure heart, +who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, nor sworn +deceitfully.”(1535) After law-giver, prophet, and psalmist came the wise, +who gave ethics a more practical and popular character in the wisdom +literature, and then came the _Hasidim_ or Essenes, who, while seeking the +highest piety or saintliness as life’s aim, deepened and spiritualized +their ethical ideals. Some of these considered the essential principles of +morality to be love of God and of the fellow-man;(1536) while rabbinical +ethics in general laid great stress on motive as determining the value of +the deed. The words, “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,” so often repeated +in the law, are taken to mean: Fear Him who looks into the heart, judging +motives and intentions.(1537) + +6. As the Mosaic Code presented the ceremonial and moral laws together as +divine, so the rabbinical schools treated them all as divine commandments +without any distinction. Hence the Mishnah and the Talmud fail to give +ethics the prominent place it occupies in the prophetic and wisdom +literature of the Bible and did not even make an attempt to formulate a +system of ethics. The ethical rules in the “Sayings of the Fathers” and +similar later collections make no pretentions to being general or +systematic. The ethical teachings became conspicuous only through contact +with the Hellenic world in the propaganda literature, with its aim to win +the Gentile world to Judaism. Thus at an early period handbooks on ethics +were written and circulated in the Greek language, some of which were +afterward appropriated by the Christian Church. This entire movement is +summed up in the well-known answer of Hillel to the heathen who desired to +join the Jewish faith: “What is hateful to thee, do thou not unto thy +fellow man; this is the law, and all the rest is merely commentary.”(1538) + +On the whole, rabbinical Judaism elaborated no ethical system before the +Middle Ages. Then, under Mohammedan influence, the Aristotelian and +Neo-Platonic philosophies in vogue gave rise to certain ethical works more +or less in accord with their philosophic or mystic prototypes. In +addition, ethical treatises were often written in the form of wills and of +popular admonitions, which were sometimes broad and human, at other times +stern and ascetic. One thought, however, prevailed through the ages: as +life emanates from the God of holiness, so it must ever serve His holy +purposes and benefit all His earthly children. “All the laws given by God +to Israel have only the purification and ennobling of the life of men for +their object,” say the rabbis.(1539) + +7. Perhaps the best summary of Jewish ethics was presented by Hillel in +the famous three words: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But +if I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when then?”(1540) We +find here three spheres of duty: toward one’s self, toward others, and +toward the life before us. In contrast to purely altruistic or socialistic +ethics, Jewish morality accentuated the value of the individual even apart +from the social organism. Man is a child of God, a. self-conscious +personality, who is to unfold and improve the powers implanted by his +divine Maker, in both body and soul, laboring in this way toward the +purpose for which he was created. Man was created single, says one of the +sages in the Mishnah,(1541) that he might know that he forms a world for +himself, and the whole creation must aid him in unfolding the divine image +within himself. Accordingly, self-preservation, self-improvement and +self-perfection are duties of every man. This implies first the care for +the human body as the temple which enshrines the divine spirit. In the +eyes of Judaism, to neglect or enfeeble the body, the instrument of the +soul, is altogether sinful. As the Sabbath law demands physical rest and +recreation after the week’s work, so the Jewish religion in general trains +men to enjoy the gifts of God; and the rabbis declare that their rejection +(except for disciplinary reasons) is ingratitude for which man must give +an account at the last Judgment Day.(1542) The Pharisean teacher who +opposed the Essenic custom of fasting and declared it sinful, unless it be +for special purposes, would have deprecated even more strongly the ascetic +Christian or Hindoo saint who castigated his body as the seat of +sin.(1543) As Hillel remarked: “See what care is bestowed upon the statue +of the emperor to keep it clean and bright; ought we not, likewise, keep +God’s image, our body, clean and free from every blemish?”(1544) + +In regard to our moral and spiritual selves the rabbinical maxim is: +“Beautify thyself first, and then beautify others.”(1545) Only as we first +ennoble ourselves can we then contribute to the elevation of the world +about us. Our industry promotes the welfare of the community as well as of +ourselves; our idleness harms others as well as ourselves.(1546) Upon +self-respect rest our honor and our character. Virtue also is the result +of self-control and self-conquest.(1547) “There shall be no strange God in +thee.” This Psalm verse is taken by the rabbis to mean that no anger and +passion nor any evil desire or overbearing pride shall obtain their +mastery over thee.(1548) Man asserts himself in braving temptation and +trial, in overcoming sin and grief. Greater still is the hero who, in +complete self-mastery, can sacrifice himself in a great cause. Martyrdom +for the sake of God, which the rabbis call sanctification of the name of +God,(1549) is really the assertion of the divine life in the midst of +death. But desertion of life from selfish motives through suicide is all +the more despicable. He who sells his human birthright to escape pain or +disgrace, though greatly to be pitied, has forfeited his claim and his +share in the world to come.(1550) + +Not only our life is to be maintained amid all trials as a sacred trust, +but also our rights, our freedom, and our individuality, for we must not +allow our personality to become the slave or tool of others. Job, who +battled for his own convictions against the false assumption of his +friends, was at last praised and rewarded by God.(1551) The Biblical +verse: “For they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of +Egypt, they shall not be sold as slaves,” is explained by the rabbis: “My +servants, but not servants to servants,” and is thus applicable to +spiritual slavery as well.(1552) + +8. Therefore the Jewish conception of duty to our fellow-men is by no +means comprised in love or benevolence. Long before Hillel, other Jewish +sages gave the so-called Golden Rule: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” a +negative form: “What is hateful to thee do not do unto thy fellow +men.”(1553) Taken in the positive form, the command cannot be literally +carried out. We cannot love the stranger as we love ourselves or our kin; +still less can we love our enemy, as is demanded by the Sermon on the +Mount. According to the Hebrew Scriptures(1554) we can and should treat +our enemy magnanimously and forgive him, but we cannot truly love him, +unless he turns from an enemy to a friend. The real meaning given by the +rabbis to the command, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” is: “Put thyself in +his place and act accordingly. As thou dost not desire to be robbed of thy +property or good name or to be injured or insulted, so do not these things +unto thy fellow man.”(1555) They then take the closing words, “I am the +Lord thy God,” as an oath by God: “I am the Lord, the Creator of thy +fellow man as well as of thee; therefore, if thou showest love to him, I +shall surely reward thee, and if not, I am the Judge ready to punish +thee.”(1556) Love of all fellow-men is, in fact, taught by both +Hillel(1557) and Philo.(1558) Love and helpful sympathy are implied also +by the verse from Deuteronomy: “He (the Lord) loveth the stranger in +giving him bread and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger.”(1559) All +members of the human household are dependent on each other for kindness +and good will, whether we are rich or poor, high or lowly, in life or in +death; so do we owe love and kindness to all men alike. + +9. However, love as a principle of action is not sufficiently firm to +fashion human conduct or rule society. It is too much swayed by impulse +and emotion and is often too partial. Love without justice leads to abuse +and wrong, as we see in the history of the Church, which began with the +principle of love, but often failed to heed the admonitions of justice. +Therefore justice is the all-inclusive principle of human conduct in the +eyes of Judaism. Justice is impartial by its very nature. It must right +every wrong and vindicate the cause of the oppressed. “When Thy judgments +are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness,” +said the prophet,(1560) describing the just man as he “that walketh +righteously and speaketh uprightly, that despiseth the gain of +oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth +his ear from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking on +evil.”(1561) Justice is the requisite not only in action, but also in +disposition,(1562) implying honesty in intention as in deed, uprightness +in speech and mien, perfect rectitude, neither taking advantage of +ignorance nor abusing confidence.(1563) It is sinful to acquire wealth by +betting or gambling,(1564) or by cornering food-supplies to raise the +market price.(1565) The rabbis derive from Scripture the thought that, +just as “your balances and weights, your ephah and hin” must be just, so +should your yea and nay.(1566) The verse, “Justice, justice shalt them +follow,”(1567) is explained thus in a Midrash which is quoted by Bahya ben +Asher of the thirteenth century: “Justice, whether to your profit or loss, +whether in word or in action, whether to Jew or non-Jew.”(1568) This +category of justice covers also regard for the honor of our fellow-men, +lest we harm it by the tongue of the back-biter,(1569) by the ear that +listens to calumny,(1570) or by suspicion cast upon the innocent.(1571) +“God in His law takes especial care of the honor of our fellow-men,” say +the rabbis, and “he who publicly puts his fellow man to shame forfeits his +share in the world to come.”(1572) + +10. But the Jewish conception of justice is broader than mere abstention +from hurting our fellow-men. Justice is a positive conception. +Righteousness (_Zedakah_) includes also charity and philanthropy. It +asserts the claim of the poor upon the rich, of the helpless upon him who +possesses the means to help. “He who prevents the poor from reaping the +corners of the field or the gleanings of the harvest, or in any way +withholds that which has been assigned them by the law of Moses, is a +robber,” says the Mishnah, “for it is written: ‘Remove not the old +landmark, and enter not into the field of the fatherless.’ ”(1573) Jewish +ethics holds that charity is not a gift of condescending love, but a duty. +It is incumbent upon the fortunate to rescue the unfortunate, since all +that we possess is only lent to us by God, the Owner of the world, with +the charge that we provide for the needy who are under His special +protection. Those who refuse to give the poor their share abuse the divine +trust. “If thou lendest money to My people, to the poor with thee,”(1574) +says Scripture, and the rabbis comment on this to the effect that “the +poor are called God’s people; do not forget that the turn of fortune which +made you rich and them poor may turn, and that you may then be in +need.”(1575) Nor is it sufficient merely to give to him who is poor; we +are bidden to uphold him when his powers fail.(1576) + +This is the very principle of ethics of the Mosaic law, the principle for +which the great prophets fought with all the vigor and vehemence of the +divine spirit—social justice. The cry: “Woe unto them that join house to +house, that lay field to field, till there be no room,”(1577) the +condemnation of those “that swallow the needy and destroy the poor of the +land,”(1578) the curse hurled at him who withholdeth corn,(1579) laid the +foundations of a higher justice, which is not satisfied with mitigating +the misery of the unfortunate by acts of charity, but insists on a +readjustment of the social conditions which create poverty. This spirit +created the poor laws of the Mosaic Code, which were partially adopted by +both Christians and Mohammedans. It dictated the Mosaic institutions of +the seventh year of release and the Jubilee year for the restoration of +fields and houses, to prevent the tyranny of wealth from becoming a +permanent source of oppression. While these were scarcely ever put into +practice, they remained as a protest and an appeal. Their aim and +permanent influence tended toward relations between the upper and lower +classes, which would insure the latter some degree of independence and +dignity. In fact, the foundations laid by the Hebrew Scripture underlie +all our great modern efforts to turn the forces of charity so as to check +the sources of evil in our social organism. Modern philanthropy, taking +its clue from the old Hebrew ideal, aims not to alleviate but to cure, and +to stimulate the natural good in society, material, moral and +intellectual, that it may overcome the evil. We are recognizing more and +more the principle of mutual responsibility and interdependence of men and +classes. Yet this very principle, modern as it seems, was recognized by +the Jewish sages, as we see in the remarkable passage where the rabbis +comment on the law concerning the case of a slain body found in the field, +with the murderer unknown. The Bible commands that in such a case the +elders of the city should kill a heifer, wash their hands over it, and +say: “Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen +it.”(1580) The rabbis then ask: “How could the elders of a city ever be +suspected of the crime of murder?” and their reply is: “Even if they only +failed to provide the poor in their charge with the necessary food, and he +became a highway robber and murderer; or if they left him without the +necessary protection, and he fell a victim to murderers, they are held +responsible for the crime before the higher court of God.”(1581) That is, +according to our station we are all responsible for the social conditions +which create poverty and crime, and it is our duty to establish such +relations between the individual and the community as will remove the +causes of all the evils of society. + +11. This, in a way, anticipates the third maxim of Hillel: “If not now, +when then?” Judaism cannot accept the New Testament spirit of +other-worldliness, which prompted the teaching: “Take no thought for your +life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what +ye shall put on,” or “Resist not evil.”(1582) Such a view disregards the +values and duties of domestic, civic, and industrial life, and creates an +inseparable gulf between sacred and profane, between religion and culture. +In contrast to this, Jewish ethics sets the highest value upon all things +that make man more of a human being and increase his power of doing good. +To Judaism marriage and home life are regarded as the normal conditions of +human welfare and sane morality, while celibacy is considered +abnormal.(1583) Labor establishes the dignity of man,(1584) while wealth +is a source of blessing, a stewardship in the service of society.(1585) In +opposition to the practice fostered by the Essenes and afterwards adopted +by the early Church, of devoting one’s whole fortune to charity, the +rabbis decreed that one should not give over one fifth of one’s +possessions.(1586) As has well been said, Judaism teaches a “robust +morality.”(1587) It regards life as a continual battle for God and right +against every sort of injustice,(1588) for truth against every kind of +falsehood. At the same time it fosters also the gentler virtues of +meekness,(1589) kindness to animals,(1590) peaceableness and +modesty.(1591) + +12. Jewish ethics excels all other ethical systems, especially in its +insistence on purity and holiness. Not only is any unchaste look, thought, +or act condemned, exactly as in the Sermon on the Mount,(1592) as +approaching adultery,(1593) but all profanity of act or speech is declared +to be an unpardonable offense against the majesty of God.(1594) Modesty in +demeanor and dress was both preached and practiced by the Jews throughout +the Middle Ages, while in non-Jewish circles coarseness and lewdness +prevailed among high and low, in minstrel song and monastic life. “The +Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp ... therefore shall thy camp +be holy, that He see no unseemly thing in thee, and turn away from +thee.”(1595) These Biblical words created among the Essenes (the _Zenuim_) +and later among the entire Jewish people a spirit of chastity and modesty +which made the Jewish home of old a model of purity and sanctity. The +great problem for modern Israel, amid our present allurements of luxury +and pleasure, is to restore the home to its pristine glory as a sanctuary +of God, a training school for virtue, so that its influence may extend +over the whole of life. + +13. Thus Jewish ethics derives its sanction from the idea of a God of +holiness. But it never made life austere, depriving it of joy, or +begrudging man his cheerfulness and laughter. On the contrary, the Sabbath +and many of the holy days are seasons of joy, for gladness should bring +the spirit of God near to man.(1596) Moreover, the Talmud holds that we +should encourage every means of promoting cheer among men. This is +illustrated by one of the popular legends of the prophet Elijah, who told +the saintly Rabbi Beroka, who prided himself upon his austerity, that his +companions in Paradise were to be two jesters, because they cheered the +depressed and increased the joy in the world.(1597) + +As a matter of fact, the Jewish ideal of holiness is all-inclusive. It +aims to hallow every pursuit and endeavor, all social relations and +activities, insisting only on a pure motive and disinterested service. As +the Ruler of life is the source of all morality, so all of life should be +made holy with duty. Man becomes a child of God through his +responsibility, instead of remaining a mere product of the social forces +about him or of claiming self-sufficient sovereignty and refusing to +acknowledge a higher Will. Jewish ethics is autonomous, because it insists +on the divine spirit in man.(1598) As we follow the divine Pattern of +holiness, all that we have and are, body and soul, weal and woe, wealth +and want, pain and pleasure, life and death, become stepping-stones on the +road to holiness and godliness. Life is like a ladder on which man can +rise from round to round, to come ever nearer to God on high who beckons +him toward ever higher ideals and achievements. Man and humanity are thus +given the potentiality of infinite progress in every direction. Science +and art, industry and commerce, literature and law, every pursuit of man +comes within the scope of religion and ethics. For God’s kingdom of truth, +righteousness and peace, as beheld by Israel’s seers of old, will be fully +established on earth only when all the forces of material, intellectual, +and social life have been unfolded, when all the prophetic ideals, the +visions and aspirations of all the seers of humanity have been realized, +and the Zion heights of human perfection have at last been attained. “The +wise have no rest, neither in this world nor in the world to come, for it +is said: ‘they go from strength to strength, [until] they appear before +God on Zion.’ ”(1599) + + + + + +LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS + + +A. d. R. N. Aboth di Rabbi Nathan +A. T. Altes Testament +Ab. Z. Aboda Zarah +Ag. Agada +Ann. Annotations +Ant. Antiquities (of Josephus) +Ap. Apionem, contra +Apoc. Apocalyptic +Arak. Arakin +Art. Article + +B. Babli (Babylonian) +b. ben +B. B. Baba Bathra +B. H. Beth ha Midrash +B. K. Baba Kamma +B. M. Baba Metzia +Beitr. Beitraege +Ber. Berakoth +Bibl. Bible or Biblical + +C. C. A. R. Central Conference of American Rabbis +Cant. Canticles +Chron. Chronicles +Ch. Chapter +Comm. Commentary, -ies +Comp. Compare +Cor. Corinthians, Epistle to + +Dan. Daniel +Deut. Deuteronomy +Dict. Dictionary + +Eccl. Ecclesiastes +Enc. Encyclopedia + (_a_) Brit. Britannia + (_b_) R. a. Eth.... of Religion and Ethics +Ep. Epistle +Eph. Ephesians, Epistle to +Ethnol. Ethnologische +Ex. Exodus +Ez. Ezekiel + +G. J. Geschichte der Juden (Graetz) +G. Jud. Geschichte des Judenthums (Jost) +G. V. I. Geschichte des Volkes Israel (Schuerer) +Gal. Galatians, Epistle to +Gen. Genesis +Ges. Abh. Gesammelte Abhandlungen +Ges. Schrf. Gesammelte Schriften +Gesch. u. Lit. Geschichte und Literature +Gottesd. Gottesdienstliche + +H. Hilkoth +H. B. Handbuch +H. J. History of Jews (Graetz) +H. U. C. Hebrew Union College +Hab. Habakkuk +Hag. Hagigah +Hist. History +Hor. Horayoth +Hul. Hullin + +Introd. Introduction +Isai. Isaiah +Israel. Israelitisch + +J. Journal +J. E. Jewish Encyclopedia +J. Q. R. Jewish Quarterly Review +J. W. Jewish War (Josephus) +Jahrb. Jahrbuch +Jer. Jeremiah +Jew. Jewish +Josh. Joshua +Jud. Judenthums +Judg. Judges +Jued. Juedisch + +K. A. T. “Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament” +Ker. Kerithoth +Keth. Kethuboth +Kil. Kilayim + +L. Literature +l. c. loco citato, the same place; + libro citato, the same book (for the usual o. c. = opere + citato). +Lam. Lamentations +Lev. Leviticus + +M. K. Moed Katan +Macc. Maccabees, Book of +Maim. Maimonides +Mak. Makkoth +Mal. Malachi +Mas. Masseketh +Meg. Megillah +Mek. Mekiltha +Men. Menahoth +Mid. Midrash +Mtschr. Monatsschrift fuer Geschichte und Wissenschaft des + Judenthums +Mitth. Mittheilungen + +Nachgel-Schr. Nachgelassene Schriften +Neh. Nehemiah +Nid. Niddah +Numb. Numbers + +P. d. R. El. Pirke di Rabbi Eliezer +Pars. Parsisch +Pes. Pesahim, -ee +Pes. R. Pesikta Rabbathi +Pesik. Pesikta di Rab Kahana +Phil. Philosophy or Philosophical +Prov. Proverbs +Prot. Protestantisch +Ps. Psalms +Psych. Psychologisch + +Quel. Quellen + +R. Rabbah, also Rabbi, Rabban +R. h. Sh. Rosh ha Shanah +R. W. B. Real-Woerterbuch +ref. referring or reference +Rel. Religion + +S. O. Seder Olam +s. v. sub verbo +Sam. Samuel +Sanh. Sanhedrin +Sh. A. Shulhan Aruk +Shab. Shabuoth +Sibyl. Sibylline Books +Slav. Slavonic +Soc. Society +Stud. Studien or Studies +Suk. Sukkah +Syst. System or Systematic + +T. d. b. E. Tanna di be Eliahu +Tanh. Tanhuma +Teh. Tehillim +Theol. Theologisch +Tos. Tosefta +Tosaf. Tosafoth + +u. und or ueber + +W. B. Woerterbuch +Wiss. Wissenschaft or Wissenschaftlich + +Yalk. Yalkut +Y. B. Yearbook +Yeb. Yebamoth +Yer. Yerushalmi + +Zech. Zechariah +Zeitschr. Zeitschrift + + + + + +INDEX + + +Aaronites, 344 f. + +Ab, Ninth of, 461, 469 + +Abba Areka + _See_ Rab + +Abbahu, 153, 422 + +Abelson, 245, 271, 422 + +Ablat, 403 + +Abraham, 32, 62, 65 f., 112, 114, 219, 259, 292, 329, 336 f., 417 + +Abraham ben David of Posquieres, 14, 81, 237, 387 + +Abraham ibn Daud, 22, 68, 136, 178, 292 + +Abraham Ibn Ezra, 97, 152, 188, 190, 194, 273 + +Abrahams, Israel, 192, 346, 348 + +Abravanel, Isaac, 27 + +Abstinence + _See_ Asceticism + +Abulafia, Abr., 431 + +Adam, 222-230, 244, 252; heavenly, 437 + +Adonai, 59, 61, 221 f., 359 + +Affliction, 130 + +Ahha, R., 224 + +Ahriman, 301, 382 f. + +Akiba, R., 14, 26, 32, 50, 126, 130 f., 150, 176, 216, 222, 232, 257, 259, + 311, 361, 467 + +Albo, Joseph, 24-26, 163 f., 272 f., 294, 309-339 + +Alenu, 57, 331, 341, 477 + +Alfarabi, 68 + +Allegory, 116, 224, 268 + +Alpha and Omega, 137 + +Altruism, 482 + +Am haaretz, 347, 358 + +Amos, 248, 264, 324 + +Anaxoras, 37, 67, 84 + +Angels, 81, 180-188 + +Anger + _See_ Wrath + +Animals, 489 + +Anselm of Canterbury, 68 + +Anthropology, 204 + +Anthropomorphism, 74-76, 115 f. + +Antigonos of Soko, 480 + +Antinomian, 428, 439 + +Antoninus, 403, 422 + +Apicoros—Epicurean, 21, 65 + +Apocalyptic books, 12 f. 232 f., 283 + +Apocryphal books, 12 f. + +Apologetics, 4 + +Apostate, 6, 424 f. + +Apostles, 435 + +Apostolic convention, 436 + +Aquilas, 286, 421 + +Arelim, 402 + +Aristeas, 347 + +Aristotelian, 38, 68, 75, 89, 153, 162, 172, 291 + +Aristotle, 1, 67, 84, 87, 152, 215, 359, 405 + +Arnold, Matthew, 121, 131 + +Art, 480 f. + +Articles of faith, 19-28 + +Aryan, 9, 58 + +Asceticism, 150, 189, 318, 490 + +Asenath, 416 + +Assimilation, 12, 396 + +Atheism, 65, 67 + +Atonement, 254 + +Atonement, Day of, 466-469 + +Attributes of God + _See_ God + +Aub, Joseph, 446 + +Autonomy of morality, 491 + +Azazel, 190, 194, 466 + +Azkarah, 263 + +Babylonian, 11, 15, 75, 118, 128, 140, 181, 220, 240, 356 + +Bacher, W., 76 + +Bahya ben Asher, 486 + +Bahya b. Joseph ibn Pakudah, 3, 68, 175, 291, 473 + +Banquet of the pious in the future, 305 + +Baptism, 417, 436 + +Bar Kochba, 361, 384, 385 + +Bathing + _See_ Baptism + +Bath Kol, 201 + +Beck, L., 15 + +Beecher, W. J., 42 + +Belief, 20, 65 + _See also_ Faith + +Ben Azzai, 124, 311, 480 + +Ben Sira, 13, 40, 232, 282, and elsewhere + +Ben Zoma, 312 + +Benedictions, Eighteen, 135, 192, 284, 297 + +Benevolence, 319, 485 + +Bentwich, N., 140, 290 + +Bergson, H., 71, 154 + +Bernays, J., 49, 412 + +Beroka, R., 490 + +Berosus, 213 + +Bertholet, A., 409 + +Beruria, 110, 396 + +Bezold, C., 194 + +Biblical canon, 11, 43, 201 + +Bloch, M., 12 + +Bloch, Ph., 23, 236 + +Blood, 48, 123 + +Body, 209, 214 + +Boeklen, E., 302 f. + +Bousset, W., 19, 43 f., 61 f., 74, 84, 123, 128, 143 f., 185, 195, 246, + 252, 303 + +Breath of life, 212 + +Brugsch, H., 288 + +Buddha, 405, 478 + +Cabbalah, 203, 244, 294, 473 + +Calendar, Jewish, 460 + +Calvin, 195 + +Caro, Joseph, 56 + +Cassel, D., 214, 236, 489 + +Celibacy, 313, 316 + +Ceremonies, 346, 449 ff. + +Charles, R. H., 283 + +Cheerfulness, 318, 490 + +Cheyne, T. K., 409 + +Christian Science, 178 + +Christian theology, 5, 123, 192, 248, 252 f., 304, 347, 355 + +Christian trinity, 56, 86, 116 f., 441 f. + +Christianity, 17, 41, 54, 116, 329, 427 + +Christianity, Paulinian, 12, 51, 116, 439 + +Christ(os), 86, 221, 433, 437 + +Church’s providential mission, 444 + +Circumcision, 50, 346, 402, 416, 449 f. + +Civilization, 316 + +Clemens, Flavius, 421 + +Cohen, Hermann, 196 + +Commerce, Jewish, 364 + +Compassion of God + _See_ God + +Compassion of man, 126 + +Condescension of God + _See_ God + +Confession, 5, 20, 192 + +Confirmation, 449, 463, 473 + +Confucius, 405, 478 + +Conscience, 30, 64 + +Consciousness, Man’s, of God, 29 + +Continuity of soul + _See_ Immortality + +Continuity with the past, 14 + +Conversion, 418, 423 + +Cosmogony, 148 f. + +Cosmology, 141 + +Cosmos, 68, 146 + +Covenant, God’s, 48, 51, 157-161, 235-270, 322 + +Creation, 147-153 + +Creative principles, 203 + +Credo, 22-25, 31 + +Crescas, Hasdai, 24 f., 131, 163, 172, 194, 236 f., 293, 308 f. + +Critical research of Bible + _See_ Historical research + +Cross, 438 + +Culture, 310, 363 + +Curtiss, S. I., 454 + +Cuzari + _See_ Jehuda ha Levi + +Cyrus, 85, 334 + +Dama ben Nethina, 399 + +Daniel, 288 + +Darwin, 154 + +David, 242, 291 + +David ben Zimra, 27 + +Davidson, A. B., 83, 115 f., 139, 167, 182 f., 247, 370 + +Day of judgment, 394 + +Day of the Lord + _See_ JHVH, Day of + +Death, 85, 177, 278 f. + +Deism, 79 + +Delitzsch, Fried., 6 + +Dembitz, L. N., 269 + +Demons, 190 ff. + +Descartes, 68 + +Determinism, 255, 330 + +Deutero-Isaiah, 51, 85, 267, 336, 369 + +Dietary laws, 346, 451 f. + +Dillmann, A., 30 f., 59, 83 ff., 157 ff., 231 + +Doctrine, 47 + +Doellinger, J. J. I. v., 54 + +Dorner, A., 6, 18 + +Dosithean, 13 + +Draper, J. W., 88 + +Drummond, J., 69, 72 f., 99 f. + +Dualism, 85 f., 178, 184, 189, 214, 220, 438 + +Dubno, S., 7 + +Duran, Simon, 24 + +Duty, 478 + +Duty to fellow man, 319, 484 + +Duty to self, 482 + +Ecclesiastical, 5, 16 + +Ecstasy, 38 + +Edom—Rome, 430 + +Einhorn, David, viii, 389, 446, 453 f., 461 + +Elbogen, I., 269 + +Eleazar ben Pedath, 329 + +Election of Israel + _See_ Israel + +Eliezer ben Hyrcanos, 50, 257, 305, 316, 403, 419 + +Elijah, 46, 49 + +Elisha ben Abuyah, 118 + +Elohim, 57 f., 180 f., 210, 405 + +Emden, Jacob, 427 + +Enoch, 232, 336 + +Eschatology + _See_ Future life + +Eschelbacher, J., 15 + +Essenes, 12, 40, 163, 183, 185, 191, 316, 419, 434, 481, 489 f. + +Eternity, 98 f. + +Ethics, 69, 120, 398, 477, 491 + +Euken, R., 195 + +Evil, 176, 179 + +Evil, Spirits of, 189-196 + +Evolution, 11, 36, 100 + +Exile, Babylonian, 10 f., 266 + +Ezekiel, 13, 105, 221, 249, 283, 299, 337 f., 345, 392 f. + +Ezra, 10 f., 17 + +Faith, 19 f. + +Faithfulness of God + _See_ God + +Faithfulness of Israel + _See_ Israel + +Falashas, 13, 457 + +Family life, 316 + +Fasting, 483 + +Fate, 168 + +Fatherhood of God, 256-260 + +Fear of God, 29 + +Feast of Weeks + _See_ Shabuoth + +Felsenthal, B., 19 + +Festivals, 461-470 + +Finality, 6, 475 f. + +Finkelscherer, 194 + +Flesh, 212 + +Formalism, 351, 473 + +Foster, 62, 271 + +Frankel, Z., 3, 43 + +Frederick II, 444 + +Freedom of will, 171 f., 231, 237 + +Friedlander, G., 438 + +Friendship, 318 + +Future life, 281-308 + +Gabirol, Solomon Ibn, 80, 89, 98, 141, 187 + +Gamaliel, 77, 97, 129, 152, 289 + +Gehenna, 110 + +Geiger, Abraham, viii, 2, 12, 14 ff., 35, 43, 58, 110, 201, 446, 453, 472 + +Genius, 35, 103 + +Ger, 50, 409 ff. + _See also_ Proselyte + +Gershom ben Jehuda, 472 + +Gersonides, 13, 156, 194, 236 + +Ginzberg, Asher, 7 + +Gnosticism, 86, 141, 153, 427 + +God, 52-145 + +God no abstraction, 78, 143 + +God of the fathers, 16 + +God’s, condescension, 72, 81, 142-144 + essence, 72-81 + eternity, 98-100 + existence, 64-71 + faithfulness, 134-137 + fatherhood, 256-260 + foreknowledge, 105, 167 + goodness, 126, 132 + grace, 114 f., 246 f. + holiness, 100-109, 149 f. + immanence, 79 f., 98 + incorporeality + _See_ Spirituality + jealousy, 54, 83, 105 + justice, 118, 125 + kingdom + _See_ Kingdom of God + knowledge, 138-141 + mercy, 113 + names, 58, 63, 291 + omnipotence, 91-95 + omnipresence, 96-98 + omniscience, 93-95 + personality, 73-76, 98, 106, 144 + relation to the world, 146-151 + self-consciousness, 73 + spirit, 97-200; in man, 216-230 + spirituality, 22, 74-78 + supermundaneity, 99 + transcendence, 74 f., 100 + truthfulness, 134-137 + unity, 82-90, 96 f., 105 + wisdom, 138 f. + wrath and punishment, 107 + +God-childship, Man’s, 27 + +God-consciousness, Man’s, 29-31 + +Gods, Heathen, 53, 113, 136, 177 + +Goel, 256 + +Gog and Magog, 381, 383 + +Golden rule, 484 + +Goldziher, I., 22, 441 + +Goodness, 126, 132, 150 + +Goy, 400 + +Grace of God + _See_ God + +Graetz, H., 7, 43, 416, 472 + +Greek church, 429 + ethics, 443 + philosophy, 12, 23, 66 f., 84 f., 315 + wisdom, 336 + +Gressmann, H., 378 + +Guedemann, M., 42, 355 + +Guttmann, J., 22, 306 + +Habakkuk, 334 + +Haftarah, 357 + +Haggada and Halakah, 12 f. + +Hananel, R., 21 + +Haninah ben Dosa, 163, 165, 273 + +Hanukkah, 409 + +Harnack, A., 413 + +Harper, R. F., 190 + +Hartmann, E. v., 78 + +Hasidim and Hasidean, 62, 127, 163, 266 f., 283, 289, 308, 344, 481 + +Hatred, 398 + +Heathenism, 52, 57, 83 f., 176, 399 f., 405 + +Hebrew, 16, 470 f. + +Helbo, R., 421 + +Helen of Adiabene, 416 + +Hellenism, 23, 335 + +Hellenistic Judaism, 233, 289, 303, 339, 414 + literature, 12, 258 + philosophy, 232 + propaganda, 251 f., 334, 415 f., 436 + +Herford, R. T., 439 + +Hezekiah, 281 + +Hillel, 127, 209, 304, 335, 360, 418, 423, 481 ff. + +Hillel, R., 388 + +Hillul and Kiddush hashem, 348 f. + +Hirsch, E. G., 19, 458, 480 + +Hirsch, Samson Raphael, 269, 453 + +Hirsch, S. A., 407 + +Hirsch, Samuel, viii, 446 + +Historical research, 4, 12, 46 + +Hochmuth, A., 23 f. + +Holdheim, Samuel, viii, 462 + +Holiness, 102, 109, 477 f., 491 + +Holiness, God’s + _See_ God + +Holiness, Levitical, 104 + +Holy Land + _See_ Palestine + +Holy spirit, 11, 200 f. + +Horowitz, S., 22 f., 37 + +Horwitz, Sabbathai, 14 + +Hosea, 29, 49, 114 f., 249, 257, 264, 324, 333 + +Humanity, 51, 310, 315, 398, 475 + +Husik, 37, 68 ff., 214 f., 291 f. + +Ibn Daud + _See_ Abraham ibn Daud + +Ibn Ezra + _See_ Abraham Ibn Ezra + +Ibn Sina, 68 + +Ibn Verga, 431 + +Ihering, R. v., 409 + +Imitatio Dei, 477, 479, 490 + +Immanence of God + _See_ God + +Immortality, 24, 286, 297 + +Individual man, 310 + +Industry, 317 + +Inspiration, 39 f. + +Institution of the synagogue + _See_ Synagogue + +Intercession, 200 f., 406 f. + +Intermarriage, 444 f. + +Intermediary powers, 197-205 + +Internationalism, 321 f. + +Intolerance, 404 f. + +Isaac ben Shesheth, 171, 427 + +Isaac Napaha, 428 + +Isaiah, 244, 264, 328, 333, 397 + +Ishmael, 430 + +Islam, 17, 41, 86 f., 329, 427, 441 f. + +Islam’s mission, 444 + +Israel, 389 f., 397 + +Israel’s, characteristics, 326 f. + commerce, 364 + consecration, 37 + election, 37, 323-330 + hope, 378-391, 392-396 + martyrdom, 33, 130, 349, 367-377 + mission, 328-341, 352-354 + cultural, 363 + priesthood, 342-343 + prophetic genius, 39, 103, 122, 372 + relation to the nations, 9, 397-407 + separateness, 8, 347 f., 364, 374, 445 f., 452 + world-duty, 16 + +JHVH—Jahveh, 45, 59, 63, 72, 114, 117, 202, 280 + +JHVH, Day of, 122 + +James, Wm., 271 + +Jastrow, J., 296 + +Jastrow, Morris, 128 + +Jealousy of God + _See_ God + +Jehuda ha Levi, 25, 38, 70, 105, 110, 141, 163, 187, 194, 228, 291, 329, + 339, 426, 431, 475 + +Jehuda ha Nasi, 128, 302, 305, 403 + +Jellinek, 210 + +Jeremiah, 30, 45, 126, 249, 252, 257, 265, 320, 410 + +Jerusalem, 335, 365, 423 + +Jesus of Nazareth, 46, 433 f. + +Jew and Jewry, 7 f., 359, 364, 376 + +Jew hatred, 9 + +Jewish nationality, 8 + +Jewish religion + _See_ Judaism + +Job, 32, 124, 281, 319, 370, 372, 484 + +Joel, 250 + +Joel, D., 187 + +Joel, M., 3, 86, 131, 161, 163, 196, 307 f. + +Johanan, R., 79, 306, 309, 327 + +Johanan ben Zakkai, 222, 258, 403 + +John the Baptist, 434 + +John Hyrcanus, 419 + +Jonah, 127, 250 + +Jose, R., 46, 227 + +Joseph Ibn Zaddik, 136 + +Joseph, Morris, 116, 179, 405, 420, 453 f., 458, 489 + +Josephus, 21, 46 f., 137, 233, 405, 413, 420 + +Joshua ben Hananiah, 77, 305, 340, 422, 432, 453, 455 + +Jost, M., 7 + +Joy of life, 318, 490 + +Juda Ibn Balag, 144 + +Judæo-Christians, 427 f., 439 + +Judaism, Modern or progressive, 51, 104, 342, 364, 422, 445 + +Judaism, Rabbinic, 143 + +Judan, R., 186 + +Justice, 118-124, 485 f. + +Justice, Social, 122, 487 + +Kaddish, 304, 331 + +Kant, Immanuel, 65, 69, 189 + +Karaites, 22, 87, 475 + +Kaufmann, David, 22 f., 68 f., 80, 97, 105, 153, 195 ff. + +Kedusha, 192 + +Kiddush hashem, 348 f. + +Kingdom of God, 331-341, 491 + +Klein, J., 412, 436, 482 + +Knowledge of God, 29 + +Knowledge, God’s + _See_ God + +Koeberle, 117 + +Koheleth, 124 + +Kohler, K., 20, 32, 44, 267, 304, 405, 438, 447, 453 f. + +Kohler, M. J., 409 + +Kohut, Alex., 42, 199 + +Krauskopf, J., 443 + +Kremer, A. v., 22, 87 + +Kuenen, A., 337 + +Labor, 224, 317 + +Lame and blind parable, 302 + +Landsberg, M., 473 + +Lange, F. A., 87 + +Lauterbach, J. Z., 439, 482 ff., 486 + +Law, 45-47, 355-358 + +Lazarus, L., 106 + +Lazarus, M., 14, 101, 106, 349, 477 f. + +Lecky, W. E. H., 345, 364, 443 + +Leo Hebraeus, 131 + +Leo da Modena, 14 + +Lessing, E. G., 430 + +Levi, R., 268 + +Levkovits, M., 178 + +Life a battle, 282 + +Loew, Leopold, 22, 27, 472 + +Loewe ben Bezalel, 228 + +Logos, 198 f. + +Love, 31 f., 121, 126-131, 484 + +Love, God’s + _See_ God + +Loyalty to country, 319 f. + +Luria, Isaac, 14 + +Luther, Martin, 195 + +Luz, 288 + +Luzzatto, S. D., 23, 30 + +Maimonides, 3, 13, 22 f., 30, 38, 72, 87, 110, 138, 153, 162, 170, 178, + 187, 194, 224, 228, 236 f., 268, 272, 307 f., 321, 339, 386 + f., 404, 426 + +Makom, 62, 97 + +Malachi, 249, 263 + +Man, 182, 206-232 + +Man, child of God, 256, 260, 310 + +Man’s, brotherhood, 314, 321 + dual nature, 212-217 + destiny and origin, 218-230 + fall, 221-225 + freedom of will, 208, 231-237 + individuality, 208 + perfectibility, 210, 491 + self-consciousness, 35, 216 + +Manasseh, King, 211, 251 + +Manasseh ben Israel, 339 + +Mankind, 310-315 + +Margolis, Max, 2 + +Martyrdom of Israel + _See_ Israel + +Mazdaism + _See_ Persian + +Measure for measure, 124 + +Medieval Jewry, 361 f., 376, 386, 455 + +Meir, R., 77, 151, 154, 258, 260, 273, 356, 403, 450, 453 + +Memra + _See_ Logos + +Mendelssohn, M., vii, 19, 30, 68, 142, 165, 295 + +Mercy of God + _See_ God + +Merkabah, 187 + +Messianic hope, 8, 334 f., 378, 389, 445 + +Messianic kingdom, 426 + +Messiah, 25, 333 f., 373, 382 f., 389, 400 + +Metaphysical, 65, 100, 105 + +Metatron—Mithras, 185, 199 + +Micah, 218, 328 + +Microcosm, 209 + +Mielziner, M., 446 + +Mill, John Stuart, 181 + +Milton, J., 195 + +Minim—Heretics, 86, 424 ff. + +Miracle, 36, 160-166 + +Misanthropy, 9, 398 + +Mission of Israel + _See_ Israel + +Modesty, 490 + +Mohammed, 429 f., 441 f. + +Mohammedan religion + _See_ Islam + +Mohammedan theology, 2, 24, 37, 68, 87, 141, 162, 171, 236 + +Monotheism, 55-183 + Absolute, 428 + Ethical, 23, 54, 69, 415 + +Montefiore, Claude G., 43, 246, 348, 438, 449 + +Month, 459 + +Moral order, 119-123 + +Morgenstern, J., 239 + +Mosaic code, 335, 345, 414 + cult, 263-268 + law, 13, 16, 26, 104 + +Mosaism, 283 + +Moses, 35-37, 46, 113 f., 228, 232 ff., 240 f. + +Mueller, Max, 58 + +Mutuality, 488 + +Mysticism and mystics, 3, 14, 36, 89, 131, 136, 157, 473 + +Naaman, 414 + +Nahmanides, 194, 224, 244, 294, 307, 426 + +Nahum of Gimzo, 151, 163 + +Names of God, 58-63 + +Nationalism, Jewish, 13 f., 335 + +Nationality, Jewish, 8 + +Nature, 148, 156 + +Nature’s laws, 135, 187 + +Neoplatonism, 2, 37, 87, 92 + +Nestorians, 443 + +Nether world, 279 + _See also_ Sheol + +Neumark, David, 19, 22, 70, 92, 98, 172, 284, 297, 406 + +New Year’s Day, 465-468 + +Nieto, David, 80 + +Nirvana, 479 + +Noah, 336, 452 + +Noahitic laws, 48-51, 110, 404, 412 f., 427 + +Nomism, 13, 44, 355 + +Nomos—Law, 43 + +Oath, 120 + +Objective and subjective truths, 3 + +Œnomaos of Gadara, 403 + +Onias the Saint, 165, 268, 273 + +Ontological proof + _See_ God’s existence + +Optimism, 132, 179, 251 + +Order, Moral, of the world, 167 + +Orientalism, 470 f. + +Origin, 374 + +Orthodoxy, 11, 46 + +Otherworldliness, 124, 352, 395, 440, 489 + +Pain, 176 + +Palestine, 3, 38, 335, 394 + +Pantheism, 80 + +Paradise legend, 177, 207, 219, 278 + +Parseeism + _See_ Persian + +Particularism, 446 + +Passover, 461 f. + +Patriotism, 320 + +Paul and Paulinian dogma, 25, 50 f., 116, 21, 259, 355, 417, 428, 437, 440 + +Peace, 379, 491 + +Pentecost miracle, 359 + +Perles, F., 350 + +Persian, 85, 140, 184-191, 283 ff., 300 f. + +Personality of God + _See_ God + +Pessimism, 150, 439 f. + +Pharaoh, 55 + +Pharisaic and Pharisees, 12, 20, 189, 233 f., 283 f., 302, 344 f., 413, + 418, 439, 457 + +Philanthropy, 486 f. + +Philippson, Ludwig, 165, 210, 444, 446 + +Philipson, David, 269, 297, 389, 446, 458 + +Philo, 21, 67, 72, 80, 186, 189, 194, 198, 203, 214 f., 233 f., 268, 290, + 294, 351, 405, 413, 423, 439, 452, 457, 485 + +Philosophy, Greek, 66 + Hindoo, 209 + Jewish, 2 + +Philosophy of religion, 70 + +Phineas ben Yair, 163, 165 + +Phylacteries + _See_ Tefillin + +Plato, 84, 209 f., 215, 405 + +Platonism, 141, 285, 289 f. + +Ploss, H., 449 f. + +Porter, F. Ch., 215 + +Prayer, 261-277 + +Predetermination, 232 + +Preëxistence of the Soul, 289 + +Priest, 343 f. + +Priest code, 263, 351 + +Priest, High, 317, 466 + +Priesthood of Israel + _See_ Israel + +Profanation of name + _See_ Hillul ha Shem + +Propaganda, 51, 412-419 + +Prophecy, 35, 38 + +Prophetic books, 42 + +Proselyte, 336 f., 411-423 + +Protestantism, 363 + +Providence, 167-175 + +Psalmist, 10, 13, 60, 265, 299, 309,480 + +Psychology, 187, 204 + +Ptolemy Philadelphus, 347 + +Punishment, Divine + _See_ Retribution + +Purgatory, 304 + +Purim, 470 + +Purity, 146, 153, 291, 490 + +Pythagoras, 146, 291 + +Rab-Abba Areka, 203, 305 f. + +Rabba, 428 + +Rabbinism, 283 + +Radin, M., 416 + +Rashi, 312, 388 + +Rationalism, 13, 38, 89, 450, 474 + +Rauwenhoff, L. W. E., 2, 65, 101, 106 + +Redemption, Religion of, 17, 195 + +Reform Judaism, 269, 330, 340, 389 + +Reform liturgy, 269, 297, 340, 389, 469 + +Reformation, 363, 444 + +Reizenstein, R., 310 + +Religion, Absolute, 19 + +Religion’s unifying power, 15, 315, 321, 491 + +Repentance, 246, 257 + +Responsibility, 233 f., 246, 255, 337, 488-491 + +Resurrection, 282-285, 292, 297 f., 392, 396 + +Retribution, 107-111, 298 + +Revelation, 23, 34, 41, 147 + +Reward and punishment + _See_ Retribution + +Rhode, E., 290 + +Ritschl, A. B., 74 + +Ritualism, 13 + +Roman church, 428 f. + +Rome, 401 + +Rosenau, Wm., 447 + +Rosin, D., 30 + +Ruth, 336, 417 + +Saadia, 68, 97, 162, 187, 194, 224, 236, 274, 290, 307 + +Sabbath, 50, 346, 455-460 + +Sachs, M., 80, 89, 141 + +Sacrament, 448 + +Sacrifice, 261-270 + +Sadduceeism and Sadducees, 12 f., 127, 284, 300, 434, 439, 456 + +Salvation, 5, 20, 258, 402 + +Samaritans, 13, 373, 420, 454 + +Samuel, 241 + +Samuel of Nehardea, 127, 320, 386, 403, 420 + +Sanctification of the name, 484 + +Satan, 86, 189-195, 300 + +Schechter, S., 3, 6, 13, 19, 27, 76, 78, 145, 208, 223, 239, 263, 275, + 323, 348, 455, 458 + +Scheyer, S., 214, 292 + +Schiller, Fr., 132 + +Schlesinger, W. and L., 19 + +Schmiedl, 37, 90 ff., 155 f., 197 ff., 393 + +Schreiber, E., 27 + +Schreiner, M., 19, 78, 103, 431 + +Schuerer, E., 159, 410, 413, 416, 448 + +Schulman, S., 364, 445 + +Science, Modern, 128, 139, 147 f., 215 + +Scripture, 11, 40, 43 + +Seeberg, A., 412, 436 + +Sefiroth, Ten, 203 + +Self-conquest, 483 + +Self-elevation _versus_ self-extinction, 479 + +Seligman, C., 71, 155, 179 + +Semikah, 12 + +Semites and Semitic, 68, 104, 347 + +Sermon on the Mount, 438 + +Serpent, 193, 221 f. + +Servant of the Lord, 324, 367-375 + +Seventy languages, 359 + +Seventy nations, 403, 464 + +Shabuoth—Feast of the Weeks, 462 + +Shaddai, 59 + +Shammai and Shammaite, 235, 335, 418 f. + +Shekinah, 46, 97, 183, 197, 204 + +Shema, 20, 57, 61, 426 + +Sheol, 279 f. + _See also_ Nether world + +Siegfried, C., 80 f., 203 + +Simeon ben Eleazar, 416 + +Simeon ben Gamaliel, 418 + +Simeon ben Lakish, 306 + +Simeon ben Shetach, 350 + +Simeon ben Yohai, 163, 349 + +Simhat Torah, 464 + +Simlai, R., 27, 287, 319, 356 + +Simon the Just, 345, 357 + +Sin, 231-345 + +Sin, Original, 221-223, 244 + +Sinai, 53, 60 + +Slavery, 42, 146 + +Smith, W. R., 58, 409 + +Sociability, 318 + +Social justice, 487 + +Society, 318 f. + +Socrates, 37, 405 + +Solomon ben Adret, 426 + +Soul, 24, 212 f., 286 f. + +Spiegel, F., 63 + +Spinoza, B., 80, 131, 309 + +Spirit of God + _See_ God + +Spirit, Holy, 11 + +Spirituality of God + _See_ God + +Spitta, F., 434 + +Stade, B., 42 + +Stanley, A. P., 454 + +State, Duty to the, 319 + +Stave, E., 302 + +Stein, L., 340, 389 + +Steinschneider, M., 273, 430 f. + +Steinthal, H., 146 + +Stoics, 110, 198, 315 + +Stranger, 408-411 + +Strauss, D. F., 19, 67 f., 74, 83 f., 96 f., 101 f., 119, 153 f., 195 + +Suffering, 130 + +Suffering, Israel’s + _See_ Martyrdom + +Suicide, 484 + +Sukkoth festival, 463 + +Sunday, 451 f., 459 + +Symbolum Apostolicum, 5 + +Synagogal liturgy and worship, 277, 284, 288, 389, 514 + +Synagogue, 447, 475 + +Synagogue, Men of the Great, 40, 79, 201 + +Tabernacles, Feast of + _See_ Sukkoth + +Taëb, 373 + +Tallith, 454 + +Tamar, 417 + +Tefillin, 346, 453 f. + +Teleological proof + _See_ God’s existence + +Temple, Destruction of + _See_ Ab, Ninth of + +Teshubah + _See_ Repentance Theism, 8 + +Theocracy, 342 + +Theology, 1-6 + +Theology, Christian, 5-6, 342 + +Theology, Mohammedan + _See_ Mohammedan + +This-worldliness, Jewish, 17, 124, 477 + +Tihamat, 193, 220 + +Time, 99 + +Torah, 11, 23, 42-47, 199, 354 ff. + +Torah, Reading from the, 470 + +Toy, C. H., 480 + +Tradition, 12, 14, 43, 46 + +Transcendentalism, 143 + +Trinity + _See_ Christian trinity + +Trumbull, H. Clay, 461 + +Truth, 136 + +Truthfulness of God + _See_ God + +Tylor, E. B., 286, 449 + +Unifying power, 15 + +Unity of God, 82-90 + of man, 321, 339 f. + of the cosmos, 149 + +Univeralism, 8, 13, 48, 51, 396, 445 + +Universe, 146 + +Values of life, 489 + +Vernacular, 357 + +Virtue, Hereditary, 328, 406, 489 + +Vision, Prophetic + _See_ Prophecy + +Water libation, 464 + +Weber, F., 45, 61, 78, 86, 117, 123, 126, 143, 145, 223, 246, 252, 361 + +Weiss, Isaac Hirsch, 43, 54 + +Wells, H. G., 71 + +White, Andrew D., 443 + +Will, Freedom of, 138 f., 199 + +Windelband-Tufts, 67 ff., 290 + +Windishman, Fr., 305 + +Wisdom, 45, 140 + +Wisdom of God + _See_ God + +Wisdom, Book of, 66 + +Wisdom literature, 60 + +Wise, Isaac M., 423, 473 + +Woman, 222, 472 f. + +World, Infinitude of, 154, 159 + Moral government of, 171 f. + Order of, 157 + +Worlds, Two, 159 + +Wrath of God + _See_ God + +Wuensche, A., 430, 439 + +Xenophanes, 84 + +Yavan, 424 + +Yethro, 417 + +Yezer ha ra and ha tob, 193, 215, 223, 239 + +Zealot, 12, 334, 360 + +Zebulon and Issachar, 364 + +Zechariah, 249, 334, 410, 464 + +Zedakah, 121, 486 + +Zekuth Aboth, 406 + +Zeller, E., 310 + +Zerubbabel, 330, 370, 380 + +Zidduk ha Din, 125 + +Zimmels, 131 + +Zimmern, H., 103, 170 + +Zionism, 390, 395 + +Zizith, 454 + +Zoroastrianism + _See_ Persian + +Zunz, Leopold, 41, 43, 367, 450, 471 + + + + + +The following pages contain advertisements of a few of the Macmillan books +on kindred subjects. + +Zionism and the Jewish Future + +_BY VARIOUS WRITERS_ + +EDITED BY HARRY SACHER + +_Cloth, 12mo, $1.00_ + +“This volume should be read by Zionists so that they should become more +familiar with what even some of them know more or less imperfectly. It +should be carefully perused by non- and anti-Zionists so that they may +become informed with a subject which many of them are inclined to censure +without any knowledge of that which they are censuring.”—_B’na B’rith +Messenger._ + + ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ + +“ ‘Zionism and the Jewish Future’ is one of the most illuminating of all +the serious-minded books of the year. If we belonged to the Hebrew race we +would first master all that is said about Palestine and the movement to +restore it to a living place among the Nations. Next, we would go to the +Great Jewish Encyclopedia, and look up everything connected with the +subject,—also the fifteen or more writers who have made this book. Lastly, +if we agreed with the movement, we would get in line at once. Note in +especial the bibliography of the whole matter (Appendix 4). + +“Zionism looks ‘forward, not backward,’ and the vast hope behind it is one +that will help the non-Jewish world as much as the children of Abraham. +May Israel yet have a Hebrew University in Jerusalem. They are right—these +idealists. Palestine ‘is essentially the land of religious influences and +spiritual association,’ and also of ‘political and geographical +importance.’ The problems in all this are fairly met and fully discussed +in this book, which Dr. H. Sacher edits. + +“And how is the Gentile to approach the subject? With a perfectly open +mind on all its economic, historical and religious questions. If taken up +in this way the book grows on one; it presents wholly reasonable +aspirations which all right-minded people can endorse and will desire to +aid as far as practicable. To have a ‘perfectly open mind’ is to take up +the problems of these earnest people who discuss ‘Zionism’ as our friends, +our neighbors, our fellow-workers. Don’t be ‘tolerant’ or patronizing +towards Jew or Gentile, American, European, Asiatic, African or Islander. +We are ‘all of one blood.’ + +“One of the best of Californian novelists, who has enjoyed the book, +writes as follows: + +“ ‘It is an excellent round-up and exposition of all the vagrant—and +vague—theories and history of the subject. It makes the evolution and +logical being of the question perfectly clear. Whereas in most Jewish +minds Zionism means a belief in Palestine as the native soil of all Jews +and the refuge for the oppressed, the motive here expressed is that by +drawing the Jewish soul to its ancient Fatherland, it will create a +spiritual center for all Jewry.’ ”—_Daily Fresno Republican._ + +The Macmillan Company +Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York + +*Jewish Philanthropy* + +_An Exposition Of Principles And Methods Of Jewish Social Service In The +United States_ + +BY BORIS D. BOGEN, PH.D. + +_Cloth, 12mo, $2.00_ + +This book is an attempt to meet the demand on the part of those who are +engaged in or are interested in Jewish social service, for a statement of +the principles evolved through the experience of the last two decades in +various philanthropic efforts of the Jews of this country. It is primarily +a compilation of the different ideas expressed by the leaders of the +movements, as well as a presentation of the actual practical experiences +that were met in the different lines of philanthropic activity. + +As the first attempt in this direction the work will render a great +service in clarifying the indefinite views in vogue at present among +Jewish Social workers. + +Contents + +INTRODUCTION—The Extent and Scope of Jewish Philanthropy. Dependency Among +Jews. Charity Among Jews. National Organizations. Methods of Fund Raising +for Jewish Philanthropic Agencies. Transients. The Immigration Problem. +Distribution. The Back to the Soil Movement. Resident-Dependents. +Dependent Women and Children. Insufficiency of Income. Standards of +Relief. Education and Social Organizations. The Education of Immigrants. +Jewish Settlements and Neighborhood Work. Organization and Administration. +Volunteer Service. Administration. The Federation and the Synagogue. +Bibliography. Index. + + ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ + +The Macmillan Company +Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York + +*A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy* + +BY ISAAC HUSIK + +Assistant Professor of Philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania + +_Cloth, octavo, l + 452 pages, $3.00_ + +The first complete history of mediæval Jewish rationalistic philosophy for +both the student and the general reader which has as yet been written in +any modern tongue. + +The story is told simply and interestingly. Dr. Husik is gifted with the +faculty of clear insight and he has succeeded in grasping and in +exhibiting in a very readable manner the essential nature of the various +problems treated and the gist of the solutions offered by the different +Jewish philosophers discussed. The author has not attempted to read into +the mediæval thinkers modern ideas which were foreign to them. He has +endeavored to interpret their ideas from their own point of view as +determined by their history and environment, and the literary sources, +religious and philosophical, under the influence of which they came. It is +an objective and not too critical exposition of Jewish rationalistic +thought in the middle ages. + +In the words of an eminent reviewer, “To have compressed a comprehensive +discussion of five centuries of earnest and productive thought upon the +greatest of themes into a book of less than four hundred and fifty pages +is an achievement upon which any author may be congratulated. To have done +the work so well and in particular to have expressed profound reflections +upon abstruse problems in a style so limpid, so fluent, so readily +understood is to have placed all who are interested in thought and +thinkers under great obligation. That an American-Jewish scholar should +have produced a pioneer work that must, for a long time to come, be the +authority in its field is a subject of felicitation to all who have at +heart the perpetuation of Jewish learning in America.” + + ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ + +The Macmillan Company +Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York + +Studies in Judaism + +BY RABBI SOLOMON SCHECHTER, LITT.D. + +The author is President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America +since 1902; formerly Reader in Talmudic, Cambridge University, and +Professor of Hebrew, University College of London, 1898-1902. + +_Cloth, 12mo, 366 pages, $1.50_ + +“The book is, to our mind, the best on this subject ever written. The +author condenses a literature of several thousand pages into 564 pages, +and presents to us his history in a splendid English and splendid order. +This work deserves the highest appreciation, and without the slightest +hesitation do we recommend it to the public at large, and more especially +to our co-religionists in this country.” + +_—Jewish Tribune._ + +_Contents_ + +INTRODUCTION. + +1. THE CHASSIDIM. + +2. NACHMAN KROCHMAL AND THE “PERPLEXITIES OF THE TIME.” + +3. RABBI ELIJAH WILNA, GAON. + +4. NACHMANIDES. + +5. A JEWISH BOSWELL. + +6. THE DOGMAS OF JUDAISM. + +7. THE HISTORY OF JEWISH TRADITION. + +8. THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION IN RABBINICAL LITERATURE. + +9. THE LAW AND RECENT CRITICISM. + +10. THE HEBREW COLLECTION OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. + +11. TITLES OF JEWISH BOOKS. + +12. THE CHILD IN JEWISH LITERATURE. + +13. WOMAN IN TEMPLE AND SYNAGOGUE. + +14. THE EARLIEST JEWISH COMMUNITY IN EUROPE. + +NOTES. + +INDEX. + +The Macmillan Company +Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York + + + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + + 1 Compare Heinrici _Theologische Encyclopaedie_, p. 4; Enc. Brit. art. + Theology. + + 2 Heinrici, l. c., p. 14 f., 212; Hagenbach-Kautsch: _Encyc. d. + theolog. Wiss._, p. 28-30; Rauwenhoff: _Religionsphilosophie_, + Einl., xiii; Margolis: “The Theological Aspect of Reformed Judaism,” + in Yearbook of C. C. A. R., 1903, p. 188-192. Lauterbach, J. E., + art. Theology. + + 3 See, however, Geiger: _Nachgel. Schriften_, II, 3-8; also Margolis, + l. c., p. 192-196. + + 4 A fine beginning in this direction has been made by Professor + Schechter in _Some Aspects of Rabbinic Theology_, New York, 1909. + + 5 See Joel: “D. Mosaismus u. d. Heidenthum,” in Jahrb. f. Jued. Gesch. + und Lit., 1904, p. 70-73. + + 6 See Schaff-Herzog’s Encycl., art. Apostles’ Creed and Symbol. + + 7 See Schechter: _Studies in Judaism_, Intr., XXI-XXII; p. 147, 198 + f.; Foster: _The Finality of the Christian Religion_, Chicago, 1906; + Friedr. Delitzsch: _Zur Weiterentwicklung der Religion_, 1908; and + comp. Orelli: _Religionsgeschichte_, 276 f., and Dorner: _Beitr. z. + Weitrentwicklung d. christl. Religion_, 173. + + 8 For the origin of the name Judaism, see Esther VIII, 17. Compare + _Yahduth_, Esther Rabbah III, 7; II Macc. II, 21; VIII, 1, 14, 38; + Graetz: _G. d. J._, II, 174 f.; Jost: _G.d. Jud._, I, 1-12; _J. E._, + art. Judaism. Regarding the unfairness of Christian authors in their + estimate of Judaism, see Schechter, l. c., 232-251; M. Schreiner: + _D. juengst. Urtheile u. d. Judenthum_, p. 48-58. Dubnow, Asher + Ginsberg and the rest of the nationalists underrate the religious + power of the Jew’s soul, which forms the essence of his character + and the motive power of all his aspirations and hopes, as well as of + all his achievements in history. + +_ 9 Erub._ 13 b. + + 10 Neh. VIII, 1-18; Ez. VII, 12-28. + + 11 See M. Bloch: _Tekanot_, and art. Tekanot J. E. Regarding + inspiration see J. E.; Sanh, 99 a; Meg. 7 a; Maim.: _Moreh_, II, 45; + comp. Yerush. Ab. Zar., I, 40; Horay. III, 48 c; Levit. R. VI, 1; + IX, 9; and Yoma 9 b. The laying on of hands for ordination + (_Semikah_) implied originally the imparting of the holy spirit, see + J. E., art. Authority. + + 12 See Geiger, J. Z., I, p. 7. + + 13 Aboth d. R. Nathan, I; Shab. 30 b with reference to Ezek. + XLIII-XLIV. + + 14 See Geiger: Z. D. M. G., XII, 536; Schechter, _Wisdom of Ben Sira_, + p. 35. + + 15 See J. E., art. Jubilees, Book of. Very instructive in this + connection is a comparative study of the Falashas, the Samaritans, + especially the Dosithean sect, and the still problematical sect + discovered through the document found by Schechter, edited by him + under the title _Fragments of a Zadokite Sect_. + + 16 See Yer. Hag., I, 76, and elsewhere. + +_ 17 Ethics of Judaism_, I, 8-10; Geiger: J. Z., IX, 263. + + 18 See _Pesik. R._, V, p. 146; _Midr. Tanhuma_, ed. Buber, Wayera 6 and + Ki Thissa, 17. Comp. the legend of Moses and Akiba, Men. 29 b. + + 19 Comp. Geiger: _Nachgel. Schr._, II, 37-41; also his _Jud. u. s. + Gesch._, I, 20-35; Beck: _D. Wesen d. Judenthums_; Eschelbacher: _D. + Judenthum u. d. Wesen d. Christenthums_; Schreiner, l. c., 26-34. + + 20 Deut. VI, 7; XI, 19. + + 21 See Geiger: _Nachgel. Schr._, II, 37 f. + + 22 John XIV, 6. Comp. Dorner, l. c., 173; and his _Grundprobleme d. + Religionsphilosophie_; Orelli: _Religionsgeschichte_, 276 f. + + 23 Gen. R. VIII, 5. + + 24 See Schechter: _Studies_, 147-181 and notes 351 f.; Mendelssohn: + _Ges. Schr._, III, 321. Comp. Schlesinger: _Buch Ikkarim_, 630-632; + Bousset: _Religion d. Judenthums_, 170 f., 175, and thereto Perles: + _Bousset_, 112 f.; Martin Schreiner: l. c., 35 f.; J. E., art. Faith + and Articles of Faith (E. G. Hirsch); Felsenthal, Margolis, and + Kohler, in Y. B. C. C. A. R., 1897, p. 54; 1903, p. 188-193; 1905, + p. 83; Neumark: art. Ikkarim in _Ozar ha Yahduth_; D. Fr. Strauss: + _D. christl. Glaubenslehre_, I, 25. + + 25 See Gen. XV, 6; Mek. to Ex. XIV; J. E., art. Faith. + + 26 Deut. VI, 1-6; XI, 13-21; Num. XV, 37-41. + + 27 See Bousset, II, 224 f. The term _Pistis_ = faith, assumes a new + meaning in Hellenistic Literature. + + 28 See J. E., art. Emeth we Yatzib. + + 29 See J. E., art. Alenu. + + 30 See J. E., art. Abraham in Apocryphical and Rabbinical Lit. + +_ 31 Sifra_ Behukothai, III, 6; _Sanh._ 38 b; _Targ. Y._ to Gen. IV, 8. + + 32 Ber. II, 2; see Kohler: _Monatsschrift_, 1883, p. 445. + + 33 Kohler, l. c. + + 34 The Mishnaic _Apicoros_ corresponded to the Greek, _Epicoureios_, + and was no longer understood by the Talmudists; see Schechter: + _Studies in Judaism_, I, 157. It is defined by Josephus: + _Antiquities_, X, 11, 7: “The Epicureans ... are in a state of + error, who cast Providence out of life, and do not believe that God + takes care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is + governed by a Being which outlives all things in everlasting + self-sufficiency and bliss, but declare it to be self-sustaining and + void of a ruler and protector ... like a ship without a helmsman and + like a chariot without a driver.” Comp. also Oppenheim in + _Monatsschr._, 1864, p. 149. + + 35 See Rappaport; “Biography of R. Hananel,” in _Bikkure ha Ittim_, + 1842. + +_ 36 Contra Apionem_, II, 22. See J. G. Mueller: _Josephus’ Schrift + gegen Apion_, 311-313. + + 37 See Alfred v. Kremer: _Gesch. d. herrsch. Ideen d. Islam_, 39-41; + Goldziher, D. M. L. Z., XLIV, p. 168 f.; XLI, p. 72 f., which + passages cast much light upon the Jewish _Ani Maamin_. + + 38 See Jost: _Gesch. d. Jud._, II, 330 f.; Frankl: art. Karaites in + _Ersch und Gruber’s Encyclopaedie_; Loew: _Juedische Dogmen_, Ges. + s. I, 154; Schechter, l. c. + + 39 J. Guttman: _D. Religionsphil, v. Abraham Ibn Daud_; David Kaufmann, + _Gesch. d. Attributenlehre_; Neumark: _Gesch. d. juedisch. Phil._ + vols. I and II. + + 40 Maimonides: Commentary on Mishnah, Sanh., X, 1; Schechter, l. c., + 163; Holzer: _Gesch. d. Dogmenlehre_, Berlin, 1901. + + 41 See Loew, l. c., 156; Schechter, l. c, 165. + + 42 See P. Bloch: “Luzzatto als Religionsphilosoph” in _Samuel David + Luzzatto_, p. 49-71. Comp. Hochmuth: _Gotteskenntniss und + Gottesverehrung_, Einleitung. + + 43 See Schechter, l. c., 167 and the notes. + + 44 See Horowitz: _D. Psychologie u. d. jued. Religionsphilosophie_, + 1883. + + 45 See J. E., art. Albo by E. G. Hirsch, and the bibliography there. + + 46 See Schechter, l. c., p. 162. + + 47 Isa. XLIX, 9, and elsewhere. + + 48 See Schechter, l. c., p. 169. + + 49 Aboth, III, 1; Gen. R. XXI, 5. + + 50 See Schechter, l. c. + + 51 See Loew, l. c., 157, and his “_Mafteah_,” p. 331; Schechter, l. c. + + 52 Makk. 23 b. + + 53 See J. E., art. Catechism by E. Schreiber. + + 54 Gen. XX, 11. + + 55 Ps. CXI, 10; Prov. IX, 10; Job XXVIII, 28. + + 56 Ex. XX, 20. + + 57 Hos. IV, 1, 6; II. 3; XIII, 4-5. + + 58 Jer. IX, 23; XXII, 16; XXXI, 32-33. + + 59 Deut. IV, 39; VII, 9. + + 60 Knowledge as intellect is brought out as early as the Book of + Wisdom, XIII, 1; see especially Maimonides: _Yesode ha Torah_, I, + 1-3; _Moreh_, I, 39; III, 28. In opposition, see Rosin: _Ethik des + Maimonides_, 101; Luzzatto and Hochmuth, l. c.; also Dillmann: H. B. + d. alttestamentl. Theol., 204 f. + + 61 Ch. IV. + + 62 Gen. XV, 6; see J. E., art. Abraham. + + 63 Shab. 97 a. + + 64 Mek. Beshallak 6, p. 41 ab. + + 65 Deut. VI, 5; X, 12; XI, 1; XIII, 22; XXX, 6, 16, 20. + + 66 Sifre to Deut. VI, 5. + + 67 Judges V, 31. + + 68 Shab. 88 b. + + 69 See Testament of Job, and notes by Kohler, in _Semitic Studies in + Memory of Alexander Kohut_, 271, and Sota, V, 5. + + 70 Sifre, l. c. + + 71 See Yoma, 86 a; T. d. El. R., XXIV; Maimonides, _H. Teshubah_, X; + Crescas: _Or Adonai_, I, 3. Comp. _Testaments Twelve Patriarchs_, + Simeon 3, 4; Issachar, 5; Philo: Quod omnis probus liber, 12 and + elsewhere. + + 72 Song of Songs VII, 6, 7. + + 73 See Sifre Deut. XXVI, 8; Sanh. X, 1; J. E., art. Revelation; + Dillmann, 61 f.; Geiger, D. Jud. u. s. Gesch. I, 34 f. + + 74 See Deut. XIII, 2-6, where prophet forms a parallel to dreamer of + dreams. God appears in a dream to Abraham (Gen. XV, 1, 12), to + Abimelek (Gen. XX, 3, 6), to Jacob (XXVIII, 12; XXXI, 11; XLVI, 2), + to Laban (XXXI, 24), to Balaam (Num. XXIV, 3), and to Eliphaz (Job + IV, 3-6). Dream-like visions open the prophetic career of Moses + (Exod. III, 3-6), Samuel (I Sam. III, 1, 15, 21), Isaiah (Is. VI, 1 + f.), Jeremiah (Jer. I, 11 f.), Ezekiel (Ezek. I, 4), and others. + Revelation in the Bible is _Mahazeh_, _hazon_, and _hizayon_, + “vision”—whence _hozeh_, “seer”; or _mareh_, “sight,” whence _roeh_, + “seer.” See also Geiger: _Urschrift_, 340; 390. Prophecy without + dream or vision is claimed for Moses (Num. XII, 6-8; Exod. XXX, 11; + Deut. XXXIV, 10; see Maimonides: _Moreh_, II, 43-47; Albo, + _Ikkarim_, III, 8). The revelation on Sinai is described as “the + great vision,” or _mareh:_ Exod. III, 3; XXIV, 17; compare Deut. IV, + 11-V, 23, according to which only a “voice” is heard. Instead of God + the later prophets see an angel, as Zach. I, 8, 11; II, 2 f. Compare + Yebam. 