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A BOOK OF JEWISH THOUGHTS
Selected and Arranged
by
THE CHIEF RABBI
(DR. J. H. HERTZ)
Humphrey Milford
Oxford University Press
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York
Toronto Melbourne Cape Town Bombay
5680――1920
TO
THE SACRED MEMORY
OF THE
SONS OF ISRAEL
WHO FELL
IN THE GREAT WAR
1914‒1918
PREFATORY NOTE
THIS Book of Jewish Thoughts brings the message of Judaism together
with memories of Jewish martyrdom and spiritual achievement throughout
the ages. Its first part, ‘I am an Hebrew’, covers the more important
aspects of the life and consciousness of the Jew. The second, ‘The
People of the Book’, deals with Israel’s religious contribution to
mankind, and touches upon some epochal events in Israel’s story. In
the third, ‘The Testimony of the Nations’, will be found some striking
tributes to Jews and Judaism from non-Jewish sources. The fourth part,
‘The Voice of Prayer’, surveys the Sacred Occasions of the Jewish Year,
and takes note of their echoes in the Liturgy. The fifth and concluding
part, ‘The Voice of Wisdom’, is, in the main, a collection of the deep
sayings of the Jewish sages on the ultimate problems of Life and the
Hereafter.
The nucleus from which this Jewish anthology gradually developed was
produced three years ago for the use of Jewish sailors and soldiers.
To many of them, I have been assured, it came as a re-discovery of the
imperishable wealth of Israel’s heritage; while to the non-Jew into
whose hands it fell it was a striking revelation of Jewish ideals and
teachings. I can pray for no better result for this enlarged Library
Edition.
Grateful acknowledgement is due to the authors, translators, and
publishers, for their courteous permission to reprint selections
from their works; to Dayan H. M. Lazarus, M.A., and Miss Elsa Linde,
for various useful suggestions; and to the Revs. J. Mann, D.Litt.,
S. Lipson, and I. Livingstone for help in the preparation of the Index
of Subjects.
J. H. H.
London, 1920.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. I AM AN HEBREW
YE ARE MY WITNESSES: Isaiah; Jacobs; Aguilar
I AM AN HEBREW: C. Adler
THE GOOD FIGHT: Eleazar of Worms
EVERY ISRAELITE HOLDS THE HONOUR OF HIS ENTIRE PEOPLE IN HIS
HANDS: Talmud; Montefiore
THE PATHS OF LIFE: Eliezer ben Isaac; Asher ben Yechiel
IN THE OLD GHETTO: Philipson; E. G. Hirsch
THE JEWISH WOMAN: M. Lazarus; Hertz; Talmud
THE JEWISH MOTHER: Szold; Lucas
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Cohen; Book of Morals; Morais
THE SACRED TONGUE: Joseph
THE HEBREW LANGUAGE: Schechter; Szold
WHAT IS CULTURE? Hertz
THE STUDENT OF THE TORAH: Jellinek
BAR MITZVAH PRAYER: Artom
ON THE THRESHOLD OF MANHOOD: Proverbs; Ethics of the Fathers
A FATHER’S ADMONITION: Maimonides
WHAT MAKES A MAN A JEW? Joseph
‘I BELIEVE’: Margolis
JUDAISM A POSITIVE RELIGION: Schechter
THE MISSION OF ISRAEL: H. Adler; Kohler
TOLERANCE: Gabirol; Midrash; Crescas; Mendelssohn; Talmud
OUR HERITAGE: Josephus
OUR FATHERS: Ecclesiasticus
THE OBLIGATIONS OF HEREDITY: Dubnow; Hertz
ZEDAKAH――CHARITY: Jacob ben Asher
ZEDAKAH――JUSTICE: Geiger
THE JEWISH POOR: Schechter; Abrahams
AT ‘THE OLD PEOPLE’S REST’, JERUSALEM: E. N. Adler
SHARING THE BURDEN: Talmud; Singer
THE DUTY OF SELF-RESPECT: Achad Ha’am
ANTI-SEMITISM: Nordau; Schechter; Nordau; Disraeli; Hertz;
Hagadah; Isaiah
THE JEW AS A PATRIOT: E. Lazarus; Goldsmid
THE JEWISH SOLDIER: Lucas
THE JEW’S LOVE OF BRITAIN: H. Adler
TO ENGLAND: Raskin
JUDAISM AND THE JEW IN AMERICA: Harris; Kohut
THE DELUGE OF FIRE: Hertz
THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS: Joel; Isaiah; Kings; Daily
Prayer Book
THE MESSIANIC HOPE: Mendes; Malachi
THE VISION OF A UNITED HUMANITY: Isaiah; Joseph
TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER: Isaiah
II. THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK
ISRAEL IMMORTAL: Jeremiah; Halevi; Ecclesiasticus; Midrash
THE ETERNAL RIDDLE: Raskin
THE SECRET OF ISRAEL’S IMMORTALITY: Graetz
THE BOOK OF BOOKS: Heine
THE BIBLE: Levi; Zangwill
A JEWISH VERSION OF THE BIBLE: Schechter; Friedländer;
Sulzberger; Leeser; H. Adler; Translators’ Preface; Rashi;
Ecclesiasticus
ISRAEL THE PEOPLE OF REVELATION: Halevi; Geiger
THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD AND ISRAEL IS HIS PROPHET: Zangwill
MOSES: Heine
THE PROPHETS: Jacobs; Shemtob; Darmesteter; J. Lazarus
THE TALMUD: Deutsch
JEWISH LITERATURE: Abrahams
THE WORK OF THE RABBIS: Büchler
ISRAEL’S HISTORY NEVER-ENDING: Magnus; Zangwill
THE MEANING OF JEWISH HISTORY: Jacobs; Halevi; Gaster
THE HALLOWING OF JEWISH HISTORY: Dubnow
ISRAEL’S MARTYRDOM: Zunz; Graetz
UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS: Josephus; Fuerst
IN MEDIAEVAL ROME: Hertz; Steinschneider
