,this e,book produced by3 ,distributed  
,proofreaders1 ,john ,williams1  and    
,david ,starner          ,,judaism      
,by  ,,israel ,,abrahams1 ,m4,a4        
,,reader ,,in ,,talmudic ,,and          
,,rabbinic ,,literature    ,,university 
,,of ,,cambridge        ,,foreword      
,the writer has attempted in this volume
 to take up a few of the most           
characteristic points in ,jewish        
doctrine and practice1 and to explain   
some of the various phases through which
 they have passed1 since the  first     
centuries of the ,christian era4    ,the
 presentation is probably much less     
detached than is the case  with other   
volumes in this series4 ,but the        
difference was scarcely  avoidable4 ,the
 writer was not expounding a religious  
system which has  no relation to his own
 life4 ,on the contrary1 the writer is  
himself a  ,jew1 and thus is deeply     
concerned personally in the matters     
discussed  in the book4    ,the reader  
must be warned to keep this fact in mind

 throughout4 ,on the one  hand1 the book
 must suffer a loss of objectivity2 but1
 on the other hand1  there may be some  
compensating gain of intensity4 ,the    
author trusts1  at all events1 that1    
though he has not written with          
indifference1 he  has escaped the       
pitfall of undue partiality4    ,i4 ,a4 
,,contents         ,i4 ,,the ,,legacy   
,,from ,,the ,,past      ,,ii4          
,,religion ,,as ,,law     ,,iii4        
,,articles ,,of ,,faith      ,,iv4      
,,some ,,concepts ,,of ,,judaism        
,v4 ,,some ,,observances ,,of ,,judaism 
,,vi4 ,,jewish ,,mysticism     ,,vii4   
,,eschatology    ,,viii4 ,,the          
,,survival ,,of ,,judaism               
,,selected ,,list ,,of ,,books ,,on     
,,judaism          ,,judaism            
,,chapter ,i    ,,the ,,legacy ,,from   
,,the ,,past      ,the aim of this      
little book is to present in brief      
outline some of the  leading conceptions
 of the religion familiar since the     
,christian ,era  under the name         

,judaism4    ,the word ',judaism' occurs
 for the first time at about #ajj       
,b4,c41 in the  ,graeco-,jewish         
literature4 ,in the second book of the  
,maccabees 7ii4 #ba1  viii4 #a71        
',judaism' signifies the religion of the
 ,jews as contrasted with  ,hellenism1  
the religion of the ,greeks4 ,in the    
,new ,testament 7,gal4 i4 #ac7  the same
 word seems to denote the ,pharisaic    
system as an antithesis to  the ,gentile
 ,christianity4 ,in ,hebrew the         
corresponding noun never occurs  in the 
,bible1 and it is rare even in the      
,rabbinic books4 ,when it does  meet us1
 ,jahaduth implies the monotheism of the
 ,jews as opposed  to the polytheism of 
the heathen4    ,thus the term          
',judaism' did not pass through quite   
the same transitions  as did the name   
',jew4' ,judaism appears from the first 
as a religion  transcending tribal      
bounds4 ,the ',jew1' on the other hand1 
was originally  a ,judaean1 a member of 
the ,southern ,confederacy called in the

 ,bible  ,judah1 and by the ,greeks and 
,romans ,judaea4 ,soon1 however1 ',jew' 
came  to include what had earlier been  
the ,northern ,confederacy of ,israel as
  well1 so that in the post-exilic      
period ,jehudi or ',jew' means an       
adherent of ,judaism without regard to  
local nationality4    ,judaism1 then1 is
 here taken to represent that later     
development of  the ,religion of ,israel
 which began with the reorganisation    
after the  ,babylonian ,exile 7#ddd     
,b4,c471 and was crystallised by the    
,roman ,exile  7during the first        
centuries of the ,christian ,era74 ,the 
exact period  which will be here seized 
as a starting-point is the moment when  
the  people of ,israel were losing1     
never so far to regain1 their           
territorial  association with           
,palestine1 and were becoming 7what they
 have ever since  been7 a community as  
distinct from a nation4 ,they remained1 
it is true1  a distinct race1 and this  
is still in a sense true4 ,yet at       

various  periods a number of proselytes 
have been admitted1 and in other ways   
the purity of the race has been         
affected4 ,at all events territorial    
nationality ceased from a date which may
 be roughly fixed at #ace ,a4,d41  when 
the last desperate revolt under         
,bar-,cochba failed1 and ,hadrian drew  
his ,roman plough over the city of      
,jerusalem and the ,temple area4 ,a new 
city with a new name arose on the ruins4
 ,the ruins afterwards reasserted       
themselves1 and ,aelia ,capitolina as a 
designation of ,jerusalem is familiar   
only to archaeologists4    ,but though  
the name of ,hadrian's new city has     
faded1 the effect of  its foundation    
remained4 ,aelia ,capitolina1 with its  
market-places and  theatre1 replaced the
 olden narrow-streeted town2 a ,house of
 ,venus reared  its stately form in the 
north1 and a ,sanctuary to ,jupiter     
covered1 in the  east1 the site of the  
former ,temple4 ,heathen colonists were 
introduced1  and the ,jew1 who was to   

become in future centuries an alien     
everywhere1  was made by ,hadrian an    
alien in his fatherland4 ,for the ,roman
 ,emperor  denied to ,jews the right of 
entry into ,jerusalem4 ,thus ,hadrian   
completed  the work of ,titus1 and      
,judaism was divorced from its local    
habitation4  ,more unreservedly than    
during the ,babylonian ,exile1 ,judaism 
in the ,roman  ,exile perforce became   
the religion of a community and not of a
 state2  and ,israel for the first time 
constituted a ,church4 ,but it was a    
,church  with no visible home4          
,christianity for several centuries was 
to have a  centre at ,rome1 ,islam at   
,mecca4 ,but ,judaism had and has no    
centre at all4    ,it will be obvious   
that the aim of the present book makes  
it both  superfluous and inappropriate  
to discuss the vexed problems connected 
with  the origins of the ,religion of   
,israel1 its aspects in primitive times1
  its passage through a national to an  
ethical monotheism1 its expansion  into 

the universalism of the second ,isaiah4 
,what concerns us here is  merely the   
legacy which the ,religion of ,israel   
bequeathed to ,judaism as  we have      
defined it4 ,this legacy and the manner 
in which it was treasured1  enlarged1   
and administered will occupy us in the  
rest of this book4    ,but this much    
must be premised4 ,if the ,religion of  
,israel passed through  the stages of   
totemism1 animism1 and polydemonism2 if 
it was indebted  to ,canaanite1 ,kenite1
 ,babylonian1 ,persian1 ,greek1 and     
other foreign  influences2 if it        
experienced a stage of monolatry or     
henotheism 7in  which ,israel recognised
 one ,god1 but did not think of that    
,god as the  only ,god of all men7      
before ethical monotheism of the        
universalistic  type was reached2 if1   
further1 all these stages and the moral 
and  religious ideas connected with each
 left a more or less clear mark in  the 
sacred literature of ,israel2 then the  
legacy which ,judaism received  from its

 past was a syncretism of the whole of  
the religious experiences  of ,israel as
 interpreted in the light of ,israel's  
latest1 highest1 most  approved         
standards4 ,like the ,bourbon1 the ,jew 
forgets nothing2 but unlike  the        
,bourbon1 the ,jew is always learning4  
,the domestic stories of the            
,patriarchs were not rejected as        
unprofitable when ,israel became deeply 
impregnated with the monogamous         
teachings of writers like the author  of
 the last chapter of ,proverbs2 the     
character of ,david was idealised  by   
the spiritual associations of the       
,psalter1 parts of which tradition      
ascribed to him2 the earthly life was   
etherialised and much of the sacred     
literature reinterpreted in the light of
 an added belief in immortality2  ,god1 
in the early literature a tribal        
non-moral deity1 was in the later       
literature a righteous ruler who with   
,amos and ,hosea loved and demanded     
righteousness in man4 ,judaism took over