49 b, as to the difference between Isaiah, who saw God in a + vision, and Moses, who saw Him “in a shining mirror.” He will appear + in the latter way to the righteous in the future world, Suc. 45 b; + Lev. R. I, 14; I Cor. XIII, 12. + + 75 See Gen. XX, 6; XXXI, 29; Num. XXIV; Job IV, 16 f.; XXXVIII, 1. + + 76 The Hebrew word for prophecy is passive,—_nibba’_ or _hithnabbe’_, + “to be made to speak,” or “to bubble forth,”—the Deity being the + active power, while the prophet is His mouthpiece. + + 77 Ex. XXXIII, 11; Deut. XXXIV, 10. + + 78 Ex. XIX, 19; XX, 19. + + 79 Ex. XIX, 1-8. + + 80 Shab. 88 a after Ex. XXIV, 7. + +_ 81 Seder Olam_ R., I and XXI; Lev. Rab. I, 12-14; B. B. 15 b. + + 82 Hag. 13 b; Sanh. 89 a; Lev. R. l. c. + + 83 See Schmiedl: _Stud. u. jued.-arabische Religionsphilosophie_, + 191-192; S. Horowitz: _D. Prophetologie i. d. jued. + Religionsphilosophie_; Sandler: _D. Problem d. Prophetie i. d. jued. + Religionsphilosophie_; J. E., art. Prophets and Prophecy; _Emunoth_ + III, 4; _Cuzari_, I, 95; II, 10-12; _Emunah Ramah_, II, 5, 1; + _Moreh_, II, 32-48; _Yesode ha Torah_, VII; _Or Adonai_, II, 4, 1; + _Ikkarim_, III, 8-12, 17; Nachmanides to Gen. XVIII, 2; Abravanel to + Gen. XXI, 27; Comp. Husik, _Hist. Med. Jew. Phil._, Index s. v. + Prophecy; Enc. Rel. Ethics, art. Philosophy and Prophecy. + + 84 Horowitz, l. c. p. 11-16; Gen. R. XVII, 6; Lev. R, l. c; Sanh. 17 b; + Philo: De Decalog., 21; de Migratione Abrahami, 7; comp. I Corinth. + XIII, 12. + +_ 85 Moreh_, l. c. + +_ 86 Cuzari_, l. c. + +_ 87 Kol Nibra_: _Moreh_, I, 65; _Emunoth_, II, 8; _Cuzari_, I, 89. + + 88 According to the rabbis, the working of the holy spirit ceased with + Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who, with Ezra, were included also + among the “Men of the Great Synagogue.” See Tos. Sota XIII, 2; Seder + Olam R. XXX; Sanh. 11 a. See J. E., art. Synagogue, Men of the + Great; Holy Spirit; Inspiration. Comp. B. B. 14 b, 15 a; Yoma 9 b; + Meg. 3 a, 7 a; I Macc. IV, 46; Ps. LXXIV, 9; Josephus, _Con. + Apion._, I, 8; Philo: _Vita Mosis_, II, 7; Aristeas, 305-307. As to + the difference between the spirit of prophecy and the holy spirit, + see _Cuzari_, III, 32-35; _Moreh_, II, 35-37. The Essenes claimed + the holy spirit for their apocryphal writings; see IV Esdras XIV, + 38; Book of Wisdom VII, 27. + + 89 On the disputes concerning canonical books, see Yadayim III, 5; Ab. + d. R. N., I, ed. Schechter, 2-3; Shab. 30 b; Meg. 7 a. Comp. B. K. + 92 b, where Ben Sira is quoted as one of the Hagiographa. + + 90 See Tos. Pes. I, 27; IV, 2; Sota XIII, 3; Yer. Horay. III, 48 c; + Lev. R. XXI, 7. + + 91 R. h. Sh. 27 a; Mak. 22 b. + + 92 Sifre Deut. VI, 4. + + 93 On the term Torah see Smend: _Lehrb. d. alttest. Religionsgesch._; + Stade: Bibl. Theol. d. Alt. Test., Index s. v. Torah; W. J. Beecher: + _Jour. Bibl. Lit._, 1905, 1-16; “Thora a Word Study in the Old + Testament.” For Torah as _Law_, see Neh. VIII, 1; Joshua I, 7, and + throughout the Pentateuch; as _moral instruction_, see Hos. IV, 6; + VIII, 1; Is. I, 10; V, 24; XXX, 9; LI, 4; Mic. IV, 2; Jer. XXXVI, 4 + f.; XXXI, 32; Ps. XVI, 8; Prov. VI, 22; VII, 2; Guedeman: _Quell. z. + G. d. Unterrichts_, at the beginning; Claude Montefiore: _Hibbert + Lectures_, 1892, p. 465 f. + +_ 94 Nehematha_, which means the Messianic hope; see Kohut: Aruch V, 328 + and Appendix 59. + + 95 See B. B. 13 b; Meg. III, 1; IV, 4; comp. Ned. 22 b; Taan. 9 a; + Shab. 104 a; _Sifra_ Behukothai at end; Eccl. R. I, 10; Ex. R. + XXXVIII, 6. Zunz: _Gottesd. Vortr._, 46 f., and art. _Canon_ and + _Bible_ in the various encyclopedias. As to Torah for the whole + Bible, see Mek. Shira I; Sanh. 37 a, 91 b; Ab. Zar. 17 a; M. K. 5 a; + comp. I Cor. XIV, 21; John X, 34; XII, 34; XV, 25. For Torah as + Nomos, or Law, see II Macc. XV, 9. + + 96 Bousset, l. c., 128-129. + + 97 On the divine origin of the Torah, see Sanh. 99 a; _Sifra_ Kedoshim + 8; Behar I; Behukothay 8. Regarding the meaning of _metammin eth ha + yadayim_ in the sense of taboo for the holy writings, see Geiger: + _Urschrift_, p. 146. + + 98 Sanh. 99 a; Maim. H. Teshubah III, 8. + + 99 Comp. Kohler: _Hebrew Union College Annual_, 1904, “The Four Ells of + the Halakah.” + + 100 Deut. XXXIII, 4. + + 101 Mak. 23 b. + + 102 Jerem. XXXI, 32. + + 103 Comp. Schechter, _Aspects_, p. 120-136, and see Ben Sira, XXIV, + 8-23; XVII, 11; Baruch III, 38 f.; Apoc. Baruch XXXVIII, 4; XLIV, + 16; IV Esdras VIII, 12; IX, 37; Philo: _Vita Mosis_, II, 3, 9; Gen. + R. I; P. d. R. El. III. + + 104 This apotheosis of the Torah is put in a wrong light by Weber, + _Juedische Theologie_, 157 f., 197, but is stated better in Bousset, + l. c., 136-142. + +_ 105 Dibre Kabbalah_, R. h. Sh. 7 a, 19 a; Yer. Halla I, 57 b; see Levy, + W. B., s. v. Kabbalah. + + 106 The personality of Moses was at first exalted to almost superhuman + height; see _Ben Sira_, XLV, 2; _Assumptio Mosis_, I, 14; XI, 16; + Philo: _Vita Mosis_, III, 39; Josephus: _Antiquities_, IV, 32 b; + Bousset, l. c., 140 f. In contrast to the Church view of Jesus the + rabbis later emphasized the human frailties of Moses: “Never did + divine majesty descend to the habitations of mortal man, nor did + ever a mortal man such as Moses and Elijah ascend to heaven, the + dwelling-place of God,” taught Rabbi Jose (Suk. 5 a). + + 107 See Deut. IV, 6-8; Jer. XXXI, 34-35; Philo: _Vita Mosis_, II, 14; + Josephus: _Apion_, II, 277. + + 108 See Herodotus, III, 8; IV, 70; Jer. XXIV, 18; H. Clay Trumbull: _The + Blood Covenant_, New York, 1885; Kraetschmar: _D. Bundervorstellung + i. A. Test._, 1896; J. E. and Encyl. of Rel. and Ethics, art. + Covenant. + + 109 See Gen. IX, 1-17; Tos. Ab. Zar. VIII, 4; San. 56 a; Gen. R. XVI, + XXIV; Jubilees VI, 10 f.; Bernays: _Ges. Abh._ I, 252 f., 272 f.; + II, 71-80. + + 110 Gen. XV, 18; XVII, 2 f.; XVIII, 19; Lev. XXVI, 42; Jubilees I, 51. + + 111 Ex. XIX, 5; XXIV, 6-8; XXXIV, 28; Deut. IV-V, XXVIII, XXIX; Comp. I + Kings XIX, 10, 14; Jer. XI; XXXI; XXXIV, 13; Ezek. XVI-XVII. + + 112 Hos. II, 18-20. + + 113 Jer. XXXI, 30-32, 34-35; XXXIII, 25; Deut. XXIX, 14. + + 114 See Ep. Hebrews VIII, 8 f.; Gal. III, 15; I Cor. XI, 25; Matt. XXIV, + 21, and parallels. + + 115 Gen. XVII, 11. + + 116 Ex. XXXI, 13-17; comp. Deut. X, 16; Josh. V, 9; Isa. LVI, 4-6. See + Mek. to Ex. XIX, 5, the controversy between R. Eliezer and R. Akiba, + whether the Sabbath or circumcision was the essential sign of the + covenant. + + 117 Ker. 9 a; Yeb. 45-48 and see Chapter LVI below. + + 118 Ps. XXII, 28 f.; CXV, 11; CXVIII, 4; Is. LVI, 6. + + 119 Isaiah XLIX, 6-8. + + 120 Acts XV, 20, 29. + + 121 See J. E., art. Saul of Tarsus; Enc. Rel. Eth. art. Paul. + + 122 Isaac ben Shesheth: Responsa, 119. Comp, J. E., art. Christianity. + + 123 See further, Chapter XLIX. + + 124 Jer. X, 11; 16 and 10. + + 125 Shab. 89 b. + + 126 Lev. XVIII, 2, 27 f.; Num. XXV, 3-8; Hos. IV, 10; V, 4. + + 127 Num. XV, 39; Ex. XXIII, 24; Deut. XX, 18; Sanh. XII, 5; X, 4-6; Ab. + Zar. II-IV; Sanh. 106 a: “Israel’s God hates lewdness.” + + 128 Ex. XX, 5; Deut. IV, 24; VI, 15. + + 129 See Philo: De Humanitate; Doellinger: _Heidenthum u. Judenthum_, + 682, 700 f.; I. H. Weiss: _Dor Dor we Doreshav_, II, 19 f. + + 130 See J. E., art. Christianity. + + 131 Isa. XLII, 8. Scripture always emphasizes the contrast between + Israel’s God and the heathen gods. See Ex. XII, 12; XV, 11; XVIII, + 11; Deut. X, 17; also in the prophets, Isa. XL; XLIV, 9; Jer. X; and + the Psalms, XCVI, CXV, CXXXV. Absolute monotheism was a slow growth + from this basis. + + 132 See Ex. R. V, 18. + + 133 Deut. VII; XVII, 2 f.; XX, 16; Maimonides: _H. Akkum_, II-VII; + _Melakim_, VI, 4; _Yoreh Deah_, CXII-XLVIII. + + 134 Ps. XCVI-XCIX. + + 135 See Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p, 76-77, and J. E., art. Alenu. + + 136 See Cheyne’s Dict. Bibl. art. Name and Names with Bibliography; + Jacob: _Im Namen Gottes_; Heitmueller, _Im Namen Jesu_, 1903, p. + 24-25. The _Name_ for the Lord occurs Lev, XXIV, 11, 16; Deut. + XXVIII, 58; Geiger, _Urschrift_, 261 f. + + 137 See Baudissin, _Stud. z. Sem. Religionsgesch._, I, 47; 177; Robinson + Smith: _Religion of the Semites_; Max Mueller, _Chips from a German + Workshop_, I, 336-374. + + 138 See J. E., art. God. Comp. also Encycl. of Religion and Ethics, art. + God. Primitive and Biblical; Name of God, Jewish. + + 139 Gen. XVII, 11; Ex. VI, 3, and commentators; Gen. R. XLVI. The Book + of Job, where the name _Shaddai_ is constantly used, refers to the + patriarchal age. + + 140 Ex. III, 14, and commentators, espec. Dillmann. Comp. art. Jahweh in + Prot. Realencyc. and Cheyne’s Dict. Bible, art. _Names_, § 109 ff., + where different etymologies are given. + + 141 Ex. III, 14. + + 142 Ex. XIX, 5, 6. + + 143 See Prot. Enc., art. Jahveh, p, 530 f. + + 144 See J. E., art. Adonai; Bousset, l. c., 352 f. + + 145 Ber. 40 b. On the alleged “Judaisirung des Gottesbegriffs,” see + Weber, l. c., 148-158. + + 146 Sifre to Deut. VI, 4. + + 147 Gen. XXIV, 3. + + 148 Gen. R. XXIV, 3. + + 149 Shab. 87 a, 89 b; Mek. Yithro IV. + + 150 See J. E., art. Alenu. + + 151 See J. E., art. _Abba_ and Names of God; Weber, l. c, 148 f.; + Bousset, II, 356-361; Schechter: _Aspects_, II, 21-28. + + 152 See J. E., art. Heaven; Levy, W. B.: “Shamayim.” + + 153 See Pes. X, 5; Ber. 16 b; Ab. Zar. 40 b; Gen. R. LXVIII, 9, + referring to Gen. XXVIII, 11 and Ex. XXXIII, 21; P. d. R. El. XXXV; + Pes. Rab. 104 a; comp. LXX, Ex. XXIV, 10; see also Siegfried: + _Philo_, p. 202, 204, 217; Schechter, l. c., 26, 34. The passage in + Mekilta on Ex. XVII, 7, which refers _Makom_ to the Sanhedrin (after + Deut. XVII, 8), seems originally to have been a marginal note + belonging to Ex. XXI, 13, where _Makom_ is the equivalent of + _Makam_, a place of refuge, and put here at the wrong place by an + error;—Against Schechter, l. c., 27 note 1, Bousset (p. 591) thinks + that _ha Makom_ for God is Persian, where both space and time were + deified. See Spiegel: _Eranisches Alterthum_, II, 15 f. + + 154 See Gen. R. XII, 15; XXX, 3; Targum to Psalm LVI, 11; comp. Philo, + I, 496; Siegfried, l. c., 203, 213. + + 155 Metaphysical proofs for God’s existence have been outlawed since + Kant. God is the postulate of man’s moral consciousness. See + Rauwenhoff, l. c., 236-357. + + 156 See art. Atheism, in J. E. and in Enc. Reli. and Ethics, II, 18 f. + + 157 Jer. V, 12; Psalm X, 4; XIV, 1; LIII, 1. + + 158 B. B. 16 b; Targ. to Gen. IV, 8. + + 159 See above, Chapter IV, 3. + + 160 Isa. XL, 12-26; XLVI, 10. + + 161 See Bousset, l. c., 295-298. + + 162 See J. E., art. Abraham. + + 163 Ch. XIII. + + 164 Philo: De Somniis, I, 43, 44; Zeller: _D. Philosophie d. Griechen_, + III, 2, 307 f.; Drummond: _Philo Judæus_, II, 4-5. + + 165 See D. F. Strauss: _Christl. Glaubenslehre_, I, 364-399; Windelband: + _Hist. of Phil._, transl. by J. H. Tufts, 2d ed., 1914, p. 54, 98, + 128, 327. + + 166 See Windelband-Tufts, l. c., 145, 292. + + 167 See Strauss, l. c.; Kaufmann, l. c., 2-3, 58; _D. Theologie d. + Bachya_, p. 222 f.; Husik: _Hist. Jew. Phil._, p. 32 ff., 89 ff. + + 168 Kaufmann, l. c., p. 341 f., 431 f.; Husik, l. c., 218 f., 254 f. + + 169 See D. F. Strauss, l. c.; Windelband-Tufts, p. 292, 393. + + 170 D. F. Strauss, l. c., 375, 394; Windelband-Tufts, l. c., 450. + + 171 See Windelband-Tufts, l. c., 549-550. + + 172 See Kaufmann, l. c., p. 223 f., and, opposed to him, Neumark: + _Jehuda Halevi’s Philosophy_, Cincinnati, 1909. See also Husik, l. + c., 157 ff. + + 173 Compare C. Seligman: _Judenth. u. moderne Anschauung_. The + philosophy of Bergson, which eliminates design and purpose from the + cosmos and places Deity itself into the process as the vital urgent + of it all, and thus sees God forever in the making, is pantheistic + and un-Jewish, and therefore cannot be considered in a theology of + Judaism. This does not exclude our accepting minor elements of his + system, which contains suggestive hints. H. G. Wells’ _God the + Invisible King_ (Macmillan, 1917) is likewise a God in the making, + _man-made_, not the Maker and Ruler of man. + + 174 Job XI, 7. + + 175 Ex. XXXIII, 23; Maim.; _Yesode ha Torah_, I, 8, 10; _Moreh_, I, 21 + a; Kaufmann, l. c., 431; Philo: Mutatio Nom., 2; Vita Mosis, I, 28; + Leg. All., I, 29, and elsewhere. See J. Drummond: _Philo Judæus_, + II, 18-24. + + 176 Ex. R. XXIX, at the close. + + 177 Jer. X, 10. + + 178 Isaiah XLIV, 6. + + 179 Comp. Dillmann, l. c., 226-235; D. F. Strauss, l. c., I, 525-553. + + 180 See J. E., art. Anthropomorphism and Anthropopathism. Comp. + Schmiedl, l. c., 1-30. + + 181 Ps. XXXIII, 13-14. + + 182 Deut. IV, 36; Ex. XIX, 20. Comp. Gen. XI, 5. + + 183 Isa. XLVI, 1. + + 184 Ps. CXXXIX, 7-10. + + 185 Ps. XCIV, 9. + + 186 See Ab. d. R. Nathan II; Bacher: _D. Exegetische Terminologie_, I, + 8; Schechter, l. c., 35. + + 187 Gen. R. XXVII; Mek. Ex. XV; Pes. d. R. K. 109 b; Tanh. to Ex. XXII, + 16; Schechter, l. c., 43 f. + + 188 Gen. R. IV, 3; comp, Pes. d. R. K. 2 b; Schechter, l. c., 29 f. + + 189 Hul. 59, 60; Sanh. 39 a; Philo: De Abrahamo, 16. + + 190 Mid. Teh. Ps. CIII, 1; Sanh. 39 a. + + 191 See Weber, l. c., 149 f., 157; Bousset, l. c., 302, 313; von + Hartman: _Das religioese Bewusstsein_. Against this Schreiner, l. + c., 49-58, and Schechter, _Aspects_ 33 f. + + 192 Mek. and Tanh. to Ex. XV, 11. + + 193 Deut. IV, 7; Yer. Ber. IX, 13 a. + + 194 Isa. LVII, 15. See also Deut. X, 17-18; Ps. LXXXVI, 5-6. Comp. R. + Johanan, Meg, 31 a. + + 195 Ex. R. II, 9; Mid. Teh. Ps. LXVIII, 7. + + 196 Ps. XLVI, 2. + + 197 Ab. Zar. 3 b. + + 198 Ps. CXIII, 5, 6. + + 199 Ber. 60 b. Singer’s _Prayerbook_, 291. + + 200 On pantheism in Judaism see Seligman, l. c. + + 201 See Sachs: _D. religioese Poesie d. Juden. in Spanien_, 225-228; + Kaufmann: _Stud u. Solomon Ibn Gabirol._ + + 202 See Siegfried: _Philo_, 199-203, 292; Gen. R. LXVIII, 10; comp. + Geiger: Zeitschr., XI, 218; Hamburger: R. W. B., II, 986. + + 203 See Graetz: G. d. J., X, 319. + + 204 See Maimonides: _H. Teshubah_, III, 7 and R. A. B. D., notes. + + 205 Jer. XXIII, 23. + + 206 Isa. XL, 25. + + 207 Lev. XIX, 4; XXVI, 1; Isaiah II, 8, 11; Psalm XCVI, 5. + + 208 Comp. Ex. XX, 3; XXII, 19; XXIII, 13; with Deut. VI, 4; IV, 35, 39; + XXXII, 39; Isaiah XL to XLVIII. + + 209 See Dillmann, l. c., 235-241; D. F. Strauss, l. c., 402-408; A. B. + Davidson: _Theology of O. T._, p. 105; 149 f. + + 210 Zach. XIV, 9. + + 211 Deut. IV, 19; Jer. X, 2. + + 212 Bousset, l. c., 221 f., 348. + + 213 See Chapter LVI, below. + + 214 Isa. XLV, 5-7. + + 215 Lam. III, 38. + +_ 216 Shethe Reshuyoth_, see Hag. 15 a; Deut. R. I. 10; Eccl. R. II, 12; + Weber, l. c., 152; Joel, _Blicke in d. Religionsgesch._, II, 157. + + 217 D. F. Strauss, l. c., 409-501; J. E., art. Christianity. + + 218 Meg. 13 a. + + 219 Comp. Lange: _Gesch. d. Materialismus_, I, 149-158. + + 220 Alfred v. Kremer, l. c., 9-33; J. E., art. Arabic and Arabic-Jewish + Philosophy. + + 221 See Draper’s _Conflict between Religion and Science_. + + 222 Maim.: _Yesode ha Torah_, I, 7. + + 223 Sachs, l. c., 3. + + 224 See Schmiedl, l. c., 239-258. + + 225 See Hebrew Dictionary, _El_; comp. Dillmann, l. c., 210, 244. + + 226 See Levy, W. B.: _Geburah_. + + 227 See Septuagint to Job V, 17; VIII, 3, and II Sam. V, 10; VII, 8, and + Ber. 31 b. + + 228 See Schmiedl, l. c., 67 ff. David Neumark thinks that both the + prophet Jeremiah and the Mishnah knew and rejected the belief in + angels. See his article _Ikkarim_ in Ozar Ha Yahduth. + + 229 Gen. XVIII, 14; Num. XI, 13; Is. XL, 12; Jer. V, 22; X, 12; XXVII, + 5; XXXII, 17; Zach. VIII, 6; Job XXXVIII, 7; XLII, 1. + + 230 Deut. III. 24; XI, 3; XXVI, 8; XXIX, 2; Jer. X, 6; Ps. LXV, 7; LXVI, + 7; LXIV-LXXVIII; I Chron. XXIX, 11, 12. + + 231 Ex. XII, 12; Judges V, 10. + + 232 Daniel IV, 35. + + 233 Ps. XI, 4; XXXIII, 13 f.; CXXXIX; Jer. XI, 20; XVII, 10; Job XII, + 13; Dan. II, 20 f. + + 234 Aboth II, 1. + + 235 Mal. III, 16; Ps. LVI, 9. + + 236 See New Year liturgy, Singer’s _Prayerbook_, 249. + + 237 Amos III, 7.; Gen. XVIII, 17. + + 238 Gen. VI, 5; XI, 5; XVIII, 21. + + 239 Isa. LV, 8, 9. + + 240 Gen. IV, 16; XI, 5; XVIII, 21; XXVIII, 16; Deut. XXVI, 15; Micah I, + 3; see Strauss, l. c., I, 548 f. + + 241 I Kings VIII, 27; Isa. LXVI, 1. + + 242 See above, Chapter XII, 5. + + 243 Comp. Amos IX, 2; Jer. XXIII, 24. + + 244 Sanh. 39 a. + + 245 Comp. Kaufmann, l. c., 70 and 71, notes 130, 131; Strauss, l. c., I, + 551. + +_ 246 Makom_, see above, Chapter X, 8-9; Schechter, _Aspects_, 26 f. + + 247 Luk. 45 b; comp. I Corinth. XIII, 12, based on Ex. XXXIII, 28; Ps. + XVII, 15. + + 248 See Kaufmann, l. c., 100 f. + + 249 Isa. XLVIII, 12; Ps. XC, 2 f.; CII, 26, 27. On the process of + development of the idea of eternity, see Neumark, l. c., II, 77. + + 250 Adon Olam, Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p. 3. + + 251 See Strauss, l. c., 562, 651; Kaufmann, l. c., 306 f.; Drummond: + _Philo_, II, 46. + + 252 See Chapter XXV below. + + 253 Tanh. Naso ed. Buber, 8; Gen. R. IX, 9 with reference to Jer. XXIII, + 24. + + 254 Lev. XIX, 1. + + 255 Comp. Dillmann, l. c., 252 f.; Strauss, l. c., 593 f.; Rauwenhoff, + l. c., 498-505; Lazarus: _Ethics of Judaism_, Chapters IV-V. + + 256 I Sam. II, 21. + + 257 Ps. LXXVII, 14. + + 258 Deut. X, 12; XI, 22, and elsewhere. + + 259 Gen. XVIII, 19. + + 260 Ex. XXXIII, 13-23. + + 261 See J. E., art. Holiness. The Assyrian _Kuddisu_ denotes “bright,” + “pure,” according to Zimmern in _Religion und Sprache_, K. A. T., 3d + ed., 603. + + 262 Deut. XXXIII, 3; Job V, 1; VI, 10; XV, 15; Ps. LXXXIX, 6, 8. + + 263 Ex. XIX, 21 f.; XXIV, 17; I Sam. VI, 20; Josh. XXIV, 19; Isa. IV, 3; + VI, 3, 13; X, 17; XXXI, 9; XXXIII, 14; Hab. I, 13. + + 264 Deut. IV, 24; Ex. XXIV, 17. + + 265 Comp. the name _Kadesh_ and _Kedesha_ for the hierodules consecrated + to Astarte. See Deut. XXIII, 18; I Kings XIV, 24; XV, 12; Hosea IV, + 14. Comp. Zimmern, l. c., p. 423. + + 266 Isa. I, 4; V, 12; X, 20; XII, 6; XLI, 14; XLIII, 3 f.; XLV, 11; and + elsewhere. + + 267 Ezek. XX, 12; XXXVII, 28; Ex. XXXI, 13, and elsewhere. + + 268 See Sifra and Rabba to Lev. XIX, 2. + +_ 269 Cusari_ IV, 3; Kaufmann, l. c., 162 f. + + 270 Aboth, I, 3. + + 271 Rauwenhoff, l. c., 504. + + 272 Hab. I, 13. + + 273 Psalm XXIV, 4-5. + + 274 L. Lazarus: _Z. Characteristik d. juedisch. Ethik_, 40-45; M. + Lazarus: _Ethics of Judaism_, p. 184. + + 275 Isa. V, 16. + + 276 Comp. Dillmann, l. c., 258 f.; J. E., art. “Anger.” + + 277 Ex. XX, 5; Isa. XXX, 27 f.; Nahum I, 5 f. + + 278 Ex. XXII, 23; Num. XVII, 10 f.; XXV, 3; Deut. XXIX, 19; XXXII, 21; + Isa. IX, 16. + + 279 Hosea XI, 9. + + 280 Psalm XXX. + + 281 Targum to Ex. XX, 3; Sanh. 27 b. + + 282 Isa. XXXIII, 14-17. + + 283 Mal. III, 2, 19 f. + + 284 Deut. XXXII, 35; comp. Sifre, 325; Geiger: _Urschrift_, 247, + regarding Samaritan text. Zeph. I, 15; Isa. LXVI, 15-16. + + 285 Isa. XVLI, 24. + + 286 See J. E., art. “Gehenna”; Mid. Teh. to Ps. LXXVI, 11, and LXXIX; + Ned. 32 a; Taan. 9 b; Yer. Taan. II, 65 b; Ab. Zar. 4 a and b; 18 b; + Ber. 7 a; Shab. 118 a; Sanh. 110 b; Gen. R. VI, 9; XXVI, 11, et al.; + comp. Romans II, 5; Eph. V, 6; I Thess. I, 10. + + 287 Sibyll. II, 170, 285; III, 541, 556 f., 