THE FIRST CRUSADE: Kalonymos ben Yehudah
THE SECOND CRUSADE: Ephraim of Bonn
JEWISH SUFFERING: Heine
THE JEWS OF YORK: D’Israeli
THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN: Frankl
THE EXODUS: E. Lazarus
A SONG OF REDEMPTION: Gabirol
SHYLOCK: Joseph
ON THE EVE OF THE RE-SETTLEMENT IN ENGLAND: Manasseh ben Israel
JEWISH EMANCIPATION: S. R. Hirsch; Rothschild
THE JEWISH QUESTION: J. Lazarus; Franzos; Steinschneider; Zunz
THE JEWS OF ENGLAND: Zangwill
WELCOME OF THE HEBREW CONGREGATION, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND,
U.S.A., TO GEORGE WASHINGTON
BRITISH CITIZENSHIP: Hertz
THE RUSSIAN JEW: I. Friedlander
YIDDISH: Zangwill; Wiener
RUSSO-JEWISH EDUCATION: I. Friedlander
PASSOVER IN OLD RUSSIA: Antin
THE POGROM: Dymov
UNDER THE ROMANOFFS: Wolf; E. Lazarus
SOLDIERS OF NICHOLAS: Antin
BONTZYE SHWEIG: Peretz
THE WATCH ON THE JORDAN: Imber
THE TRAGEDY OF ASSIMILATION: Schechter; Achad Ha’am
THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES: Ezekiel
PALESTINE: Munk
THE LAST CORPSES IN THE DESERT: Byalik
ZIONISM: Herzl; Wolf; Abrahams
THE BRITISH DECLARATION ON PALESTINE: Herzl; Jewish Chronicle;
Hertz
JUDAISM AND THE NEW JUDEA: Herzl; Saadyah; Schechter; Noah;
Hertz; Eichholz
III. THE TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS
WORLD’S DEBT TO ISRAEL: Abbott; Cornill
ISRAEL AND HIS REVELATION: Arnold
ISRAEL, GREECE, AND ROME: Renan; Wagner; Lotze
WHAT IS A JEW? Tolstoy
THE BOOK OF THE AGES: Harnack; Scott; Whitman
THE BIBLE, THE EPIC OF THE WORLD: Frazer; Stevenson; Froude
THE BIBLE IN EDUCATION: Huxley; Goethe
THE BIBLE AND DEMOCRACY: Wyclif; Huxley; Nietzsche
THE HEBREW LANGUAGE: Renan
REBECCA’S HYMN: Scott
MOSES: George
THE BURIAL OF MOSES: Alexander
ISRAEL’S PSALTER: Dow; Rhys; Cornill
THE PSALMS IN HUMAN LIFE: Prothero
THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH: Addison
O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST: Watts
THE LIVING POWER OF THE JEWISH PROPHETS: Jowett; Froude
THE BOOK OF JONAH: Cornill; Goethe
JOB: Carlyle; Froude
ECCLESIASTES: Ellis
THE BOOK OF ESTHER: Stanley; Whittier
THE TALMUD: Robinson
THE HUMANITY OF JEWISH WISDOM: Gorky
THE PHARISEES: Huxley; Box; Herford
THE JEWISH PRAYER BOOK: Biddle
IN A SYNAGOGUE: Eliot
THE TORCH OF JEWISH LEARNING: Beaulieu
DURING THE CRUSADES: Strindberg
THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: Lecky
A PROTEST AGAINST THE AUTO-DA-FÉ OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1761, LISBON:
Voltaire
THE BIBLE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND: Green
FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS: Macaulay
IGNORANCE OF JUDAISM: Eliot; Blake
‘THEY ARE OUR ELDERS’: Beaulieu
THE JEWISH CEMETERY AT NEWPORT: Longfellow
THE JEW AS A CITIZEN: Roosevelt
IN THE EAST END OF LONDON: Schreiner
THE RUSSIAN AGONY: Milyukov; Lecky; Tolstoy; Schreiner
THE BLOOD LIBEL――BRITISH PROTEST
JEWISH NATIONALISM: Eliot; Sykes
A JEWISH NATIONAL HOME: Balfour
ISRAEL’S PRESERVATION: St. Jerome
ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS: Twain
IV. THE VOICE OF PRAYER: THE JEWISH YEAR
ON PRAYER AND PRAISE: Philo; Zohar
ON MORNING SERVICE: Shulchan Aruch
AT THE DAWN I SEEK THEE: Gabirol
MORNING PRAYERS: Daily Prayer Book; Bachya
ADON OLAM: Abrahams; Carvalho
ADON OLAM AND MODERN SCIENCE: Haffkine
THE SHEMA: Hertz; Zohar
‘THE SOUL THOU HAST GIVEN ME IS PURE’: Kohler
THE MERIT OF THE FATHERS: Levy; Abrahams
THE KADDISH: Kompert; Wisdom of Solomon; Daniel
THE HOLINESS OF HOME: Jacobs; Disraeli
KINDLING THE SABBATH LIGHT: Raskin
LECHA DODI: Alkabetz; Achad Ha’am
SABBATH PRAYER: Zohar
THE SABBATH: Salaman
PRAYER BEFORE THE NEW MOON: Daily Prayer Book
THE SEDER: Raskin
ISRAEL’S WATCH-NIGHT: Joseph
PASSOVER AND FREEDOM: Hertz; Joseph
‘ADDIR HU’: Gottheil; Talmud
THE FEAST OF WEEKS: Psalms
A SELF-DENYING GUILD: Joseph; Daily Prayer Book
AKDOMUS: Nehoraï
THE BIBLE: Rosenfeld
THE SEPHER TORAH: Haffkine
RELIGION AND MORALITY: Daiches
SYMBOLS AND CEREMONIES: Jung
CUSTOM IN RELIGION: Gottheil
‘IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TIMES’: S. R. Hirsch
FAITH: Singer
ODE TO ZION: Halevi
THE ETERNAL CITY OF THE ETERNAL PEOPLE: Hertz; Isaiah
NEW YEAR: Moïse
WRITTEN AND SEALED: Baalshem; Joseph
THE SHOFAR: Maimonides; Deuteronomy; Psalms
MY KING: Moses ben Nachman
THE LORD IS KING, THE LORD WAS KING, THE LORD SHALL BE KING
FOR EVER AND EVER: Kalir
IF NOT HIGHER: Peretz
DAY OF ATONEMENT: Gottheil; Ecclesiasticus
THE MESSAGE OF YOM KIPPUR: Hertz
‘FORGIVEN’: Yomtob of York
CONFESSION: Gabirol
YOM KIPPUR MEDITATIONS: Bachya; Gabirol
THE INFINITE MERCIES OF GOD: Exodus; Talmud
BROTHERHOOD: Hertz; Ezekiel
ATONEMENT PROMISE AND ADMONITION: Isaiah
LORD, THINE HUMBLE SERVANTS HEAR: Yehudah
GOD THAT DOEST WONDROUSLY: Mosheh
