says, that there is no resurrection to the body, but only to the soul;
and I sware by my life that this was not the opinion of our wise men of
blessed memory.” Indeed Maimonides himself acknowledges, in his
Commentary upon the Mishna, that the majority of the Jews thought very
differently of the world to come. He there enumerates five classes of
opinions, amongst which one is, that at that time the earth will bring
forth clothes ready made, and bread ready baked; but in every one of the
five, good eating and drinking is a main article. Of the fifth class he
says—
וכת חמישית והם הרבה מחברים הענינים האלה כולם ואומרים כי התוחלת הוא שיבא
המשיח ויחיה המתים ויכנסו לגן עדן ויאכלו שם וישתו ויחיו בריאים כל ימות
עולם ׃
“And the fifth class (and they are numerous) include all these things,
and say that the great hope is, that Messiah shall come and raise the
dead, and they shall be gathered into Paradise, and there shall eat and
drink and be in good health to all eternity.” (Sanhedrin, fol. 119, col.
1.) This, then, Maimonides gives as the general expectation of the
majority, and this expectation exactly agrees with the above description
of the feast to be prepared from Leviathan and Behemoth. We have,
therefore, not only the testimony of the most celebrated rabbies to
prove that this feast is not allegorical but literal, but we have the
still stronger evidence of the general expectations of the nation as
enumerated by Maimonides. D. Levi ought, therefore, to have said that
_he_ understood it allegorically, but we have seen that this is not the
opinion of the nation, nor of the most celebrated rabbies. We are
therefore warranted in saying that the prayers of the synagogue not only
consecrate the intolerance of the Talmud, but also stamp its absurd
legends with authority. It is surely not exceeding the bounds of
soberness and modesty to call this story of the battle between Leviathan
and Behemoth, and the feast to be prepared of their flesh, and the salt
meat of the female Leviathan, an absurd legend. David Levi evidently
thought it was such, and was therefore glad to betake himself to
allegory. In the Bible there is not one word about the killing or
salting of the female Leviathan, nor about the capacious stomach of
Behemoth, which requires a thousand mountains daily to satisfy it. This
is all the pure invention of the rabbles, and we ask the Jews whether
such legends form fit subjects for the prayers or praises of the
synagogue, or whether they can be acceptable in the eyes of the God of
Israel? We do not mean to conceal the fact, that Christian prayer-books
may be found with legends as fabulous, and as foolish. But they are the
prayer-books of former generations, or of those who still adhere to
traditions of men. With them we have nothing to do. Three hundred years
have now elapsed since our forefathers cleared out all such follies. But
the Jewish prayer-books still remain unchanged, and unless the Jews make
some vigorous effort, the legend of Leviathan and Behemoth will be read
with all solemnity in the synagogues of England at the coming Feast of
Pentecost. It is grievous to think that that nation which once held up
the torch of Divine truth to enlighten the world, should still abide in
the darkness and superstitions of the Talmud. And yet this is, beyond
all doubt, the condition of Israel, so long as the Divine authority of
the Talmud is recognised in their public prayers. Individuals may say,
that they do not believe in its follies, nor cherish its intolerance,
but this cannot be said of the majority. The synagogue, in its public
worship, still pronounces the maledictions, and recites the legends of
the oral law, and thus declares, in the most solemn manner that can be
devised, that the religion of the Talmud is the religion of the
congregation. A mere confession of faith is nothing to such a
declaration as this. A man may trifle with his fellow-men, but
sentiments addressed to God in prayer or praise must justly be
considered as the language of the heart.
How different is the doctrine of the New Testament. There all these
monstrous fables are utterly rejected; there is not even an allusion to
them. Mahomet, confessedly the author of a false religion, has
incorporated not a few of the Talmudic legends into the Koran. But the
disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, though they lived at a time when the
patronisers of these fables had power, were altogether preserved from
such absurdity. They have transmitted no such distorted view of God’s
dealings in creation, nor of the joys which he has prepared for his
people in eternity. Their doctrine is, that, “Known unto God are all his
works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts xv. 18.) He is “The Father
of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.” (James
i. 17.) They also give us an account of the felicity of the blessed, but
a feast upon Leviathan or Behemoth is not one of its features. “Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. xxi. 3, 4.)