672-697, 760, 810; Enoch + XCI, 7-9. + + 288 Ber. 10 a; Midr. Teh. to Ps. CIV, 35. + + 289 Tan. 23 b. + +_ 290 Cusari_ IV, 5; _Moreh_ I, 36, and Commentary to Sanh. X, I. + + 291 Testament of Abraham, A, X. + + 292 Hab. III, 2. + + 293 Ezek. XVIII, 23, 32; XXXIII, 11. + + 294 Ex. XXXII-XXXIV, 7. Comp. Num. XIV, 18. + + 295 Gen. XIX, 1-28; Ex. XX, 5-6. + + 296 Hosea I-III; XI, 1-9; XIV, 5. Comp. Micah XIII, 18; Jer. III, 8-12; + Isa. LIV, 6-8; LVII, 16 f.; Joel II, 13; Jonah IV, 2, 10 f.; Lam. + III, 31; Ps. LXXVIII, 38 et al. See Dillmann, l. c., 263 f.; + Davidson _Theology of O. T._, 132 f. + + 297 Gen. VI, 6; I Sam. XV, 11; Jer. XVIII, 7-10; Joel II, 14; Jonah III, + 10; IV, 2. + + 298 Num. XXIII, 19; I Sam. XV, 29; see Targum and commentaries. + + 299 See J. E., art. Anthropomorphism and Allegorical Interpretation. + + 300 Tanh. Waethhanan, ed. Buber, 3. + + 301 Gen. R. VIII, 4-5. See Morris Joseph: _Judaism as Creed and Life_, + p. 59, 90-95. + + 302 R. h. Sh. 17 b; compare, J. Davidson, 134; Koeberle: _Suende und + Gnade_, 1905, p. 625, 634 f.; but p. 658, 614, are misleading; + Weber, l. c., 154, 260, 303 f., altogether misrepresents the Jewish + doctrine of grace. + + 303 Gen. XVIII, 19. + + 304 Gen. XVIII, 25. + + 305 Jer. XII, 1. + + 306 Ps. LXXIII, 12. + + 307 Job X, 22 f. + + 308 Yer. Hag. II, 1; Elisha ben Abuyah. + + 309 Ps. LXXXIX, 15. + + 310 Ps. XXXVI, 7; see Davidson, l. c., 143 f.; J. E., art. Justice; + Hamburger: _Realencyclopaedie_, art. Gerechtigkeit; Dillmann, l. c., + 270 f.; Strauss, l. c., 596-604. Bousset, 437 f., is misleading. + + 311 Deut. XXXII, 4. + + 312 Tanh., Jithro 5. + + 313 Deut. X, 17-18. + + 314 Deut. I, 17. + + 315 Yeb. 92 a; Yer. Sanh. I, 18 b. + + 316 Amos V, 24; Isa. I, 17, 28; XXVIII, 17; LIV, 14. + + 317 Ps. V, 5-6. + + 318 Isa. LXVI, 16. + + 319 Ps. XCIX, 4; Tanh. Mishpatim 1. + + 320 Ps. XCVI, 13; XCVIII, 9. + + 321 See Bousset, l. c., 357-366; Weber, l. c., 259-279, and comp. Suk. + 30 a, where it is stated, referring to Isa. LXI, 8, that “good deeds + can never justify evil acts.” + + 322 Hosea VI, 6; Ps. XXXVII, 6; I Sam. II, 9. + + 323 Sota I, 7-8; Tos. Sota III; Mek. Shirah 4; B. Wisdom XV, 3; XIX, 17 + Jubilees IV, 3, elsewhere, comp. Math. VII, 2, and parallels. + + 324 Aboth IV, 2. + + 325 See Levy, W. B.: _Zidduk_; comp. Ex. IX, 27; Lam. I, 18; Neh. IX, + 33. + + 326 Gen. R. XLIX, 19; Yoma 37 a. + + 327 Prov. X, 25. + + 328 See Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2; Sanh. 105 a; Yalkut Isaiah 296; Crescas: _Or + Adonai_, III, 44. + + 329 Gen. R. VIII, 4-5; XII, 15; Midr. Teh. to Ps. LXXXIX, 2; comp. Ben + Sira, XVIII, 11; Testaments of XII Patr.: Zebulon 9; Ap. Baruch + XLVIII, 14; IV Esdras VIII, 31; Psalms of Solomon IX, 7; Prayer of + Manasseh, 8, 13. + + 330 See J. E., art. “Love.” Both Weber, l. c., 57 f. and Bousset, l. c., + 443 f. show Christian bias. + + 331 Ps. CXXX, 4. + + 332 Aboth III, 19; comp. B. Wisdom XI, 23, 26; XII, 16, 18; Ben Sira, + II, 18. + + 333 Ps. CXLIV, 8-9; comp. Ben Sira, XVIII, 13. + + 334 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 3. + + 335 Yer. R. h. Sh. I, 57 a. + + 336 Ber. 7 a. + + 337 Tos. Sota IV, 1, with reference to Ex. XX, 5-6. The plural, + _laalafim_, is taken to mean _two thousand_. + + 338 Ex. XXII, 26; comp. 21, 23. + + 339 See Harper: _Code of Hammurabi_, 1900; Oettli: _D. Gesetz Hammurabis + und d. Thora Israels_, 1903; Cohn: _D. Gesetz Hammurabis_, Zürich, + 1903; Grimm: _D. Gesetz Chammurabis und Moses_, Cologne, 1903. Also + M. Jastrow, _Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions_, p. 255-319. + + 340 Deut. X, 18; Ps. LXXIII. + + 341 Isa. XXV, 4. + + 342 Ex. XXII, 24. + + 343 Ex. R. XXVII, 5; Eccles. R. to III, 15. + + 344 Gen. XXIV, 19. + + 345 Ex. XXIII, 5. + + 346 Deut. XXV, 4. + + 347 Lev. XX, 28; Deut. XXII, 6. + + 348 Git. 62 a, with reference to Deut. XI, 15. + + 349 Ps. CXLV, 9. + + 350 B. M. 85 a; Yer. Kil. IX, 4. + + 351 Tos. B. K. IX, 30; Sifre, Deut. 96. + + 352 Sifre, Deut. § 49; Shab. 133 b; comp. Philo: _De Humanitate._ + + 353 See Concordance to _ahabah_ and _hesed_. Note especially Hos. VI, 6. + + 354 Hos. III, 1; XI, 1, 4; XIV, 5. + + 355 Jer. XXXI, 2, 19. + + 356 Deut. VII, 8; X, 15. + + 357 Deut. VIII, 5; see Sifre, Deut. 32. + + 358 Prov. III, 13. + + 359 Ber. 5 a; Sifre, l. c.; Mek. Yithro 10. + + 360 See Mek. and Sifre, l. c. + + 361 Ex. IV, 22. + + 362 Deut. XXXII, 6, 10 f. + + 363 Jer. II, 2. + + 364 Song of Songs, R. to III, 7. Comp. Davidson, l. c., 235-287. + + 365 See Schreiner, l. c., 103-112; Perles: _Bousset_, 58 f. + + 366 Pesik, 16-17; Mek. Yithro 6, at end. + + 367 Aboth III, 14. + + 368 XI, 23-26. + + 369 IV Esdra VIII, 47. + + 370 III, 10. + + 371 Zohar I, 44 b; II, 97 a. + + 372 See _Or Adonai_, I, 3, 5, and Joel: _Crescas_ 36-37. + +_ 373 Dialoghi di Amore_; see Zimmels: _Leo Hebraeus_, 1886. + + 374 Ethics V, proposition XXXV. + + 375 “The Theosophy of Julius”: “God.” + +_ 376 Middath tobah._ + + 377 Gen. I, 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 23, 31. + + 378 Gen. R. IX, 5, 9; Ber. 60 a; Yer. Ber. IX, 13 c-14 b; Taan. 21 a. + + 379 Isa. LXV, 16. + + 380 Deut. XXXII, 40. + + 381 Deut. XXXII, 4. + + 382 Num. XXIII, 19; Isa. XL, 8; Jer. X, 10; Ps. XXXI, 6; comp. Dillmann, + l. c. 269 f. + + 383 Ps. XXXVI, 6; LXXXIX, 3, 38; CXLVI, 6; Benediction at seeing the + rainbow, Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p. 291. + + 384 Gen. IX, 11. + + 385 Ps. CIV, 9; Job XXXVIII, 11; Jer. XXXI, 34. + + 386 Deut. XXXIII, 27. + + 387 Jer. X, 10, 15. + +_ 388 Emuna Rama_ 54. See Kaufmann, l. c., 333 f., 352 f.; comp. + Guttmann: _Religionsphilosophie des Ibn Daud_, 136 f.; Albo II, 27, + at the end; Maimonides: _Yesode ha Torah_, I, 3-4; Hillel of Verona + refers even to Aristotle’s “Metaphysics.” See Kaufmann, l. c., 334, + note; Neumark, l. c., and Husik., l. c. _passim_. + + 389 See Yer. Sanh. I, 18 a. + +_ 390 Contra Apionem_, II, 22; compare J. E., art. “Alpha and Omega.” + + 391 See Yer. Sanh. I, 18 a. + + 392 Ber. 33 b. + + 393 Jedayah ha Penini. + + 394 Ps. LXV, 2. + + 395 Jer. X, 12; Amos IV, 13; Job XXXVIII-XXXIX. + + 396 Prov. VI, 6. + + 397 Job XXXVIII-XXXIX. + + 398 Ps. CIV, 24. + + 399 Gen. L, 20; see Dillmann, l. c., 280; Strauss, l. c., 575 f.; + Hamburger, l. c., art. “Weisheit Gottes”; A. B. Davidson, l. c., + 180-182. + + 400 Gen. XLI, 38; I Kings III, 12; Ex. XXXV, 31; Prov. II, 6. + + 401 Isa. XXV, 1; XXVII, 29. + + 402 Isa. XL-LV. + + 403 Prov. IX, 1. Comp. A. Jeremias: _D. A. Test. i. L. d. i. alt. + Orients_, 5, 80, 336, 367. + + 404 Ben Sira XXIV, 3-6, 14, 21; Enoch XLII, 1-2; Slavonic Enoch XXX, 8; + Baruch III, 9-IV, 4; comp. Bousset, l. c., 337 f.; J. E., art. + Wisdom; Bentwich: _Philo_, pp. 141-147. + + 405 Targ. Ver. to Gen. I, 1. Gen. R. I. 2, 5. See Schechter: _Aspects_, + 127-137. + + 406 Kaufmann, l. c., 16, 107, 113, 163, 325, 418. + + 407 Job IX, 4; _Cuzari_, II, 2. + + 408 Sachs, cl, 6, 227. + + 409 Ps. XVIII, 36. + + 410 Meg. 35 a. + + 411 Isa. LVII, 15. + + 412 Deut. X, 17-18. + + 413 Ps. LXVIII, 5-6. + + 414 Ps. CXIII, 5-6. + + 415 Weber, l. c., 154. + + 416 Deut. IV, 7; Yer. Ber. IX, 19 a, where the plural, _Kerobim_, + suggests the idea, “all kinds of nearness.” + + 417 Ps. XXIX, 4; Tanh. Yithro, ed. Buber, 17. + + 418 Ps. XCI, 15; Isa. LXIII, 9; Sifre Num. 84. + + 419 Ber. 6 a; 7 a; R. ha Sh. 17 b; Hag. 5 b; Sanh. 39 a. Comp. + Schechter, _Aspects_, p. 21-50. + + 420 Weber, l. c., 157-160. + + 421 Plutarch: “De placitis philosophiae,” II, 1; comp. for the entire + chapter Dillmann, l. c., 284-295; Smend: 1. c., 454 f.; H. + Steinthal: “Die Idee der Schöpfung” in J. B. z. Jued. Gesch. u. + Lit., II, 39-44. + + 422 Ps. XXXIII, 9. + + 423 Job XXXVIII; Ps. CIV. + + 424 Comp. Albo I, 12, and Schlesinger’s Notes, 625. + + 425 Ps. CII, 25-27. + + 426 Job XXV, 2. + + 427 Ber. 60 b. + +_ 428 Gam su le tobah_, an allusion to his own name. Taan. 21 b. + + 429 Gen. R. IX, 5. + + 430 Gen. R. IX, 9-10. + + 431 Sifre Deut. 307. + + 432 Jer. X, 11-12 and 10. + + 433 See his commentary to Gen. I, 1; comp. Neumark, l. c., I, 70, 71, 80 + f., 87, 412, 439, 515; Husik, l. c., p. 190; D. Strauss, l. c., + 619-660. + + 434 II Macc. VII, 28. + + 435 Gen. R. I, 12; X. 3; Hag. II b-13 a; Slavonic Enoch, XXV; see J. E., + art. Cosmogony and Creation; Enc. Rel. and Eth., 151 ff., 167 f. + + 436 Gen. R. IX, 1. + + 437 See Strauss, l. c., 645 f. + + 438 See Schmiedl, l. c., 91-128; Kaufmann, l. c., 280 f., 306, 387 f. + + 439 See C. Seligman, _Judenthum und Moderne Weltanchauung_. + + 440 The first benediction before the Shema. + + 441 Gen. VII, 11; VIII, 2. + + 442 Isa. XL, 26. + + 443 Job XXXVI, 6. + + 444 Job XXXVIII, 25. + + 445 Gen. XX, 17-18; XXX, 22. + + 446 Ps. CXLVII, 8-9. + + 447 Ps. CIV, 27-30. + + 448 Gen. I, 11. + + 449 Ps. CIV, 8. + + 450 Gen. VIII, 22; Job XXXVIII, 33. + + 451 Jer. XXXI, 39; XXXIII, 25. + + 452 Gen. IX, 12 f. + + 453 Job XXV, 2. + + 454 See Dillmann, l. c., 295 f.; D. Strauss, l. c., 629-643. + + 455 Enoch LXIX, 15-25; Prayer of Manasseh, 3; Suk. 53 a b; Hag. 12 a. + + 456 See Singer’s _Prayerbook_, 37, 96, 290, 292. + + 457 Ps. CIII, 20. + + 458 Shab. 119 b. + + 459 Ps. CII, 27; Isa. XXXIV, 4. + + 460 Isa. LXV, 17. + + 461 See J. E. and Enc. of Rel. and Eth., art. “Eschatology”; Schuerer, + _G. V. I._ II, 545. + + 462 Ex. XV, 11. + +_ 463 Oth_, sign for miracle, Ex. IV, 8, 17, and elsewhere. + +_ 464 Mopheth_, Ex. VII, 3, and elsewhere. + + 465 Gen. XVIII, 14. + + 466 Num. XI, 23. + + 467 Ex. XXXIV, 10; Num. XVI, 30. + + 468 Ex. IV, 11. + + 469 Josh. X, 12-14. See Joel: “D. Mosaismus u. d. Wunder,” in Jb. d. + Jued. Gesch. u. Lit., 1904, p. 66-94. + + 470 Mek. Beshallah 3; Gen. R. V, 4. + + 471 Aboth V, 6; comp. Ab. d. R. N., ed. Schechter, 95; Mek. Beshallah, + 5; Sifre Debarim, 355; Pes. 54 a; P. d. R. Eli., XIX; Targ. Y. to + Num. XXII, 28, where a different list of ten wondrous things is + given. + + 472 Emunoth we Deoth II, 44, 68. Comp. Ibn Ezra to Gen. III, 1, and Num. + XXII, 28. + +_ 473 Moreh_, II, 25, 35, 37; III, 24; _Yesode ha Torah_, VII, 7; VIII, + 1-3. Comp. Joel: _Moses Maimonides_, p. 77. + +_ 474 Ikkarim_, I, 18. + + 475 Or _Adonai_, III, 5; comp. Joel: _Don Chasdai Crescas_, p. 70. + +_ 476 Milhamoth Adonai_, last chapters; comp. J. E., art. Levi ben + Gershom. + +_ 477 Cuzari_, II, 54. + + 478 The _Anshe maaseh_, mentioned together with the _Hasidim_ in Suk. V, + 4, and Sot. IX, 15, are wonderworkers, of whom Haninah ben Dosa, the + last, is singled out. The same epithet was given to Simeon ben + Yochai in Aramaic, _Iskan_, see Lev. Rabba XXII, 2, and to R. Assi, + eod. XIX, 1,—where it means, worker in nature’s realm. Thus Nahum of + Gimzo is called “trained in the skill to perform miracles”—Taan. 21 + a; Phinehas ben Jair was also a wonderworker—Hul. 7 a. The whole + portion regarding rain-miracles seems to be taken from a work on the + miracles of saints. + + 479 Taan, 18 b. + + 480 Pes. 118 a; Ned. 41 a. + + 481 Shab. 53 b. + + 482 Ab. Za. IV, 7; comp. Ber. 4 a, 20 a; Sanh. 97 b. + + 483 B. M. 59 b. + + 484 Deut. XIII, 2-6. + +_ 485 Yesode ha Torah_, VIII, 1-5. + +_ 486 Ikkarim_, I, 18. + + 487 Mendelssohn: G. Sch., III, 65, 120 f., 320 f. + + 488 II Kings VI, 6. + + 489 Joshua X, 13. + +_ 490 Moreh_, II, 33. + + 491 The Hebrew term _Hashgaha_—Providence—is derived from Ps. XXXIII, + 14, _hishgiah_, “He observes.” See J. E., art. Providence; Davidson, + l. c., 178-182; Hamburger, R. W. B. II, art. Bestimmung; Rauwenhoff, + l. c., 538 f.; Ludwig Philippson: “_Israel. Religionsl._,” II, 98 + f.; Formstecher: “_Religion des Geistes_,” 114-119. + + 492 Jer. X, 2. See art. Divination, in J. E.; Dict. Bible; Enc. R. and + Eth. + + 493 See Lev. XVI, 8 f.; Num. XXVI, 56; Josh. XVIII-XIX; Prov. XVIII, 18. + + 494 Ex. XVIII, 30; I Sam. see LXX; XIV, 41. + + 495 Ex. XXXIII, 32; Ps. LVI, 9; CXXXIX, 16; comp., however, the + Babylonian “tables of destinies.” + + 496 Isa. XL, 21; XLI, 4, 22 f.; Amos III, 7. + + 497 Isa. LIV, 16. + + 498 Isa. X, 5, 15. + + 499 Isa. VIII. 11; Ps. II, 2 f.; Deut. XXIII, 6. + + 500 Jer. X, 33. + + 501 Aboth III, 15. + + 502 Hul. 7 a. + + 503 Gen. XXIV, 50; M. K. 18 b. + + 504 Ch. XXXIV. + + 505 Ber. 33 b. + + 506 R. h. Sh. 17 b; New Year’s liturgy. + +_ 507 H. Teshubah_, V, 1-2. + + 508 See, on the Zagmuk festival, Zimmern, K. A. T., p. 514 f. + + 509 Tos. R. h. Sh, I, 13; R. h. Sh. 16 a. + + 510 Saadia: _Emunoth_, IV, 7; Bahya: _Hoboth ha Lebaboth_, III, 8; IV, + 3. + +_ 511 H. Teshubah_ V; _Moreh_, I, 23; III, 16-19; comp. _Cuzari_, V, + 20-21; Albo: _Ikkarim_, IV, 1-11; Gersonides: _Milhamoth_, III, 2; + VI, 1-18; Isaac ben Shesheth: Responsa, 119; Lipman Heller to Aboth + III, 15. See Joel: _Levi ben Gerson_, p. 56. + + 512 See _Or Adonai_, II, 3; comp. Joel: _Hasdai Crescas_, 41-49, 54-55; + Neumark: “_Crescas and Spinoza_,” in Y. B. C. C. A. R., 1908, vol. + XVIII, p. 277-319. + +_ 513 Or Adonai_, III, 24. + + 514 Gen. R. LXXIX, 16; comp. Matt. X, 29. + + 515 B. B. 16 a; comp. Matt. X, 30; Luke XII, 7. + + 516 Deut. XXXII, 11. + + 517 Mek. Yithro 2; Sifre ad loc. + + 518 Shab. 119 b. + + 519 Ps. XLVI, 2; CXXI, 4. + + 520 See David Kaufmann: “_Theol. d. B. b. Pakudah_,” p. 240. + + 521 Mid. Teh. to Ps. XXXIV; L. Ginzberg, _Legends of the Jews_, IV, + 89-90; _Alphabet of Ben Sira_. + +_ 522 Comp. Maasehhbuch_; Tendlau: _Sagen d. jued. Vorzeit_. + + 523 See Gen. R. IX, 5, 10, 11; Dillmann, l. c., 309-318; D. F. Strauss, + l. c., II, 343-384. + + 524 Shab. 55 a. + + 525 Ber. 5 a, after Deut. VIII, 5; Prov. III, 12. + + 526 Isa. XLV, 7. + + 527 Deut. XI, 27; see the Midrash ad loc. + +_ 528 Emunah Ramah_, ed. Weil, 93 f.; _Moreh_, III, 10. + + 529 See M. Lefkovitz, “The Attitude of Judaism to Christian Science,” in + Y. B. C. C. A. R. XXII, 300-318. + + 530 See Morris Joseph, l. c., p. 108, 127 ff.; C. Seligman, l. c., + 50-68. + + 531 Gen. VI, 2; Job I, 6; II, 1; XXXIII, 7; Gen. XXXII, 29; XXXIII, 10; + Jud. XIII, 22; Ps. VIII, 6. + + 532 Comp. Mek. Yithro 7 through 10; Hul. 40; Tos. Hul. II, 18; Ab. Z. 42 + b; Maimonides to Sanh. X; Targ. Y. to Ex. XX, 3. + + 533 Deut. IV, 39. + + 534 Deut. XXXII, 39. + + 535 Isa. XLIV, 24; XL, 5. + + 536 Gen. XVIII and XVII, 11, 13. + + 537 Gen. VI, 1 f. + + 538 Comp. Ezek. XXVIII, 13 f. + + 539 Ps. LXXVIII, 25. + + 540 See Dillmann, l. c., 318-333; Davidson, l. c., 289-300; J. E., art. + Angelology; Enc. Rel. and Eth. IV, 594-601, art. Demons. + + 541 Lev. XVII, 7; Deut. XXXII, 17; Isa. XXXIV, 14. + + 542 Gen. XVIII. + + 543 Ex. XXIII, 20; II Sam. XXIV, 16; II Kings XIX, 35 _et al._ See J. + E., art. Angelology. + + 544 Ex. III, 2-4; XXIII, 20-21; Isa. LXIII, 9. + + 545 Zech. I, 9 f.; II, 1 f. + + 546 See J. E., art. Angelology. + + 547 Ezek. I, 4-24; X, 1-22; Isa. VI, 2; Dan. IV, 10 f.; VII, 9 f.; VIII, + 16 f.; X, 13 f; Enoch XV, 1 f., and elsewhere. + + 548 See J. E., art. Merkabah, though still doubted by Bousset, l. c., p. + 406. For Akathriel see Ber. 7 and J. E., art. Sandalfon. + + 549 Jubilees II, 2; Slav. Enoch. XXIX, 3; I, 3; Gen. R, III, 11. + + 550 Yer. Ber. IX; Sanh. 93 a; Hul. 91 b; Ned. 32 a; Gen. R. VIII, XXI; + Midr. Teh. to Ps. CIII, 18; CIV, 1. + + 551 Neumark, l. c. + + 552 Schmiedl, l. c., 69-87. + +_ 553 Yesode ha Torah_, II, 4-9; _Moreh_, I, 43; II, 3-7, 41; III, 13; + Husik, l. c., 303 f. + +_ 554 Emunoth_, IV, 1; VI, 2; _Hoboth ha Lebaboth_, I, 6; _Cuzari_, IV, + 3; _Emunah Ramah_, IV, 2; VI, 1; _Ikkarim_, II, 28, 31. + + 555 Zohar, III, 68; Joel: _Religionsphilosophie des Zohar_, 278 f. + + 556 Ned. 20 b; Midr. Teh. Ps. CIII, 17-18; Ibn Ezra: Introduction to his + commentary on the Pentateuch. + + 557 Compare Gen. R. to Gen. I, 31. + + 558 Ps. CIII, 19-20. + + 559 Job I, 6. + + 560 See J. E., art. Demonology; Satan; Belial; Enc. Rel. and Eth., art. + Demons and Spirits, Jewish; Davidson, l. c., 300-306; Dillmann, l. + c., 334-340; D. F. Strauss, l. c., II, 1-18. + + 561 Lev. XVII, 7; Deut. XXXII, 17; Isa. XIII, 21; XXXIV, 14. + + 562 Lev. XVI, 8; see Ibn Ezra; J. E. and Enc. Rel. and Eth., art. + Azazel. + + 563 J. E., art. Beelzebub. + + 564 J. E., art. Belial. + + 565 Enoch VI, 7; J. E., art. Ashmodai; Levy: W. B., Shemachzai. + + 566 Levy: W. B., Lilith; Iggereth. + + 567 J. E., art. Demonology. + + 568 Aboth V, 6; P. d. R. El., XIX; Gen. R. VII, 7. + + 569 Enoch VII; Yalkut Gen. 44, 47. + + 570 Erubin, 18 b. + + 571 P. d. R. El., XIII; Yalkut Gen. 25. + + 572 See Abrahams’ Ann. to Singers’ _Prayerb_. XLIV f. and for the + Church, Enc. Rel, and Eth., Demons and Spirits, Christian. + + 573 Abrahams, l. c., p. 7, 196; XX, CCXV. + + 574 Ps. CIX, 6. + + 575 Zech. III, 1; Job I, 6. + + 576 I Chron. XXI, 1. + + 577 See B. Wisdom II, 24; P. d. R. El., XIII. + + 578 Shab. 146 a; Yeb. 103 b; Ab. Zar. 22 b. + + 579 Suk. 52 a. + + 580 Targ. to Isa. XI, 4. + + 581 B. B. 16 a. + + 582 De Gigantibus, 2-4. + + 583 Sifra Lev. XVI, 8; Yoma, 67 b. + + 584 See the Ethiopic “Adam and Eve”; C. Bezold, _Die Schalzhochle_, p. + 18; comp. Gen. R. XXVI. + + 585 See D. Cassel: _Cuzari_, p. 402 note. + +_ 586 Moreh_ III, 29-37, 46; Ibn Ezra to Job I, 6; comp. Finkelscherer: + _Maimunis’ Stellung zum Aberglauben_, 1894, p. 40-51. + +_ 587 Christliche Glaubenslehre_, II, 18. + + 588 Euken, _D. Wahrheitsgehalt d. Religion_, p. 384, 402; Bousset, + _Wesen d. Rel._, p. 239. + + 589 See H. Cohen: _Ethik des reinen Willens_, 282 f., 341 f., 428 f., + 593: “Eine Macht des Boesen gibt es nur im Mythos.” “Dieser Mythos + fuehrt folgerichtig sum mythologischen Gottmenschen.” M. Joel, in + his article, “Der Mosaismus und das Heidenthum,” in J. B. j. Gesch. + u. Lit, 1904, p. 49-66, ascribes the belief in demons to Greek + influence. He holds that the prophetic teaching of God’s unity was + the best bulwark against demonology and mysticism. + + 590 See Dillmann, l. c., 341-351; Weber, l. c., 177-190; Bousset, l. c., + 336, 346; Davidson, l. c, 36-38, 115-129; Schechter, Aspects, p. + 21-45; Schmiedl, l. c., 35-48; J. E., art. Holy Spirit; Logos; + Memra; Metatron; Name of God; Shekinah; Enc. Rel. and Eth., I, + 308-312. + + 591 Ps. LXXXII, 1. + + 592 Ex. XXV, 8. + + 593 Ber. 17 a. + + 594 See Ber., l. c., Rab’s reference to Ex. XXIV, 11. + + 595 John I, 1-6. + + 596 Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p. 96, 292. + + 597 Ch. XXII. See Prov. VIII, 22. + + 598 XXIV, 9 f. + + 599 Weber, l. c., 197 f. + + 600 L. c., 178 f. + + 601 See Kohut: _Jued, Angelologie_, 36-38; Schorr: He Halutz, VIII, 3; + J. E., art. Merkabah. + + 602 See Targ. Yer. to Gen. V, 24; J. E., art. Metatron. Comp. Eth. Enoch + LXX, 1, and Slav. Enoch III-XXIV. + + 603 Gen. I, 2. + + 604 Gen. II, 7; VI, 3; Job XXXII, 8. + + 605 Num. XI, 17 f.; XXIV, 2; XXVII, 18; Ex. XXVIII, 3; XXXI, 3 f.; Isa. + XI, 2; LXI, 1; Ezek. I, 12, 20. + + 606 Isa. LXIII, 10; Ps. LI, 13. + + 607 See J. E., art. Holy Spirit. + + 608 See J. E. art., Bath Kol. + + 609 See Tos. Sota XIII, 2; XXLV, 11; compare Levy: W. B., _Shem;_ + Geiger: _Urschrift_, 273 f. + + 610 Deut. XII, 5, 11; II Sam. XII, 28; Neh. I, 9; Jer. VII, 12, 14. + + 611 Ex. XXIII, 21. + + 612 Jer. XLIV, 26; Isa. XLV, 23. + + 613 Midr. Teh. to Ps. XXXVIII, 8; XCI, 8. + + 614 Taan. III, 8. + + 615 Prayer of Manasses, 3. + + 616 P. d. R. El. III. + + 617 See Levy: W. B., _Geburah_. + + 618 Ex. XXI, 6. + + 619 Ex. XXXIV, 5 f. + + 620 Gen. R. XXI, 8; Targ. Ps. LVI, 11, and see Siegfried: _Philo_, 213 + f. + + 621 Gen. R. VIII, 5, after Ps. LXXXV, 11-12. + + 622 P. d. R. El. III; Midr. Teh. Ps. L, 1, ref. to Prov. III, 19-20. + + 623 A. d. R. N. XXXVII, ref. to Prov. III, 19 f.; Ps. LXV, 7; LXXXV, + 21-22; Job XXVII, 11. + + 624 Ref. to Hosea II, 21-22. + + 625 Hag. 12 a. + + 626 See J. E., art. Sefiroth, the Ten; Yezirah, Sefer. + + 627 See J. E., art. Shekinah; _Cuzari_, II, 4; IV, 3. + + 628 Gen. I, 26, and the commentaries. + + 629 Gen. R. VIII, 9. + + 630 Gen. R. XIV, 1. + + 631 Gen. I, 28. + + 632 Gen. R. VIII, 12; P. d. R. El., XI. + + 633 Sanh. IV, 5, correctly preserved in the Yerushalmi, and the addition + in the Babli, _Me Yisrael_, ought not to have been inserted by + Schechter, Ab. d. R.N., p. 90. + + 634 Lev. R. XXXIV, 3. + + 635 Ab. d. R. N. XXXI. + + 636 See Jubilees XV, 27; comp. Gen. R. VIII, 7-9; Ab. d. R. N., ed. + Schechter, p. 153. + + 637 See Jellinek: _Bezelem Elohim;_ Philippson, l. c., II, 58-72; + Dillmann, l. c., 325. The words of Plato (_State_, X, 613, and + _Theætetos_, 176), “Man should strive for God-likeness through + virtue, and be holy, righteous and wise like the Deity,” may have + influenced the ethical interpretation of the Biblical term. + + 638 Gen. R. VIII, 1. + + 639 See Gen. I, 26; Comm. of Rashi, Saadia, Ibn Ezra, Nahmanides, and + Ob. Sforno. + + 640 Job XXXII, 8. + + 641 Zach. III, 7; see comm. + + 642 Gen. VI, 12, 19. + + 643 Gen. IX, 21; Lev. XVII, 11, 14. + + 644 See Dillmann, l. c., 355-361; Davidson, l. c., 182-203; comp. Gen. + R. XIV, 11, where these three terms are given, and also _yehidah_, + Ps. XXII, 21; XXXV, 17, and _hayah_, Ps. XCLIII, 3; Job XXXIII, 1. + + 645 De Leg. Alleg. III, 38. + + 646 See Horovitz: _D. Psychologie Saadias_; Scheyer: _D. psycholog. + System d. Maimonides_; Cassel’s _Cuzari_, p. 382-400; Husik, l. c., + IX, 41; and see also Index: _Soul_. + + 647 Sanh. 91 a, b; Nid. 30 b-31 b; Sifre Deut. 306, ref. to Deut. XXXII, + 1; Lev. IV, 5-8. + + 648 Ab. Z. 5 a; Gen. R. VIII, 1. + + 649 B. Wisdom, VIII, 20; Slav. Enoch XXIII, 5; Philo I, 15, 32; II, 356; + comp. Bousset, l. c., p. 508 f. + + 650 Gen. VI, 5; VIII, 21; B. Sira XV, 14; XVII, 31; XXI, 11; Ber. 5 a; + Kid. 30 b; Suk. 52 a, b; Shab. 152 b; Eccl. R. XII, 7; comp. F. Ch. + Porter: “The Yezer ha Ra” in _Biblical and Semitic Studies_, 93-156; + Bousset, l. c., 462 f. + + 651 Suk. 52 a, b. + + 652 Gen. R. VIII, 11. + + 653 Ab. d. R. N. XXXI. + + 654 Aboth III, 18. + + 655 Ber. 10 a; Midr. Teh. Ps. CIII, 4-5. + + 656 Gen. XVIII, 19; Deut. VIII, 6; X, 12; XXXII, 4. + + 657 Micah VI, 8. + + 658 Gen. V. 22; VI, 9; XVII, 1-2. + + 659 Gen. R. XII, 8; XIV, 6, ref. to Josh. XIV, 15. + + 660 Ezek. XXVIII, 14. + + 661 Prov. III, 18. + + 662 Gen. R. XVI, 10; Shab. 55 b. + + 663 B. B. 15 a. + + 664 Shab. 146 a; Yeb. 103 b; Ab. Zar. 22 b; Shab. 55 b. + + 665 B. Wisdom, II, 24. + + 666 Romans V, 12 f. + + 667 Shab. 146 a. + + 668 Deut. XXIV, 16; Ezek. XVIII, 4. + + 669 Shab. 55 a, b. + + 670 Shab. 32 b. + + 671 B. Sira XXV, 24. + + 672 Yer. Shab. II, 5 b. + + 673 Gen. R. XIX, 10, ref. to Gen. III, 6-7. + + 674 Apoc. Baruch XXIII, 4; XLVIII, 42 f.; LVI, 6; and especially LIV, + 14-19; IV Esdras III, 7; VII, 11, 118. + + 675 Pesik. 