 as one indivisible body of sacred      
teachings both the early and the later  
literature in which these varying       
conceptions of ,god were enshrined2 the 
,law was accepted as the guiding  rule  
of life1 the ritual of ceremony and     
sacrifice was treasured as a holy       
memory1 and as a memory not             
contradictory of the prophetic          
exaltation of  inward religion but as   
consistent with that exaltation1 as     
interpreting  it1 as but another aspect 
of ,micah's enunciation of the demands  
of ,god3  ',what doth the ,lord require 
of thee but to do justly1 to love mercy1
  and to walk humbly with thy ,god8'    
,judaism1 in short1 included for the    
,jew all that had gone before4 ,but  for
 ,st4 ,paul's attitude of hostility to  
the ,law1 but for the deep-seated       
conviction that the ,pauline            
,christianity was a denial of the       
,jewish  monotheism1 the ,jew might have
 accepted much of the teaching of ,jesus
 as  an integral part of ,judaism4 ,in  

the realm of ideas which he conceived as
  belonging to his tradition the ,jew   
was not logical2 he did not pick and    
choose2 he absorbed the whole4 ,in the  
,jewish theology of all ages we find    
the most obvious contradictions4 ,there 
was no attempt at reconciliation  of    
such contradictions2 they were          
juxtaposed in a mechanical mixture1     
there was no chemical compound4 ,the    
,jew was always a man of moods1 and  his
 religion responded to those varying    
phases of feeling and belief  and       
action4 ,hence such varying judgments   
have been formed of him and his         
religion4 ,if1 after the mediaeval      
philosophy had attempted to systematise 
,judaism1 the religion remained         
unsystematic1 it is easy to understand  
that in the earlier centuries of the    
,christian ,era contradictions  between 
past and present1 between different     
strata of religious thought1  caused no 
trouble to the ,jew so long as those    
contradictions could be  fitted into his

 general scheme of life4 ,though he was 
the product of  development1 development
 was an idea foreign to his conception  
of the  ways of ,god with man4 ,and to  
this extent he was right4 ,for though   
men's  ideas of ,god change1 ,god       
,himself is changeless4 ,the ,jew       
transferred the  changelessness of ,god 
to men's changing ideas about him4 ,with
 childlike  naivete he accepted all1 he 
adopted all1 and he syncretised it all  
as best  he could into the loose system 
on which ,pharisaism grafted itself4    
,the  legacy of the past thus was the   
past4    ,one element in the legacy was 
negative4 ,the ,temple and the          
,sacrificial  system were gone for ever4
 ,that this must have powerfully        
affected  ,judaism goes without saying4 
,synagogue replaced ,temple1 prayer     
assumed  the function of sacrifice1     
penitence and not the blood of bulls    
supplied  the ritual of atonement4      
,events had prepared the way for this   
change and  had prevented it attaining  

the character of an upheaval4 ,for      
synagogues  had grown up all over the   
land soon after the fifth century       
,b4,c42 regular  services of prayer with
 instruction in the ,scriptures had been
 established  long before the ,christian
 ,era2 the inward atonement had been    
preferred  to1 or at least associated   
with1 the outward rite before the       
outward  rite was torn away4 ,it may be 
that1 as ,professor ,burkitt has        
suggested1  the awful experiences of the
 fall of ,jerusalem and the destruction 
of the  ,temple produced within         
,pharisaism a moral reformation which   
drove the ,jew  within and thus         
spiritualised ,judaism4 ,for undoubtedly
 the ,pharisee of the  ,gospels is by no
 means the ,pharisee as we meet him in  
the ,jewish books4  ,there was always a 
latent power and tendency in ,judaism   
towards inward  religion2 and it may be 
that this power was intensified1 this   
tendency  encouraged1 by the loss of    
,temple and its ,sacrificial rites4     

,but though the ,temple had gone the    
,covenant remained4 ,not so much in     
name as in essence4 ,we do not hear much
 of the ,covenant in the ,rabbinic      
books1 but its spirit pervades ,judaism4
 ,of all the legacy of the past  the    
,covenant was the most inspiring        
element4 ,beginning with ,abraham1 the  
,covenant established a special relation
 between ,god and ,abraham's seed4 ',i  
have known him1 that he may command his 
children and his household after  him1  
that they may keep the way of the ,lord 
to do righteousness and  judgment'      
7,gen4 xviii4 #ai74 ,of this ,covenant1 
the outward sign was the  rite of       
circumcision4 ,renewed with ,moses1 and 
followed in traditional  opinion by the 
,ten ,commandments1 the ,sinaitic       
,covenant was a further  link in the    
bond between ,god and ,his people4 ,of  
this ,mosaic ,covenant  the outward sign
 was the ,sabbath4 ,it is of no moment  
for our present  argument whether       
,abraham and ,moses were historical     

persons or figments  of tradition4 ,a   
,gamaliel would have as little doubted  
their reality as  would a ,st4 ,paul4   
,and whatever ,criticism may be doing   
with ,abraham1 it  is coming more and   
more to see that behind the             
eighth-century prophets  there must have
 towered the figure of a1 if not of the 
traditional1  ,moses2 behind the        
prophets a1 if not the1 ,law4 ,be that  
as it may1 to the  ,jew of the          
,christian ,era1 ,abraham and ,moses    
were real and the ,covenant             
unalterable4 ,by the syncretism which   
has been already described ,jeremiah's  
,new ,covenant was not regarded as new4 
,nor was it new2 it represented  a      
change of stress1 not of contents4 ,when
 he said 7,jer4 xxxi4 #cc71  ',this is  
the covenant which ,i will make with the
 house of ,israel1 after  those days1   
saith the ,lord2 ,i will put my law in  
their inward parts1 and  in their heart 
will ,i write it1' ,jeremiah1 it has    
been held1 was making  ,christianity    

possible4 ,but he was also making       
,judaism possible4 ,here and  nowhere   
else is to be found the principle which 
enabled ,judaism to survive  the loss of
 ,temple and nationality4 ,and the ,new 
,covenant was in no sense  inconsistent 
with the ,old4 ,for not only does       
,jeremiah proceed to add in  the        
self-same verse1 ',i will be their ,god1
 and they will be my people1'  but the  
,new ,covenant is specifically made with
 the house of ,judah and of  ,israel1   
and it is associated with the permanence
 of the seed of ,israel  as a separate  
people and with the ,divine rebuilding  
of ,jerusalem4 ,the  ,jew had no thought
 of analysing these verses into the     
words of the true  ,jeremiah and those  
of his editors4 ,the point is that over 
and above1  in complementary explanation
 of1 the ,abrahamic and ,mosaic         
,covenants with  their external signs1  
over and above the ,call of the         
,patriarch and the  ,theophany of       
,sinai1 was the ,jeremian ,covenant     

written in ,israel's heart4    ,the     
,covenant conferred a distinction and   
imposed a duty4 ,it was a bond  between 
a gracious ,god and a grateful ,israel4 
,it dignified history1  for it          
interpreted history in terms of         
providence and purpose2 it  transfigured
 virtue by making virtue service2 it was
 the salt of life1  for how could       
present degradation demoralise1 seeing  
that ,god was  in it1 to fulfil ,his    
part of the bond1 to hold ,israel as    
,his jewel1  though ,rome might despise8
 ,the ,covenant made the ,jew           
self-confident and  arrogant1 but these 
very faults were needed to save him4 ,it
 was his only  defence against the      
world's scorn4 ,he forgot that the      
correlative of the  ,covenant was       
,isaiah's                               
',covenant-,people'--missionary to the  
,gentiles and  the ,world4 ,he relegated
 his world-mission 7which ,christianity 
and ,islam  in part gloriously          
fulfilled7 to a dim ,messianic future1  

