THE REFORMED JEWS.
Sappho, implies Mr. Pope, at her "toilette's greasy task," is quite a
different individual to "Sappho fragrant at an evening mask." Just as
much does the Jew of the West-end, the Jew of society, rich and
cultivated, the Jew who gives good dinners, drives in a faultless
brougham, on whose fingers diamonds sparkle, differ from the Houndsditch
Jew, toiling along painfully under a load of ol' clo' considerably the
worse for wear, or smoking bad cigars in the Effingham Saloon. In the
same way do the synagogues of the West differ from those of the East. In
place of that in Portland Street, the Jews have erected a gorgeous one,
towards which the Rothschild family have subscribed 4000_l._ Those in
the Haymarket and at Bayswater and Islington are clean and comfortable,
and that in Margaret Street is especially so.
On Saturdays service commences there at ten and terminates at one. Let
us go there. As you enter, of course you face the ark. On each side
benches, well cushioned, are placed. On the right of the ark is a
pulpit. In the middle is the raised platform for the readers and the
rabbi, the Rev. Mr. Marks. There is a gallery facing the pulpit, in
which is an organ, an innovation of which the orthodox do not approve, as
it implies Sabbath labour, and there is another innovation I dare say
equally shocking. Actually in the side galleries appropriated to ladies
you can see them. People of an uncharitable turn often insinuate that so
many young men attend at such or such a church that they may see the
ladies. I don't think the fact that you can see them in Margaret Street
Synagogue adds materially to the male congregation. Yet Hebrew maidens,
some of them, have been and are beautiful as any whose names have come
echoing down to us along "the corridors of time." However, if the
Christian stranger should let his eyes wander thitherward he is to be
forgiven. Hebrew is a difficult tongue to follow if you are ignorant of
it, and, save where there is no singing, which is very fine, the reading
of the prayers is not very impressive. Nor do the gentlemen around, all
wearing black hats and silk scarfs over the coat, appear to be much
impressed. They sit with their prayer-books in their hands, in
appearance as calm and unmoved as real West-end Christians of
unquestioned respectability. At a certain interval the ark is unlocked,
the roll of the law is taken reverently to the platform, where it is
uplifted on all sides that all may see it, and then, when the reader has
finished, it is borne back and deposited in the ark as formally and
reverently as it was taken out. After a little while, as you begin to
weary, one of the individuals on the platform leaves it. He wears a
black gown and bands, he ascends the pulpit and preaches with his hat on;
that is the Rev. Mr. Marks. He is thought much of by the younger and
more educated Jews. As a preacher, much is to be said in his favour: he
is short, he delivers himself well, his style of address is popular, and
he gives many an Old Testament lesson. He demands of Abraham's
descendants Abraham's faith in God, and obedience to Him. The Christian,
of course, misses much. We worship a Messiah who has come; the Jews
still, with sad and weary eyes, look onward, waiting His advent.
Wherever civilization and science go hand in hand, wherever humanity
reaps "the long results of time," whether in the old world or the new,
wherever the great Caucasian race multiplies and nourishes, there, more
or less, is there a living faith in the mission of Christ as a Divine
teacher, as the comforter of human sorrow, as the healer of human woe, as
the model for all to follow who aspire upwards to heaven and to God. In
Europe there are 280 millions of Christians, and but very few of Jews.
Everywhere they are an immense minority.
"The cedars wave on Lebanon,
But Judah's statelier maids are gone."