TABERNACLES: Halevi
PSALMS AND MYRTLES: Kalir
THE HARVEST FESTIVAL: Joseph; Disraeli
JOYOUS SERVICE: Abrahams; Talmud
REJOICING OF THE LAW: Festival Prayer Book
SIMCHAS TORAH: Gordon
THE MACCABEAN WARRIORS: Maccabees
THE FEAST OF LIGHTS: E. Lazarus
THE MENORAH: Herzl
THE STORY OF THE MACCABEES: Joseph
CHANUCAH HYMN: Gottheil
PURIM: Book of Esther
SERVANT OF GOD: Halevi
HYMN OF GLORY: Judah the Pious
V. THE VOICE OF WISDOM
GOD, WHOM SHALL I COMPARE TO THEE! Halevi
GREAT IS TRUTH: Esdras; Talmud
THE RIGHT LIFE: Micah; Isaiah; Spinoza
THE GOODNESS OF GOD’S WORK: Maimonides
THE TWO NATURES IN MAN: Moses of Coucy
FREEDOM OF THE WILL: Maimonides
THE WICKED SAITH IN HIS HEART: Wisdom of Solomon
REPENTANCE OF THE WICKED: Wisdom of Solomon
WISE COUNSEL: Maimonides; Benedict of Oxford; Ethics of the
Fathers
THE DUTY OF HOLINESS: Leviticus; Kohler; Talmud
THE CITY OF GOD: Philo; Maimonides; Zohar
HUMILITY: Bachya; Daily Prayer Book; Ibn Ezra
SAYINGS FROM THE TALMUD
THE DEDICATED LIFE Philo
GOD AND MAN: Ethics of the Fathers
GOLDEN RULES: Leviticus; Talmud; Achaï
DEEDS THE BEST COMMENDATION: Talmud; Ethics of the Fathers
A MEDIAEVAL JEWISH MORALIST: Eleazar of Worms
THE MYSTERY OF PAIN: S. A. Adler
MEETING ADVERSITY: Hertz
THE CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH: Montefiore; Ecclesiasticus
LIGHT IN DARKNESS: Talmud
WHENCE AND WHITHER: Ethics of the Fathers; H. Adler
TIME AND ETERNITY: Yedaya Penini; Ecclesiastes;
Derech Eretz Zutta
TALMUDIC PARABLES AND LEGENDS
ALMIGHTY, WHAT IS MAN? Gabirol
RESIGNATION: Green
IMMORTALITY: Talmud; Ethics of the Fathers
ETERNAL HOPE: Psalms
TRUE WISDOM: Job; Ethics of the Fathers
NOTES
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND SOURCES
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
_BEHOLD, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send
a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst
for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord._
AMOS 8. 11.
I
I AM AN HEBREW
_THEN said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, ... what is thine
occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what
people art thou?_
_And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of
heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land._
JONAH 1. 8, 9.
אַתֶּם עֵדָי
YE ARE MY WITNESSES
YE are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen.
ISAIAH 43. 10.
* * * * *
THE history of Israel is the great living proof of the working of
Divine Providence in the affairs of the world. Alone among the nations,
Israel has shared in all great movements since mankind became conscious
of their destinies. If there is no Divine purpose in the long travail
of Israel, it is vain to seek for any such purpose in man’s life. In
the reflected light of that purpose each Jew should lead his life with
an added dignity.
JOSEPH JACOBS, 1897.
* * * * *
EVERY Hebrew should look upon his Faith as a temple extending over
every land to prove the immutability of God and the unity of His
purposes. He should regard himself as one of the pillars which support
that temple from falling to the ground; and add, however insignificant
in itself, to the strength, the durability, and the beauty of the whole.
GRACE AGUILAR, 1842.
I AM AN HEBREW
I WILL continue to hold my banner aloft. I find myself born――ay,
born――into a people and a religion. The preservation of my people must
be for a purpose, for God does nothing without a purpose. His reasons
are unfathomable to me, but on my own reason I place little dependence;
test it where I will it fails me. The simple, the ultimate in every
direction is sealed to me. It is as difficult to understand matter
as mind. The courses of the planets are no harder to explain than the
growth of a blade of grass. Therefore am I willing to remain a link
in the great chain. What has been preserved for four thousand years
was not saved that I should overthrow it. My people have survived
the prehistoric paganism, the Babylonian polytheism, the aesthetic
Hellenism, the sagacious Romanism, at once the blandishments and
persecutions of the Church; and it will survive the modern dilettantism
and the current materialism, holding aloft the traditional Jewish
ideals inflexibly until the world shall become capable of recognizing
their worth.
CYRUS ADLER, 1894.
THE GOOD FIGHT
IF thou hadst lived in the dread days of martyrdom, and the peoples had
fallen on thee to force thee to apostatize from thy faith, thou wouldst
surely, as did so many, have given thy life in its defence. Well then,
fight now the fight laid on thee in the better days, the fight with
evil desire; fight and conquer, and seek for allies in this warfare
of your soul, seek them in the fear of God and the study of the Law.