and was content  if in his own present  
he remained faithful to his mission to  
himself4    ,above all1 the legacy from 
the past came to ,judaism hallowed and  
humanised by all the experience of      
redemption and suffering which had      
marked ,israel's course in ages past1   
and was to mark his course in  ages to  
come4 ,the ,exodus1 the ,exile1 the     
,maccabean heroism1 the ,roman          
catastrophe2 ,prophet1 ,wise ,man1      
,priest and ,scribe1--all had left their
  trace4 ,judaism was a religion based  
on a book and on a tradition2 but  it   
was also a religion based on a unique   
experience4 ,the book might  be misread1
 the tradition encumbered1 but the      
experience was eternally  clear and     
inspiring4 ,it shone through the ,roman 
,diaspora as it afterwards  illuminated 
the ,roman ,ghetto1 making the present  
tolerable by the memory  of the past and
 the hope of the future4                
,,chapter ,,ii    ,,religion ,,as ,,law 
,the feature of ,judaism which first    

attracts an outsider's attention1 and   
which claims a front place in this      
survey1 is its ',nomism' or ',legalism4'
  ,life was placed under the control of 
,law4 ,not only morality1 but religion  
also1 was codified4 ',nomism1' it has   
been truly said1 'has always  formed a  
fundamental trait of ,judaism1 one of   
whose chief aims has ever  been to mould
 life in all its varying relations      
according to the ,law1  and to make     
obedience to the commandments a         
necessity and a custom'  7,lauterbach1  
,jewish ,encyclopedia1 ix4 #cbf74 ,only 
the latest  development of ,judaism is  
away from this direction4 ,individualism
 is  nowadays replacing the olden       
solidarity4 ,thus1 at the ,central      
,conference  of ,american ,rabbis1 held 
in ,july #aijf at ,indianapolis1 a      
project to  formulate a system of laws  
for modern use was promptly rejected4   
,the  chief modern problem in ,jewish   
life is just this3 ,to what extent1 and 
in what manner1 can ,judaism still place

 itself under the reign of ,law8    ,but
 for many centuries1 certainly up to the
 ,french ,revolution1 ,religion  as ,law
 was the dominant conception in         
,judaism4 ,before examining the         
validity of this conception a word is   
necessary as to the mode in which  it   
expressed itself4 ,conduct1 social and  
individual1 moral and ritual1  was      
regulated in the minutest details4 ,as  
the ,dayan ,m4 ,hyamson has  said1 the  
maxim ,de minimis non curat lex was not 
applicable to  the ,jewish ,law4 ,this  
,law was a system of opinion and of     
practice and of  feeling in which the   
great principles of morality1 the       
deepest concerns of  spiritual religion1
 the genuinely essential requirements of
 ritual1 all  found a prominent place4  
,to assert that ,pharisaism included the
 small  and excluded the great1 that it 
enforced rules and forgot principles1   
that it exalted the letter and neglected
 the spirit1 is a palpable libel4       
,pharisaism was founded on ,god4 ,on    

this foundation was erected a structure 
which embraced the eternal principles of
 religion4 ,but the system1 it  must be 
added1 went far beyond this4 ,it held   
that there was a right and  a wrong way 
of doing things in themselves trivial4  
,prescription ruled  in a stupendous    
array of matters which other systems    
deliberately left to  the fancy1 the    
judgment1 the conscience of the         
individual4 ,law seized upon  the whole 
life1 both in its inward experiences and
 outward manifestations4  ,harnack      
characterises the system harshly enough4
 ,christianity did not add  to ,judaism1
 it subtracted4 ,expanding a famous     
epigram of ,wellhausen's1  ,harnack     
admits that everything taught in the    
,gospels 'was also to be  found in the  
,prophets1 and even in the ,jewish      
tradition of their time4 ,the           
,pharisees themselves were in possession
 of it2 but1 unfortunately1 they  were  
in possession of much else besides4     
,with them it was weighted1  darkened1  

distorted1 rendered ineffective and     
deprived of its force by a  thousand    
things which they also held to be       
religious1 and every whit as  important 
as mercy and judgment4 ,they reduced    
everything into one fabric2  the good   
and holy was only one woof in a broad   
earthly warp' 7,what  is ,christianity8 
p4 #dg74 ,it is necessary to qualify    
this judgment1  but it does bring out   
the all-pervadingness of ,law in        
,judaism4 ',and thou  shalt speak of    
them when thou sittest in thine house1  
when thou walkest by  the way1 when thou
 liest down and when thou risest up'    
7,deut4 vi4 #g74 ,the  ,word of ,god was
 to occupy the ,jew's thoughts          
constantly2 in his daily  employment and
 during his manifold activities2 when at
 work and when  at rest4 ,and as a      
correlative1 the ,law must direct this  
complex life1  the ,code must authorise 
action or forbid it1 must turn the      
thoughts and  emotions in one direction 
and divert them from another4           

,nothing in the history of religions can
 be cited as a complete parallel to     
this4 ,but incomplete parallels abound4 
,a very large portion of all men's      
lives is regulated from without3 by the 
,bible and other sacred books2 by  the  
institutions and rites of religion2 by  
the law of the land2 by the  imposed    
rules of accepted guides1 poets1        
philosophers1 physicians2 and  above all
 by social conventions1 current         
fashions1 and popular maxims4  ,only in 
the rarest case is an exceptional man   
the monstrosity which1  we are told1    
every ,israelite was in the epoch of the
 ,judges--a law  unto himself4    ,but  
in ,judaism1 until the period of modern 
reform1 this fact of human  life was not
 merely an unconscious truism1 it was   
consciously admitted4  ,and it was      
realised in a ,code4    ,or rather in a 
series of ,codes4 ,first came the       
,mishnah1 a ,code  compiled at about the
 year #bjj ,a4,d41 but the result of a  
,pharisaic  activity extending over more

 than two centuries4 ,while             
,christianity was  producing the        
,gospels and the rest of the ,new       
,testament--the work in large  part of  
,jews1 or of men born in the circle of  
,judaism--,judaism in its  other        
manifestation was working at the ,code  
known as the ,mishnah4  ,this word means
 'repetition1' or 'teaching by          
repetition'2 it was an  oral tradition  
reduced to writing long after much of   
its contents had  been sifted in the    
discussions of the schools4 ,in part    
earlier and in  part later than the     
,mishnah was the ,midrash 7'inquiry1'   
'interpretation'71 not a ,code1 but a   
two-fold exposition of ,scripture2      
homiletic with copious use of parable1  
and legalistic with an eye  to the      
regulation of conduct4 ,then came the   
,talmud in two  recensions1 the         
,palestinian and the ,babylonian1 the   
latter completed  about #ejj ,a4,d4 ,for
 some centuries afterwards the ,geonim  
7heads of the  ,rabbinical ,universities

 in ,persia7 continued to analyse and   
define  the legal prescriptions and     
ritual of ,judaism1 adding and changing 
in  accord with the needs of the day2   
for ,tradition was a living1 fluid      
thing4 ,then in the eleventh century    
,isaac of ,fez 7,alfasi7 formulated  a  
guide to ,talmudic ,law1 and about a    
hundred years later 7#aahj7  ,maimonides
 produced his ,strong ,hand1 a ,code of 
law and custom  which influenced ,jewish
 life ever after4 ,other codifications  
were made2  but finally1 in the         
sixteenth century1 ,joseph ,caro 7mystic
 and legalist7  compiled the ,table     
,prepared 7,shulchan ,aruch71 which1    
with  masterly skill1 collected the     
whole of the traditional law1 arranged  
it under convenient heads in chapters   
and paragraphs1 and carried down  to our
 own day the ,rabbinic conception of    
life4 ,under this ,code1 with  more or  
less relaxation1 the great bulk of ,jews
 still live4 ,but the  revolt against   
it1 or emancipation from it1 is         

