of the present day reject Christianity simply because the rulers of the
nation rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. But the discoveries which we have
made of the principles and practices of these men show, that there is no
force whatever in this argument. Their testimony against Jesus of
Nazareth is not to be trusted any more than Mahomet’s testimony against
the fidelity of the Jewish nation in preserving the Scriptures. This
impostor says, that the Jews have corrupted the Old Testament, but no
one believes the charge, because he has been convicted himself of
forging revelations and laws. The authors of the oral law have been
convicted of the same offence, and their testimony must be rejected for
the very same reason. They have passed off their own inventions as
Divine laws—they have taught their absurd legends as undoubted matters
of fact—they are plainly convicted of falsehood, and the only
alternative is to say that these falsehoods are wilful, and then the men
who witness against Christianity are wilful liars, or to confess that
the authors were mad, and therefore incompetent to give any testimony.
In every case they must be regarded as propagaters of falsehood. But
falsehood is not the only trait in their character; they were interested
in their testimony against Jesus: they were his personal enemies,
because he opposed their pretensions and condemned all their inventions.
They had, therefore, a strong motive for condemning him, and there is
nothing in their character to lead us to suppose that their love of
justice would prevail over their private feelings. When the general
tenour of a man’s conduct is evidently the result of upright principle,
it is possible to believe that he would be just even to an enemy. When a
man’s whole life has been distinguished by tender compassion, it is
possible to believe that he would not be cruel even to a foe. But
neither supposition holds good with respect to the authors of the oral
law. They do not even profess integrity, for they teach that it is
lawful to defraud an unlearned man—they declare, by their permission to
kill an Amhaaretz, that they had no value for human life. If they were
capable of murdering in cold blood a man who had never offended them,
simply because he did not belong to their party, is it to be wondered at
that they should endeavour to destroy one who who was a direct opposer?
The condemnation of the Lord Jesus Christ by such men is not only no
argument against his character or claims, but even an argument in his
favour. It is a decisive proof that he did not belong to their party,
and that, therefore, there are not the same objections to his testimony
as to theirs. The Jews of the present day, therefore, must find some
other reasons for rejecting Jesus of Nazareth. The conduct of their
great and learned men at the time can supply no warrant for unbelief at
present: it is, on the contrary, a sort of presumptive evidence that He
was a good man. And this presumption is much strengthened by comparing
the oral law with the New Testament, whereby we learn—
IV. THAT IN ALL THOSE POINTS WHERE THE ORAL LAW IS WEAK, THE NEW
TESTAMENT IS STRONG. In the first place, it is entirely free from all
fabulous additions to the Old Testament history. It recognises the
authority, and frequently cites the writings, of Moses and the Prophets,
but it is never, like the Talmud, guilty of forgeries. Neither Jesus nor
his disciples pretended to have an oral interpretation of the law,
unknown to the people at large, and therefore capable of being twisted
to their own purposes. They referred simply to the written word, and by
it desired to have all their doctrines judged. In the second place, it
is free from all superstitious doctrines concerning magic, astrology,
and other heathenish arts. It does not allow absolution from oaths, nor
mark out any class of society as the lawful victims of fraud and
violence. It is merciful to the poor and to slaves. It teaches that the
souls of women are as precious in the sight of God as those of men. It
forbids polygamy, and allows divorce only in one case where it is
necessary, and thus protects the weaker sex, and guards the sacredness
and the happiness of domestic life. It differs especially from the oral
law in its estimation of external rites, and thus gives the strongest
evidence of its Divine origin. If there be one sign of true religion
more satisfactory than another, it is the placing of holiness of heart
and life as the first great requisite, at the same time that it does not
undervalue any of God’s commands. Now this mark Christianity has, and
Judaism wants. The former teaches expressly, That without holiness no
man shall see the Lord, and that for the want of it no external
ceremonies can compensate. Further, Christianity knows of no violent
methods of propagating the truth. It nowhere tells its followers, when
they have the power, to compel all men to embrace its doctrines, or to
put them to death if they refuse. It has not a criminal code written in
blood, and prescribing floggings of rebellion, or even death, for a mere
ceremonial offence. It does not allow each individual teacher to torment
the people by excommunication and anathema at his pleasure. And lastly,
it does not misrepresent God as an unjust and partial judge, who
confines the benefits of revelation to one small nation, and sentences
