in true merit of life; and a jester may be first in the kingdom of
heaven, if disinterestedly he has diminished the sadness of human lives.
II
‘WE LIVE IN DEEDS, NOT YEARS’
A KING had a vineyard, and he hired a number of labourers, one of whom
worked more diligently and better than the others. What did the king?
He took him by the hand and showed him friendship, and walked in the
vineyard conversing with him. At eventide, all the labourers came to
receive their hire, and the king paid that labourer too for a full
day’s work.
Then were the other labourers sorely vexed. They said, ‘Behold, we have
worked the whole day, whereas this one has only worked a few hours’.
Then said the king, ‘Why do you speak thus? Consider. This one, in a
few hours, did more work for me than you who toiled the whole day long.’
III
THE ACORN
A RABBI was once passing through a field where he saw a very old man
planting an oak-tree. ‘Why are you planting that tree?’ said he. ‘You
surely do not expect to live long enough to see the acorn growing up
into an oak-tree?’
‘Ah,’ replied the old man, ‘my ancestors planted trees not for
themselves, but for us, in order that we might enjoy their shade or
their fruit. I am doing likewise for those who will come after me.’
IV
EARTHLY TREASURES
ALEXANDER, the world conqueror, came across a simple people in
Africa who knew not war. He lingered to learn their ways. Two citizens
appeared before their chief with this point of dispute: One had bought
a piece of land and discovered a treasure in it; he claimed that this
belonged to the seller, and wished to return it. The seller, on the
other hand, declared that he sold the land with all it might contain.
So he refused to accept the treasure. The chief, turning to the buyer,
said: ‘Thou hast a son?’ ‘Yes.’ And addressing the seller, ‘Thou hast
a daughter?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Marry one to the other and make the treasure
their marriage portion.’ They left content. ‘In my country’, said the
surprised Alexander, ‘the disputants would have been imprisoned, and
the treasure confiscated for the king.’ ‘Is your country blessed by sun
and rain?’ asked the chief. ‘Yes,’ replied Alexander. ‘Does it contain
cattle?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then it must be for the sake of these innocent animals
that the sun shines upon it; surely its people are unworthy of such
blessing.’
V
ALEXANDER AT THE GATES OF PARADISE
ALEXANDER the Great, in his travels in the East, one day wandered to
the gate of Paradise. He knocked, and the guardian angel asked, ‘Who
is there?’ ‘Alexander,’ was the answer. ‘Who is Alexander?’ ‘Alexander,
you know――_the_ Alexander――Alexander the Great――Conqueror of the world.’
‘We know him not――he cannot enter here. _This is the Lord’s gate; only
the righteous enter._’ Alexander then more humbly begged for something
to show he had reached the heavenly gate, and a small fragment of a
human skull was thrown to him, with the words, ‘Weigh it’. He took it
away, and showed it contemptuously to his Wise Men, who brought a pair
of scales, and, placing the bone in one, Alexander put some of his
silver and gold against it in the other; but the small bone outweighed
them all. More and more silver and gold were put into the scale, and
at last all his crown jewels and diadems were in; but they all flew
upwards like feathers before the weight of the bone, till one of the
Wise Men placed a few grains of dust on the bone. Up flew the scale!
The bone was that which surrounded the eye, and nothing will ever
satisfy the eye until covered by the dust of the grave.
VI
HEAVENLY TREASURES
KING MONOBAZ, who in the days of the Second Temple became a proselyte
to Judaism, unlocked his ancestral treasures at a time of famine, and
distributed them among the poor. His ministers rebuked him, saying,
‘Thy fathers amassed, thou dost squander’. ‘Nay,’ said the benevolent
king, ‘they preserved earthly, but I heavenly, treasures; theirs could
be stolen, mine are beyond mortal reach; theirs were barren, mine will
bear fruit time without end; they preserved money, I have preserved
lives. The treasures which my fathers laid by are for this world, mine
are for eternity.’
VII
TOLERATION
An aged man, whom Abraham hospitably invited to his tent, refused
to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God. Learning that he was
a fire-worshipper, Abraham drove him from his door. That night God
appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: ‘I have borne with that
ignorant man for seventy years: could you not have patiently suffered
him one night?’