Forget not that God recompenses according to the measure wherewith ye
withstand the evil in your heart. Be a man in thy youth; but if thou
wert then defeated in the struggle, return, return at last to God,
however old thou mayest be.
ELEAZAR (ROKËACH) OF WORMS, c. 1200.
(_Trans. M. Joseph._)
EVERY ISRAELITE HOLDS THE HONOUR
OF HIS ENTIRE PEOPLE IN HIS HANDS
I
‘ALL Israelites are mutually accountable for each other.’ In a boat at
sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On
being remonstrated with, he answered: ‘I am only boring under my own
seat’. ‘Yes’, said his comrades, ‘but when the sea rushes in we shall
all be drowned with you.’ So it is with Israel. Its weal or its woe is
in the hands of every individual Israelite.
TALMUD.
* * * * *
II
WE Jews have a more pressing responsibility for our lives and beliefs
than perhaps any other religious community.
Don’t shelter yourself in any course of action by the idea that
‘it is _my_ affair’. It is your affair, but it is also mine and the
community’s. Nor can we neglect the world beyond. A fierce light beats
upon the Jew. It is a grave responsibility this――to be a Jew; and you
can’t escape from it, even if you choose to ignore it. Ethically or
religiously, we Jews can be and do nothing light-heartedly. Ten bad
Jews may help to damn us; ten good Jews may help to save us. Which
_minyan_ will you join?
C. G. MONTEFIORE, 1900.
THE PATHS OF LIFE
I
MY son, give God all honour and the gratitude which is His due. Thou
hast need of Him, but He needs thee not. Put no trust in thy mere
corporeal well-being here below. Many a one has lain down to sleep at
nightfall, but at morn has not risen again. Fear the Lord, the God of
thy fathers; fail never at eventide to pronounce the great word wherein
Israel is wont to proclaim that He is, and that He is One, and One only;
at dawn fail never to read the appointed prayer. See that thou guard
well thy soul’s holiness; let the thought of thy heart be saintly, and
profane not thy soul with words of impurity.
Visit the sick and suffering man, and let thy countenance be cheerful
when he sees it, but not so that thou oppress the helpless one with
gaiety. Comfort those that are in grief; let piety where thou seest it
affect thee even to tears; and then it may be that thou wilt be spared
the grief of weeping over the death of thy children.
Respect the poor man by gifts whose hand he knows not of; be not deaf
to his beseechings, deal not hard words out to him, and give him of thy
richest food when he sits at meat with thee.
From a wicked neighbour, see that thou keep aloof, and spend not much
of thy time among the people who speak ill of their brother-man; be not
as the fly that is always seeking sick and wounded places; and tell not
of the faults and failings of those about thee.
Take no one to wife unworthy to be thy life’s partner, and keep thy
sons close to the study of Divine things. Dare not to rejoice when
thine enemy comes to the ground; but give him food when he hungers.
Be on thy guard lest thou give pain ever to the widow and the orphan;
and beware lest thou ever set thyself up to be both witness and judge
against an other.
Never enter thy house with abrupt and startling step, and bear not
thyself so that those who dwell under thy roof shall dread when in thy
presence. Purge thy soul of angry passion, that inheritance of fools;
love wise men, and strive to know more and more of the works and the
ways of the Creator.
ELIEZER BEN ISAAC, 1050.
II
BE not ready to quarrel; avoid oaths and passionate adjurations,
excess of laughter and outbursts of wrath; they disturb and confound
the reason of man. Avoid all dealings wherein there is a lie; utter not
the name of God superfluously, or in places dirty or defiled.
Cut from under thee all mere human supports, and make not gold the
foremost longing of thy life; for that is the first step to idolatry.
Rather give money than words; and as to ill words, see that thou place
them in the scale of understanding before they leave thy lips.
What has been uttered in thy presence, even though not told as secret,
let it not pass from thee to others. And if one tell thee a tale, say
not to him that thou hast heard it all before. Do not fix thine eyes
too much on one who is far above thee in wealth, but on those who are
behind thee in worldly fortune.
Put no one to open shame; misuse not thy power against any one; who can
tell whether thou wilt not some day be powerless thyself?
Do not struggle vaingloriously for the small triumph of showing thyself
in the right and a wise man in the wrong; thou art not one whit the
wiser therefor. Be not angry or unkind to any one for trifles, lest
thou make thyself enemies unnecessarily.
Do not refuse things out of mere obstinacy to thy fellow-citizens,
rather put thy will below their wishes. Avoid, as much as may be, bad
men, men of persistent angry feelings, fools; thou canst get nothing
from their company but shame. Be the first to extend courteous greeting
to every one, whatever be his faith; provoke not to wrath one of
another belief than thine.
ASHER BEN YECHIEL, 1300.
IN THE OLD GHETTO
IN the narrow lanes and by-ways of the old Jewish quarter of many a
European town there grew up that beautiful Jewish home-life which,
though its story is seldom recorded, is more important than the outer
events and misfortunes that historians have made note of. And as we
look upon the unsightly houses, the wretched exterior seems to float
away and the home-scenes of joy and love and religious constancy shine
brilliantly forth――perpetual lamps――and explain how, in spite of woe
and misery such as have fallen to the lot of no other people, the Jews
have found strength to live and hope on.
D. PHILIPSON, 1894.
* * * * *
SAY what you will of the Judaism of the Middle Ages; call it narrow;
deride it as superstitious; unless lost to all sense of justice, or
without power to dive beneath the surface of the seeming to the roots
of the real, you cannot but witness to the incontrovertible fact that
for sweetness and spirituality of life, the Jew of the Ghetto, the Jew
of the Middle Ages, the Jew under the yoke of the Talmud, challenges
the whole world.
E. G. HIRSCH, 1895.
THE JEWISH WOMAN
IN the days of horror of the later Roman Empire, throughout the time
of the migration of nations, it was not war alone that destroyed
and annihilated all those peoples of which, despite their former
world-dominating greatness, nothing remains but their name. It was
rather the ensuing demoralization of home life. This is proved――it
cannot be repeated too often――by the Jews; for they suffered more
severely and more cruelly by wars than any other nation; but, among
them, the inmost living germ of morality――strict discipline and family
devotion――was at all times preserved. This wonderful and mysterious
preservation of the Jewish people is due to the Jewish woman. This
is her glory, not alone in the history of her own people, but in the
history of the world.
