“Man is the most privileged of creatures; he has been made in the image
of God. His privilege is still further enhanced by the fact that he has
been made aware of his distinction” (Aboth iii. 14). There is in man a
consciousness or feeling of a certain relation between him and a
superior Being, on whose Will his own existence depends. This
consciousness is the basis of religion, but is not religion itself. It
is the influence which this feeling exercises over man’s actions and
conduct in life that forms the essence of religion. When man begins to
feel that he is responsible for his actions to a higher Being, and
forms his actions in harmony with this feeling, he may be called
religious. Two elements must therefore be distinguished in religion:
the notion of man’s dependence on and responsibility to a superior
Being, and the influence of this notion on his actions: religious
belief and religious practice, or faith and duty. Religious belief or
faith, in its most simple and most general form, may be said to be
common almost to all mankind; and in the great variety of faiths,
produced by various circumstances and experiences, this simple idea may
easily be detected as the fundamental principle of all of them. The
same can be said with regard to religious practice. There are certain
fundamental principles of duty which are recognised and adopted by the
most diverse religious sects; they form, as it were, the common stem
from which a large number of branches spring forth in all directions.
These branches diverge more and more the larger they grow and the more
numerous they become.
Judaism is one of these various religions. It has been the source of
most of the religions of the civilised world, and is destined to
become, in its simplest principles, the universal religion.
What is Judaism? or what does Judaism teach its adherents to believe,
and what does it teach them to do? The answers to these two questions
form the main subject of every book on our holy religion. The answer to
the first question must include our doctrine about God, His attributes,
His relation to the material world, and especially to man; the mission
of man, his hopes and fears. The answer to the second question must
include our duties toward God, toward our fellow-men, and toward
ourselves. Both answers must be based on that which we are taught in
the Holy Writings, and especially in the Torah. Recourse may be had to
philosophic speculation, to which, indeed, the first question
peculiarly invites, but the result must be rectified by the teaching of
the Torah.
In accordance with the maxim, “The secret things belong to the Lord our
God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our
children for ever: that we may do all the words of this Law,” abstruse
metaphysical disquisitions about the essence and the attributes of the
Divine Being will be avoided in the present work, as also every attempt
at proving, philosophically or mathematically, truths which have been
revealed unto us in a supernatural way. [1] But the simple truths
taught in the Holy Writings and explained by our sages will be
expounded, the different opinions about them will be examined, and it
will be shown that these truths are not contradicted by common sense or
by the results of scientific research.
The second question, however, What does Judaism teach us to do? refers
to “the things which are revealed,” and must be treated more fully.
Care will be taken, as far as possible, that nothing be omitted that is
required for the right understanding and the correct estimate of our
religious duties.
Religion therefore includes two elements: faith and practice. In
religious life, as well as in the teaching of religion, both elements
are equally essential; faith without religious practice does not
suffice, nor the latter without faith. We are accustomed to look upon
certain dogmas as fundamental, and certain practices as essential, and
are therefore prone to renounce beliefs which are not fundamental in
our eyes, and to abandon such religious practice as seems to us less
essential. Hence the frequent inquiry as to what is the minimum of
belief, and what the minimum degree of conformity to the Law, that
Judaism demands. But in reality there can be no compromise in religion,
whether in matters of faith or of practice. Convinced of a certain
number of truths, it is impossible for us to abandon any of them
without being false to ourselves; being convinced of the binding
character of certain religious commands and prohibitions, it would be
perverse to pronounce at the same time part of them as superfluous.
Judaism is the adherence to the truths taught in the Holy Law, and the
faithful obedience to its precepts.
The principal Hebrew equivalents for the modern term “Religion,” תורה
and אמונה, confirm this view. In the Bible תורה signifies
“instruction,” and is applied to the teaching of religions truth, as
well as to that of religious precepts. The same is the case with the
second term אמונה which signifies “firmness,” “perseverance,” or
“permanence,” and is used of “consistency” in faith as well as of
conscientiousness in the practice of the Divine ordinances. [2]