160 b; Num. R. XIII, 5. + + 676 P. d. R. El., XX; comp. Adam and Eve, I; Erub. 18 b. + + 677 Gen. R. XII, 5; XIX, 11; XXI, 4 f.; comp. Shab. 55 b. + + 678 See Windishman: _Zoroastrische Studien_, p. 27 f. + + 679 Eccl. VII, 29. + + 680 Tanh. Yelamdenu to Gen. III, 22. + + 681 Eccl. XII, 7. + + 682 Shab. 152 b. + + 683 Ber. 80 a. The rabbis did not have the belief that the body is + morally impure and therefore the seat of the _yezer ha ra_, as is + stated by Weber, l. c., 228 f. See Potter, l. c., 98-107; Schechter: + _Aspects_, 242-292. It is wrong also to explain Ps. LI, 7, “Behold I + was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive + me,” as inherited sinfulness, as Delitzsch and other Christian + commentators have done, following Ibn Ezra, who refers this to Eve, + the mother of all men. The correct interpretation is given by R. + Ahha in Lev. R. XIV, 5; “Every sexual act is the work of sensuality, + the _Yezer ha ra_.” Comp. Yoma 69 b. Needless to say that Hosea VI, + 7; Isa. XLIII, 37; Job XXXI, 33 do not refer to the sin of Adam. + + 684 See Ibn Ezra to Gen. III, 1. + + 685 See Taan. 10 a; Ber. 34 b; D. comp. Enoch XXIX-XXXII; _Seder Gan + Eden_, in Jellinek, _Beth ha Midrash_, II, III. + +_ 686 Moreh_, II, 30; Nahmanides to Gen. III, 1. + + 687 Gen. R. XVI, 8, ref. to Gen. II, 15. + + 688 Pes. 111 a; Gen. R. XX, 24. + +_ 689 Seder Olam_ at the close; Gen. R. XXIV, 2. + + 690 Prov. XX, 27. + + 691 Job XXXII, 8. + + 692 Isa. XI, 2. + + 693 Dan. II, 20-21. + + 694 Tanh. Miketz 9; comp. Tanh. Yelamdenu Wayakhel, where the story is + told differently. + + 695 Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p. 46. + + 696 Cuzari III, 19. + + 697 Ber. 58 a; Singer’s _Prayerb._, p. 291. + +_ 698 Yesode ha Torah_, II, 2. + +_ 699 Nethibot Olam_, XIV. + + 700 Pes. 94 b. + +_ 701 Shaare Shamayim_, IV, 3. + + 702 R. h. Sh. 21 b. + + 703 II Sam. XXIII, 2. + + 704 Job IV, 12-16. + + 705 Gen. R. XXIV, 7; comp. Jubilees III, 12. + + 706 See Dillmann, l. c., 301 f., 375; J. E., art. Freedom of Will. + + 707 Gen. IV, 7. + + 708 Deut. XXX, 15-19. + + 709 Jer. XXI, 8. + + 710 See Sifre Deut. 53-54; J. E., art. Didache. + + 711 Gen. III, 22; Mek. Beshallah 6; Gen. R. XXI. 5; Mid. Teh. Ps. XXXVI, + 3; LVIII, 2. + + 712 Aboth III, 15, but see Schechter: _Aspects_, 285, note 4. + + 713 Ben Sira XV, 11-20. + + 714 Enoch XCVIII, 4. + + 715 IX, 7. + + 716 IV Ezra VII, 127-129; IX, 10-11. + + 717 Quod deus immutabilis, 10, I, 279; Di confusione linguarum, 35, I, + 432; Quod deterius potiori insid. + + 718 Josephus, J. W., II, 8, 14; Ant. XVIII, I, 3. + + 719 Ber. 33 b. + + 720 Gen. R. LXVII, 7. Comp. P. R. El. XV. + + 721 Tanh. Toledoth, ed. Buber, 21. + + 722 Shab. 104 a; Yoma 38 b-39 a; Yer. Kid. I, 67 d. + + 723 Mak. 10 b; ref. to Ex. XXI, 12; Num. XXII, 12; Isa. XLVIII, 17; + Prov. III, 34. + + 724 Ex. IV, 21; VII, 3, and elsewhere; see the Jewish commentaries to + these passages. Comp. Pes. 165 a; Num. R. XV, 16. See Schechter, + _Aspects_, 289-292. + + 725 Saadia: _Emunoth_, III, 154; IV, 7 f.; Bahya: _Hoboth haleboboth_, + III, 8; _Cuzari_, V, 20; _Moreh_ I, 23; III, 16; _H. Teshuba_, V; + Gersonides: _Milhamoth_, III, 106; Albo: _Ikkarim_, IV, 5-10; see + Cassel notes, _Cuzari_, p. 414. + +_ 726 Or Adonai_ II, 4; comp. Bloch: _Willensfreiheit des Hisdai + Crescas_; Neumark: _Crescas and Spinoza_, Y. B. C. C. A. R. 1908. + + 727 Ex. XX, 5. + + 728 Sanh. 27 b. + + 729 Job XIV, 4. + + 730 Pesik. 29 b. + +_ 731 H. Teshubah_, V. + + 732 See Morgenstern, “_The Doctrine of Sin in the Babylonian Religion_,” + in Mitth. Vorderas. Gesellsch. 1905. + + 733 Gen. VI, 3; Ps. LXXVIII, 39. + + 734 Sota 3 a. + + 735 Suk. 52 a, b. Comp. Schechter, “The Evil Yezer, Source of Rebellion + and Victory over the Evil Yezer,” l. c., 242-292. + + 736 Prov. XX, 9. + + 737 Eccl. VII, 20. + + 738 Job IV, 17; XV, 14 f; XXV, 5. + + 739 Num. XX, 12; XXVII, 14. + + 740 Yeb. 121 b. + + 741 Mid. Teh. Ps. XVI, 2. + + 742 Job XV, 15. + + 743 Midr. Teh. eodem. + + 744 Morgenstern, l. c. + + 745 Ex. XXX, 33, 38; Lev. X, 2; XVI, 1-2; Num. XVII, 28; XVIII, 7. + + 746 Ezek. XVIII, 6 f.; XX, 13 f.; Isa. LVI, 2 f. + + 747 Hos. VI, 6; Mic. VI, 8; Isa. I, 11 f. + + 748 I Sam. XV, 22-23. + + 749 Job XXXV, 6-8. + + 750 Ps. LI, 6. + + 751 Sanh. 107 a. + + 752 Isa. LIX, 2. + + 753 Gen. IV, 13; XV, 16; XIX, 15; Ps. XL, 13. + + 754 Gen. XXVI, 10; XLII, 21; Ps. XXXIV, 22. + + 755 Lev. IV, 13 f.; Num. V, 6. + + 756 Ps. XIX, 13. + + 757 Num. R. XXI, 19. + + 758 Num. XVI, 22. + + 759 Tanh. Korah, ed. Buber, 19. + + 760 Habak. I, 13. + + 761 Isa. XXXIII, 14. + + 762 Isa. VI, 5-7. + + 763 Pes. 45 b; Gen. R. XXIII, 9. + + 764 See J. E., art. Cabala; Abelson, _Jewish Mysticism_, p. 127 f., 171 + f. + + 765 See J. E., art. Repentance; Claude Montefiore: “Rabbinical + Conceptions of Repentance,” in J. Q. R., Jan. 1904; Schechter, + _Aspects_, 313-343. The works of Weber (p. 261 f.), Bousset (p. 446 + f.), and Davidson (l. c., 327-338) do not do justice to the Jewish + teachings. + + 766 Ezek. XVIII, 4; Ps. XXXIV, 21; Prov. XIV, 12. + + 767 Ezek. XVIII, 32; XXXIII, 11. + + 768 Prov. XIII, 21. + + 769 Ezek. XVIII, 4. + + 770 Lev. I, 4; IV, 26-31. + + 771 Ps. XXV, 8. + + 772 Yer. Mak. II, 37 d; Pesik. 158 b. See Schechter, l. c., p. 294, note + 1. + + 773 Amos V, 4. + + 774 Isa. LV, 7. + + 775 Deut. IV, 30; XXX, 2-3. + + 776 Amos IV, 6 f. + + 777 Hos. VI, 1; XIV, 2 f. + + 778 Jer. III, 12-13; IV, 3; 14; XVIII, 11. + + 779 Ezek. XVIII, 1-32. + + 780 Zech. I, 3. + + 781 Mal. III, 7. + + 782 Joel II, 12-13. + + 783 See Ps. XXXII, 1 f. + + 784 Jonah III-IV. + + 785 The Hebrew _teshubah_ is translated in Greek _metanoia_, meaning a + change of mind. + + 786 Pes. 119 a; P. d. R. El. XLIII. + + 787 Pes. 54 a; Gen, R. I, 5; P. d. R. El. III; Singer’s _Prayerb._ 267 + f. + + 788 Shab. 56 a; Ab. Z. 4 b-5 a; Midr. Teh. Ps. XL, 3; LI, 13. + + 789 Ter. Sanh. X, 78 c; Sanh. 103 a; Pes. 162; Prayer of Manasseh. + + 790 Pesik. 160 a-162; Shab. 56 a, b; Gen. R. XI, 6; XXII, 12-13; + XXXVIII, 9; XLIX, 6; P. R. El. XX; XLIII; Num. R. XVIII, 6; Ab. d. + R. N. I, 32; Sanh. 102 b. + + 791 Yoma 86 a, b; Pes. R. XLIX. + + 792 Mek. Shira 5; Gen. R. XXI, 6; XXX, 4; XXXII, 10; XXXVIII, 14; + LXXXIV, 18; Ex. R. XII, 1; Num. R. XII, 13; B. Wisdom XI, 23; XII, + 10, 19. + + 793 Sanh. 108; Sibyllines, I, 125-198. + + 794 Cant. R. VII, 5, ref. to the name _Hadrach_, Zech. IX, 1. + + 795 Weber, l. c., 261 f.; Bousset, l. c., 446 f.; comp. Perles: + _Bousset._ + + 796 Gen. R. XXII, 27; comp. Sanh 107 b. + + 797 Mek. Yithro I. + + 798 Erub. 19 a. + + 799 Mid. Teh. Ps. I, 21 f.; IX, 13, 15; XI, 5. + + 800 See Maimonides, Bahya, and others on _Teshubah;_ comp. J. E., art. + Repentance; Tobit XIII, 6; XIV, 6; Philo II, 435. + + 801 See Schechter, l. c., 323 f. + + 802 Sanh. 99 a, Luke XV, 7. The third Gospel more than the others + preserved the original Jewish doctrines of the Church. + + 803 Job XIX, 25. The Hebrew _Goel_ signifies kinsman as well as redeemer + and avenger, implying blood-relationship. In Job it means + vindicator. + + 804 Deut. XIV, 1. + + 805 Mal. II, 10. + + 806 Ps. CIII, 13. + + 807 Jer. II, 27. + + 808 Hosea II, 1. + + 809 See Jer. III, 4. + + 810 Jer. XXXI, 9; Deut. XXXII, 7; Isa. LXIII, 16; LXIV, 7; Mal. I, 4; I + Chron. XXIX, 10. + + 811 Yoma VIII, 9. + + 812 Sota IX, 15. + + 813 See next paragraph, and the art. _Abba_ in J. E. + + 814 II Sam. VII, 14. + + 815 Ps. LXXXIX, 27-28. + + 816 Jubilees I, 24. + + 817 Wisdom II, 16; V, 5. + + 818 Psalms of Solomon XVII, 27. + + 819 Taan. III, 8. + + 820 Ber. V, 1. + + 821 Midr. Teh. Ps. CXXI, 1. + + 822 Mek. Yithro 11. + + 823 Sifre Deut. 96; Hosea I, 10. + + 824 Ex. IV, 22. + + 825 Sifre Deut. 49. + + 826 Sifre Deut. 96. + + 827 Beza 32 b. + + 828 Yeb. 61 a. + + 829 Aboth III, 13, quoted above, Chap. XXXIV, par. 6. + +_ 830 Sifra Ahare_ 13, p. 86. + + 831 Ps. XLII, 3. + + 832 Mal. I, 11. + + 833 With its _azkarah_, the flame of incense rising in “pyramidal” form, + generally translated “memorial,” or “memorial-part.” Lev. II, 9, 16. + For sacrifice as means of atonement see Schechter: _Aspects_, + 295-301. + + 834 Amos V, 21-24. + + 835 Hosea VI, 6. + + 836 Isa. I, 11-18. + + 837 Jer. VII, 21-23. + + 838 Ps. L, 7-13. + + 839 Ps. XL, 7. + + 840 I Sam. I, 13-14. + + 841 Often mentioned in the Psalms, under such terms as “the congregation + of the righteous,” “the holy ones,” “the devout ones,” etc. + + 842 See I Kings VIII, 48; Dan. VI, 11. + + 843 Isa. LVI, 7. + + 844 Tamid V, 1; comp. Kohler: Monatsschr., 1893, p. 441. + + 845 Sifre Deut. 41: “What is meant by, ‘To serve Him with all your + heart?’ this is prayer.” + + 846 Ber. 26 a. + + 847 Ber. 32 b; Midr. to Sam. I, 7. + + 848 P. d. R. El. XVI. + + 849 R. ha Sh. 17 b. + + 850 Meg. 31 b; Yer. Taan. IV, 68 c. But compare Isaac Aboab: _Menorath + ha Maor_, III, 3 a; Bahya ben Asher: _Kad ha Kemah_, art. + _Tefillah_. + + 851 Jer. VI, 22. + + 852 Lev. R. XXII, 5. + +_ 853 Cuzari_, II, 25, see note by Cassel; _Moreh_, III, 32; comp. + Midrash Tadshe 12; I, 177 f.; comp. Hebrews IX-X; _Barnabas_, I, 25. + S. R. Hirsch in _Horeb_ p. 639 f. + + 854 See Philipson: _The Reform Movement in Judaism_ for the various + views and debates on sacrifice and prayer. I. Elbogen: _D. jued. + Gottesdienst i. s. geschichtl. Entwicklung_, p. 374 f., 435 f., is + written in a more conservative spirit and unfavorable to American + Reform Judaism. Comp. for the traditional liturgy: Dembitz: _Jewish + Services in the Synagogue and Home_, especially on the Prayerbook, + p. 233-246, and for America, 497-499. + + 855 Ex. XV, 2. + + 856 Ps. LXV, 3. See Wm. James: _Varieties of Rel. Experience_, 463-477; + Foster: _Function of Religion_, 183-185; Abelson: _Jewish + Mysticism_, p. 15 and elsewhere. + + 857 Yoma 53 b. + + 858 Yeb. 64 a; Ex. R. XXI, 6. + + 859 Ber. 55 a. + + 860 Ber. 10 a. + + 861 Ber. 7 a. + + 862 Taan. III, 8; Ber. V, 6; Babl. 34 b; Yer. 9 d. + + 863 Pes. R. XXII, p. 114 b; Midr. Teh. Ps. XCI, 8; see Schechter: + _Aspects_, 156; 42. + + 864 I Sam. II, 31. + + 865 Prov. XVI, 32. + + 866 Gen. R. LIX, 1; Yeb. 105 a, where R. Johanan ben Zakkai is mentioned + instead of R. Meir; Albo: _Ikkarim_, IV, 18. + + 867 See Steinschneider: _Abraham Ibn Ezra_, 126 ff. + + 868 Ps. CXLV, 18. + + 869 Ps. CXXXIX, 4. + + 870 Ps. LV, 23. + + 871 Ber. 29 b; Tos. Ber. III, 7; comp. Albo: _Ikkarim_, IV, 24. + + 872 Job XVI, 17; Ex. R. XXII, 4; comp. Schechter: _Aspects_, 228. + + 873 Ab. Z. 76. + + 874 Ber. 8 a. + + 875 Ber. 30 a. + + 876 Hab. II, 20. + + 877 Sifre Deut. 41. + + 878 Isa. LV, 6. + + 879 Ps. LXXIII, 25, 28. + + 880 Gen. III, 22. + + 881 Gen. V, 24; II Kings II, 1. + + 882 Isa., XXV, 8. + + 883 Isa. XXXVIII, 11; Ps. CXVI, 9. + + 884 Ps. XVIII, 5, and J. E., art. Belial. + + 885 Ps. CXV, 17; LXXXVIII, 13. + + 886 Isa. XXVI, 14, 19; Ps. LXXXVIII, 11; Prov. IX, 18; Job XXVI, 5. + + 887 Ps. XLIX, 15. + + 888 See Isa. VIII, 19; XXVIII, 15, 18; I Sam. XXIX, 7-14. + + 889 Job XVIII, 14; Ps. XLIX, 15. + + 890 Ps. XLIX, 16; Job XIV, 13. + + 891 Ps. CXXXIX, 8. + + 892 Ps. XVI, 10-11; Hosea XIII is a late emendation of the text. + + 893 Deut. XXX, 19; Jer. XXI, 8; Ezek. XX, 11; Lev. XVIII, 5; Ps. XXXIV, + 3; Prov. III, 22; V, 5 f. + + 894 Isa. XXXVIII, 10-20. + + 895 Ps. LXXIII, 25-28. + + 896 Job XIX, 25 f., challenges God to be his vindicator on earth or on + his tomb, testifying to his righteousness. Resurrection is denied + directly: VII, 8-21; XIV, 12-22. The whole argument of the book + excludes the thought. + + 897 Ber. 64 a, with ref. to Ps. LXXXIV, 4. + + 898 Isa. XXVI, 19. Read, “_thy_ dead instead of _My_ dead.” The + translation given here differs from the new translation. + + 899 I Sam. II, 6. + + 900 II Kings IV, 20-37. + + 901 Ezek. XXXVII, 1-14. + + 902 Dan. XII, 2, and comp. II Macc. VII, 9-36; XII, 43, and the + Apocalyptic books such as Enoch, Test. Twelve Patriarchs, Jubilees, + Psalms of Solomon, IV Ezra and Baruch Apocalypse, whereas I Macc., + Judith and Tobit, belonging to the Sadducean circles, never allude + to the future life. + + 903 Passages like Ps. IX, 18; XI, 6; XLIX, 15, comp. with Isa. XXXIII, + 14; LXV, 24; Mal. III, 19, lent themselves especially to this + conception of Sheol as a fiery place of punishment identified + afterwards with _Gehinnom_. Jer. VII, 31 f.; XIX, 6. See J. E., art. + Gehenna, and R. H. Charles, _Hebrew, Jewish and Christian + Eschatology_, 2d, 1913, p. 75 f., 132, 160 f., 292 f. + + 904 Midr. Teh. Ps. XI, 5-6; Erub. 19 a. + + 905 Sanh. 90 b; comp. Matt. XXII, 32. + + 906 Sanh. X, 1; see J. E., art. Resurrection, and Neumark, art. Ikkarim + in l. c. + + 907 See Singer’s _Prayerb._, 44 f., and Abrahams’ Notes, LIX. + + 908 Prov. XII, 28, comp. LXX, and see Kittel: _Bibl. Hebr._, note. + + 909 Ps. XLVIII, 15; see Kittel, note; Midr. Teh. to Psalms and note by + Buber; Yer. Meg. II, 73 b; M. K. 83 b; Lev. R. XI, 9. + + 910 See Tylor: _Primitive Culture_, Index, s. v. Soul. + + 911 Gen. II, 7. + + 912 Eccl. XII, 7. + + 913 See J. E., art. Birds as Souls. + + 914 Prov. XX, 27. + + 915 Ber. 60 b; Singer’s _Prayerb._, 5. + + 916 Isa. XXVI, 19; Dan. XII, 2. + + 917 Ezek. XXXVII, 1 f. + + 918 Eccl. R. XII, 5: J. E., art. Luz. + + 919 Judg. I, 26. + + 920 Sota 46 b. + + 921 Brugsch: _Religion u. Mythologie d. alt. Aegypten_, p. 618, 634. + + 922 P. d. R. El. XXXIV. + + 923 Ber. 18 b. + + 924 Shab. 152 b. + + 925 Midr. Teh. Ps. CIII, 1. + + 926 Sanh. 39 b. + + 927 Nid. 30 b. + + 928 B. Wisd. VIII, 19; Slav. Enoch XXII, 4, comp, Bousset, l. c., 313 f. + + 929 Philo: Leg. All. III, 38; Migrat. Abrah. 12; De Concupiscentia, 2; + De Fortitudine, 3; Drummond: _Philo_, I, 318 f.; Bentwich: _Philo_, + 178, 181; Windleband-Tufts on Plato, 123 f., on Philo, 231, comp. + Bousset, l. c., 508; Rhode: _Psyche_, 557 f. + +_ 930 Emunoth_, Ch. VI; Schmiedl, l. c., 135 f.; Neumark, l. c., I, 536 + f.; Husik, l. c., 376. + + 931 Neumark, l. c., 495; Husik, l. c., 108 f.; J. E., art. Bahya. + +_ 932 Cuzari_, V, 12. See Cassel, notes; Schmiedl, l. c., 141; Neumark, + l. c., 561; Husik, l. c., 179 f. + + 933 Schmiedl, l. c., 149; Neumark, l. c., 536 f., 551, 558, 573, 586; + Husik, l. c., 281 f. Comp. Scheyer: _d. Psychol. Syst. d. Maim._; + Simon, _Aspects of the Hebrew Genius_, 75-78, 86. + +_ 934 Or Adonai_, II, 6; Joel: “_Crescas_”; Husik, l. c., 400. + +_ 935 Emunah Ramah_, 39; Husik, l. c., 259 b. + +_ 936 Emunoth_, VII. + + 937 H. _Teshubah_, VIII, 2. + +_ 938 Maamar Tehiyyath ha Metim_, see Schmiedl, l. c., 172. + +_ 939 In Schaar ha Gemul._ + +_ 940 Ikkarim_, IV, 35. + +_ 941 Zohar_, I, 96 b; _Yalk. Reubeni_ to Deut. XIX, 2; J. E., art. + Cabala. + + 942 See Kayserling: _Moses Mendelssohn_, 148 ff. + + 943 Ps. XVII, 15. + + 944 See J. Jastrow: _Fact and Fable in Psychology._ + + 945 Singer’s _Prayerb._, 45. The Rabb. Conf. of Philadelphia in 1869 + passed the resolution: “The belief in the Resurrection of the Body + has no religious foundation (in Judaism), and the doctrine of + Immortality refers to the after-existence of the Soul only,” Comp. + D. Philipson: l. c., p. 489 and 492. + + 946 Jer. XXXII, 18. + + 947 Targ. to Ex. XX, 5; Sanh. 27 b. + + 948 Deut. XXIV, 16. + + 949 Ezek. XVIII, 2. + + 950 Ezek. XVIII, 20. + + 951 XVIII, 23, 32. + + 952 Ex. XVIII, 11; XXI, 23-25; Sota I, 7-9; Tos. Sota III-IV; Sanh. 90 + a; B. Wisdom XVI-XIX; Jubilees IV, 31; II Macc. V, 10; XV, 32. + + 953 Prov. XI, 31; XIII, 21. + + 954 See especially Sanh. 90 b-92 b, ref. to Ex. VI, 4; Deut. XI, 9; IV, + 5; XXXI, 16; Isa. XXVI, 19; Dan. XII, 13; Ps. LXXII, 16; also Ex. + XV, 1; Josh. VIII, 30; and Song of Songs, VII, 10. On the Second + Death see _Targ._ to Deut. XXXIII, 6; Isa. XIV, 19; LXV, 6; Jer. LI, + 39; and Revelation XX, 6, 14; XXI, 8. + + 955 IV Ezra VII, 31 f.; comp. Baruch Apoc. 42 ff.; Adam et Eva, 42; II + Sibyll., 220-236; IV Sibyll., 180 f. + + 956 Aboth IV, 22. + + 957 See Stave, _Ueb. d. Einfluss d. Parsismus a. d._ Judenth., 145 ff.; + Boecklen: _D. Verwandtschaft d. jued, christl. u. d._ pars. + _Eschatologie_; Schorr: _He Haluz_, VII-VIII. + + 958 Sanb. 91 a, b; Matt. XXII, 31 f. + + 959 The parable is found in an Apocryphon ascribed to the prophet + Ezekiel, see Epiphanius Haeres, LXIV, ed. Dindorf, II, 683 f. and + ascribed to R. Ishmael, Lev. R. IV, 5; in Sanh. 91 a, b it is given + in a dialogue with Antonius; in Tanh. Wayithro, ed. Buber, § 12, it + is anonymous. + + 960 Ps. L, 4. + + 961 Isa. LXVI, 24; see Yalkut; Bousset, 308-321; J. E., art. + Eschatology. + + 962 Aboth III, 1, 19, 20; Ber. 28 b. + + 963 Aboth IV, 21. + + 964 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 3; R. H. 16 b; see J. E., art. Purgatory. + + 965 See Testament of Abraham XIV; comp. Kohler in J. Q. R. VII, 587. + + 966 T. d. b. El. Zuta XVII, ed. Friedman, p. 23. See note, Kalla R. II., + J. E., art. Kaddish, but comp. IV Ezra VII, 102-115. + + 967 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2; Sanh. 105 a; Midr. Teh. Ps. IX, 18: “The wicked + shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God,” R. Joshua + taking the last sense as restrictive and R. Eliezer as a + generalization. + + 968 For the banquet of the pious see Aboth. III, 16; Shab. 153 a; Pes. + R. XLI; comp. Luke XIII, 28; XXII, 30, and parallels. The idea rests + on Isa. LXV, 13, which is taken literally, and Ps. XXIII, 5; see + Midr. Teh., ad loc. For the Leviathan and Behemoth see Job XL, + 15-30; B. B. 74 b-75 a; Enoch LX, 7 f.; IV Ezra VI, 52; Baruch Apoc. + XXIX, 4; Targ. Ps. CIV, 26; Lev. R. XIII, 3. For the giant bird Ziz + see Ps. L, 40-41; Targ. and Midr. Teh., ad loc.; Tanh. Beshallah, + ed. Buber, 24; Jellinek, B. H. III, 76, 80. For the heavenly manna + Ps. LXXVIII, 24; Joma 75 b; Hag. 12 b; Tanh. Beshallah, ed. Buber, + 21; Sibyll. Prœmium 87; II, 318; III, 746; IV Ezra IX, 19. For the + wine see Ex. R. XXV, 10; Ber. 34 b; Sanh. 99 a; Matt. XXVI, 29; + comp. also Num. R. XIII, 3 for other fruits of Paradise. For the + Persian origin of these ideas see _Bundahish_, XIX, 13; XXX, 25. The + Behemoth corresponds with the primeval ox Hadhayos, whose flesh + produces the sap of immortality; the giant fish and bird with + _Bundahish_, XVIII, 5-8; XIX, 16-19; the wine corresponds with the + Parsee Hom: _Bundahish_, XXX, 25. See Windishman: _Zoroastr. Stud._, + 92 f., 252 f., and Boeklen, l. c., p. 68. + + 969 Shab. 153 a, with ref. to Isa. LXV, 13-14; LXVI, 24; IV Ezra VII, + 83, 93. + + 970 Ber. 17 a. + + 971 Ber. 34 b; with ref. to Isa., LXIV, 3. + + 972 Ab. Zar. 36 with ref. to Mal. III, 19-22. + + 973 See Jellinek, B. H. I, II and III, the Treatise on _Gehinnom_ and + _Gan Eden_. + +_ 974 Emunoth_ VII, IX, and comp. J. Guttman; _Religionsphil. des + Saadia_, 208 f., 249 f. + + 975 See Joel, _Religionsphil. d. Mose b. Maimon_., p. 40. + +_ 976 Cuzari_, I, 15; V, 14; _Or Adonai_ III, 4, 2. See Joel: _Crescas_, + p. 74 f.; Albo: _Ikkarim_, IV, 29-41. + + 977 Nahmanides, l. c., last chapter; Manasse b. Israel in _Nishmat + Chayim_. + + 978 Aboth. IV, 2. + + 979 Com. to Sanh. XI and _H. Teshubah_, VIII. + + 980 Ps. LXXIII, 28. + +_ 981 Or Adonai_, II, 55; VI, 1; comp. Joel, l. c., 56-62; comp. Bahya: + _Hoboth, Halebaboth, Shaar Bitahon_. + + 982 See Joel: _Z. Gen. d. Lehre Spinoza_, p. 64. + +_ 983 Ikkarim_, IV, 35-38. + + 984 Ber. 64 a, with ref. to Ps. LXXXIV, 8; see also Midr. Teh. ad loc. + + 985 See J. E., art. Adam, and Jellinek: _Bezelem Elohim_, Sermon IV. The + term _humanity_ arose among the Stoics. See Reizenstein: _Wesen u. + Werden d. Humanität_; comp. Schmidt, _Ethik d. Griechen_, II, 324, + 477; and Zeller, _Griech. Philo._ III, 1, 287, 299. For the + rabbinical _Berioth_ for humanity see B. Sira, XVI, 16. + + 986 Ps. CXXXIX, 16. + + 987 Midr. Teh., ad loc.; Pesik. R. XXIII; Gen. R. XXIV, 2; Sanh. 38 b + after _Seder Olam_ at the close. + + 988 Gen. R. VIII, 1. + + 989 Eodem; Midr. Teh. to Ps. CXXXIX, 5; Ber. 61 a. + + 990 Gen. R. XXIV, 8. + + 991 Tos. Ber. VII, 2; Ber. 58 a. + + 992 Ber. 6 b; Shab. 30 b; see Rashi (against Bacher: _Ag. Tann._, I, + 432). + + 993 I Sam. II, 2. + + 994 Gen. R. LVI, 9. + + 995 Isa. LXV, 18; see Yeb. 62 a. + + 996 Gen. R. XVII, 2. + + 997 For the term _Aguddah Ahath_ in the New Year and Atonement Day + Prayer, Singer’s _Prayerbook_, p. 239, comp. Gen. R. LXXXVIII, 6, + and XXXIX, 3. + + 998 Isa. XLV, 18. + + 999 Yeb. 62 a, b + + 1000 Yoma I, 1. + + 1001 Prov. XXII, 29. + + 1002 Ps. CXXVIII, 2. + + 1003 Ber. 8 a. + + 1004 Ned. 49 b. + + 1005 Keth. V, 5, 59 b. + + 1006 Kid. 29 a; comp. R. Simeon b. Yohai, Mek. Beshallah, 56. + + 1007 Kid. 82 a. + + 1008 Abot. I, 10; II, 2; B. B. 11 a. + + 1009 Taan. 11 a. + + 1010 Yer. Kid. IV at the close. + + 1011 Taan. 23 a. + + 1012 Abot. V, 19. + + 1013 Prov. XXVII, 17. + + 1014 Taan. 7 a. + + 1015 See J. E., art. Abraham. + + 1016 Abot. IV, 1; B. K. 79 b; Ber. 19 b. + + 1017 Sota 14 a. + + 1018 Jer. XXIX, 7; comp. Abot. III, 2. + + 1019 B. K. 113 a and elsewhere. + + 1020 Ber. 58 a. + + 1021 Ex. XIX, 4-5. + + 1022 Deut. VII, 6-8; X, 15; XIV, 2. Comp. Schechter: _Aspects_, 57 ff. + + 1023 See Singer’s _Prayerbook_, 226 f. + + 1024 Hos. XI, 1; XII, 10; XIII, 4. + + 1025 Jer. II, 3. + + 1026 Amos III, 2. + + 1027 Isa. XLI, 8 f.; XLII, 6; XLIII, 10; XLIX, 8. + + 1028 CV, 7 f., comp. Neh. IX, 7. + + 1029 Singer’s _Prayerb._, p. 40. + + 1030 Isa. LII, 3-LIII, 12. + + 1031 Meg. 16 a. + + 1032 Beza 25 b. + + 1033 Yeb. 79 a. + + 1034 Shab. 88 a. + + 1035 Cant. R. IV, 2; Tanh. Tezaveh 1. + + 1036 Menah. 53 b with ref. to Jer. XI, 16. + + 1037 Sifre to Deut. XIV, 2. + + 1038 Deut. VII, 6; XIV, 2. + + 1039 Isa. II, 3; Micah IV, 2—passages considered by modern critics to be + of exilic origin. + + 1040 See Bousset, l. c., 60-99. + + 1041 Gen. R. to Gen. XII, 4, and see J. E., art. Abraham. + + 1042 Pes. 87 b. with ref. to Hosea II, 25. + +_ 1043 Cuzari_ IV, 23; Maim. H. Melakim XI, 4. + + 1044 See Geiger: Zeitschr. 1868, p. 18 ff.; 1869, 55 ff. + + 1045 J. E., art. _Alenu_; Singer’s _Prayerb._, 76 f. + + 1046 J. E., art. Kaddish. + + 1047 Zech. XIV, 9. + + 1048 See Schechter: _Aspects_, 89 f., 93 f. + + 1049 Isa. XLIX, 6. + + 1050 Isa. LII, 10 + + 1051 Micah V, 6. + + 1052 Judg. VIII, 23. + + 1053 I Sam. VIII, 7; XII, 12, 17 f. + + 1054 Hos. XIII, 11. + + 1055 Isa. IX, 5; XI, 1-10. + + 1056 Isa. IV, 2; Jer. XXIII, 5; XXXII, 15; and Zech. III, 8; VI, 12. Here + Zerubbabel is referred to. + + 1057 Isa. XLI, 21; XLIII, 15; XLIV, 6. Comp. XLIII, 22. + + 1058 Isa. XLV, 1. + + 1059 Isa. XI, 9; Hab. II, 14. + + 1060 Isa. VI, 5; XXIV, 23. Comp. Jer. XLVI, 18; XLVIII, 15. + + 1061 Zech. XIV, 9; Mal. I, 14. + + 1062 Ps. XXII, 29; XCIII, 1; XCV, 99. + + 1063 Jer. X, 7. This chapter is post-exilic; comp. Jer. XLVI, 18; XLVIII, + 15 and I Chron. XXIX, 11. + + 1064 Singer’s _Prayerb._, 239. + + 1065 Ps. XLVIII, 3. + +_ 1066 Cont. Apion_, II, 16, 7. + + 1067 Dan. VII, 27. + + 1068 See J. E., art. Zealots. + + 1069 Shab. 31 a. + + 1070 Ps. XXII, 28; LXVII, 3; LXXXVI, 10; CXVII, 1. + + 1071 Ps. CV, 15. + + 1072 Ps. LXXXVII, 5. See Commentaries and LXX. + + 1073 Ruth II, 12. Comp. Lev. R. II, 8. + + 1074 See both Enoch books and B. Sira XLIV, 16. + + 1075 Sibyll. I, 128-170; Sanh. 108 a. + + 1076 Gen. R. XXXIX, 21. + + 1077 Sifre Deut. 313, with ref. to Gen. XXIV, 3. + + 1078 See Dillmann’s Comm. to Gen. XII, 2; XXII, 18; and Kuenen: _The + Prophets and Prophecy_, 373, 457. + + 1079 Gen. XVII, 5. + + 1080 Ezek. XX, 33. + + 1081 Sifre, l. c. + + 1082 P. D. R. El. XI; Mek. Yithro 6; Lev. R. II, 4. + +_ 1083 Sifra_ Behukkothai VIII with ref. to Ezek. XX, 33; Sanh. 105 a. + + 1084 Mek. Beshallah X, p. 52. + + 1085 Tanh. Lek leka 6. + + 1086 Tobit XIII, 1-11; Sibyll. III, 47, 76 b. + + 1087 Ps. CXVII; CXVIII, 4. See chapter LVI. + + 1088 Singer’s _Prayerb._, 48. + + 1089 Mek. Amalek at close; Cant. R. II, 28; IV Ezra VI, 9-10. + + 1090 B. Wisdom V, 16; Sibyll. III, 76 b. + +_ 1091 Sifra_ Kedoshim at close; Sifre Deut. 323. + +_ 1092 Cuzari_ IV, 23; Maim. _H. Melakim_ XI, 4. + + 1093 Maim.: Commentary to Eduyoth at close. + + 1094 Pes. R. XXXIV, p. 158 ref. to Zeph. III, 8. See Friedman’s note. + + 1095 Zech. IV, 6. + + 1096 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2. + + 1097 P. 374-378. + + 1098 Isa. LXVI, 22. + + 1099 Part II, p. 332. + + 1100 Isa. LXI, 6. + + 1101 Ex. XIX, 22 f. + + 1102 Lev. XXI, 6; XXII, 2. + + 1103 Lev. VIII, 2, 8. + + 1104 Num. XVIII, 7. + + 1105 M. K. 28 b. + + 1106 Ezek. XL-XLVIII. + + 1107 Deut. X, 16. Comp. Jer. IX, 24. + + 1108 Gen. XVII, 9. + + 1109 Lev. XXV, 1-24. + + 1110 Deut. XIV, 2-11; Lev. XI. Comp. Ezek. XLIV, 31, and Judg. XIII, 4. + + 1111 Num. XV, 40. + + 1112 See J. E., art. Pharisees. + + 1113 II Macc. II, 17. + + 1114 Aboth. I, 1. + + 1115 See Perles: _Bousset_, 68, 89. + + 1116 Aristeas 139-152. + + 1117 Ned. 20 a. + + 1118 See Schechter, _Studies_, I, 233 ff. I. Abrahams in J. Q. R. XI, 62; + b ff., and Claude Montefiore, J. Q. R. XIII, 161-217. + + 1119 Lev. XXII, 32. + +_ 1120 Sifra Emor._ IX. + +_ 1121 Yesode ha Torah_ V. Comp. Lazarus: _Ethics_, 29, 184. + + 1122 Isa. XLIII, 12. + + 1123 Pesik. 102 b. + + 1124 Perles, l. c., 68 f. + + 1125 Yer. B. M. II, 8 c. + +_ 1126 Sifra_ Kedoshim 1. + + 1127 Mak. 23 b. + + 1128 Ps. XXIV, 3-4; XV, 1-5. + + 1129 Deut. XXXIII, 4. + + 1130 Num. XI, 29. + + 1131 Jer. XXXI, 34. + + 1132 Isa. LIV, 13. + + 1133 Deut. IV, 6. + + 1134 Isa. XLII, 4. + + 1135 Isa. II, 3; Micah IV, 2. + + 1136 See Guedemann: _Das Judenthum_, 67 f.; _Jued. Apologetik_, 12b; + Schechter: _Studies_, I, 233 f., and _Aspects_, I, 116 f. + + 1137 II Kings XXII, 8 f. + + 1138 Neh. VIII-X. + + 1139 See Gunkel: _Israel u. Babylonien_; Jeremias: _Moses u. Hammurabi_; + H. Grimme: _D. Gesetz Chammurabi’s u. Moses’_; George Cohen: _D. + Gesetze Hammurabi’s_; D. M. Mueller: _D. Gesetz Hammurabi’s u. d. + mosaische Gesetzgebung_. + + 1140 See Chapter LIX. + + 1141 Sota 14 a. + + 1142 Yer. Kid. IV, 1; 65 c. + +_ 1143 Sifra_ Ahare Moth 13. + + 1144 Deut. VI, 7; XI, 19; XXX, 14; Ex. XIII, 9. + + 1145 Deut. XXXI, 12. + + 1146 See Elbogen: _D. Jued. Gottesdienst_, 174 f. + + 1147 Isa. LI, 4, 7-8. + + 1148 Ps. XIX, 7-10. + + 1149 Aboth I, 2. + + 1150 Mek. Beshallah 45 b, note by Friedman; Yalkut Yithro 286. + + 1151 B. Sira XXIV, 8-10; comp. Bousset, l. c., 136 f. + + 1152 See Josephus: _Cont. Apion._ II, 36 f., 39; Aristobulus in Eusebius: + Prep. Ev. XIII, 121, 413; _Cuzari_, I, 63 f.; II, 66; comp. Cassel, + l. c. ad loc. + + 1153 Josephus, l. c., I, 22; Gutschmidt: _Kleine Schriften_, IV, 578; Th. + Reinach: _Textes Relatifs au Judaism_, 11-13. + + 1154 J. E., art. Adonai. + + 1155 Ps. CXV, 11; CXVIII, 4; comp. Bernays: _Ges. Abh._, II, 71; + Schuerer, l. c., III, 124 f. + + 1156 Shab. 88 b.; Ex. R. V, 9; Tanh. Shemoth, ed. Buber, 22; Midr. Teh. + Ps. LXVIII, 6; Acts II, 6; Spitta: _Apostelgeschichte_, 27, + referring to Philo II, 295. + + 1157 Sifre Deut. XXXIII, 2; XXVII, 8; Sota 35 b. + + 1158 Shab., 88 a, b. + + 1159 Aboth I, 12. + + 1160 J. E., art. Zealots. + + 1161 Ber. 61 b. + + 1162 Weber, l. c., 46-56; he fails completely to grasp this spirit. + + 1163 Song of Songs, V, 2. + + 1164 Aboth. III, 21. + + 1165 Deut. XXXIII, 18. See Gen. R. XCIX, 11. + + 1166 Gen. L, 20. + + 1167 See J. E., art. “Commerce”; American Encyclopedia, art. Jewish + Commerce; Publ. Am. Hist. Soc. X, 47; Schulman in _Judaean + Addresses_, II, 77 ff., and Lecky: _Rationalism in Europe_, II, 272. + + 1168 See Saadia: _Emunoth_, III, 17, quoted by Schechter: _Aspects_, 105. + + 1169 Isa. II, 2; Micah IV, 1; see Pesik 144 b; Midr. Teh. Ps. XXXVI, 6; + LXXXVII, 3. + + 1170 Ps. XLIV, 12-25. + + 1171 Ezek. XXXIX, 23-26. + + 1172 Lev. XXVI, 40-42. + + 1173 I Kings VIII, 47-50. + + 1174 Ps. CXIX, 92. + + 1175 Pesik. 139 b. + + 1176 Ezek. XVIII, 2. + + 1177 Isa. XL, 2. + + 1178 Job I, 8; II, 3; XLII, 7, 8. + + 1179 Isa. XLII, 1 f.; XLIX, 1; L, 4; LII, 13-LIII, 12. + + 1180 See Ibn Ezra, quoting Saadia; Ewald and Giesebrecht, commentaries; + Sellin: _Serubabel_, 96 f., 144 f.; also Davidson, l. c., p. + 356-398. + + 1181 Isa. LII, 13-LIII, 12. In LIII, 9, we should read “the evil-doers” + instead of “the rich” by a slight amendment of the text. + + 1182 Isa. L, 6. + + 1183 Isa. XLII, 4. + + 1184 Isa. XLIX, 1-6. + + 1185 Job XLII, 10-17. + + 1186 The disappointment is especially voiced in Ps. LXXX, 16 f.; LXXIX, + 40-46. + + 1187 See Targum and Abravanel to Isa. LII, 13; comp. Pes. R. + XXXVI-XXXVII; Sanh. 98 b. + + 1188 He is called Taeb “Moses redivivus,” after Deut. XVIII, 18. Merk, E. + _Samarit. Fragment ueb. d. Taeb_. See Bousset, l. c., 258; J. E., + art. Samaritans. + + 1189 Suk. 52 a; Jellinek: B. H. III, 141 f; Schuerer, l. c., II, 535. + + 1190 J. E., art. Messiah. + + 1191 Contra Celsum I, 155. + + 1192 See commentaries of Cheyne, Duhm, Giesebrecht, and others. + + 1193 Isa. L, 8-9. + + 1194 Comp. Pesik. 131 b; Ex. R. II, 7. + + 1195 Zech. II, 12. See Geiger: _Urschrift_, 324, as to the Soferic + Emendation. + + 1196 Pesik. 76 a; Eccl. R. III, 19; Lev. R. XXVII, 5. + + 1197 Yoma 23 a, referring to Jud. V, 31. + + 1198 See Gressmann: _Urspr. d. israel. u. jued. Eschatologie_,—an + instructive work, but full of unsubstantiated assertions, thus + failing to do justice to the creative genius of the Jewish prophets. + + 1199 Isa. XI, 1-8. + + 1200 Isa. IX, 5; the note in the new Jewish translation takes the words + in a different sense. + + 1201 Jer. XXIII, 5; XXXIII, 15; Zech. III, 8; VI, 12; see Sellin. l. c. + Compare Ps. LXXX, 16 f.; LXXXIV, 10; LXXXIX, 39, 52; CXXX, 10; see + Ewald’s commentary. + + 1202 Ezek. XXXVIII-XXXIX; Sibyll. III, 663; J. E., art. Gog u. Magog; + Bousset, l. c., 231 f. + + 1203 For the prince of peace, see, for example, Zech. IX, 9. + + 1204 See Bousset, l. c., 255-261. + + 1205 See Targum to Isa. XI, 4, where the older Mss. read Arimalyus, later + on corrupted into Armillus. See Bousset, l. c., 589. + + 1206 Dan. II; VII; IX; see J. E., art. Eschatology. + + 1207 Sota IX, 15; Enoch XCIX, 4; C, 1; Matt. XXIV, 8; Bousset, l. c., + 286. + + 1208 Mal. III, 23; B. Sira XLVIII, 10 f.; Sibyll. II, 187. + + 1209 Isa. XXVII, 13; B. Sira XXXVI, 13; Tobit XIII, 13; Enoch XC, 32; II + Macc. II, 18; Bousset, l. c., 271. + + 1210 See Chap. LII. + + 1211 IV Ezra VIII, 28. + + 1212 Sanh. 96 f.; J. E., art. Eschatology; Bousset, l. c. + + 1213 Sanh. 97 a, b, 99. + + 1214 Midr. Teh. Ps. CXLVI, 4; see Buber’s note. + + 1215 Ket. 111-112; comp. Irenæus: Adver. Haeres. V, 32. + + 1216 See Ekah. R. II, 2; J. E., art. Bar Kokba. + + 1217 Pesik. 144 a, b. + + 1218 Ber. 34 b. + + 1219 Sanh. 97 b. + + 1220 Sanh. 97 a. + + 1221 Sanh. 98 b. + + 1222 Commentary to San. X; Yad, H. _Melakim_, XI-XII; _H. Teshubah_ + VIII-IX. + + 1223 Notes of R. A. B. D. to Maimuni. + +_ 1224 Ikkarim_, IV, 42. + + 1225 See Philipson: _The Reform Movement in Judaism_, 246 f. + + 1226 See Einhorn: Sinai I, 133; Leopold Stein: _Schrift des Lebens_, 320, + 336. For the term Messiah comp. Ps. LV, 15; Hab. III, 13; also Ps. + XXVIII, 8; LXXXIV, 10; LXXXIX, 39, 52. + + 1227 See J. E., art. Resurrection. + + 1228 Deut. XXXII, 39; see Sifre ad loc. + + 1229 I Sam. II, 6; see Midr. Sh’muel, ad loc. + + 1230 Isa. XXVI, 19; Dan. XII, 2. + + 1231 Hosea VI, 1-2; comp. XIII, 14. + + 1232 Ezek. XXXVII, 1-14. + + 1233 Isa. XXV, 8. + + 1234 Isa. XXVI, 19. Instead of “my dead bodies” in the new Bible + translation, read “thy dead,” and instead of “light” translate + _oroth_, after II Kings IV, 39, “herb,” which means “dew of + revival”; the last is also a rabbinic term. + + 1235 Dan. XII, 2. + + 1236 See II Macc. VII, 9-36; XII, 43; XIV, 46; Sibyll. II, 47; Midr. Teh. + Ps. XVII, 13. + + 1237 See Joel IV, 2; Erub. 19 a, ref. to Isa. XXXI., 9; Enoch XXVIII, 1. + + 1238 Isa. LX, 21. + + 1239 Sanh. X, 1. + + 1240 Kid. I, 10; Matt. V, 5, ref. to Ps. XXXVII, 11; Enoch V, 7. + + 1241 Ezek. XXVI, 20. + + 1242 Isa. XLII, 5. + + 1243 Keth. 111 a. + + 1244 Ps. CXVI, 9; Yer. Keth. XII, 35 b; Pesik. R, I, 2 b. + + 1245 Ber. 15 b; Alphabet d. R. Akiba in Jellinek, B. H. III, 31; Targum + Yer. to Ex. XX, 15; I Cor. XV, 52. + + 1246 Keth. l. c. + + 1247 Ex. IV, 22. + + 1248 Isa. XIX, 25. + + 1249 Isa. XLII, 4; XLV, 23; LI, 5; Zeph. III, 9; Zech. VIII, 22; XIV, 9. + + 1250 Lev. XX, 26; Deut. XX, 16-18; comp. Gen. R. II, 4; III, 10. + + 1251 Weber. l. c., 57-79. + + 1252 Gen. XIV, 13; XXI, 32. + + 1253 I Kings XX, 31. + + 1254 Amos I-II; Isa. XXIX-XXXIII; Jer. XXV f.; Hab. I. + + 1255 Gen. XVIII, 25. + + 1256 Gen. XX, 3. + + 1257 Job XXXI. + + 1258 Kid. 31 a. + + 1259 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2; B. B. 10 b. + + 1260 See Lazarus: _Ethics_, 49 and appendix. + + 1261 Ex. XXIII, 32. + + 1262 Deut. VII, 2; XX, 16 f. + + 1263 Shab. 27 b; Jubil. XXII, 16. + + 1264 Isa. LX, 12; LXIII, 6; LXVI, 14 f.; Zech. XIV, 2 f.; Joel IV, 9-19; + Jer. X, 25; Ps. IX, 16, 18, 20; X, 17. + + 1265 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2. + + 1266 Jonah III-IV. + + 1267 Isa. LXVI, 19-21. + + 1268 Zech. IX, 1; Cant. R. VII, 10. + + 1269 Sanh. 108 a; Sibyll. I, 129 f. + + 1270 B. B. 15 b; Seder Olam R. XXI. + + 1271 Mek. Yithro V; Ab. Z. 2 b-3 a. + + 1272 Deut. IV, 19; XXIX, 25; Jer. X, 16; B. Sira XVIII, 17; comp. + Bousset, l. c., 350. + + 1273 Jubil. XI, 3-5; XIX, 20; Enoch XV; XIX; XCIX, 7; see Bousset, l. c., + 350-351. + + 1274 Yeb. 98 a, ref. to Ezek. XXIII, 20; Ab. Z., l. c. In this sense we + must take the Talmudic passage: “Israel are really men, not the + heathen,” Yeb. 61 a; B. M. 114 b; B. B. 16 b; whereas the passage, + Lev. XVIII, 5, “which man doth to live thereby,” is declared to + include all who observe the laws of humanity, _Sifra_ eodem; Midr. + Teh. Ps. I, 1-2. + + 1275 Lazarus, l. c., 49. + + 1276 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2. + + 1277 Yer. R. Sh. I, 57 a. + + 1278 Ezek. XXVIII, 10; XXXI, 18; XXXII, 19-32. Possibly the prophet in + speaking of _arelim_ had in mind the Babylonian _Arallu_, “the + nether-world”; see Ex. R. XIX, 5; Gen. R. XL; VIII, 7; Tanh. Lek + Leka, ed. Buber, 27. + + 1279 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 4-5; Rosh ha Shana, 17 a. + + 1280 B. B. 10 b; A. d. R. N. IV. + + 1281 Suk. 55 b; Pesik. 193 b; Philo; Vita Mosis, 2 f; De Special; I, 3; + II, 104, 227. 238. + +_ 1282 Sifra_, Ahare Moth 13. + + 1283 Gen. R. L; LXV, 16; Ruth R. I, 8; J. E., art. Œnomaos. + + 1284 J. E. art. Antoninus in the Talmud; Kraus: _Antoninus_. + + 1285 Ab. Z. 30 a. + + 1286 Deut. VII, 3; Sanh. 57 a-59 b. + + 1287 H. Melakim VIII, 9-10. + + 1288 H. Shemitta we Yobel XIII, 13. + + 1289 Mal. I. 11. + + 1290 Ex. XXII, 26; Philo II, 166; Josephus: _Ant._, IV, 8, 10; _Con. + Apio._, II, 34; comp. Kohler: “The Halakic Portions in Josephus’ + Antiquities,” in H. U. C. Monthly III, 117. + + 1291 See Meg. 16 a; J. E., art. Aristotle; Neumark, l. c., Index: + Aristoteles, Plato, Plotin; comp. Bahya: _Hoboth ha Lebaboth_, and + other medieval philosophic works. + + 1292 Deut. IV, 37. + + 1293 Ex. XXXIII, 12; Lev. XXVI, 42; Ex. R. XLIV, 7-8; Lev. R. XXXVI, 2-5. + + 1294 Cant. R. I, 5. + + 1295 Isa. LIV, 10; Shab. 55 a; comp. S. Hirsch: “The Doctrine of Original + Virtue” in Jew. Lit. Annual, 1905; Schechter, l. c., 170 f. + + 1296 Ex. XXII, 20; XXIII, 9. + + 1297 Deut. X, 18-19. + + 1298 Lev. XIV, 22. + + 1299 Gen. XXIII, 4; Lev. XX, 35. On the term _Ger_ see W. R. Smith: _The + Religion of the Semites_, 75 ff.; Bertholet: _Die Stellung d. + Israeliten und Juden zu den Fremden_, 28, 178; Schuerer, l. c., III, + 150-188; Encyc. Biblica, art. Stranger and Sojourner; Cheyne, + _Bampton Lectures_, 1889, p. 429. Commerce between the Phoenicians + and Greeks was protected by the Greek god of the stranger (Zeus + Xenios); see Ihering: _D. Gastfreundschaft im Alterthum, Deutsche + Rundschau_, 1887, showing how the Phoenicians developed the _Ger_ + idea in the direction of international commerce, just as the Jews + developed it toward international religion; M. J. Kohler: “Right of + Asylum” in Am. Law Review, LI, p. 381. + + 1300 Ex. XX, 10. + + 1301 Lev. XVI, 29; XVII, 8-15; XVIII, 26; XXIV, 16-29. + + 1302 Ex. XII, 48; see Yeb., 46 a-47 b; Mas. Gerim I-III. The opinion of + Bertholet and Schuerer concerning the semi-proselyte or _Ger Toshab_ + is contradicted by both the Book of Jubilees and the Talmudic + sources, as will be shown below. + + 1303 Jer. XVI, 19. + + 1304 Zech. VIII, 21-23. + + 1305 Isa. XIV, 1. + + 1306 Ps. XXII, 30; LXVII, 3; LXVIII, 30 f; LXXXVII, 4 f. + + 1307 II. Chron. II, 16; XXX, 25. + + 1308 Ps. CXV, 11; CXVIII, 4; CXXXV, 20; comp. LXVII, 8; CII, 16; Job I, + 1; Tobit LXIV, 6; Sibyll. III, 572, 756; Acts X, 2; XXI, 13; V, 26 + f.; XVI, 44; XVII, 4; XVIII, 7; Midr. Teh. Ps. XXII, 29; Lev. III, + 2; Mek. to Ex. XXII, 20; see Bernays: Ges. Abh., II, 74. + + 1309 Tos. Ab. Z. IX, 4; Sanh. 56 b-57; Gen. R. XXXIV, 7; Jubil. VII, 20 + f.; Sibyll. III, 38, 762. For the thirty commandments, see Yer. Ab. + Z. II, 40 c; Midr. Teh. Ps. II. 5; Gen. R. XCVIII, 9; J. Q. R., + 1894, p. 259. Comp. also Pseudo-Phocylides in Bernays’ _Ges. Abh._, + I, 291 ff.; Seeberg: _D. beiden Wege u. d. Aposteldecret_, p. 25. + Klein: _Der aelteste christl. Katechismus_; J. E., art. + Commandments. + + 1310 See Schuerer, l. c., 165, 175; Harnack, _D. Mission u. Ausbreitung + d. Christentums_, chapter I. + + 1311 Ant. XVI, 7. + + 1312 Gen. R. XXVIII, 5; Cant. R. I, 4; see Matt. XXIII, 15; Jellinek, B. + H. VI, Introd., p. XLVI. + + 1313 II Kings C, 1-15; see LXX to verse 14; Sanh 96 b. + + 1314 See Sota, 12 b; Sibyll. IV, 164; comp. Gen. R. II, 5; J. E., art. + Baptism and Birth, New; Enc. Religion and Ethics, art. Baptism, + Jewish. + + 1315 See J. E., art. Asenath, and the passages quoted there. + + 1316 Sifre and Targum to Deut. XXIII, 16-19. + + 1317 Tos. Negaim VI, 2; Mas. Gerim III. + + 1318 Philo, De Monarchia, I, 7. + + 1319 Ps, XV, 1-2; see Cheyne’s Commentary. + + 1320 The article _ha Zedek_ seems to point to Jerusalem, called “the + city” or “dwelling place of righteousness” (Zedek). See Isa. I, 21; + Jer. XXXI, 23; L, 7. Comp. “Gates of righteousness” (Zedek) for the + Temple gates, in Ps. CXVIII, 19, and the ancient legendary hero of + Jerusalem, _Malki-Zedek_, Gen. XIV, 18; Josephus, J. W. VI, 10; + Epis. Heb. VII, 10; and _Adoni Zedek_, first king of Jerusalem, + Josh. X, 3. + + 1321 Sifre and Targum to Deut. XXXIII, 19. + + 1322 Singer’s _Prayerb._ p. 48. + + 1323 See Mek. Mishpatim XVIII; comp. A. d. R. N. XXXVI ref. to Isa. XLIV, + 5. + + 1324 Arak. 29 a. + + 1325 Vita 25. + + 1326 J. W. II, 20, 2. + + 1327 Josephus: Ant. XIII, 9, 1; 11, 3; XVIII, 3, 5; XX, 8, 11; Mek. Bo + XV: Beluria (Fulvia or Valeria); Schuerer, III, 176; _Gemeindeverf. + v. Juden in Rome_; Graetz: _D. juedisch, Proselyten im