the overwhelming majority of mankind to unholiness and unhappiness. If
ever Judaism should attain to universal dominion, and the principles of
Judaism be brought into action, the whole Gentile world would be doomed
to misery and ignorance. By pronouncing that amongst Gentiles there is
no marriage-tie, it would rob them of all domestic peace. By sentencing
every Gentile reader of the Bible to death, it would deprive them of all
the consolations and instructions of the Word of God, and by forbidding
them to keep a Sabbath, it would, so far as it could, annihilate every
token of God’s care and loving-kindness. The triumph of Christianity, on
the contrary, and the full development of all its principles, would fill
the world with peace, and joy, and happiness. The fundamental principles
of Christianity, namely, that the Messiah has died for the sins of the
whole world, sets forth God as the tender father who cares for all his
children, and therefore teaches all men to regard one another as
fellow-heirs of the same eternal salvation. It does not deny that Israel
has peculiar privileges as a nation, but fully acknowledges that “they
are still beloved for the fathers’ sakes,” and that they are yet to be
the benefactors of the human race as they were of old. But it asserts,
at the same time, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the
Gentiles also, and thus makes it possible for Jew and Gentile to love
each other. The only foundation for the peace and unity of all nations
is the recognition of God as the Father of all, and this foundation is
the very corner-stone of Christianity, whilst it neither does nor can
form any part of the fabric of Judaism. Christianity teaches that the
first and great commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart; and the second is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself; and teaches, at the same time, that all men are our neighbours.
Judaism teaches that circumcision is the greatest of all the
commandments, and that none but Jews and proselytes are neighbours. Thus
Judaism divides, whilst Christianity tends to unite, all the children of
men in the bands of peace. It has only one principle of God’s dealings
to men, and that principle is love; and one principle for the guiding of
man’s conduct to men, and that is love also. Let not the Jewish reader
think that we Gentiles wish to ascribe any merit to ourselves, as if by
our own wit or wisdom we had found out a religious system superior to
anything that Israel had been able to devise. Far from it; we
acknowledge again, as we did in the first number, that we are only
disciples of one part of the Jewish nation. From the Jews Christianity
came to us. It has been a light to lighten us Gentiles, but we
acknowledge its Divine Author as the glory of his people Israel. All we
mean by instituting the comparison is, to show those who still adhere to
the oral law, that there is another Jewish religion infinitely superior,
and more like that of Moses and the Prophets. And we appeal confidently
to every reader of these papers to decide whether the New Testament or
the Talmud is the better book, and to say which is the most agreeable to
the will of God as revealed to their forefathers. We earnestly call upon
them to make the decision, and to deliver themselves from that unmerited
weight of odium which has rested upon them for centuries; and from that
still more dreadful evil, the displeasure of Almighty God, which has
followed them ever since they forsook the Old Paths wherein their
fathers walked.
It is time for those, at least, who profess to abhor certain parts of
the Talmud and oral law, to justify their professions by consistent
conduct. If they wish people to believe them when they profess love and
charity towards all men, they must begin by repudiating the authority of
the oral law, and renouncing the worship of the synagogue. How can we
possibly believe that those are sincere in their professions to men, who
declare that they are insincere in their worship of the heart-searching
God? Every man who uses the prayers of the synagogue, there confesses
himself to God as a believer in the oral law, and consequently ready to
execute all its decrees of cruelty, fraud, and persecution—ready, when
he has the power, to convert all nations with the sword. That is his
profession in the synagogue; when, then, he comes forth from the solemn
act of Divine worship, and tells me that he is liberal and charitable,
and that he abhors persecution, how can I possibly believe him? There is
falsehood somewhere, and the only possible mode of removing this
appearance is by a public renunciation of the oral law, and an erasure
of those passages in the public prayers which affirm its Divine
authority. This all truly liberal-minded Jews owe to themselves, to the
Christian public, to their brethren, and, above all, to their God. To
themselves they owe it, because so long as their words and their deeds
contradict each other, a mist hangs over them. To the Christian public
they owe it, for they must naturally desire to know the principles of
those with whom they are connected. To their brethren they owe it, for
this is the only way of delivering the nation from the calamities of
centuries. To their God they owe it, for by the blasphemies of the oral
law, His character is misrepresented, and His name blasphemed.