The Jews are not a proselyting people, but they are becoming increasingly
anxious that the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob should not forsake the
God of their fathers; and about thirty years ago certain of the London
Jews agitated for a reformed mode of worship, as they deemed, more in
accordance with the circumstances of their brethren in this age and
clime. They argued that there is much that is local in the Jewish
ritual, and much that is inapplicable now; that the people in consequence
would fall away unless a reformed mode of worship was introduced. I do
not think the Reformers have made as much progress as they anticipated,
though to a stranger they certainly appear to have not merely modified,
but improved the service. The Prayer-book was carefully revised, an
improved ritual was drawn up by blending the beautiful portions of the
Portuguese and German Liturgies, a choir was formed for the purpose of
inspiring devotional feeling by means of solemn song. In the old
orthodox synagogues the custom of calling up persons to read the law for
the sake of presenting their offerings during divine service, often
interferes with the edification of the assembly, according to the Jewish
reformers, and this also they omit. Furthermore, they decline to
recognise as sacred, days which are evidently not ordained as such in
Scripture. It must be remembered the Jew of the Restoration is much more
of a formalist than the Jew of David's and Solomon's time, that the
rabbis returned after the captivity laden with Babylonian learning, and
that a new school arose. In his sermon on the opening of his new place
of worship in 1842, Mr. Marks said, on behalf of himself and people, "We
must as our conviction urges us solemnly deny that a belief in the
_divinity_ of the traditions contained in the Mishna and the Jerusalem
Talmuds is of equal obligation to the Israelite with the faith in the
divinity of the law of Moses. We know that these books are human
compositions, and though we are content to accept with reverence from our
past Biblical ancestors advice and instruction, we cannot unconditionally
accept their laws." "On all hands," continued Mr. Marks, "it is conceded
that an absolute necessity exists for the modification of our worship,
but no sooner is any important improvement proposed than we are assured
of the sad fact that there is not at present any authority competent to
judge in such matters for the whole house of Israel. Now, admitting this
as a truth (since the extinction of the right of ordination has rendered
impossible the convocation of a Sanhedrim, whose authority shall extend
over all Jewish congregations), does it not follow as a necessity that
every Hebrew congregation must be authorized to take such measures as
shall bring the divine service into consonance with the will of the
Almighty, as explained to us in the law and the prophets?" To the force
of this reasoning the Jews as a body remain impervious, and though time
has mitigated the angry feeling which the Reformers created, as Reformers
always do, and no longer do the chief men of the orthodox Jews issue
warnings against the Reformers, who from the first professed their love
to the old synagogues and their desire to continue connected with them in
works of charity, yet the new community is by no means cordially received
and sanctioned by the old. Nor can we expect it to be otherwise. The
more men have in common, the smaller is the difference between them, the
more, often, is the ill-will with which they regard each other. The eye
of the true theologian is of a wonderfully magnifying character. As he
looks, a little rivulet expands into an impassable gulf, and a molehill
becomes a mountain. What bitter things have been said, what fierce
passions have been aroused, what martyrs have had to die and survivors to
weep, because of what seemed to cool observers trifles light as air!
Yet, after all, there is a danger. If rationalist principles prevail,
and the Old Testament be a series of myths or allegories, why still
retain the ritualist law in all its strictness? and if that goes the
whole system goes. Pious Jews find all society against them; its spirit,
its customs, its literature, all hostile, if not to their nation, at any
rate to their faith. In too many cases they perceive that those who
forsake the religion of their forefathers are but little the better for
doing so. They find that those who begin by laughing at rabbinical
absurdities end by despising the Word of God. A Hebrew infidel, an
infidel among the Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption and the
glory and the covenants, writes a Jewish author already quoted, "is
indeed a frightful and portentous phenomenon," and thus the more
sensitive and conservative amongst them shrink from in any way modifying
their ritual in accordance with what is termed the spirit of the age.
Christians have no idea of the earnestness of spirit, of the striving
after conformity to the law of God, of the devout Jew, or of the great
and grand truths which he extracts from observances or forms in which
they can see no meaning. The Jew is fond of pleasure, fond of show, fond
of jewellery and gorgeous dress, and on his Sabbath rarely exhibits a
very devout appearance; nevertheless his religion requires daily
observances from his birth upwards, which can only be carried out by
means of a living faith. In the first place his religion is an expensive
one, and he must pay in various ways very heavily for its support. It is
true many of the observances required have become obsolete, but on the
Sabbath he has much to go through at home, as well as to attend at the
synagogue and to abstain from all worldly occupations. After the third
day of the month every strict Jew either alone or with a number of his
co-religionists must make the salutation of the moon. Then every month
has certain days to be kept, especially in October, their new year, on
the first and second days. It is believed that the destiny of every
individual is determined on this month by the Creator Himself; that those
whose demerits preponderate are sealed to death, those whose merits
preponderate to life, and those whose merits and demerits are equal are
delayed until the day of atonement. The first ten days of their new year
are ten days of repentance, during which the Israelites are to repent and
confess their sins, pray to the Almighty to write them down in the book
of life, and grant them a happy new year. On the seventh day every one
has a branch of willow procured under the superintendence of the officers
of the synagogue, and all repair there with branches in their hands. The
last of these days is the Day of Atonement, and is religiously kept by
every Jew. On the 15th is the Feast of Tabernacles, on which the Jews
are expected to live in booths, but in this country the rule is not
strictly observed. In April is the most important of all the
festivals--that of the Passover and of unleavened bread, when the doors
of the house are left open for all, even the very poorest of the poor.
In June is held the feast of Pentecost, to commemorate the giving of the
law. The synagogues on that occasion are decorated with flowers, and in
their houses the tables and floors are also dressed with flowers, sweet
briar, and other fragrant herbs. A conscientious Jew must have a life of
intense labour and self-denial, nor can he evade his duties nor impose
them on another. How welcome to them of old must have been the Master's
kindly words, "Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I
will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, and ye shall
find peace unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
To appreciate these words aright you must fancy yourself a Jew, weighed
down to the earth by the daily routine of painful ceremonial and the
rigid requirements of inelastic law.