VIII
THE TORAH IS ISRAEL’S LIFE
ONCE the Romans issued a decree that the Jews should no longer occupy
themselves in the study of the Torah. Rabbi Akiba, however, was most
zealous in spreading a love and knowledge of the Torah amongst all the
Jewish communities. One day his friend Pappus met him and spake thus:
‘Akiba, art thou not afraid? Thou surely must know that thy deeds will
bring thee into mortal danger!’ ‘Stay a while!’ retorted Akiba, ‘let me
tell thee a story: A fox was walking on the brink of a stream, in the
clear waters of which were a number of fishes running to and fro. Said
the fox to the fishes, ‘Why do you run so?’ ‘We run’, replied they,
‘because we fear the fishermen’s nets.’ ‘Come up on the dry land’, said
the fox, ‘and live with me in safety, even as my forefathers once lived
in safety with yours.’ But the fishes said, ‘This surely is not the
cleverest amongst animals that speaks thus. Water is our natural home.
If we are not safe there, how much less safe should we be on land,
where we must surely die!’ It is exactly so with us Jews’, continued
Akiba. ‘The Torah is our life and the length of our days. We may,
whilst loving and studying the Torah, be in great danger from our
enemies; but if we were to give up its study, we should speedily
disappear and be no more.’
IX
ISRAEL’S LOYALTY
THERE was once a man who betrothed himself to a beautiful maiden and
then went away, and the maiden waited and he came not. Friends and
rivals mocked her and said, ‘He will never come’. She went into her
room and took out the letters in which he had promised to be ever
faithful. Weeping she read them and was comforted. In time he returned,
and inquiring how she had kept her faith so long, she showed him his
letters. Israel in misery, in captivity, was mocked by the nations
for her hopes of redemption; but Israel went into her schools and
synagogues and took out the letters, and was comforted. God would in
time redeem her and say, ‘How could you alone among all the mocking
nations be faithful?’ Then Israel would point to the Law and the
Prophets and answer, ‘Had I not your promise here?’
X
THE JEWELS
RABBI MEIR sat during the whole of the Sabbath-day in the School
instructing the people. During his absence from the house his two
sons died, both of them of uncommon beauty, and enlightened in the Law.
His wife bore them to her bedchamber, and spread a white covering over
their bodies. In the evening Rabbi Meir came home. ‘Where are my sons?’
he asked. ‘I repeatedly looked round the School, and I did not see them
there.’ She reached him a goblet. He praised the Lord at the going out
of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked: ‘Where are my sons?’ ‘They will
not be afar off’, she said, and placed food before him that he might
eat. When he had said grace after the meal, she thus addressed him:
‘With thy permission, I would fain propose to thee one question’. ‘Ask
it then’, he replied. ‘A few days ago a person entrusted some jewels
into my custody, and now he demands them of me; should I give them back
again?’ ‘This is a question’, said the Rabbi, ‘which my wife should
not have thought it necessary to ask. What! wouldst thou hesitate to
restore to every one his own?’ ‘No,’ she replied; ‘but yet I thought
it best not to restore them without acquainting you therewith.’ She
then led him to the chamber, and took the white covering from the
dead bodies. ‘Ah, my sons! my sons!’ loudly lamented the father. ‘My
sons! the light of my eyes!’ The mother turned away and wept bitterly.
At length she took her husband by the hand, and said: ‘Didst thou
not teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore that which was
entrusted to our keeping? See――the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord!’
XI
THE TWO SHIPS
TWO ships were once seen to be sailing near land. One of them was
going forth from the harbour, and the other was coming into the harbour.
Every one was cheering the outgoing ship, and every one was giving it a
hearty send-off. But the incoming ship was scarcely noticed.
A wise man was looking at the two ships, and he said: ‘Rejoice not
over the ship that is setting out to sea, for you know not what destiny
awaits it, what storms it may encounter, what dangers it may have to
undergo. Rejoice rather over the ship that has reached port safely and
brought back all its passengers in peace.’
It is the way of the world, that when a human being is born, all
rejoice; but when he dies, all sorrow. Rather ought the opposite to be
the case. No one can tell what troubles await the child on its journey
into manhood. But when a man has lived and dies in peace, all should
rejoice, seeing that he has completed his journey, and is departing
this world with the imperishable crown of a good name.
XII
THE MAN AND HIS THREE FRIENDS
A CERTAIN man had three friends, two of whom he loved dearly, but the
other he lightly esteemed. It happened one day that the king commanded
his presence at court, at which he was greatly alarmed, and wished to
procure an advocate. Accordingly he went to the two friends whom he
loved; one flatly refused to accompany him, the other offered to go
with him as far as the king’s gate, but no farther. In his extremity he
called upon the third friend, whom he least esteemed, and he not only
went willingly with him, but so ably defended him before the king that
he was acquitted.