progressing every year1  for the olden  
,jewish conception of religion and the  
old ,jewish theory  of life are1 as     
hinted above1 becoming seriously        
undermined4    ,now in what precedes    
there has been some intentional         
ambiguity in  the use of the word ,law4 
,much of the misunderstanding of        
,judaism has  arisen from this          
ambiguity4 ',law' is in no adequate     
sense what the ,jews  themselves        
understood by the nomism of their       
religion4 ,in modern times  ,law and    
,religion tend more and more to         
separate1 and to speak of ,judaism  as  
,law eo ipso implies a divorce of       
,judaism from ,religion4 ,the  old      
antithesis between letter and spirit is 
but a phase of the same  criticism4 ,law
 must specify1 and the lawyer interprets
 ,acts of ,parliament  by their letter2 
he refuses to be guided by the motives  
of the ,act1 he  is concerned with what 
the ,act distinctly formulates in set   
terms4 ,in  this sense ,judaism never   

was a ,legal ,religion4 ,it did most    
assiduously  seek to get to the         
underlying motives of the written laws1 
and all the  expansions of the ,law were
 based on a desire more fully to realise
 the  meaning and intention of the      
written ,code4 ,in other words1 the ,law
 was  looked upon as the expression of  
the ,will of ,god4 ,man was to yield to 
that ,will for two reasons4 ,first1     
because ,god is the perfect ideal of    
goodness4 ,that ideal was for man to    
revere1 and1 so far as in him lay1  to  
imitate4 ',as ,i am merciful1 be thou   
merciful2 because ,i am gracious1  be   
thou gracious4' ,the ',imitation of     
,god' is a notion which constantly      
meets us in ,rabbinic literature4 ,it is
 based on the ,scriptural text3  ',be ye
 holy1 for ,i the ,lord am holy4' ',god1
 the ideal of all morality1  is the     
founder of man's moral nature4' ,this is
 ,professor ,lazarus'  modern way of    
putting it4 ,but in substance it is the 
,jewish conception  through all the     

ages4 ,and there is a second reason4    
,the ,jew would not  have understood the
 possibility of any other expression of 
the ,divine  ,will than the expression  
which ,judaism enshrined4 ,for though he
 held that  the ,law was something      
imposed from without1 he identified this
 imposed  ,law with the law which his   
own moral nature posited4 ,the ,rabbis  
tell us  that certain things in the     
written ,law could have been reached by 
man  without the ,law4 ,the ,law was in 
large part a correspondence to man's    
moral  nature4 ,this ,rabbinic idea     
,lazarus sums up in the epigram3 ',moral
 laws1  then1 are not laws because they 
are written2 they are written because   
they are laws4' ,the moral principle is 
autonomous1 but its archetype is  ,god4 
,the ultimate reason1 like the highest  
aim of morality1 should be  in itself4  
,the threat of punishment and the       
promise of reward are the  psychologic  
means to secure the fulfilment of laws1 
never the reasons for  the laws1 nor the

 motives to action4 ,it is easy and     
necessary sometimes  to praise and      
justify eudemonism1 but1 as ,lazarus    
adds1 ',not a state to  be reached1 not 
a good to be won1 not an evil to be     
warded off1 is the  impelling force of  
morality1 but itself furnishes the      
creative impulse1  the supreme          
commanding authority' 7,ethics of       
,judaism1 ,i4 chap1  ii474 ,and so the  
,rabbi of the third century ,b4,c41     
,antigonos of ,socho1 put  it in the    
memorable saying3 ',be not like servants
 who minister to their  master upon the 
condition of receiving a reward2 but be 
like servants  who minister to their    
master without the condition of         
receiving a reward2  and let the ,fear  
of heaven be upon you' 7,aboth1 i4 #c74 
,clearly the multiplication of rules    
obscures principles4 ,the object of     
codification1 to get at the full meaning
 of principles1 is defeated by  its own 
success4 ,for it is always easier to    
follow rules than to apply  principles4 

,virtues are more attainable than       
virtue1 characteristics than  character4
 ,and while it is false to assert that  
,judaism attached more  importance to   
ritual than to religion1 yet1 the two   
being placed on one  and the same plane1
 it is possible to find in co-existence 
ritual piety  and moral baseness4 ,such 
a combination is ugly1 and people do not
 stop  to think whether the baseness    
would be more or less if the ritual     
piety  were absent instead of present4  
,but it is the fact that on the whole   
the ,jewish codification of religion did
 not produce the evil results  possible 
or even likely to accrue4 ,the ,jew was 
always distinguished for  his domestic  
virtues1 his purity of life1 his        
sobriety1 his charity1  his devotion4   
,these were the immediate consequence of
 his ,law-abiding  disposition and      
theory4 ,perhaps there was some lack of 
enthusiasm1  something too much of the  
temperate4 ,but the facts of life always
  brought their corrective4 ,martyrdom  

was the means by which the ,jewish      
consciousness was kept at a glowing     
heat4 ,and as the ,jew was constantly   
called upon to die for his religion1 the
 religion ennobled the life  which was  
willingly surrendered for the religion4 
,the ,messianic ,hope  was vitalised by 
persecution4 ,the ,jew1 devotee of      
practical ideals1  became also a        
dreamer4 ,his visions of ,god were ever 
present to remind  him that the law     
which he codified was to him the ,law of
 ,god4        ,,chapter ,,iii           
,,articles ,,of ,,faith      ,it is     
often said that ,judaism left belief    
free while it put conduct  into fetters4
 ,neither half of this assertion is     
strictly true4 ,belief  was not free    
altogether2 conduct was not altogether  
controlled4 ,in the  ,mishnah           
7,sanhedrin1 x4 #a7 certain classes of  
unbelievers are  pronounced portionless 
in the world to come4 ,among those      
excluded  from ,paradise are men who    
deny the resurrection of the dead1 and  

men  who refuse assent to the doctrine  
of the ,divine origin of the ,torah1  or
 ,scripture4 ,thus it cannot be said    
that belief was1 in the ,rabbinic       
system1 perfectly free4 ,equally        
inaccurate is the assertion that conduct
  was entirely a matter of prescription4
 ,not only were men praised for  works  
of supererogation1 performance of more  
than the ,law required2 not  only were  
there important divergences in the      
practical rules of conduct  formulated  
by the various ,rabbis2 but there was a 
whole class of actions  described as    
'matters given over to the heart1'      
delicate refinements  of conduct which  
the law left untouched and were a       
concern exclusively  of the feeling1 the
 private judgment of the individual4    
,the right of  private judgment was     
passionately insisted on in matters of  
conduct1 as  when ,rabbi ,joshua refused
 to be guided as to his practical       
decisions by  the ,daughter of the      
,voice1 the supernatural utterance from 

on high4 ,the  ,law1 he contended1 is on
 earth1 not in heaven2 and man must be  
his own  judge in applying the ,law to  
his own life and time4 ,and1 the ,talmud
 adds1  ,god ,himself announced that    
,rabbi ,joshua was right4    ,thus there
 was neither complete fluidity of       
doctrine nor complete rigidity  of      
conduct4 ,there was freedom of conduct  
within the law1 and there was  law      
within freedom of doctrine4    ,but ,dr4
 ,emil ,hirsch puts the case fairly when
 he says3 ',in the  same sense as       
,christianity or ,islam1 ,judaism cannot
 be credited with  ,articles of ,faith4 
,many attempts have indeed been made at 
systematising  and reducing to a fixed  
phraseology and sequence the contents of
 the  ,jewish religion4 ,but these have 
always lacked the one essential element3
  authoritative sanction on the part of 
a supreme ecclesiastical body'  7,jewish
 ,encyclopedia1 ii4 #adh74    ,since the
 epoch of the ,great ,sanhedrin1 there  
has been no central  authority          

