The sacredness of the family tie is the condition both of the physical
soundness and the moral vigor of nations. The family is the miniature
commonwealth, upon whose integrity the safety of the larger commonwealth
depends. It is the seedplot of all morality. In the child's intercourse
with its parents the sentiment of reverence is instilled--the essence
of all piety, all idealism; also the habit of obedience to rightful
authority, which forms so invaluable a feature in the character of the
loyal citizen. In the companionship of brothers deference to the rights
of equals is practically inculcated, without which no community could
exist. The relations between brother and sister give birth to the
sentiment of chivalry,--regard for the rights of the weaker,--and this
forms the basis of magnanimity, and every generous and tender quality
that graces humanity. Reverence for superiors, respect for equals,
regard for inferiors,--these form the supreme trinity of the virtues.
Whatever is great and good in the institutions and usages of mankind
is an application of sentiments that have drawn their first nourishment
from the soil of the family. The family is the school of duties. But
it has this distinguishing excellency, that among those who are linked
together by the strong ties of affection duty is founded on love. On
this account it becomes typical of the perfect morality in all the
relations of life, and we express the noblest longings of the human
heart when we speak of a time to come in which all mankind will be
united "as one family." Now the preeminence of the Jews in point of
domestic purity will hardly be disputed. "In this respect they stand
out like a bold promontory in the history of the past, singular and
unapproached," said the philosopher Trendelenburg.* According to the
provisions of the Mosaic Code, the crime of adultery is punished with
death. The most minute directions are given touching the dress of the
priests and the common people, in order to check the pruriency of fancy.
The scale of forbidden marriages is widely extended with the same end in
view.
* Vide the essay on the Origin of Monotheism in Jahrbuch des
Vereins fur Wissenschaftliche Padagogik, Vol IX. 1877, by
the author of this article.
Almost the entire tribe of Benjamin is extirpated to atone for an
outrage upon feminine virtue committed within its borders. The undutiful
son is stoned to death in the presence of the whole people. That husband
and wife shall become "as one flesh," is a conception which we find only
among the Jews. Among them the picture of the true housewife which is
unrolled to us in Proverbs had its original,--the picture of her who
unites all womanly grace and gentleness, in whose environment dwell
comfort and beauty, "whose husband and sons rise up to praise her." The
marriage tie was held so sacred that it was freely used by the prophets
to describe the relations between the Deity and the chosen people.
Jehovah is called the husband of the people. Israel shall be his true
and loyal spouse. The children of Israel are his children. The worship
of false gods was designated by the Hebrew word that signifies conjugal
infidelity. This feature of Jewish life remained equally prominent in
later times. In the age of the Talmud marriage was called Hillula,--a
song of praise! The most holy day of the year, the tenth of the seventh
month, a day of fasting and the atonement of sins, was deemed a proper
occasion to collect the young people for the purpose of choosing
husbands and wives. On that day the maidens of Jerusalem, arrayed in
pure white, went out into the vineyards that covered the slopes of the
neighboring hills, dancing as they went, and singing as the bands of
youth came up to meet them from the valleys. "Youth, raise now thine
eyes," sang the beautiful among them, "and regard her whom thou
choosest." "Look not to beauty," sang the well-born, "but rather to
ancient lineage and high descent." Lastly, those who were neither
beautiful nor well born took up the strain, and thus they sang:
"Treacherous is grace, and beauty deceitful; the woman that fears God
alone shall be praised." The appropriateness of such proceedings on the
Atonement day was justified by the remark that marriage is itself an act
of spiritual purification. The high value attached to the institution of
the family is further illustrated by many tender legends of the Talmud
which we cannot here stop to recount. A separate gate, it is said, was
reserved in Solomon's Temple for the use of bridegrooms, before which
they received the felicitations of the assembled people. The marriage
celebration was essentially a festival of religion. Seven days it
lasted. The Talmudic law, usually so unbending in its exactions, relaxed
its austerity in favor of these auspicious occasions, and recommended to
all to rejoice with the joyful. On the Sabbath of the marriage-week, the
young husband was received with peculiar honors in the synagogue, and
the liturgy of the mediaeval Jews is crowded with hymns composed in
honor of these solemn receptions. If a whole congregation thus united
to magnify and sanctify the erection of a new home, the continued
preservation of its sanctity might safely be left to the jealous
watchfulness of its inmates. Cases of sensual excess or of unfilial
conduct have been extremely infrequent among the Jews, down to modern
times. However mean the outward appearance of their homes might be,
the moral atmosphere that pervaded them was rarely contaminated. If
the question be asked, how it came about that so feeble a people could
resist the malevolence of its foes; that a nation, deprived of any
visible rallying-point, with no political or religious centre to cement
their union, had not long since been wiped out from the earth's surface,
we answer that the hearth was their rallying-point and the centre of
their union. There the scattered atoms gained consistency sufficient to
withstand the pressure of the world. Thither they could come to recreate
their torn and lacerated spirits. There was the well-spring of their
power.