In like manner, every man has three friends when Death summons him
to appear before his Creator. His first friend, whom he loves most,
namely, his money, cannot go with him a single step; his second,
relations and neighbours, can only accompany him to the grave, but
cannot defend him before the Judge; while his third friend, whom he
does not highly esteem――his good works――goes with him before the King,
and obtains his acquittal.
XIII
VANITY OF HUMAN PLEASURE
A FOX was eyeing longingly some luscious fruit in a very fine garden.
But there was no way for him to enter. At last he espied an opening
through which, he thought, he might possibly get in, but soon found the
hole too small to admit his body. ‘True,’ he said, ‘the hole is small,
but if I fast three days my body will become sufficiently reduced to
admit me.’ He did so; and to his joy he now feasted to his heart’s
content upon the grapes and all the other good things in the orchard.
But lo! when he desired to escape before the master of the garden came
upon him he saw, to his great consternation, that the opening had again
become too small for him. Poor animal! he had a second time to fast
three days; and having made good his escape, he cast a farewell glance
upon the scene of his late revels, saying: ‘O garden, charming art thou
and exquisite are thy fruits! But of what avail hast thou been unto me?
What have I now for all my labour and cunning?’
It is even so with man. Naked he comes into the world, naked he must
leave it. Of all his toil therein he carries nothing away with him save
the fruits of his good deeds.
XIV
BODY AND SOUL
THE Roman Emperor Antoninus once said to Rabbi Judah the Prince, ‘On
the great Day of Judgement, soul and body will each plead excuse for
sin committed. The body will say to the Heavenly Judge, “It is the soul,
and not I, that has sinned. Without it I am as lifeless as a stone.” On
the other hand, the soul will say, “How canst Thou impute sin to me? It
is the body that has dragged me down.”’
‘Let me tell you a parable’, answered Rabbi Judah the Prince. ‘A king
once had a beautiful garden stocked with the choicest fruits. He set
two men to keep guard over it――a blind man and a lame man. “I see some
fine fruit yonder”, said the lame man one day. “Come up on my shoulder”,
said the blind man, “I will carry you to the spot, and we shall both
enjoy the fruit.” The owner, missing the fruit, haled both men before
him for punishment. “How could I have been the thief?” queried the
lame man, “seeing that I cannot walk?” “Could I have stolen the fruit?”
retorted the blind man; “I am unable to see anything.” What did the
king? He placed the lame man on the shoulders of the blind man and
sentenced them both as one.’
In the same way will the Divine Judge of the Universe mete out
judgement to body and soul jointly.
ALMIGHTY, WHAT IS MAN?
ALMIGHTY! what is man?
But flesh and blood.
Like shadows flee his days,
He marks not how they vanish from his gaze,
Now like a flower blowing,
Now scorched by sunbeams glowing.
And wilt Thou of his trespasses inquire?
How may he ever bear
Thine anger just, Thy vengeance dire?
Then spare him, be Thou merciful, O King,
Upon the dreaded day of reckoning!
Almighty! what is man?
A faded leaf!
If Thou dost weigh him in the balance――lo!
He disappears――a breath that thou dost blow.
His heart is ever filled
With lust of lies unstilled.
Wilt Thou bear in mind his crime
Unto all time?
He fades away like clouds sun-kissed,
Dissolves like mist.
Then spare him! let him love and mercy win,
According to Thy grace, and not according to his sin!
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL, 1050.
(_Trans. Emma Lazarus._)
הַצּוּר תָּמִים
RESIGNATION
RIGHTEOUS art Thou, O God, and ever just,
And none can question, none withstand Thy will;
And though our hearts be humbled to the dust,
Teach us, through all, to see Thy mercy still.
Our life is measured out by Thee above,
And to Thy will each human heart must bow;
No frail remonstrance mars our perfect love,
No man shall say to Thee, ‘What doest Thou?’
When suffering to human fault is due,
Forgive, O Lord, and stay Thine hand, we pray;
And when it brings but trial of faith anew,
Turn Thou the night of gloom to trustful day.
When blessings bring Thy sunshine to our heart,
Let gratitude uplift each soul at rest;
And when to bear our griefs becomes our part,
Let faith and hope exhort us――God knows best.
The Lord hath given――praise unto His Name!
But with that praise our task is but begun.
The Lord hath taken――still our thought the same,
His is Law our Law; His will, not ours, be done.