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John iii. 2.) These are the hopes and
expectations which that body of Jews, who rejected the oral law, have
taught us to entertain and to cherish. Yes, brethren of the house of
Israel, our hope is altogether Jewish. We do not mean to charge upon
“the peculiar people of God” the folly of the Talmud. Some of the nation
forsook the pure Word of God, and adopted the doctrine of an oral law.
The natural consequence was, that they advanced gradually farther and
farther in the mazes of error; and there all their followers continue.
But we never forget that it was another portion of the Jewish nation
which taught us to worship the true and living God. Our only wish is,
that you would forsake Jewish error, and embrace Jewish truth.
Footnote 19:
This alludes to בהמות. See Job xl. 15, &c. D. Levi.
No. XVIII.
RABBINIC LEGENDS CONTINUED.
That the traditions of the Talmudists abound with the most absurd and
incredible stories, is a matter of notoriety. But when a Talmudist is
pressed with any one of these, as a proof that the oral law is not from
God, he has a ready answer. It is an allegory, and contains the most
profound and mysterious wisdom. It would be very easy to show from the
books printed in Jewish-German, for the edification of the women and the
unlearned, and where the legends are related as undoubted matter of
fact, that this is a mere evasion. But we have other evidence that is
indisputable. The Liturgy of the synagogue alludes to many as to
authentic history, and we would not believe any one who should dare to
assert, that the Rabbinists, in prayer, utter with their lips, what they
do not believe in their heart. In the Pentecost prayers, from which we
have already quoted, we find allusion to an anecdote recorded of Adam,
תכלית כל פועל רום ותחתונים , שביעי לימים הנמנים , ראשון למקראי זמנים ,
קדוש לאדוני האדונים , צבי קודש שבת שאננים , פדה מדין יציר מלפנים , ענתה
שירה וכפרה פנים ׃
Which D. Levi thus translates, “It (the Sabbath-day) is the end of all
work above and beneath; it is accounted the seventh among the days; the
first convocation of seasons; holy to the Lord of hosts; a glorious holy
Sabbath to those who rest thereon; it redeemed the first created man
from judgment; he chanted a song, and appeased the wrath of God.” (fol.
81.) Here two important circumstances, not mentioned by Moses, are
alluded to. First, that the Sabbath redeemed Adam from judgment, and
secondly, that his song appeased the wrath of God. They are found in the
traditions of the rabbies at full length, and are related as follows:—
בשבע שעות ביום בערב שבת נכנס אדם הראשון בגן עדן והיו מלאכי השרת מקלסין
אותו ומכניסין אותו לגן עדן ובין השמשות בערב שבת גורש ויצא והיו מלאכי
השרת קוראין עליו ואומרין אדם ביקר בל ילין נמשל כבהמות נדמו . כבהמה נדמה
אין כתיב אלא כבהמות נדמו שניהם . בא יום השבת ונעשה סניגור לאדם הראשון
אמר לפניו רבון העולמים בששת ימי המעשה לא נהרג הרג בעולם ובי אתה מתחיל זו
היא קרושתי וזו היא ברכתי שנאמר ויברך אלהים את יום השביעי ויקדש אותו .
ובזכות יום השבת ניצל אדם מדינה של גיהנם וראה אדם כחה של שבת אמר לא לחנם
ברך הקב׳׳ה את השבת וקרש אותו התחיל משורר ומזמר ליום השבת . שנאמר מזמור
שיר ליום השבת . ר׳ ישמעאל אומר המזמור הזה אדם הראשון אמרו ונשכח בכל
הדורות עד שבא משה וחדשו וגו׳ ׃
“At the seventh hour of the day, on the eve of the Sabbath, the first
Adam was introduced into Paradise; and the ministering angels were
engaged in lauding and introducing him. But between the suns, on the eve
of the Sabbath, he was driven out, and went forth; and the ministering
angels were calling to him, and saying, ‘Adam being in honour abideth
not: he is like the beasts that perish.’ It is not written, ‘like a
beast that perishes,’ but ‘like the beasts that perish;’ _i.e._, they
both. The Sabbath-day came, and became an advocate for the first Adam.