M. LAZARUS.
* * * * *
THE Jew’s home has rarely been his ‘castle’. Throughout the ages it has
been something far higher――his sanctuary.
J. H. HERTZ.
* * * * *
BE careful not to cause woman to weep, for God counts her tears. Israel
was redeemed from Egypt on account of the virtue of its women. He who
weds a good woman, it is as if he had fulfilled all the precepts of the
Law.
TALMUD.
THE JEWISH MOTHER
JEWISH custom bids the Jewish mother, after her preparations for the
Sabbath have been completed on Friday evening, kindle the Sabbath lamp.
That is symbolic of the Jewish woman’s influence on her own home, and
through it upon larger circles. She is the inspirer of a pure, chaste,
family life whose hallowing influences are incalculable; she is the
centre of all spiritual endeavours, the confidante and fosterer of
every undertaking. To her the Talmudic sentence applies: ‘It is woman
alone through whom God’s blessings are vouchsafed to a house’.
HENRIETTA SZOLD, 1893.
YIDDISH CRADLE SONG
O! HUSH thee, my darling, sleep soundly my son,
Sleep soundly and sweetly till day has begun;
For under the bed of good children at night
There lies, till the morning, a kid snowy white.
We’ll send it to market to buy _Sechora_,
While my little lad goes to study Torah.
Sleep soundly at night and learn Torah by day,
Then thou’ll be a Rabbi when I have grown grey.
But I’ll give thee to-morrow ripe nuts and a toy,
If thou’lt sleep as I bid thee, my own little boy.
(_Trans. Alice Lucas._)
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
IT seems to me that if the development of the religious sense is
omitted from education, the most exalted idea of goodness is left
out. Life is so much the poorer for being shorn of the halo of high
spiritual aspiration. Instead of a fixed and lofty ideal of life and
conduct, based on the highest conception of Divine Perfection of which
the human mind is capable, there prevails a limited and _fluctuating_
ideal, subject to the chance influences of surroundings and associates,
and coloured by the social grade and worldly interests of each
individual.
JULIA M. COHEN, 1907.
* * * * *
THE thread on which the different good qualities of human beings are
strung as pearls, is the fear of God. When the fastenings of this fear
are unloosed, the pearls roll in all directions and are lost one by one.
BOOK OF MORALS, 15th cent.
* * * * *
THE knowledge of Hebrew is the golden hinge upon which our national and
religious existence turns. Flowing down from the hills of eternity, the
Hebrew language has been set apart by God as the receptacle of truths
destined to sway mankind and humanize the world.
SABATO MORAIS, 1876.
THE SACRED TONGUE[1]
THE Synagogue service is essentially the expression of the soul of
collective Israel. In the Synagogue we meet as Jews, there in prayer,
in aspiration, in confession of faith, to carry on the stream of
spiritual effort which has flowed unbroken through the ages ever since
Israel became conscious of himself. Therefore the prayers will not
merely voice private needs and modern ideas, but will chiefly speak
of Israel. And so they will largely be in Hebrew, Israel’s historic
language. You may get rid of Hebrew, but with it you will get rid
of the Synagogue too, of the Synagogue as a living organism, as the
well-spring of Jewish feeling and the inspiration of Jewish life. Nor
is this all. The claim of Hebrew, though bound up with the interests of
public worship, yet transcends them. It will meet you whenever you open
your Jewish history, whenever you open your Bible. As long as we remain
Jews and call the Bible our own, the Tongue in which it is written must
be inestimably sacred to us.
MORRIS JOSEPH, 1907.
THE HEBREW LANGUAGE
THE Hebrew language is the great depository of all that is best in
the soul-life of the Congregation of Israel. Without it we will become
severed from the great Tree which is life unto those that cling to it.
Hellenistic Judaism[2] is the only one known to history which dared to
make this experiment of dispensing with the Sacred Language. The result
was death. It withered away and terminated in total and wholesale
apostasy from Judaism. Let us not deceive ourselves. There is no future
in this country for a Judaism that resists either the English or the
Hebrew language.
S. SCHECHTER, 1904.
* * * * *
THERE is a vast storehouse filled with treasures. The key, the Hebrew
language, is in our guardianship. Have we a right to throw the key
into the ocean of oblivion? More than that: when we have ceased to be
efficient guardians of our treasures, of what use are we in the world?
I fear that in the case of such flagrant dereliction of duty, the
twentieth century will have in store for us not a Ghetto, but a grave.
HENRIETTA SZOLD, 1896.
WHAT IS CULTURE?
NOT what a man has――knowledge, skill, or goods of life――determines
his culture, but what a man _is_: culture is not so much mastery of
things as mastery of self. And only that nation can be called cultured
which adds to or, at least, broadens and deepens the spiritual assets
of mankind; which introduces some distinctive note into the soul-life
of the world; which teaches humanity a new angle of vision towards the
Infinite; and by its living and, if need be, by its dying, vindicates
the eternal values of life――conscience, honour, liberty.
Judged by this test, some of the littlest of peoples――Judea, Greece,
Elizabethan England――stand foremost among cultured nations, champions
of the sacred heritage of man. Judged by this test, many a poor Jew,
though he be devoid of the graces, amenities, and comforts of life, is
yet possessed of culture. An ancient language, a classical language, a
holy language, is as familiar to him as his mother-tongue; saturated is
he with the sublimest of literatures, which hallows his life and endows
him with high faith and invincible courage.
Sympathetic appreciation of this indomitable type, this harmonious
albeit rugged personality, might well be taken as a touchstone of a
man’s mentality, culture, and humanity.
J. H. HERTZ, 1915.
THE STUDENT OF THE TORAH[3]
IF one asks a student to-day why he studies, he will at once, in spite
of his youth, give a very practical answer. He mentions the profession
for which he is preparing himself, and through which he will obtain a
lucrative office or a comfortable position in life.