A. A. GREEN, 1917.
IMMORTALITY
THERE are those who gain eternity in a lifetime, others who gain it in
one brief hour.
TALMUD.
* * * * *
RABBI JACOB[86] said: This world is like a vestibule before the world
to come. Prepare thyself in the vestibule, so that thou mayest enter
into the palace.
Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the
whole life in the world to come; and better is one hour of blissfulness
of spirit in the world to come than the whole life of this world.
ETHICS OF THE FATHERS.
ETERNAL HOPE
WHOM have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth:
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever.
PSALM 73. 25‒6.
TRUE WISDOM
SURELY there is a mine for silver,
And a place for gold which they refine.
Iron is taken out of the earth,
And brass is molten out of the stone.
Man setteth an end to darkness,
And searcheth out to the farthest bound
The stones of thick darkness and of the shadow of death.
He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn;
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock;
He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
He cutteth out passages among the rocks,
And his eye seeth every precious thing.
He bindeth the streams that they trickle not,
And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
Man knoweth not the price thereof;
Neither is it found in the land of the living.
The deep saith, It is not in me:
And the sea saith, It is not with me.
It cannot be gotten for gold,
Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
Whence then cometh wisdom?
And where is the place of understanding?
Destruction and Death say,
We have heard a rumour thereof with our ears,
God understandeth the way thereof,
And He knoweth the place thereof,
And unto man He said,
Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to depart from evil is understanding.
JOB 28. 1‒4, 9‒15, 20, 22‒3, 28.
* * * * *
RABBI TARPHON[87] said: The day is short, and the work is great, but
the labourers are idle, though the reward be great, and the Master of
the work is urgent. It is not incumbent upon thee to complete the work;
but neither art thou free to desist from it. Faithful is thine Employer
to pay the reward of thy labour. But know that the reward unto the
righteous is not of this world.
ETHICS OF THE FATHERS.
* * * * *
_REMEMBER also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, or ever the evil
days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no
pleasure in them: or ever the sun and the light, and the moon and the
stars be darkened, and the clouds return after the rain; and the dust
return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return to God who gave
it._
_This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep
His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man._
ECCLESIASTES 12. 1‒2, 7, 13.
NOTES
THROUGHOUT this Jewish Anthology the unit of selection is the Jewish
_thought_. Abridgement has therefore been unhesitatingly resorted to
wherever condensation helped to make the thought stand out in clearer
light. Utmost care has, however, been taken that such condensation in
no way obscures the original meaning of the Author.
The bibliographic notes are intended for those who may desire to
extend their acquaintance with Jewish books. Only such sources as are
available in English and are within possible reach of the ordinary
reader have been indicated.
In the Scripture selections, wherever the rhythm and beauty of either
the Authorized Version or the Revised Version could be retained, this
has been done. In the majority of cases, however, the quotations are
from the more faithful Jewish Version. The numbering of the Bible
verses is according to the Hebrew text.
ABBREVIATIONS:
J. Q. R. = Jewish Quarterly Review (Old Series).
J. P. S. = Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia.
J. E. = Jewish Encyclopedia. This standard reference work should
be consulted for fuller information on the authors,
sources, and subjects brought together in this book.
I
PAGE
3. Jacobs: ‘The Typical Character of Anglo-Jewry,’ J. Q. R., 1898.
Aguilar: _The Spirit of Judaism_, chap. viii. A. S. Isaacs’
_The Young Champion_ is a biography of Grace Aguilar for
young readers. J. P. S., 1916.
5. For Eleazar of Worms, see M. Joseph in _Jews’ College Jubilee
Volume_, 1905.
6. Montefiore: From a Sermon preached before the Jewish students
of Cambridge University.
‘Individual offences bring shame not only upon the persons
who commit them, but upon the entire race, which, says an
old writer, like a harp-string, has but to be struck at one
end and it vibrates throughout. This has been the fate of
Israel in every age; and the world’s habit of identifying
the race with the shortcomings of the individual seems to
be ineradicable. Public transgression――transgression which
involves the whole House of Israel――is in a special sense
branded as a _Chillul Hashem_, as “a profanation of the
Name” just as good deeds, done publicly, which reflect
lustre on all Israel, are praised as a _Kiddush Hashem_,
“a sanctification of the Name”.’ (Morris Joseph, _Judaism as
Life and Creed_. 3rd Edition. Routledge――an excellent book
that should be in every English-speaking Jewish home.)
7‒9. For other specimens of Jewish Moralists see _Hebrew
Characteristics_, published by the old American Jewish
Publication Society, 1872; and I. Abrahams, ‘Jewish Ethical
Wills,’ in J. Q. R., 1891.