It said before God, Lord of the world, in the six days of the creation,
nothing in the world was killed, and wilt thou begin with me? Is this my
sanctification, and is this my blessing, as it is said, ‘And God blessed
the seventh day, and sanctified it.’ Therefore by the merit of the
Sabbath-day Adam was delivered from the judgment of hell; and when Adam
saw the power of the Sabbath, he said, It was not for nothing, that the
Holy One, blessed be He, blessed and sanctified it, so he began singing
and chanting to the Sabbath-day, as it is said, ‘A psalm or song to or
for the Sabbath-day.’ (Psalm xcii. 1.) Rabbi Ishmael says, This psalm
was said by the first Adam, but was forgotten in all the generations,
until Moses came and restored it.” (Pirke Eleazar, fol. 13, col. 3.) The
Yalkut Shimoni gives the story substantially the same, excepting that
when Adam said, “A psalm or song to the Sabbath-day,” the Sabbath
reproved him, and said, “Dost thou sing hymns to me? Come and let us
both sing hymns to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘It is a good thing to
give thanks unto the Lord.’” (Ps. xcii. 1.) This, then is the story
which the prayer-book of the synagogue authenticates, by interweaving,
in its addresses to the God of Israel, the above-quoted words concerning
the Sabbath, “It redeemed the first created man from judgment; he
chanted a song, and appeased the wrath of God.” From first to last it
bears the plain marks of mendacity. It misrepresents the merciful
character of God, as if he would have destroyed Adam, had it not been
the Sabbath-day. It ascribes a certain degree of merit to Adam, who had
been guilty of the most inexcusable ingratitude to his Divine
Benefactor. And it directly contradicts the narrative of Moses, who
ascribes the mercy vouchsafed to the spontaneous over-flowings of the
grace of God. Besides all this, it is perfectly ludicrous to imagine
that Adam, just driven out of Paradise for his disobedience, with the
curse of the Almighty resting upon him, goaded by the pangs of a guilty
conscience, and his whole frame undergoing the mighty transition from
immortality to corruption—it is perfectly ludicrous to imagine that he
could be in a fit mood to sit down and compose a poem. Indeed the
rabbies themselves have not left this story a fair appearance of
credibility, for on the very same page of the Yalkut, where this origin
of the ninety-second Psalm is described, another equally veracious
incident in the life of Adam, is assigned as the occasion of its
composition.
אמר ר׳ המזמור הזה אדם הראשון אמרו פגע אדם הראשון בקין אמר ליה מה נעשה
בדינך אמר ליה עשיתי תשובה ונתפשרתי התחיל אדם הראשון מטפח על פניו אמר כך
הוא גדול כחה של תשובה ולא הייתי יודע מיד עמד אדם הראשון ואמר מזמור ׃
“Rabbi Levi says, this hymn was said by the first Adam. Adam happened to
meet Cain, and said to him, What has been done in the matter of thy
judgment? He replied, I have repented, and been reconciled. Adam began
to strike his forehead with his hand, and said, So great is the power of
repentance, and I did not know it! Immediately the first Adam stood, and
said this Psalm.” Thus, on the showing of the traditions themselves,
this legend, formally adapted in the prayers of the synagogue, is a
falsehood. Can this be acceptable worship? Is it reasonable worship? Is
the legend itself, in any of its features, worthy of that great people,
that received the law of God at Sinai? This is the religion of the
High-priests and Pharisees who rejected Jesus of Nazareth, this the
wisdom of those who condemned Him, and that fully accounts for their
conduct. Men, who had let loose their imaginations into the regions of
romance and fiction, were not likely to love the sober truth inculcated
by Jesus and his disciples. Their appetites were vitiated, and they were
not satisfied with the unadorned narrative of Moses. They had lost all
relish for the simple majesty of the “oracles of God.” We appeal to the
native acuteness, and unsophisticated feeling of every right-minded Jew,
and ask whether it is not a melancholy spectacle to behold the wise men
of Israel thus trifling with the sin of Adam, that sad event, the source
of all our woes? Very different is the tone in which the New Testament
speaks both of it, and of the mind of God in reference to it.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: for until
the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no
law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that
had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the
figure of Him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the
free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the
grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ,
hath abounded unto many.” (Romans v. 12-15.) But whatever the Jews may
think of the New Testament representation, we have have shown that their
Liturgy contains an absurd legend, borrowed from tradition ages ago, and
which remains there to this day. But, alas! the very next sentence of
the prayer, from whim we have quoted, contains two more.