THE END.
Footnote 37:
“A Manual of Judaism,” by Joshua Van Oven, Esq., M.R.C.S.L., London,
1835. Page 22.
INDEX.
Abarbanel, 124
Aben Ezra, 123
Abraham at the door of hell, 450
Adam, 136
Agadah, recognized in Jewish Prayer-book, 3
Ahijah, the Shilonite, fable about, 352
Almsgiving, Rabbinic, 302
merit of, 307
Amhaaretz, meaning of the word, 458
disqualifications of, 459
may be robbed and slain with impunity, 461
lawful to kill, 6
Amulets, virtues of, 183
Angels carry up the sound of the horn at new year, 267
Angels, of the waves, 197
Angel, evil, 229
Angels ministering, 164
Apostates, to be killed, 36
Arbah, Turim, 112
Astrology, taught and practised, 175
Atonement, day of, 279
itself an atonement, 279
repentance an, 279
a cock killed as an, 283
death an, 299
Baptism necessary to a proselyte, 304
Bar Kochav, 222
Bechai, 142
Behemoth, legend of, 128, &c.
Bither, the city of, 216
Cain, 138
Catechism, Bavarian Jewish, 25
gives a false view of Judaism, 26
Charity, Rabbinic, 112
Charm, Rabbinic, for a bleeding of the nose, 192
for the bite of a mad dog, 193
for a storm at sea, 196
for the bite of a scorpion, 200
Charms allowed on the Sabbath-day, 200
Charm for bed time, 201
Christianity, a Jewish religion, 1
Christianity, the religion of the New Testament, 2
Christians considered as idolaters, 419
not counted amongst the pious of the nations, 4
not in a state of salvation, 4
Circumcision equivalent to all the commandments, 451
meritoriousness of, 450
Cock, killing a cock as atonement, 283
Commandments, 442; 162
Cruelty, Rabbinic, 8, 99, 209
to women, 377
Dead, Rabbinic mourning for, 428
prayers for the, 295
Death, an atonement, 299
Demons, asking counsel of, 203
Deniers of the law, three classes of, 4
Deputies, French Jewish, 24
Deuteronomy xvii. 8, &c., explained, 11
Dispensation, Rabbinic, from oaths, 434
Divorce, Rabbinic, doctrine of, 373
Drunkenness allowed on feast of Purim, 47
Edomites, Christians called, 123
Eleazar, Rabbi, 6
Elijah, the Prophet, conversation of, with R. Jose, 323
Epicureans, 4
to be killed, 36
Epicurean, reader in synagogue suspected of being, 127
Evasion, Rabbinic, 80, 83, 107, 225, 235
Excommunication for not washing hands, 75
Rabbinic, 239
laws concerning, with respect to the unlearned and learned, 239
injustice of, 239
Fast on the ninth of Av, 216
Fasting, merit of, 264
Fire, not to be extinguished, 102
Flogging of rebellion, 99, 211, 228, 383, 386, 420
Friday, Good, 87
Gentile, who studies the law, guilty of death, 22
who keeps a Sabbath-day, guilty of death, 22
good advice not to be given to, 33
woman not to be helped in child-bed, 33
not neighbour, 34
lost property not to be restored to, 35