10. Philipson: _Old European Jewries_, J. P. S.
11. Lazarus: Quoted in Nahida Remy, _The Jewish Woman_. (Bloch
Publishing Co., New York.)
The Jewish Home――Cf. Morris Joseph on the question of
intermarriage.
‘Every Jew should feel himself bound, even though the duty
involves the sacrifice of precious affections, to avoid acts
calculated, however remotely, to weaken the stability of
the ancestral religion. It is true that occasional unions
between Jew and Gentile do no appreciable harm to the Jewish
cause, however much mischief they may lay up, in the shape
of jealousy and dissension, for those who contract them,
and of religious confusion, for the children. But a general
practice begins as a rule by being occasional. Every Jew who
contemplates marriage outside the pale must regard himself
as paving the way to a disruption which will be the final,
as it will be the culminating, disaster in the history of
his people.’
12. Szold: ‘What has Judaism done for Woman?’ in _Judaism at the
|[Chicago]| World’s Parliament of Religions_, Cincinnati,
1894.
Cradle Song: quoted in Schechter, _Studies in Judaism_,
i, 1896. ‘The Child in Jewish Literature.’ Another version in
I. Zangwill’s _They that Walk in Darkness_ is as follows:――
Sleep, my birdie, shut your eyes,
Oh, sleep, my little one;
Too soon from cradle you’ll arise
To work that must be done.
Almonds and raisins you shall sell,
And Holy Scrolls shall write;
So sleep, dear child, sleep sound and well,
Your future beckons bright.
Brum shall learn of ancient days,
And love good folk of this;
So sleep, dear babe, your mother prays,
And God will send you bliss.
For the Yiddish folk-song see Wiener, _History of Yiddish
Literature in the Nineteenth Century_, New York and London,
1899; and Kurt Schindler, ‘The Russian-Jewish Folk Song’, in
_The Menorah Journal_, New York, 1917.
‘The Russian Jewish folk-song has grown and was reared under
the greatest oppression, and the grimmest tyranny that
a race ever went through. By this very oppression it has
become tense, quivering, abounding with emotion; in its
melodies the Jewish heart is laid open, and it speaks in a
language understandable to all. Its songs have an elemental
appeal――they represent the collective outcry of a suffering,
unbendable race.’ (Schindler.)
13. Cohen: Preface, _Children’s Psalm Book._ (Routledge.)
The following words recently written by America’s leading
educationist are of deep significance:――‘Education the world
over was at first for a long time almost solely religious,
and, while it was once a master-stroke of toleration to
eliminate it from the school, in doing so we nearly lost
from our educational system the greatest of all the motives
that makes for virtue, reverence, self-knowledge and
self-control. Now we are beginning to realize the wrong
we have committed against child-nature and are seeking
in various ways to atone for it.’ (G. Stanley Hall, in
Introduction to L. Grossmann’s _The Aims of Teaching in
Jewish Schools_, Cincinnati, 1919.)
Cf. the chapter on Religious Education with Bibliography
in M. Friedländer, _The Jewish Religion_, second edition
(P. Vallentine).
Morais: in _Abarbanel’s School and Family Reader for
Israelites_, New York, 1883, a book well worth reprinting.
14. Joseph, _The Message of Judaism_ (G. Routledge), ‘Hebrew and
the Synagogue.’
15. Schechter: _Seminary Addresses_, Ark Publishing Co., Cincinnati,
1915. These addresses of eloquent wisdom contain the ripest
thoughts of that great scholar.
In 1870 Peretz Smolenskin, then the foremost neo-Hebrew writer,
proclaimed: ‘The wilfully blind bid us be like all the
other nations. Yea, let us be like all the other nations,
unashamed of the rock whence we have been hewn; like the
rest, holding dear our language and the honour of our people.
We need not blush for clinging to the ancient language with
which we wandered from land to land, in which our poets sang,
and our seers prophesied, and in which our fathers poured
out their hearts unto God. They who thrust us away from the
Hebrew language meditate evil against our people and against
its glory.’
20. Maimonides: Some scholars question the Maimonidean authorship
of this Admonition.
22. In _Year Book of Central Conference of American Rabbis_, 1904.
23. _Aspects of Rabbinic Theology_, p. 76.
24. Adler: _Anglo-Jewish Memories_, p. 272.
25. Gabirol: Probably the very earliest enunciation of Tolerance
in Western Europe.