סוימה לאות ולעד בין אב לבנים , נצור יציאותיה כהורו נבונים . משא בלי
להוציא מבפנים . למחלליה מיתות דנים . כרת ורגימת אבנים . ידועה היא לך במן
מימים קדמונים . טעמו לא רד בה ממעונים . חוברי אוב בה לא נענים . זכור כי
בה ישבות נהר צפונים ׃
“It (the Sabbath) is noted as a sign and a witness between the heavenly
Father and his children: observe its removals, as taught by the wise
men, not to bring out a load from within; death is pronounced against
those that profane it, either by excision or stoned with stones; by the
manna it was well known unto thee in ancient days, for on the Sabbath
that food did not descend; _the necromancers were not answered on it;
remember that on it the incomprehensible river resteth_.” Amongst the
other honours of the Sabbath-day, and the other testimonies to its
sacredness, this prayer recounts two miracles. The one, that
necromancers could not bring up the dead on that day; the other, the
weekly Sabbatarian rest of the river Sambation. The first of these
miracles has been left by D. Levi without notice or explanation. He
thought, perhaps, that it would not do in English. But to the second,
the resting “of the incomprehensible river” he has attached the
following note:—
“This denotes the river סמביון, said to rest on the Sabbath from
throwing up stones, &c., which it does all the week. See Sanhedrin, fol.
lxv. 2; Yalkut on Isaiah, fol. lii. 1; Pesikta, Tanchuma, sect. כי תשא.
See also Shalsheleth Hakkabala, and Juchsin.”
D. Levi himself thus acknowledges, that no allegory is here intended,
but that the Rabbinists do really believe that there is a river that
throws up stones all the week, and rests on the Sabbath-day. Many and
various are the accounts which the rabbies give of it, but we shall
confine ourselves to one or other of D. Levi’s references, which also
throw light upon the subject of the necromancers.
ואף שאלה זה שאל טורנוס רופוס הרשע את ר׳׳ע אמר לו ומה יום מיומים אמר לו
ומה גבר מגוברין א׳׳ל דמרי צבי שבת נמי דמרי צבי . אמר ליה הכי קאמינא לך
מי יימר דהאידנא שבתא . אמר לו נהר סמבטיון יוכיח בעל אוב יוכיח קברו של
אביו יוכיח שאין מעלה עשן בשבת ׃
“Turnus Rufus, the wicked, also proposed this question to R. Akiva,
saying, Why is the Sabbath-day better than other days? He replied, Why
art thou greater than other men? He answered, So is the will of my
Master. The rabbi said, So is it with the Sabbath, such is the will of
God. Turnus Rufus said, But I mean to say, who will prove to me that
this day is the Sabbath-day? The rabbi answered, The river Sambation
will prove this;—a necromancer will prove this;—the grave of thy father
will prove this, for the smoke is not made to ascend from it on the
Sabbath.” (Sanhed. fol. 65, col. 2.) In his commentary upon this
passage, Rashi says of the Sambation,
נהר אחד של אבנים ובכל ימות השבת שוטף והולך וביום השבת שוקט ונח ׃
“The Sambation is a certain river of stones, which rolls along all the
days of the week, but on the Sabbath-day it is perfectly still.” He also
explains to us what is meant by the smoke not ascending from the grave
on the Sabbath-day, in the following note:
קברו של אביו דטורנוס רופוס כל ימות השבת היה מעלה עשן שהיה נדון ונשרף
ובשבת פושעי גיהנם שובתין ׃
“On all the other days of the year a smoke was made to ascend from the
grave of the father of Turnus Rufus, for he was suffering the judgment
of burning, but on the Sabbath-day, the sinners in hell have rest.”
Whether Turnus Rufus saw the smoke or not, the Talmud does not inform
us, but the Bereshith Rabba, another work of equal credibility in such
matters of fact, tells the story a little more at length, and informs us
that he was not satisfied with the argument drawn from the river
Sambation. R. Akiva therefore advised him to cite his father from the
dead on the Sabbath and the other days, and that this experiment would
convince him. To this Turnus Rufus consented, and the results are
described in the following words:—
וסלק כל יומי דשבתא ובשבתא לא סלק בחד בשבא אסקיה אמר ליה מן דמיתת
איתעבדית יהודי אתמהא מפני מה עלית כל ימות השבת ושבת לא עלית אמר ליה כל
מי שאינו משמר את השבת אצלכם ברצונו כאן הוא משמר אותו בעל כרחו . אמר לו
וכי עמל יש לכם שאתם עמלים כל ימות השבת ובשבת אתם נוחין אמר לו כל ימות
השבת אנו נידונין ובשבת אנו נוחין ׃