recognised throughout ,jewry4 ,the      
,jewish organisation has long  been     
congregational4 ,since the fourth       
century there has been no body  with any
 jurisdiction over the mass of ,jews4   
,at that date the ,calendar  was fixed  
by astronomical calculations4 ,the      
,patriarch1 in ,babylon1  thereby       
voluntarily abandoned the hold he had   
previously had over the  scattered      
,jews1 for it was no longer the fiat of 
the ,patriarch that  settled the dates  
of the ,festivals4 ,while there was     
something like a  central authority1 the
 ,canon of ,scripture had been fixed by 
,synods1 but  there is no record of any 
attempt to promulgate articles of faith4
 ,during  the revolt against ,hadrian an
 ,assembly of ,rabbis was held at       
,lydda4 ,it was  then decided that a    
,jew must yield his life rather than    
accept safety from  the ,roman power1 if
 such conformity involved one of the    
three offences3  idolatry1 murder1 and  
unchastity 7including1 incest and       

adultery74 ,but  while this decision    
throws a favourable light on the        
,rabbinic theory of  life1 it can in no 
sense be called a fixation of a creed4  
,there were  numerous synods in the     
,middle ,ages1 but they invariably dealt
 with  practical morals or with the     
problems which arose from time to time  
in  regard to the relations between     
,jews and their ,christian neighbours4  
,it is  true that we occasionally read  
of excommunications for heresy4 ,but in 
the case1 for instance1 of ,spinoza1 the
 ,amsterdam ,synagogue was much  more   
anxious to dissociate itself from the   
heresies of ,spinoza than to  compel    
,spinoza to conform to the beliefs of   
the ,synagogue4 ,and though  this power 
of excommunication might have been      
employed by the mediaeval  ,rabbis to   
enforce the acceptance of a creed1 in   
point of fact no such  step was ever    
taken4    ,since the time of ,moses     
,mendelssohn 7#agbh-aghf71 the chief    
,jewish  dogma has been that ,judaism   

has no dogmas4 ,in the sense assigned   
above  this is clearly true4 ,dogmas    
imposed by an authority able and willing
  to enforce conformity and punish      
dissent are non-existent in ,judaism4   
,in olden times membership of the       
religion of ,judaism was almost entirely
  a question of birth and race1 not of  
confession4 ,proselytes were admitted   
by circumcision and baptism1 and nothing
 beyond an acceptance of the  ,unity of 
,god and the abjuration of idolatry is  
even now required by way  of profession 
from a proselyte4 ,at the same time the 
earliest passage  put into the public   
liturgy was the ,shema' 7,deuteronomy   
vi4 #d-i71 in  which the unity of ,god  
and the duty to love ,god are expressed4
 ,the ,ten  ,commandments were also     
recited daily in the ,temple4 ,it is    
instructive to  note the reason given   
for the subsequent removal of the       
,decalogue from the  daily liturgy4 ,it 
was feared that some might assume that  
the ,decalogue  comprised the whole of  

the binding law4 ,hence the prominent   
position  given to them in the ,temple  
service was no longer assigned to the   
,ten  ,commandments in the ritual of the
 ,synagogue4 ,in modern times1 however1 
there is a growing practice of reading  
the ,decalogue every ,sabbath day4      
,what we do find in ,pharisaic ,judaism1
 and this is the real answer to         
,harnack 7supra1 p4 #ae71 is an attempt 
to reduce the whole ,law  to certain    
fundamental principles4 ,when a would-be
 proselyte accosted  ,hillel1 in the    
reign of ,herod1 with the demand that   
the ,rabbi should  communicate the whole
 of ,judaism while the questioner stood 
on one foot1  ,hillel made the famous   
reply3 ',what thou hatest do unto no    
man2 that  is the whole ,law1 the rest  
is commentary4' ,this recalls another   
famous  summarisation1 that given by    
,jesus later on in the ,gospel4 ,a      
little  more than a century later1      
,akiba said that the command to love    
one's  neighbour is the fundamental     

principle of the ,law4 ,ben ,azzai chose
 for  this distinction another sentence3
 ',this is the book of the generations  
of man1' implying the equality of all   
men in regard to the love borne by  ,god
 for ,his creatures4 ,another ,rabbi1   
,simlai 7third century71 has this       
remarkable saying3 ',six hundred and    
thirteen precepts were imparted unto    
,moses1 three hundred and sixty-five    
negative 7in correspondence with  the   
days of the solar year71 and two hundred
 and forty-eight positive  7in          
correspondence with the number of a     
man's limbs74 ,david came and           
established them as eleven1 as it is    
written3 ,a psalm of ,david--,lord  who 
shall sojourn in ,thy tent1 who shall   
dwell in ,thy holy mountain8  7i7 ,he   
that walketh uprightly and 7ii7 worketh 
righteousness and 7iii7  speaketh the   
truth in his heart4 7iv7 ,he that       
backbiteth not with his  tongue1 7v7 nor
 doeth evil to his neighbour1 7vi7 nor  
taketh up a reproach  against another2  

7vii7 in whose eyes a reprobate is      
despised1 7viii7 but  who honoureth them
 that fear the ,lord4 7ix7 ,he that     
sweareth to his own  hurt1 and changeth 
not2 7x7 ,he that putteth not out his   
money to usury1  7xi7 nor taketh a bribe
 against the innocent4 ,he that doeth   
these things  shall never be moved4     
,thus ,david reduced the ,law to eleven 
principles4  ,then came ,micah and      
reduced them to three1 as it is written3
 ',what doth  the ,lord require of thee 
but 7i7 to do justice1 7ii7 to love     
mercy1 and  7iii7 to walk humbly with   
thy ,god8 ,then came ,habbakuk and made 
the whole  ,law stand on one fundamental
 idea1 ',the righteous man liveth by his
 faith'  7,makkoth1 #bc b74    ,this    
desire to find one or a few general     
fundamental passages on  which the whole
 ,scripture might be seen to base itself
 is1 however1  far removed from anything
 of the nature of the ,christian ,creeds
 or  of the ,mohammedan ,kalimah4 ,and  
when we remember that the ,pharisees    

and ,sadducees differed on questions of 
doctrine 7such as the belief in         
immortality held by the former and      
rejected by the latter71 it becomes     
clear that the absence of a formal      
declaration of faith must have been     
deliberate4 ,the most that was done was 
to introduce into the ,liturgy a        
paragraph in which the assembled        
worshippers declared their assent to    
the truth and permanent validity of the 
,word of ,god4 ,after the ,shema'       
7whose contents are summarised above71  
the assembled worshippers daily  recited
 a passage in which they said 7and still
 say73 ',true and firm is  this ,thy    
word unto us for ever4444 ,true is it   
that ,thou art indeed our  ,god 444 and 
there is none beside ,thee4'    ,after  
all1 the difference between ,pharisee   
and ,sadducee was political  rather than
 theological4 ,it was not till ,judaism 
came into contact1  contact alike of    
attraction and repulsion1 with other    
systems that a  desire or a need for    

formulating ,articles of ,faith was     
felt4 ,philo1 coming  under the         
,hellenic spirit1 was thus the first to 
make the attempt4 ,in  the last chapter 
of the tract on the ,creation 7,de      
,opifico1 lxi471  ,philo enumerates what
 he terms the five most beautiful       
lessons1 superior  to all others4 ,these
 are--7i7 ,god is2 7ii7 ,god is ,one2   
7iii7 the ,world  was created 7and is   
not eternal72 7iv7 the ,world is one1   
like unto ,god in  singleness2 and 7v7  
,god exercises a continual providence   
for the benefit  of the world1 caring   
for ,his creatures like a parent for his
 children4    ,philo's lead found no    
imitators4 ,it was not for many         
centuries that  two causes led the      
,synagogue to formulate a creed4 ,and   
even then it  was not the ,synagogue as 
a body that acted1 nor was it a creed   
that  resulted4 ,the first cause was the
 rise of sects within the ,synagogue4   
,of  these sects the most important was 
that of the ,karaites or                