Roemerreich_; + Radin: _Jews among Greeks and Romans_, p. 389. See also Crooks: _The + Jewish Rate in Ancient and Roman History._ + + 1328 Josephus: Ant. XX, 2-4; Yoma III, 10; Yoma 37 a.; Suk. 2 b; B. B. 11 + a; Gen. R. XLVI, 8. + + 1329 Midrash Tadshe in Jellinek: B. H. III, 111; Epstein: Jued. + _Alierthumskunde_, XLIII. + + 1330 See J. E., art. Asenath. + + 1331 Comp. Sifre Num. 178. + + 1332 I Chron. IV, 18; Meg. 13 a. + + 1333 Meg. 15 b. + + 1334 Philo: De Nobilitate, 6; II, 443. + + 1335 Ruth II, 12. + + 1336 Ab. d. R. N., ed. Schechter, 53 f.; Shab. 31 a; Lev. R. II, 8. + + 1337 See Bertholet, l. c., 285-287. + + 1338 Ab. d. R. N., l. c. + + 1339 Mek. to Ex. XVIII, 27. + + 1340 Gen. R. XXXIX, 14; Yeb. 22 a; comp. Pes. VIII, 8. + + 1341 Yeb. 46 a; comp. Josephus: Ant. XX, 2-4. + + 1342 Shab. 31 a. + + 1343 Lev, R. II, 8. + + 1344 Gen. R. LXX, 5; B. M. 59 b. + + 1345 Mekilta, l. c.; comp. Ab. d. R. N. XXXVI, ed. Schechter, 107. + + 1346 Midr. Teh. Ps. CXLVI, 9; Num. R. VIII, 2. + + 1347 Prov. VIII, 17; Num. R., l. c. + + 1348 Schuerer, l. c., III, 4; Radin, l. c. + + 1349 Yeb. 24 b; Yer. Kid., IV, 65 b. + + 1350 Apion, II, 10, 3. + + 1351 Yeb. 47 a; comp. Mas. Gerim I. + + 1352 See J. E., art. Didache and Klein, l. c. + + 1353 Git. 56 b; Ab. Z. 10 b; on Clemens see Graetz: H. J. II, 387-389; + but see literature in Schuerer, l. c., III, 169. + + 1354 Git. 56 b-57. + + 1355 Ex. R. XIX, 4; comp. Midr. Teh. Ps. LXXXVII, 4, ref. to I Sam. II, + 36 and Isa. LXVI, 2; comp. Bacher: _Agada d. Palest. Amorder_., III, + 45, 363. + + 1356 Yeb. 47 b; 109 b; Kid. 70 b, ref. Isa. XIV to Lev. XIV, 56. + + 1357 Ex. R. XIX, 5. + + 1358 See Bacher, l. c., II, 115-118. + + 1359 Num. R. VIII, 1. + + 1360 Gen. R. LXX, 5. + + 1361 Ab. Z. 3 b. + + 1362 B. M. 59 b. + + 1363 Midr. Teh. Ps. XXII, 34; here also a later Haggadist removes the + reference to the half-proselytes. See Buber, l. c.; Yer. Meg. I, 72 + b. + + 1364 Num. R. VIII, 10. + + 1365 Shab. 31 a. + + 1366 See com. to Ps. LXXXVII, and LXX version. + + 1367 Yearb. C. C. A. R., 1891, 1892, 1895. + + 1368 Isa. XXVI, 2. + + 1369 Philo, De Penitentia, 2. + + 1370 See J. E., art. Apostasy and Apostates. + + 1371 See J. E., art. Apologetic and Polemical Literature. + + 1372 Ber. 28 a; Singer’s _Prayerb._ 48. + + 1373 Cant. R. I. 6. + + 1374 Deut. XXV, 3 and Sifre ad loc.; Sanh. 44 a. + +_ 1375 Sifra_ Wayikra 2. + + 1376 Sifre Num. 112; R. H., 17 a; Tos. Sanh. XIII, 5. + + 1377 Zech. XIV, 8-9. + +_ 1378 Cusari_, IV, 23; Maim.: H. Melakim XI, 41; _Responsa_, 58; + Nahmanides: _Derashah_, ed. Jellinek, 5; see Rashi and Tosafot to + Ab. Z. 2 a, 57 b; Sanh. 63 b. + + 1379 Solomon ben Adret; _Responsa_, 302; Yore Deah CXLVIII, 12; Jacob + Emden, Comm. to Abot. V, 17; comp. Chwolson: _D. Blutanklage_, + 64-79. + + 1380 Isaac ben Sheshet’s _Responsa_, 119. + + 1381 Yer. Shab. XIV, 14 d; Ab. Z. II, 40 d; Sota, 47 a; Sanh. 103 a; + Eccl. R. I, 24-25. + + 1382 See J. E., art. Christianity; Ebionites; Minim; and comp. the + various Church Histories. + + 1383 See J. E., art. Saul of Tarsus. + + 1384 Sanh. 97 a. + + 1385 Lev. XIII, 13: _Kullo happak laben_, instead of _laban_. + + 1386 Ab. d. R. N. XXXIV; Lev. R. XIII, 4 ref. to Ps. LXXX, 14; Midr. Teh. + Ps., l. c. + + 1387 H. Akkum IX, 4. + + 1388 Tosaf. Sanh. 63 b; Isserles Sh. Ar. Orah Hayim, 156; comp. J. E. + art. Sanhedrin, Napoleonic. + + 1389 Edom, the name for Rome since the time of the Idumean Herod, became + the name for the Church of Rome, while _Yavan_ = Greek was the name + given to the Greek Church. + + 1390 On Ishmael and Edom see Steinschneider: _Polemisch. u. Apologet. + Literatur_, 256-273; on Mohammed, eodem, 302-388. + + 1391 See Wuensche: “Urspr. d. Parabel v. d. drei Ringen” in + _Lessing-Mendelssohn Gedenkbuch_, Leipzig, 1879; comp. + Steinschneider, l. c., 37, 317, 319; _Hebr. Bibliogr._ IV, 79; XII, + 21; Dunlop-Liebrecht: _Gesch. d. Prosadichtung_, p. 221, note to 294 + f. + + 1392 See Schreiner: _D. juengst. Urteile u. d. Judenth._, 3-5. + +_ 1393 Shebet Yehudah_, ed. Wiener, p. 107. See Steinschneider: Heb. + Bibl., l. c. + + 1394 Deut. XXXIII, 2; see Steinschneider: “Pol. u. Apol. Lit.,” 317 f. + + 1395 Tos. Sanh. XIII, 2; Sanh. 105 a; Maimonides: H. Teshubah III, 5. + + 1396 Matt. III, 2; Luke III, 3; Josephus: Ant. XVIII, 5, 2; see J. E., + art. John the Baptist. Perhaps John was identical with Hanan, “the + hidden one,” a popular saint called “father” by the people, and + believed to be a descendant of Moses, a grandson of Onias the + rainmaker, and a rain-invoking saint himself. See Taan. 23 b; Tanh. + Waera, ed. Buber, II, 37. + + 1397 Matt. III, 33; Mark I, 7; Luke III, 21; John I, 29-40. + + 1398 Matt. IV, 12; XIV, 10. + + 1399 J. E., art. Christianity; Jesus; New Testament; Simon Kaifa. Among + the Gospels, that of Luke has the oldest records, rather than Mark. + See also Spitta: _D. Synoptische Grundschrift_. + + 1400 See J. E., art. John the Baptist. + + 1401 Matt. XXI, 12, and parallels; comp. Yer. Taan. IV, 8; Tos. Menah. + XIII, 21. + + 1402 Matt. XXVII, 37-42, and parallels. + + 1403 John XX; the latter part of the Gospel of John belonged originally + to Matthew. + + 1404 Matt. XIV, 24 f.; XVII, 1; see Wellhausen: Comm. + + 1405 See J. E., art. Ebionites. + + 1406 See J. E., art. Apostles. + + 1407 J. E., art. Didache and Didascalia; Klein, l. c. + + 1408 Acts XV, 5-29; comp. R. Seeberg: _Das Aposteldecret; Didache u. d. + Urchristenheit_. + + 1409 J. E., art. Saul of Tarsus. + + 1410 Paul’s opposition to the law includes the moral law, and even the + Decalogue. See Romans VII-VIII; X, 4; XIV; I Cor. VI, 1-3, 15; VII, + 31; VIII; II Cor. III, 3. + + 1411 See J. E., art. Cross. + + 1412 Luke VI, 20-49; comp. with Matt. V-VII; XXIII, 15-36. See Claude + Montefiore, _The Synoptic Gospels_, I and II; G. Friedlander, + _Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount_; Kohler: “D. + Naechstenliebe im Judenth.,” _Judaica_, Berlin, 1912. + + 1413 Matt. V, 17-18. + + 1414 See J. E., and Enc. Rel. and Ethics, art. Pharisees; Lauterbach, + “The Sad. and Phar.,” in _Stud. in Jew. Lit._, Berlin, 1913; + Herford: _Pharisaism_; Wuensche: _Neue Beitr. z. Erläuterung d. + Evangelien_. + + 1415 See J. E., art. Mohammed; Islam; and the works of Muir, W. Robertson + Smith, Hirschfeld; of Geiger, Weil, Sprenger, von Kremer, Noeldeke, + Grimme, Dozy, and above all Goldziher, on the Koran, Mohammed and + Islam; also Enc. Religion and Ethics, VIII, 871-907. + + 1416 See Draper, _Conflict of Religion with Science_; _Intellectual + Development of Europe_; Lecky, _History of Rationalism_; Andrew D. + White: _Warfare between Religion and Science_; Krauskopf: _Jews and + Moors in Spain_. + + 1417 Zech. XIV, 6-9. + + 1418 Isa. LXVI, 20. + + 1419 Isa. XXVIII, 16. + + 1420 Ex. XIX, 6; Num. XXIII, 9; Deut. VII, 2-6; Isa. LXI, 6; 9; Maim. H. + Issure Biah XII, 1; Sh. A. Eben ha Ezer XVI, 1; Einhorn in _Jewish + Times_ 1876, against Sam. Hirsch; Samuel Schulman in Y. B. C. C. A. + R. 1909, comp. D. Philipson, l. c. Index s. v. Intermarriage; J. E., + art. Intermarriage; also Mielziner: _The Jewish Law of Marriage and + Divorce_, p. 45-54, where the opinions of L. Philippson, Geiger, + Aub, Einhorn and I. M. Wise are quoted. + + 1421 Lazarus, l. c., § 159. + + 1422 See Kohler: “Origin a. Function of Ceremonies in Judaism,” in Y. B. + C. C. of Am. R., 1907. Rosenau: _Jewish Ceremonies, Institutions a. + Customs_, 1912. + + 1423 See art. Synagogue, in various encyclopedias; Enelow: _The Synagogue + in Modern Life_; Schuerer, l. c., II, 429; Bousset, l. c., 197 ff. + + 1424 See Chapter LVI above; J. E., art. Proselyte. + + 1425 See J. E., art. Bar Mizwah and Confirmation. + + 1426 Gen. XVII, 10-14. + + 1427 Singer’s _Prayerb._, p. 305. + + 1428 Ex. IV, 25; see commentaries; Ebers: _Ægypten_, B. M. I, 183. + + 1429 Josephus: Ant. XX, 2,4; Shab. 130 b, 133 b, 156 a; Men. 42 a; Ab. Z. + 26 b; comp. Gen. R. XLVI, 9. + + 1430 Ab. Z. 27 a. + + 1431 Ex. IV, 25; Josh. V, 2; comp. Tylor: _Early History of Mankind_, + 217-222; J. E. and Encyc. of Rel. and Ethics, art. Circumcision; + Ploss: _Knabenbeschneidung_, p. 11. + + 1432 Gen. XVII, 10-14; comp. Deut. X, 16; Jer. IX, 25; Claude Montefiore: + Hibbert Lectures, 229, 337. + + 1433 I Macc. I, 15, 48, 60; Josephus: Ant. XII, 5, 1; Aboth III, 11; Tos. + Shab. XV, 9; Yer. Peah I, 16 b; Gen. R. XLVI, 9; Jubil. XV, 26 f. + + 1434 Yer. Shab. XIX, 6; Yeb. 71 b. + + 1435 Gen. R. XLVIII, 7; Tanh. Lek Leka, ed. Buber, 27; Singer’s + _Prayerb._, 304, after Tos. Ber. VI, 12, 13; Shab. 137 b. + + 1436 P. d. R. El. XIX. + + 1437 Ploss: _Geschicht. u. Ethnol. ue. Knabenbeschneidung_, 1844; Encyc. + Rel. and Ethics, art. Circumcision. + + 1438 Zunz: _Ges. Schr._ II, 197; comp. _Rabbin Gutachlen ue. d. + Beschneidung_, 1844; Frankel: Zeitsch., 1844, p. 66-67. + + 1439 See J. E., art. Circumcision; Sam. Cohn: _Gesch. d. Beschneidung b. + d. Juden_ (Hebrew), Cracaw, 1903, for the extensive literature. + + 1440 Philo II, 210; Josephus: Con. Apion. II, 13; Saadia: _Emunoth_, III, + 10; Maimonides: _Moreh_, III, 49; Michaelis: _Mosaisches Recht_, IV, + 184-186. + + 1441 Maimonides, l. c., III, 48; Samuel ben Meir to Lev. XI, 3; + Michaelis, l. c., IV, 202. + + 1442 Lev. XI; Deut. XIV, 3-21; Ex. XXII, 30; Lev. VII, 23; XVII, 9 f.; + see Kalisch’s: commentary to Lev. vol. II, 2-189; J. E., art. + Dietary Laws. + + 1443 Lev. XX, 24-26, which belongs to Lev. XI, 1-47; comp. Deut. XIV, + 3-21. + + 1444 See Ezek. XLIV, 31; IV, 14; Jud. XIII, 7, 14. The law in Ex. XXII, + 30, “Ye shall be holy men unto Me, therefore ye shall not eat any + flesh that is torn of beasts in the field,” seems to have been + originally only for priests and other holy men. + + 1445 See _Laws of Manu_, V, 7; 11-20 in _Sacred Books of the East_, XXV, + 171 f.; comp. II, 64; XIV, 38-48; 74; 184; _Bundahish_, XIV; S. B. + E. V, 47; Chwolson: _Die Szabier_, II, 7; 102; Porphyrius: _De + Abstinentia_, IV, 7; Sommer, _Bibl. Abh._ 271-322; J. E., l. c., + 599. + + 1446 Ex. XIX, 6. + + 1447 Gen. VII, 2, 8. + + 1448 II Macc. VI, 18; VII, 41. + + 1449 Aristeas, 144-170. + + 1450 Sifra to Lev. XX, 26; Tanh. to Lev. XI, 2. + + 1451 Shab. 17 b; Ab. Z. 36 b, 38 a, 8 a; Sanh. 104 a; P. d. R. El. XXIX. + +_ 1452 Moreh_, III, 25; see also Morris Joseph, l. c., 180-189. + + 1453 For the orthodox view, see S. R. Hirsch: _Horeb_, Chap. LXVIII; M. + Friedlander: _The Jewish Religion_, 237; for the reform, Einhorn: + _Sinai_, 1859; Kohler: _Jewish Times_, 1872; Geiger: _Ges. Schr._ I, + 253 f. + + 1454 Deut. VI, 8-9; XI, 18-20; Num. XV, 38-39. + + 1455 Comp. Prov. III, 3; Samuel ben Meir to Ex. XIII, 9. + + 1456 Ex. XIII, 9 and commentaries. + + 1457 Stanley: _Hist. of the Jewish Church_, I, 561; Peterman: _Reisen im + Orient_, I, 237. + + 1458 Curtiss: _Ursemitische Religion_, Chap. XX-XXI; Kohler: + _Monatsschrift_, 1893, p. 445, note. + + 1459 Ber. 6 a, 14 b, 23 a, b; Tos. Ber. VII, 25; Midr. Teh. to Ps. VI, 1; + Yer. Peah I, 15 d; Targum Song of Songs, VIII, 3; Pes. III b; + Schorr: _HeHalutz_, VII, 56-57; Baentsch: Comm. to Num. XV, 37; also + Schuerer, G. V. II, 483-486. + + 1460 Cant. R. III, 11; Sifre Deut. 43; M. K. 16 b. + + 1461 Kohler, l. c.: comp. Schechter: _Studies_, I, 249; Morris Joseph, l. + c., p. 178, where he quotes Maimonides H. Tefillin IV, 25. + + 1462 See art. Sabbath in various encyclopedias and the Babel-Bibel + controversies; Zimmern and Schrader: K. A. T., II, 592 f.; Jastrow: + American Journal of Theology, 1898, p. 315-352. + + 1463 Ex. XX, 8-11; XVI, 23-29; XXXV, 2-3; XXXI, 13; comp. Jer. XVIII, + 21-27; Neh. XIII, 15-18. + + 1464 Deut. V, 12-15; Ex. XXIII, 12; XXXIV, 21; comp. Isa. LVIII, 13. + + 1465 See Jubilees II, 23-30; L, 6; Geiger, _Zeitsch._, 1868, 116; + _Nachgel. Schr._, III, 286 f.; V, 142 f.; Schechter: _Document of a + Jewish Sect_, I; XXV; XLVIII-L; Halevi: _The Commandments of the + Sabbath for the Falashas_, 1902; Harkavy L. K., II, 69 f., for the + Karaites. + + 1466 Shab. VII, 2, 70 a; Mek. Wayakhel. + + 1467 Mek. Ki Thisla I, comp. Mark II. 2 f. + + 1468 Isa. LVIII; Shab. 118 a, b; Mek. Yithro VII; Pes, R. XXIII, p. 121. + + 1469 II Kings IV, 23. + + 1470 Philo II, 137, 166, 281, 631. + + 1471 See Schechter: _Studies_, I, 249 f.; Morris Joseph, l. c., 202-214. + + 1472 See David Philipson: _Reform Movement in Judaism_, 275-302, 503-508; + E. G. Hirsch in J. E., art. Sabbath; Sabbath and Sunday. + + 1473 See Schaff-Herzog Encyc., art. Sunday. + + 1474 See I Sam. XX, 5-27, where the two new-moon days are spoken of as + approaching, proving the use of the Babylonian month of four weeks + of seven days each, and two new-moon days. + + 1475 II Kings IV, 23; Prov. VII, 20; comp. Ps. LXXXI, 4, _Kese_. + + 1476 Ex. XX, 11; Gen. II, 2-3. + + 1477 II Kings IV, 23; Isa. I, 13; LXVI, 23. + + 1478 Num. XXVIII, 11 f. + + 1479 Mek. Bo I; Pes. R. XV; P. d. R. El. LI; Sanh. 42 a; Singer’s + _Prayerb._, 292. + + 1480 Isa. XXX, 26; LX, 20. + + 1481 Ex. XII, 11-27; Deut, XVI, 1; see the commentaries, also Clay + Trumbull: _The Threshold Covenant_; Curtiss, l. c. + + 1482 In Deut. the Passover sacrifice was the first-born of the flock, see + Deut. XVI, 2, comp. with Ex. XIII, 2-16, and the celebration took + place on the night of the new moon. The Priestly Code observed it on + the full moon, with a lamb instead of the first-born sheep or + cattle. Ex. XII, 3 f.; Lev, XXIII, 5 (the Holiness Code); Josh. V, + 10. + + 1483 About the watch-night, see Jubilees XLVIII, 5; Pesah. 109 b. + + 1484 See Einhorn’s _Prayerbook_, 485; Holdheim: _Prediglen_, 1853, II, + 189, referring to Jer. XXIII, 7-8; Tos. Ber. I, 12; Ber. 12 b. + + 1485 Ex. XXIII, 16; XXXIV, 22; Deut. XVI, 9; Lev. XXIII, 10-17. + + 1486 Ex. R. XXXI, 17, with reference to Ex. XIX, 1; Jubilees VI, 17-21. + + 1487 See J. E., art. Confirmation. + + 1488 Deut. XVI, 13; Lev. XXIII, 34-43; comp. I Kings VIII, 65; Ezek. XLV, + 23; R. h. Sh. I, 2. + + 1489 See Ex. XII, 37; XIII, 20; Num. XXXIII, 5, and comp. Mek. Bo 14; + _Sifra_ Emor XVII. + + 1490 Zech. XIV, 16-19; comp. Is. XII, 3; Suk. V, 1-4; Tos. Suk. IV, 1-9; + _Piyut_ to the Sukkoth festival. + + 1491 Suk. I-IV; Talmud and Codes. + + 1492 Ibn Yarchi: _Manhig_, H. Suk. 53-60; T. O. Ch. DCLXIX; J. E., art. + Simhath Torah. + + 1493 Pesik. 193 b; Suk. 55 b; Philo: De Victimis, I, 2, II, 238-239. + + 1494 Lev. XXIII, 24-32; comp. Neh. VIII, 1-18. + + 1495 J. E., art. New Year’s Day; Life, Book of. + + 1496 R. h. Sh. IV, 6-7; Tos. R. h. Sh. IV, 4-9; R. h. Sh. 27 a; Singer’s + _Prayerb._, 247-254, and Abrahams Ann. CXCV, 111 f.; and _Union + Prayer Book_, II, 70-75. + + 1497 Lev. XVI, 2-34; comp. Ezek. XLV, 18-20. + + 1498 Yoma VI; Kalish’s commentary to Lev. XVI; Taan. IV, 8; comp. Jud. + XXI, 21; see Morgenstern in Journal Oriental Soc., 1917, and J.Q.R. + 1917, p. 94. + + 1499 Yoma IV-VI; comp. Lev. R. XXI, 11; V, 1. + + 1500 Num. XIV, 20; XV, 26. + + 1501 Lev. XVI, 30; _Sifra_ Ahare VI; Yoma 30 b; Yer. Yoma V, 42 c. + + 1502 Yoma VIII, 9. + + 1503 P. d. R. El. XLVI; Taan. 30 b; B. B. 121 a; S. Olam R. VI; T. d. El. + Zutta IV; Ex. R. LI, 4. Jubilees XXXIV, 18-19 connects the Day of + Atonement with the repentance of Joseph’s brethren. + + 1504 Yoma, l. c. + + 1505 Comp. above, Chapter XXXIX. + + 1506 Josephus J. W. VI, 4, 5; Meg. Taan. V; Taan. IV, 4; Taan. 12 a, 29 + ab. J. E., art. Ab, Ninth of; see also Pes. R. XXVI-XXXIII; Pesik. + 110 b-148 a. + + 1507 Zech. IV, 6; J. E., art. Hanukka; Maccabees. + + 1508 Meg. IV, 5; 18 a, 21 b; J. E., art. Purim; Esther; Sifre to Deut. + 296. + + 1509 Ber. 13 a. + + 1510 Deut. IV, 6. + + 1511 See Zunz: _Gottesdienstliche Vortraege_. + + 1512 Yoma 66 b; comp. R. Eliezer’s other dictum, Sota III, 4. + + 1513 Num. XII, 2. + + 1514 See Geiger’s _Zeitschr._, 1836, 1 f., 354; 1839, 333 f. + + 1515 Graetz, _H. J._ III, 244 f.; L. Loew: _Ges. Sch._ III, 57. + + 1516 See Landsberg in J. E., art. Confirmation; L. Loew: _Lebensalter_, + 17. + + 1517 See his Introduction. + + 1518 Comp. Schechter: _Studies_, II, 148 f., 202 f. + + 1519 Deut. XXIX, 28. + + 1520 Deut. XXX, 11-14. + + 1521 Isa. LVI, 7. + + 1522 Zech. XIV, 9. + +_ 1523 Cuzari_, I, 103; II, 12. + + 1524 Sifre to Deut. VI, 5. + + 1525 Hab. II, 14. + + 1526 Singer’s _Prayerb._, 8. + + 1527 Lev. XIX, 2; comp. on the whole E. G. Hirsch in J. E., art. Ethics. + + 1528 See Alenu in Singer’s _Prayerb._, 67 f.; _Union Prayerbook_, I, 48, + 104 f. + + 1529 Shab. 119 b. + + 1530 Deut. XI, 22; Sifre Deut. 49. + + 1531 Deut. XIII, 5; Sota 14 a; see Schechter: _Aspects_, 200-203. + + 1532 Aboth. I, 3; IV, 2; E. G. Hirsch in J. E., art Ethics. See Toy: + _Judaism and Christianity_, p. 260. + + 1533 Deut. X, 19. + + 1534 Micah VI, 8. + + 1535 Ps. XXIV, 3-4. + + 1536 See J. E., art. Essenes, Hasidim and Test. Twelve Patriarchs: Iss. + V, 2; VII, 6; Dan. V, 3. + + 1537 Lev. XIX, 14, 32; _Sifra_ ad loc. B. M. 58 b. + + 1538 Shab. 31 a; comp. J. E., art. Didache and Klein, l. c. + + 1539 Tanh. Shemini, ed. Buber, § 12; comp. Lauterbach, _Ethics of + Halakah_, p. 12. + + 1540 Aboth. I, 14. + + 1541 Sanh. IV, 5. + + 1542 Yer. Kid. IV, 66 d. + + 1543 Taan. 22 b; Ned. 10 a. + + 1544 Lev. R. XXXIV, 3, ref. to Prov. XI, 17. + + 1545 Sanh. 18 a, 19 a. + + 1546 Keth. V, 5. + + 1547 Prov. XVI, 32; Shab. 105 b; Ned. 22 b; Sota 4 b; Ber. 43 b. + + 1548 Ps. LXXXI, 10. + + 1549 See above, chapter L, par. 6. + + 1550 Semakot II; R. Eleazar in B. K. 91 b with reference to Gen. IX, 5. + Prof. Lauterbach referred me to _Shebet Mussar_, XX, obviously a + quotation from some lost Midrash. + + 1551 Job XLII, 7. + + 1552 Lev. XXV, 42, 55; Tos. B. K. VII, 5; Kid. 22 d. + + 1553 Targ. to Lev. XIX, 18; Tobit IV, 15; Philo II, 236. + + 1554 Ex. XXIII, 4-5; Prov. XXIV, 17; XXV, 21. + + 1555 Ab. d R. N., ed. Schechter, 53, 60. + + 1556 Eodem, 64. + + 1557 Aboth. I, 12. + + 1558 Philo II, 284 f. + + 1559 Deut. X, 18-19. + + 1560 Isa. XXVI, 9. + + 1561 Isa. XXXIII, 15. + +_ 1562 Sifra_ Behar IV; B. M. 58 b. + + 1563 Tos. B. K. VII, 8; B. M. III, 27; B. B. 88 a-90 b; Makk. 24 a. + + 1564 Sanh. 24 b. + + 1565 B. B. 90 b. + + 1566 Lev. XIX, 36; B. M. 49 a. + + 1567 Deut. XVI, 20. + +_ 1568 Kad ha Kemah_, s. v. _Gezelah_. + + 1569 Ps. XV, 3. + + 1570 Pes. 118 a. + + 1571 Shab. 97 a; Yoma 19 b. + + 1572 Mek. Mishpatim 82; B. K. 79 b; B. M. 58 b-59 a; Lauterbach l. c. + 20-21. + + 1573 Peah V, 6; Prov. XXIII, 10. + + 1574 Ex. XXIII, 24. + + 1575 Tanh. Mishpatim. ed. Buber, 8. + + 1576 Lev. XXV, 35; Sifra ad loc. + + 1577 Isa. V, 8. + + 1578 Amos VIII, 4. + + 1579 Prov. XI, 26. + + 1580 Deut. XXI, 1-8. + + 1581 Sifre ad loc.; Sota IX, 7. + + 1582 Matt. VI, 25-28, V, 39; comp. Cor. VI, 6-7. + + 1583 Yeb. 62 a, 63 a. + + 1584 Prov. XXII, 29; Ned. 49 b. + + 1585 Ber. 8 a, ref. to Ps. CXXVIII, 2. + + 1586 Keth. 50 a. + + 1587 Morris Joseph in _Religious Systems of the World_, 1892, p. 701. + + 1588 Deut. I, 17; see Schmiedl: _D. Lehre v. Kampf um’s Recht_, 1875. + + 1589 Ps. XXXVII, 11; Shab. 88 b. + + 1590 Ex. XXIII, 5; Deut. XXV, 4; Prov. XII, 10; Git. 62 a. + + 1591 Aboth. I, 12; IV, 4, 12; Taan. 20 b. + + 1592 Matt. V. 17-30. + + 1593 Job XXXI, 1; Pes. R. XXIV; Lev. R. XXIII, 12; Ber. 12 b; Nid. 13 a. + + 1594 Shab. 33 a, referring to Isa. IX, 17; Ben Sira XXIII, 13; Test. + Twelve Patriarchs, _passim_. + + 1595 Deut. XXIII, 14. + + 1596 Deut. XVI, 11; 14 f.; Shab. 118 a; Pes. R. XXIII; Meg. 16 b; Shab. + 30 b; Ber. 31 a; comp. M. Lazarus, l. c., 254-261. + + 1597 Taan. 22 a. + + 1598 See Lazarus, l. c., 99. + + 1599 Ber. 64 a, refer. to Ps. LXXXIV, 8; comp. Lazarus, l. c., p. 280. + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEWISH THEOLOGY*** + + + +CREDITS + + +June 6, 2010 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by David Edwards, David King, and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at <http://www.pgdp.net/>. (This + book was produced from scanned images of public domain + material from the Google Print project.) + + + +A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 32722‐0.txt or 32722‐0.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/7/2/32722/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one — the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no one +owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and +you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission +and without paying copyright royalties. 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