Daniel punished for giving good advice to, 33
who wishes to turn Jew, 63
a Jew not publicly to receive alms from, 306
Sabbath not to be profaned to save a Gentile’s life, 212, 214
food regarded as carrion, 383
food not to be eaten, 383, 416
wine unlawful, 419
he that steals from, only to pay the principal, 34
wine, to drink, worse than fornication, 424
Gentiles, idolatrous, to be exterminated, 42
to be converted by force, 42
idolatrous, not to be suffered in the land of Israel, 28
Gentile, drowning, not to be delivered, 30
Gentiles, duties towards, 24
not brethren, 26
not neighbours, 26
not to be greeted except from fear, 10, 26, 28
condemned for transgressing the command about tabernacles, 288
still have the defilement of the serpent, 156
cursing the, on the feast of Passover, 120, 121, 122
no pious, now, 67
marriage of, not binding, 58
and dogs, 107
Gershom, R., anathema by, 366
Hands, laying on of, 328
washing of, 71
Heathen, who are not in a state of salvation, 5
High Priest, an unlearned man, 7
Hilchoth Accum, 28, 33
Avadim, 21
Avel, 428
Berachoth, 71, 73
Deoth, 113
Genevah, 34
Gezelah, 34
Girushin, 375
Gittin, 374
Iom Tov, 116
Ishuth, 366
Issure Biah, 64
Kiddush Hachodesh, 100
Maakaloth Asuroth, 419
Mamrim, 335
Matt’noth Aniim, 304
Megillah, 48
Mikvaoth, 72
M’lachim, 22, 25
P’riah u’r’viah, 7
Rotzeach, 32, 33
Sanhedrin, 172, 342
Sh’vuoth, 436
Taanith, 216
Talmud Torah, 17, 148
T’phillah, 2, 128
T’shuvah, 4, 247
Hillel, the elder, 187
Holyday, how to make fire on, 106
Holydays, additional, prescribed by the rabbies, 98, 101
Jeremiah unjustly condemned, 13
Jewish-German, 283
Jews persecuted in Spain and Portugal, 42
Illegitimate, a learned man takes precedence of High Priest, 7
Intolerance, Talmudic, 28-39
Ioma, 19
Jonathan, son of Uzziel, 187
Jost’s history, 125
Isaac, merit of offering, 271
Jubilee, year of, 66
Judaism the religion of the oral law, 2
and of the Jewish Prayer-book, 2
and Christianity cannot both be true, 3
a false religion, 465
its authors wicked men, 467
Judgment, Rabbinic, idea of the final, 287
Karo, R. Joseph, 17
K’hillath Shlomoh, 282
Kiddushin, 19
Kimchi, 93
Leaven, putting away of, 80
Legends, 127-167
Levi, family of, still known, 312
privileges of, in the synagogue, 313
David, 134
Leviathan, legend of, 128, &c.
Levites, scriptural privileges of, 311
Liberty, religious, first taught by Jesus Christ, 46
Luck, good, 182
Magic allowed by Talmud, 168-174
Maimonides, 25, et passim
intolerance, 26
Meat, lawful and unlawful, 397
in milk, laws concerning, 404
contrary to Scripture, 404, 405
Medrash Rabba, 153
Merit of ancestors, 285
Merit, doctrine of, 247, &c.