,scripturalists4  ,rejecting tradition1 
the ,karaites expounded their beliefs   
both as a  justification of themselves  
against the ,traditionalists and        
possibly as  a remedy against their own 
tendency to divide within their own     
order  into smaller sects4 ,in the      
middle of the twelfth century the       
,karaite  ,judah ,hadassi of            
,constantinople arranged the whole      
,pentateuch under  the headings of the  
,decalogue1 much as ,philo had done long
 before4  ,and so he formulates ten     
dogmas of ,judaism4 ,these are--7i7     
,creation  7as opposed to the           
,aristotelian doctrine of the eternity  
of the world72  7ii7 the existence of   
,god2 7iii7 ,god is one and incorporeal2
 7iv7 ,moses  and the other canonical   
prophets were called by ,god2 7v7 the   
,law is the  ,word of ,god1 it is       
complete1 and the ,oral ,tradition was  
unnecessary2  7vi7 the ,law must be read
 by the ,jew in the original ,hebrew2   
7vii7 the  ,temple of ,jerusalem was the

 place chosen by ,god for ,his          
manifestation2  7viii7 the ,resurrection
 of the dead2 7ix7 the ,coming of       
,messiah1 son of  ,david2 7x7 ,final    
,judgment and ,retribution4    ,within  
the main body of the ,synagogue we have 
to wait for the same  moment for a      
formulation of ,articles of ,faith4     
,maimonides 7#aace-abjd7  was a younger 
contemporary of ,hadassi2 he it was that
 drew up the one  and only set of       
principles which have ever enjoyed wide 
authority in  ,judaism4 ,before         
,maimonides there had been some         
inclination towards  a creed1 but he is 
the first to put one into set terms4    
,maimonides  was much influenced by     
,aristotelianism1 and this gave him an  
impulse  towards a logical statement of 
the tenets of ,judaism4 ,on the other   
side1  he was deeply concerned by the   
criticism of ,judaism from the side of  
,mohammedan theologians4 ,the latter    
contended1 in particular1 that the      
biblical anthropomorphisms were         

destructive of a belief in the pure     
spirituality of ,god4 ,hence ,maimonides
 devoted much of his great treatise1    
,guide for the ,perplexed1 to a         
philosophical allegorisation of the     
human terms applied to ,god in the      
,hebrew ,bible4 ,in his ,commentary on  
the  ,mishnah 7,sanhedrin1 ,introduction
 to ,chelek71 ,maimonides declares      
',the roots of our law and its          
fundamental principles are thirteen4'   
,these  are--7i7 ,belief in the         
existence of ,god1 the ,creator2 7ii7   
belief in  the unity of ,god2 7iii7     
belief in the incorporeality of ,god2   
7iv7 belief  in the priority and        
eternity of ,god2 7v7 belief that to    
,god and to ,god  alone worship must be 
offered2 7vi7 belief in prophecy2 7vii7 
belief that  ,moses was the greatest of 
all prophets2 7viii7 belief that the    
,law was  revealed from heaven2 7ix7    
belief that the ,law will never be      
abrogated1  and that no other ,law will 
ever come from ,god2 7x7 belief that    

,god knows  the works of men2 7xi7      
belief in reward and punishment2 7xii7  
belief in  the coming of the ,messiah2  
7xiii7 belief in the resurrection of the
 dead4'    ,now here we have for the    
first time a set of beliefs which were a
 test of  ,judaism4 ,maimonides leaves  
no doubt as to his meaning4 ,for he     
concluded  by saying3 ',when all these  
principles of faith are in the safe     
keeping  of a man1 and his conviction of
 them is well established1 he then      
enters  into the general body of        
,israel'2 and1 on the other hand3       
',when1 however1  a man breaks away from
 any one of these fundamental principles
 of belief1  then of him it is said that
 he has gone out of the general body of 
,israel and he denies the root-truths of
 ,judaism4' ,this formulation of  a     
dogmatic test was never confirmed by any
 body of ,rabbis4 ,no ,jew was  ever    
excommunicated for declaring his dissent
 from these articles4 ,no  ,jew was ever
 called upon formally to express his    

assent to them4 ,but1 as  ,professor    
,schechter justly writes3 ',among the   
,maimonists we may probably  include the
 great majority of ,jews1 who accepted  
the ,thirteen ,articles  without further
 question4 ,maimonides must have filled 
up a great gap  in ,jewish theology1 a  
gap1 moreover1 the existence of which   
was very  generally perceived4 ,a       
century had hardly lapsed before the    
,thirteen  ,articles had become a theme 
for the poets of the ,synagogue4 ,and   
almost  every country can show a poem or
 a prayer founded on these ,articles'   
7,studies in ,judaism1 p4 #cja74    ,yet
 the opposition to the ,articles was    
both impressive and  persistent4 ,some  
denied altogether the admissibility of  
,articles1  claiming that the whole ,law
 and nothing but the ,law was the       
,charter of  ,judaism4 ,others          
criticised the ,maimonist ,articles in  
detail4 ,certainly  they are far from   
logically drawn up1 some paragraphs     
being dictated  by opposition to ,islam 

rather than by positive needs of the    
,jewish  position4 ,a favourite         
condensation was a smaller list of three
 ,articles3  7i7 ,existence of ,god2    
7ii7 ,revelation2 and 7iii7             
,retribution4 ,these three  ,articles   
are usually associated with the name of 
,joseph ,albo 7#achj-addd71  though they
 are somewhat older4 ,there is no doubt 
but that these ,articles  found1 in     
recent centuries1 more acceptance than  
the ,maimonist ,thirteen1  though the   
latter still hold their place in the    
orthodox ,jewish ,prayer  ,books4 ,they 
may be found in the ,authorised ,daily  
,prayer ,book1  ed4 ,singer1 p4 #hi4    
,moses ,mendelssohn 7#agbh-aghf71 who   
strongly maintained that ,judaism  is a 
life1 not a creed1 made the practice of 
formulating ,articles of  ,judaism      
unfashionable4 ,but not for long4 ,more 
and more1 ,judaic ritual has  fallen    
into disregard since the ,french        
,revolution4 ,judaism has therefore     
tended to express itself as a system of 

doctrines rather than as a body  of     
practices4 ,and there was a special     
reason why the ,maimonist ,articles     
could not remain4 ,reference is not     
meant to the fact that many ,jews came  
to doubt the ,mosaic origin of the      
,pentateuch4 ,but there were lacking in 
the ,maimonist ,creed all emotional     
elements4 ,on the one hand1 ,maimonides1
  rationalist and anti-,mystic as he    
was1 makes no allowance for the doctrine
  of the ,immanence of ,god4 ,then1     
owing to his unemotional nature1 he laid
  no stress on all the affecting and    
moving associations of the belief in    
the ,mission of ,israel as the ,chosen  
,people4 ,before ,maimonides1 if there  
had been one dogma of ,judaism at all1  
it was the ,election of ,israel4        
,jehuda ,halevi1 the greatest of the    
,hebrew poets of the ,middle ,ages1  had
 at the beginning of the twelfth        
century1 some half century before       
,maimonides1 given expression to this in
 the famous epigram3 ',israel is  to the