It is entirely different with those who expended their time and powers
on the study of the Talmud. They wished to derive no profit from their
studies; not to use them, as a Mishna teacher says, ‘as a spade to dig
wherewith nor as a crown wherewith to aggrandise oneself’. ‘Say not’,
exclaims the Talmud, ‘I will study the Torah in order that people may
call me Sage or Master, but study from pure love to God, to cleave more
closely unto Him through the knowledge and understanding of His word.’
Day and night did they bury themselves in the study of subjects that
had nothing to do with social life or with gain; often they became
engrossed in the investigation of laws of sacrifices and purification,
although these had long since grown obsolete. They desired nothing
but knowledge, understanding, illumination. Where is there another
people on earth among whom studies which aimed only at truth and the
development of the spiritual life were cultivated with such pure,
devoted, and selfless love as in Israel?
A. JELLINEK, 1882.
BAR MITZVAH PRAYER[4]
O MY God, and God of My Fathers,
On this solemn and sacred day, which marketh my passage from boyhood
to manhood, I humbly venture to raise my eyes unto Thee, and to
declare with sincerity and truth that henceforth I will observe all
Thy commandments, and undertake to bear the responsibility of all mine
actions towards Thee. In my earliest infancy I was brought within Thy
sacred covenant with Israel, and to-day I again enter as an active
responsible member the pale of Thine elect congregation, in the midst
of which I will never cease to glorify Thy holy name in the face of all
nations.
Do Thou, O Heavenly Father, hearken unto this my humble prayer, and
vouchsafe unto me Thy gracious blessings, so that my earthly life may
be sustained and made happy by Thine ineffable mercies. Teach me the
way of Thy statutes, that I may obey them, and faithfully carry out Thy
ordinances. Dispose my heart to love Thee and to fear Thy holy name,
and grant me Thy support and the strength necessary to avoid the
worldly dangers which encompass the path lying before me. Save me from
temptation, so that I may with fortitude observe Thy holy Law and those
precepts on which human happiness and eternal life depend. Thus I will
every day of my life trustfully and gladly proclaim: ‘Hear, O Israel,
the Lord is our God, the Lord is one!’
BENJAMIN ARTOM, 1868.
ON THE THRESHOLD OF MANHOOD
MY son, keep the commandment of thy father,
And forsake not the teaching of thy mother.
Bind them continually upon thy heart,
Tie them about thy neck.
When thou walkest, it shall lead thee;
When thou liest down, it shall watch over thee;
And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light,
And reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
To keep thee from the evil woman.
PROVERBS 6. 20‒4.
* * * * *
RABBI Hanina[5], son of Dosa, said: ‘He in whom the fear of sin comes
before wisdom, his wisdom shall endure; but he in whom wisdom comes
before the fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure.’
Rabbi Eleazar[6], son of Azaryah, said: ‘He whose wisdom exceeds
his works, to what is he like? To a tree whose branches are many, but
whose roots are few; and the wind comes and plucks it up and overturns
it upon its face. But he whose works exceed his wisdom, to what is
he like? To a tree whose branches are few, but whose roots are many,
so that even if all the winds in the world come and blow upon it, it
cannot be stirred from its place.’
ETHICS OF THE FATHERS.
A FATHER’S ADMONITION
FEAR the Lord the God of thy Fathers and serve Him in love, for fear
only restrains a man from sin, while love stimulates him to good.
Accustom thyself to habitual goodness, for a man’s character is what
habit makes it. The perfection of the body is a necessary antecedent to
the perfection of the soul, for health is the key to the inner chamber.
Measure thy words, for by multiplying words thou increasest error. If
thou find in the Law or the Prophets or the Sages a hard saying which
thou canst not understand, stand fast by thy faith and attribute the
fault to thine own want of intelligence. Place it in a corner of your
heart for future consideration, but despise not thy religion because
thou art unable to understand one difficult matter.
Love truth and uprightness――the ornaments of the soul――and cleave
unto them; prosperity so obtained is built on a sure rock. Keep firmly
to thy word; let not a legal contract or witnesses be more binding
than thine verbal promise whether in public or in private. Disdain
reservations and subterfuges, evasions and sharp practices. Woe to him
who builds his house upon them. Abhor inactivity and indolence, the
causes of destruction of body, of penury, of self-contempt――the ladders
of Satan and his satellites.
Defile not your souls by quarrelsomeness and petulance. I have seen
the white become black, the low brought still lower, families driven
into exile, princes deposed from their high estate, great cities laid
in ruins, assemblies dispersed, the pious humiliated, the honourable
held lightly and despised, all on account of quarrelsomeness. Glory in
forbearance, for in that is true strength and victory.
MOSES MAIMONIDES.
WHAT MAKES A MAN A JEW?
JUDAISM is something more than a badge, something more than a
birth-mark; it is a life. To be born a Jew does not declare any of
us to be of the elect; it only designates us for enrolment among the
elect. God signs the covenant, but we have to seal it――to seal it by a
life of service. ‘What makes a man a Jew?’ is a question that is often
asked. The answer is, two things: membership of the Jewish brotherhood,
and loyal fulfilment of the obligations which that membership imposes.
To be of the Jewish race but to trample upon Jewish duty is to be
faithless to Israel.
MORRIS JOSEPH, 1903.
‘I BELIEVE’
I BELIEVE in God, the One and Holy, the Creator and Sustainer of the
world.
I believe that man possesses a Divine power wherewith he may subdue
his evil impulses and passions, strive to come nearer and nearer the
perfection of God, and commune with Him in prayer.
I believe that select individuals are, from time to time, called by God
as prophets and charged with the mission of declaring His will unto men.
I believe that man is subject to God’s law and responsible to the
Searcher of the human heart and the Righteous Judge for all his
thoughts and deeds.
I believe that he who confesses his sins and turns from his evil
ways and truly repents is lovingly forgiven by his Father in Heaven.