Messiah, already come, 387
Miracles, Rabbinic, 203
Mishna, recognised in Jewish Prayer-book, 3
Mixture, Rabbinic, command of, 116
Muktzeh, 103
Napoleon, 24
New Year, Jewish, 247
New Year, judgment at, 247
prayers for, 264
merit and advantage of blowing the horn on, 266
Noachidæ, 25, 41
who they are, 55
seven commandments of, 56
may transgress commandments, 57
murderer of, not to be put to death, 62
unintentionally killing a Jew, to be put to death, 61
when received, 67
how received, 68
Oral law opposed to the Word of God in duty to parents, 9, 10
a mixed system of good and evil, 16
how much time to be devoted to the study of, 16
women and children not to study, 18
perpetual and unchangeable, 53
precepts of, given to Moses, 161
Oaths, Rabbinic dispensation from, 435, 450
Parable of Good Samaritan illustrated, 29
Parents, if in captivity, to be redeemed after the Rabbi, 9
duty to, according to oral law, 9
Passover, rites of, 79
Christ our, 91
four cups of, 96
Pentecost prayers, 145
Pesachim, treatise, 6
Pharisees, enemies of the Lord Jesus, 9
bad men, 8
Physician, Jewish, not to cure idolaters, 33
Pirke, Eleazer, 137
Planets, 175
Polygamy, allowed, 366
Poor, Rabbinic, oppression of the, 97
Rabbinic religion not for the, 237
Rabbinic cruelty to, 414, 429
Power, Rabbinic, to excommunicate, 239
Prayer-book, Jewish, acknowledges and teaches the authority of the
Talmud, 2, 3
Jewish, full of legends, 127-167
Priests, scriptural office of, 310
Proselytes, sojourning, 26
how to be instructed, 63
baptism of, 304
Purgatory, Rabbinic, 296
Purim, feast of, 47
Rabbi, duty to, goes before duty to parents, 9, 10
fear of, as the fear of God, 11
reverence due to, 15
whosoever despises a, to be excommunicated, 15
not to forgive a public affront, 243
method of creating a, 328
Rabbies not agreed, 399, 400
Rabbinic charity, 112
evasion, 107, 110
order, novelty of, 328
power to excommunicate, 239
acknowledgments that Messiah is born, 389-393
Ramban, 142
Rome called Edom, 123
Rosh Hashanah, 298
Saadiah Gaon, 162
Sabbath, unlawful for a Gentile to keep a, 22
laws of, 104, 114-119
spirits cannot be cited on, 141
damned have rest on, 141
Sabbath-day, amulets on, 184
Sabbath, laws concerning, 285-290
lamp, reward for, 229
moving things on, 232
merit of keeping the, 224
jurisdictions, 232
Salvation, who are excluded from, by the oral law, 4
Sambation, 139
Sanhedrin, not infallible, 8
great council of, 168
members of, magicians, 168
understood seventy languages, 168
all handsome men, 171
pillar of the oral law, 335
a later, may reverse the decision of a former, 335
not a Divine institution, 337
of Greek origin, 341
greater and lesser, 343
business of, 345
death to those who rebelled against, 344
contrary to Scripture, 345
Parisian, 366
Satan deceived by the blowing of the horn in the month of Elul, 266
Scapegoat, 280
Schoolmasters, Rabbinic, 315
Scripture, women not bound to study, 18
not to be studied so much as the Talmud, 16
when not to be studied at all, 17
Sepher Jetzirah, 181
Schulchan Aruch, 7
Sinai, 163
Slaughtering, laws concerning, 380
laws of, 396
Slaves exempt from the duty of studying the law of God, 17
unlawful to teach, 21
regarded as beasts, 431
Souls of all Israel at Sinai, 152
Sotah, 76
Stars, influence of, 175
Study of the law equivalent to all the commandments, 51
Tabernacles, feast of, 287
merit of, 287
prayers for the feast of, 295
Talmud, recognised in Jewish Prayer-book, 3
legends of, 128, 167
Tradition, Rabbinic argument for overthrow, 11
no unbroken train of, 350
Treatise, Avodah Zarah, 291
Bava Bathra, 187
Berachoth, 161
Gittin, 192
Moed Katon, 175
Shabbath, 157
Succah, 180
Z’vachin, 150
Turnus Rufus, 140, 216
Unlearned man, lawful to kill, 6
the wives and daughters of, not to be taken as wives, 6
to be accounted as beasts, 6
man, unlawful for, to eat meat, 7
Van Oven, Joshua, Esq., Manual of Judaism, 465
Venus planet, 177
Washing of hands, 71
to neglect, as bad as fornication, 76
who neglects, excommunicated, 75
Wine, Gentile, unlawful, 419
Woman, insane, to be turned out, 377
Women, exempt from the duty to study the law, 17
do not receive the same reward as a man, 18
not to be taught the law, 18
minds of, not equal to the study of the law, 18
command of Moses, respecting, 21
duties of, prescribed in New Testament, 22
Rabbinic degradation of, 359
cannot give testimony, 360
not regarded as part of the congregation, 361
World to come, who are excluded from, 4
all Israel has a share in, 64
Rabbinic opinions about, 129
Printed at the Operative Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green,
London.
● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in which they are
referenced.