 nations like the heart to the limbs4'  
,though1 however1 the ,creed of         
,maimonides has no position of authority
  in the ,synagogue1 modern times have  
witnessed no successful intrusion of  a 
rival4 ,most writers of treatises on    
,judaism prefer to describe rather  than
 to define the religious tenets of the  
faith4 ,in ,america there have  been    
several suggestions of a ,creed4        
,articles of faith have been there      
chiefly formulated for the reception of 
proselytes4 ,this purpose is a  natural 
cause of precision in belief2 for while 
one who already stands  within by birth 
or race is rarely called upon to justify
 his faith1  the newcomer is under the  
necessity to do so4 ,in the             
pre-,christian  ,judaism it is probable 
that there was a ,catechism or short    
manual of  instruction called in ,greek 
the ,didache1 in which the ,golden ,rule
  in ,hillel's negative form and the    
,decalogue occupied a front place4 ,thus
  we find1 too1 modern ,american ,jews  

formulating ,articles of ,faith as a    
,proselyte ,confession4 ,in #ahif the   
,central ,conference of ,american       
,rabbis  adopted the following five     
principles for such a ,confession3 7i7  
,god  the ,only ,one2 7ii7 ,man ,his    
,image2 7iii7 ,immortality of the ,soul2
 7iv7  ,retribution2 7v7 ,israel's      
,mission4 ,during the past few months a 
tract1  entitled ',essentials of        
,judaism1' has been issued in ,london by
 the ,jewish  ,religious ,union4 ,the   
author1 ,n4 ,s4 ,joseph1 is careful to  
explain that he  is not putting forth   
these principles as 'dogmatic ,articles 
of ,faith1'  and that they are solely   
'suggestive outlines of belief which may
 be  gradually imparted to children1 the
 outlines being afterwards filled  up by
 the teacher4 ,but the eight paragraphs 
of these ,essentials are at  once so    
ably compiled and so informing as to the
 modern trend of ,jewish  belief that   
they will be here cited without comment4
    ,according then to this             

presentation1 the ,essentials of        
,judaism are3 '7i7  ,there is ,one      
,eternal ,god1 who is the sole ,origin  
of all things and forces1  and the      
,source of all living souls4 ,he rules  
the universe with justice1              
righteousness1 mercy1 and love4 7ii7    
,our souls1 emanating from ,god1 are    
immortal1 and will return to ,him when  
our life on earth ceases4 ,while  we are
 here1 our souls can hold direct        
communion with ,god in prayer and       
praise1 and in silent contemplation and 
admiration of ,his works4 7iii7  ,our   
souls are directly responsible to ,god  
for the work of our life on  earth4     
,god1 being ,all-merciful1 will judge us
 with loving-kindness1 and  being       
,all-just1 will allow for our           
imperfections2 and we1 therefore1  need 
no mediator and no vicarious atonement  
to ensure the future  welfare of our    
souls4 7iv7 ,god is the ,one and only   
,god4 ,he is ,eternal  and ,omnipresent4
 ,he not only pervades the entire world1

 but is also  within us2 and ,his       
,spirit helps and leads us towards      
goodness and truth4  7v7 ,duty should be
 the moving force of our life2 and the  
thought that ,god  is always in us and  
about us should incite us to lead good  
and beneficent  lives1 showing our love 
of ,god by loving our fellow-creatures1 
and working  for their happiness and    
betterment with all our might4 7vi7 ,in 
various  bygone times ,god has revealed1
 and even in our own days continues to  
reveal to us1 something of ,his nature  
and will1 by inspiring the best  and    
wisest minds with noble thoughts and new
 ideas1 to be conveyed to  us in words1 
so that this world may constantly       
improve and grow happier  and better4   
7vii7 ,long ago some of our forefathers 
were thus inspired1  and they handed    
down to us--and through us to the world 
at large--some  of ,god's choicest      
gifts1 the principles of ,religion and  
,morality1 now  recorded in our ,bible2 
and these spiritual gifts of ,god have  

gradually  spread among our fellow-men1 
so that much of our religion and of its 
morality has been adopted by them4      
7viii7 ,till the main religious and     
moral principles of ,judaism have been  
accepted by the world at large1  the    
maintenance by the ,jews of a separate  
corporate existence is a  religious duty
 incumbent upon them4 ,they are the     
witnesses of ,god1  and they must adhere
 to their religion1 showing forth its   
truth and  excellence to all mankind4   
,this has been and is and will continue 
to  be their mission4 ,their public     
worship and private virtues must be the 
outward manifestation of the fulfilment 
of that mission4'        ,,chapter ,,iv 
,,some ,,concepts ,,of ,,judaism        
,though there are no accepted ,articles 
of ,faith in ,judaism1 there is  a      
complete consensus of opinion that      
,monotheism is the basis of the         
religion4 ,the ,unity of ,god was more  
than a doctrine4 ,it was associated     
with the noblest hope of ,israel1 with  

,israel's ,mission to the world4    ,the
 ,unity of ,god was even more than a    
hope4 ,it was an inspiration1  a        
passion4 ,for it the ,jews 'passed      
through fire and water1' enduring       
tribulation and death for the sake of   
the ,unity4 ,all the ,jewish            
martyrologies are written round this    
text4    ,in one passage the ,talmud    
actually defines the ,jew as the        
,monotheist4 ',whoever repudiates the   
service of other gods is called a ,jew' 
7,megillah1 #ac a74    ,but this        
all-pervading doctrine of the ,unity did
 not reach ,judaism as an  abstract     
philosophical truth4 ,hence1 though the 
belief in the ,unity of  ,god1          
associated as it was with the belief in 
the ,spirituality of ,god1  might have  
been expected to lead to the conception 
of an ,absolute1  ,transcendent ,being  
such as we meet in ,islam1 it did not so
 lead in  ,judaism4 ,judaism never      
attempted to define ,god at all4        
,maimonides  put the seal on the        

reluctance of ,jewish theology to go    
beyond1 or  to fall short of1 what      
historic ,judaism delivered4 ,judaism   
wavers  between the two opposite        
conceptions3 absolute transcendentalism 
and  absolute pantheism4 ,sometimes     
,judaism speaks with the voice of       
,isaiah2  sometimes with the voice of   
,spinoza4 ,it found the bridge in the   
,psalter4  ',the ,lord is nigh unto all 
that call upon ,him4' ,the ,law brought 
heaven  to earth2 ,prayer raised earth  
to heaven4    ,as was remarked above1   
,jewish theology never shrank from      
inconsistency4 ,it  accepted at once    
,god's foreknowledge and man's          
free-will4 ,so it described  the        
knowledge of ,god as far above man's    
reach2 yet it felt ,god near1           
sympathetic1 a ,father and ,friend4 ,the
 liturgy of the ,synagogue has been     
well termed a 'precipitate' of all the  
,jewish teaching as to ,god4 ,he is  the
 ,great1 the ,mighty1 the ,awful1 the   
,most ,high1 the ,king4 ,but ,he is also