I believe that the pious who obey God’s law and do His will with a
perfect heart, and those who truly repent, share, as immortal souls,
in the everlasting life of God.
I believe that Israel was chosen by God as His anointed servant to
proclaim unto the families of mankind His truth; and, though despised
and rejected by men, to continue as His witness until there come in
through him the Kingdom of Peace and moral perfection, and the fullness
of the knowledge of God, the true Community of the Children of the
living God.
M. L. MARGOLIS, 1904.
JUDAISM A POSITIVE RELIGION
SATISFYING the needs of anybody and everybody, of every moment and
every fleeting season, is not the highest ideal which Judaism set
before itself. Altogether I venture to think that the now fashionable
test of determining the worth of a religion by its capability to supply
the various demands of the great market of believers has something
low and mercenary about it. True religion is not a jack-of-all-trades,
meaning Monotheism to the philosopher, Pluralism to the crowd, some
mysterious Nothing to the agnostic, Pantheism to the poet, and Service
of Man to the hero-worshipper. Its mission is just as much to teach
the world that there _are_ false gods and false ideals as to bring it
nearer to the true one. Abraham, the friend of God, who was destined
to become the first winner of souls, began his career, according to
the legend, with breaking idols, and it is his particular glory to have
been in opposition to the whole world. Judaism means to convert the
world, not to convert itself. It will not die in order _not_ to live.
It disdains a victory by defeating itself, in giving up its essential
doctrines, its most sacred symbols, its most precious traditions, and
its most vital teaching. It has confidence in the world; it hopes and
prays and waits patiently for the Great Day when the world will be ripe
for its acceptance.
S. SCHECHTER, 1893.
THE MISSION OF ISRAEL
Think of the meaning of that simple ceremony in our service when the
Minister takes his stand before the Ark, and clasping the sacred scroll
in his arms, proclaims the שמע, belief in the unity of One Eternal,
Almighty God. This rite symbolizes the mission of Israel to the world:
With the Law of God folded in his arms and its words engraved upon his
heart, he has gone up and down the earth proclaiming his belief in the
One Supreme Being――a Being whose spirit fills all time and all space,
a Being never embodied, but made manifest to man in the glory of the
creation and in His all-wise behests, which teach mercy, love, and
justice....
HERMANN ADLER, 1895.
* * * * *
A CLEAR and concise definition of Judaism[7] is very difficult to
give, for the reason that it is not a religion pure and simple based
upon accepted creeds, but is one inseparably connected with the Jewish
nation as the depositary and guardian of the truths held by it for
mankind.
Far from having become 1,900 years ago a stagnant religion, Judaism
has ever remained ‘a river of God full of living waters’, which, while
running within the river-bed of a single nation, has continued to feed
anew the great streams of human civilization.
K. KOHLER, 1904.
TOLERANCE
I
THOU art the Lord, and all beings are Thy servants,
Thy domain;
And through those who serve idols vain
Thine honour is not detracted from,
_For they all aim to Thee to come_;
But they are as the blind,
That seeking the royal road could not find;
The one sank in destruction’s well;
Another into a cavity fell,
And all thought they had reached what they sought
Yet toiled for naught.
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL, 1050.
(_Trans. M. Jastrow._)
* * * * *
I CALL heaven and earth to witness that whether it be Jew or heathen,
man or woman, free or bondman――only according to their acts does the
Divine spirit rest upon them.
MIDRASH.
* * * * *
SALVATION is attained not by subscription to metaphysical dogmas, but
solely by love of God that fulfils itself in action. This is a cardinal
truth in Judaism.
CHASDAI CRESCAS, 1410.
II
YOUR question, why I do not try to make converts, has, I must say,
somewhat surprised me. The duty to proselytize springs clearly from the
idea that outside a certain belief there is no salvation. I, as a Jew,
am not bound to accept that dogma, because, according to the teachings
of the Rabbis, _the righteous of all nations shall have part in the
rewards of the future world_. Your motive, therefore, is foreign to me;
nay, as a Jew, I am not allowed publicly to attack any religion which
is sound in its moral teachings.
MOSES MENDELSSOHN, 1770.
_To a non-Jewish correspondent._
* * * * *
I AM the creature of God, and so is my fellow-man; my calling is in
the town, and his in the fields; I go early to my work, and he to his;
he does not boast of his labour nor I of mine, and if thou wouldst say,
‘I accomplish great things and he little things’, we have learnt that
_whether a man accomplish great things or small, his reward is the same
if only his heart be set upon Heaven_.
TALMUD.
OUR HERITAGE
OUR laws have been such as have always inspired admiration and
imitation in all other men.
Nay, farther, multitudes of mankind have had a great inclination of
a long time to follow our religious observances; for there is not
any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation
whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not
come, and by which our fasts and lighting up lamps, and many of our
prohibitions as to our food, are not observed;[8] they also endeavour
to imitate our mutual concord with one another, and the charitable
distribution of our goods, and our diligence in our trades, and our
fortitude in undergoing distresses on account of our laws. And what
is here matter of the greatest admiration, our Law hath no bait of
pleasure to allure men to it, but it prevails by its own force; and as
God himself pervades all the world, so hath our Law passed through all
the world also.
As to the laws themselves more words are unnecessary, for they are
visible in their own nature, and appear to teach not impiety, but the
truest piety in the world. They are enemies to injustice; they banish
idleness and luxurious living; and they instruct men to be content with
what they have, and to be laborious in their calling. They forbid men
to make war from a desire of getting more, but make men courageous in
defending the laws. On which account I am so bold as to say that we are
become the teachers of other men in the greatest number of things, and
those of the most excellent nature only; for what is more excellent
than inviolable piety? What is more just than submission to laws, and
more advantageous than mutual love and concord? And this so far that
we are to be neither divided by calamities, nor to become injurious and
seditious in prosperity; but to contemn death when we are in war, and
in peace to apply ourselves to our handicrafts, or to our tillage of
the ground; while we in all things and in all ways are satisfied that
God is the Judge and Governor of our actions.
FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS, 1st cent.
OUR FATHERS
LET us now praise famous men,
Our fathers in their generations.
The Lord manifested in them great glory,
Even His mighty power from the beginning.
Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms,
And were men renowned for their power,
Giving counsel by their understanding,
Such as have brought tidings in prophecies:
Leaders of the people by their counsels,
And by their understanding men of learning for the people;
Wise were their words in their instruction:
Such as sought out musical tunes,
And set forth verses in writing:
Rich men furnished with ability,
Living peaceably in their habitations:
All these were honoured in their generations,
And were a glory in their days.
There be of them, that have left a name behind them,
To declare their praises.
And some there be, which have no memorial;
Who are perished as though they had not been,
And are become as though they had not been born,
And their children after them.
But these were men of mercy,
Whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten.
With their seed shall remain continually a good inheritance;
Their children are within the covenants.
Their seed standeth fast,
And their children for their sakes.
Their seed shall remain for ever,
And their glory shall not be blotted out.
Their bodies are buried in peace,
And their name liveth for evermore.
Peoples will declare their wisdom,
And the congregation telleth out their praise.
ECCLESIASTICUS 44. 1‒15.
THE OBLIGATIONS OF HEREDITY
JEWISH history admonishes the Jews: ‘_Noblesse oblige_’. The privilege
of belonging to a people to whom the honourable title of the ‘Veteran
of History’ has been conceded puts serious responsibilities on your
shoulders. You must demonstrate that you are worthy of your heroic past.
S. M. DUBNOW, 1893.
* * * * *
OUR virtues are Israel’s: all our success in life we owe to the fact
that the blood of the ‘toughest of peoples’ is coursing in our veins.
Our vices are our own. Now the world inverts the distribution. Our
virtues it credits to us, to our individual brilliancy, diligence,
courage. Whereas the crimes, vices, and failings of any single Jew, no
matter how estranged from his people or his people’s faith he may be,
it puts down to his Jewishness, and fathers them upon the entire Jewish
race.
Is it not a matter of sacred honour, as far as in us lies to counteract
the world’s injustice to our people by rendering, when the opportunity
is ours, some repayment for all we owe to Israel?
J. H. HERTZ, 1915.
ZEDAKAH[9]――CHARITY
TUR, II, § 247
THE dispensing of charity according to one’s means is a positive
precept, which demands greater care and diligence in its fulfilment
than all the other positive precepts of the Law. For its neglect may
possibly lead to the taking of life, inasmuch as the denial of timely
aid may compass the death of the poor man who needs our immediate help.
Whoso closes his eyes to this duty and hardens his heart to his needy
brother is called a worthless man, and is regarded as an idolater. But
whosoever is careful in the fulfilment of this duty attests himself
as belonging to the seed of Abraham, whom the Lord hath blessed: ‘For
I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his
household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do
_Zedakah_ and justice’ (Genesis 18. 19).
Charity is the main foundation of Israel’s pre-eminence, and the basis
of the Law of Truth. As the prophet says unto Zion: ‘By _Zedakah_ shalt
thou be established’ (Isaiah 54. 14). Its practice will alone bring
about Israel’s redemption: ‘Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and
they that return of her with _Zedakah_’ (Isaiah 1. 27). Charity is
greater than all sacrifices, says Rabbi Eleazar; even as it is written,
‘To do _Zedakah_ and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than
sacrifice’ (Proverbs 21. 3).
Whoso pities the poor shall himself receive compassion from the Holy
One, blessed be He. Let man further reflect that as there is a wheel of
fortune revolving in this world, perchance some day either he himself,
or his son, or his son’s son, may be brought down to the same lowly
state. Nor let it enter his mind to say: ‘How can I give to the poor
and thus lessen my possessions?’ For man must know that he is not the
master of what he has, but only the guardian, to carry out the will of
Him who entrusted these things to his keeping.
Whosoever withholds alms from the needy thereby withdraws himself from
the lustre of the Shechinah and the light of the Law.
Let man therefore be exceedingly diligent in the right bestowal of
charity.
JACOB BEN ASHER, 1320.
(_Trans. A. Feldman._)
ZEDAKAH――JUSTICE.
_‘NEITHER shalt thou favour a poor man his cause’_ (Exodus 23. 3).
It is one of the deep and fundamental traits of Judaism that whilst
presupposing sympathy and commiseration with the poor and the hapless,
it nevertheless fears that in a suit-at-law justice might be outraged
_in favour of the poor man_ even when he is in the wrong――outraged just
because of his very distress. Sympathy and compassion are emotions that
have their proper place and use, but even these noble feelings must be
silenced in the presence of Justice. In this Scriptural command there
is a height of conception, a sublimity of moral view, which compels the
reverence of all.
A. GEIGER, 1865.
THE JEWISH POOR
THE Kingdom of God――the Rabbis held――is inconsistent with a state of
social misery. They were not satisfied with feeding the poor. Their
great ideal was not to allow a man to be poor, not to allow him to
come down into the depths of poverty. They say, ‘Try to prevent it by
teaching him a trade. Try all methods before you permit him to become
an object of charity, which must degrade him, tender as your dealings
with him may be.’
S. SCHECHTER, 1893.
* * * * *
IT is an arduous task to think for the Jewish poor. He has a rooted
notion that he is the best, the only judge, of what is good for you
to do for him. And the fact is that these self-confident recipients of
your generosity really are often your betters in many qualifications.
Large-mindedness is needed here. We must respect old habits; we must
fathom the deep moral springs of life. We must beware that our brothers
do not divest themselves of their best, and assume our worst.
I. ABRAHAMS, 1896.
AT ‘THE OLD PEOPLE’S REST’, JERUSALEM
A SCORE or so of old men with white beards seated at a long table
covered by open books of the Talmud. The sacred scroll of the Law is
enshrined at their left, and behind them we see ponderous old tomes,
tight fitted into the alcove of a vault-like chamber, with quaint
curves and angles. Is not this some souvenir from the brush of an old
master? No, it is a group of inmates of the ‘Old People’s Rest’ at
Jerusalem.