  the ,father1 ,helper1 ,deliverer1 the 
,peace-,maker1 ,supporter of the weak1  
,healer of the sick4 ,all human         
knowledge is a direct manifestation of  
,his grace4 ,man's body1 with all its   
animal functions1 is ,his handiwork4    
,he created joy1 and made the           
,bridegroom and the ,bride4 ,he formed  
the fruit  of the ,vine1 and is the     
,source of all the lawful pleasures of  
men4 ,he is  the ,righteous ,judge2 but 
,he remembers that man is dust1 ,he     
pardons sins1  and ,his loving-kindness 
is over all4 ,he is unchangeable1 yet   
repentance  can avert the evil decree4  
,he is in heaven1 yet he puts the love  
and  fear of ,him into man's very heart4
 ,he breathed the ,soul into man1 and   
is faithful to those that sleep in the  
grave4 ,he is the ,reviver of the  dead4
 ,he is ,holy1 and ,he sanctified       
,israel with ,his commandments4 ,and    
the whole is pervaded with the thought  
of ,god's ,unity and the consequent     
unity of mankind4 ,here again we meet   

the curious syncretism which we  have so
 often observed4 ,god is in a special   
sense the ,god of ,israel2  but ,he is  
unequivocally1 too1 the ,god of all     
flesh4    ,moses ,mendelssohn said that1
 when in the company of a ,christian    
friend1  he never felt the remotest     
desire to convert him to ,judaism4 ,this
 is the  explanation of the effect on   
the ,jews of the combined belief in ,god
 as  the ,god of ,israel1 and also as   
the ,god of all men4 ,at one time       
,judaism  was certainly a missionary    
religion4 ,but after the loss of        
nationality  this quality was           
practically dormant4 ,belief was not    
necessary to  salvation4 ',the pious of 
all nations have a part in the world to 
come'  may have been but a casual       
utterance of an ancient ,rabbi1 but it  
rose  into a settled conviction of later
 ,judaism4 ,moreover1 it was dangerous  
for ,jews to attempt any religious      
propaganda in the ,middle ,ages1 and    
thus the pressure of fact came to the   

support of theory4 ,mendelssohn  even   
held that the same religion was not     
necessarily good for all1  just as the  
same form of government may not fit     
equally all the various  national       
idiosyncrasies4 ,judaism for the ,jew   
may almost be claimed as  a principle of
 orthodox ,judaism4 ,it says to the     
outsider3 ,you may come  in if you will1
 but we warn you what it means4 ,at all 
events it does  not seek to attract4 ,it
 is not strange that this attitude has  
led to  unpopularity4 ,the reason of    
this resentment is not that men wish to 
be  invited to join ,judaism2 it lies   
rather in the sense that the absence  of
 invitation implies an arrogant reserve4
 ,to some extent this is the  case4 ,the
 old-fashioned ,jew is inclined to think
 himself superior to  other men4 ,such a
 thought has its pathos4    ,on the     
other hand1 the national as contrasted  
with the universal aspect  of ,judaism  
is on the wane4 ,many ,jewish liturgies 
have1 for instance1  eliminated the     

prayers for the restoration of          
sacrifices2 and several have  removed or
 spiritualised the petitions for the    
recovery of the ,jewish  nationality4   
,modern reformed ,judaism is a          
universalistic ,judaism4 ,it  lays      
stress on the function of ,israel1 the  
,servant1 as a ',light to the           
,nations4' ,it tends to eliminate those 
ceremonies and beliefs which are  less  
compatible with a universal than with1 a
 racial religion4 ,modern  ,zionism is  
not a real reaction against this        
tendency4 ,for ,zionism is  either      
non-religious or1 if religious1 brings  
to the front what has  always been a    
corrective to the nationalism of        
orthodox ,judaism4 ,for  the separation 
of ,israel has ever been a means to an  
end2 never an end  in itself4 ,often the
 end has been forgotten in the means1   
but never for  long4 ,the end of        
,israel's separateness is the good of   
the world4 ,and  the religious as       
distinct from the merely political      

,zionist who thinks  that ,judaism would
 gain by a return to ,palestine is just 
the one who also  thinks that return is 
a necessary preliminary to the          
,messianic ,age1 when  all men shall    
flow unto ,zion and seek ,god there4    
,reformed ,jews would have  to be       
,zionists also in this sense1 were it   
not that many of them no longer  share  
the belief in the national aspects of   
the prophecies as to ,israel's  future4 
,these may believe that the world may   
become full of the knowledge  of ,god   
without any antecedent withdrawal of    
,israel from the world4    ,if ,judaism 
as a system of doctrine is necessarily  
syncretistic in  its conception of ,god1
 then we may expect the same syncretism 
in its  theory of ,god's relation to    
man4 ,it must be said at once that the  
term  'theory' is ill-chosen4 ,it is    
laid to the charge of ,judaism that it  
has no  'theory' of ,sin4 ,this is true4
 ,if virtue and righteousness are       
obedience1  then disobedience is both   

vice and sin4 ,no further theory was    
required  or possible4 ,atonement is    
reversion to obedience4 ,now it was said
 above  that the doctrine of the ,unity 
did not reach ,judaism as a             
philosophical  truth exactly defined and
 apprehended4 ,it came as the result of 
a long  historic groping for the truth1 
and when it came it brought with it     
olden  anthropomorphic wrappings and    
tribal adornments which were not easily 
to  be discarded1 if they ever were     
entirely discarded4 ,so with the        
relation  of ,god to man in general and 
,israel in particular4 ,the unchangeable
  ,god is not susceptible to the change 
implied in ,atonement4 ,but history     
presented to the ,jew examples of what  
he could not otherwise interpret  than  
as reconciliation between ,god the      
,father and ,israel the wayward  but    
always at heart loyal ,son4 ,and this   
interpretation was true to the  inward  
experience4 ,man's repentance was       
correlated with the sorrow of  ,god4    

,god as well as man repented1 the former
 of punishment1 the latter  of sin4 ,the
 process of atonement included          
contrition1 confession1 and  change of  
life4 ,undoubtedly ,jewish theology lays
 the greatest stress on  the active     
stage of the process4 ,jewish moralists 
use the word ,teshubah  7literally      
'turning' or 'return1' i4e4 a turning   
from evil or  a return to ,god7 chiefly 
to mean a change of life4 ,sin is evil  
life1  atonement is the better life4    
,the better life was attained by        
fasting1  prayer1 and charity1 by a     
purification of the heart and a         
cleansing of the  hands4 ,the ritual    
side of atonement was seriously weakened
 by the loss  of the ,temple4 ,the      
sacrificial atonement was gone4 ,nothing
 replaced  it ritually4 ,hence the      
,jewish tendency towards a practical    
religion  was strengthened by its almost
 enforced stress in atonement on moral  
betterment4 ,but this moral betterment  
depended on a renewed communion  with   

,god4 ,sin estranged1 atonement brought 
near4 ,jewish theology regarded  sin as 
a triumph of the ,yetser ,ha-ra 7the    
'evil inclination'7  over the ,yetser   
,ha-tob 7the 'good inclination'74 ,man  
was always  liable to fall a prey to his
 lower self4 ,but such a fall1 though   
usual  and universal1 was not           
inevitable4 ,man reasserted his higher  
self when  he curbed his passions1 undid
 the wrong he had wrought to others1 and
  turned again to ,god with a contrite  
heart4 ,as a taint of the soul1 sin  was
 washed away by the suppliant's tears   
and confession1 by his sense  of loss1  
his bitter consciousness of humiliation1
 but withal man was  helpless without   
,god4 ,god was needed for the atonement4
 ,israel never  dreamed of putting      
forward his righteousness as a claim to 
pardon4  ',we are empty of good works'  
is the constant refrain of the ,jewish  
penitential appeals4 ,the final reliance
 is on ,god and on ,god alone4 ,yet     
,judaism took over from its past the    

anthropomorphic belief that ,god could  
be moved by man's prayers1 contrition1  
amendment--especially by man's          
amendment4 ,atonement was only real when
 the amendment began2 it only  lasted   
while the amendment endured4 ,man must  
not think to throw his own  burden      
entirely on ,god4 ,god will help him to 
bear it1 and will lighten  the weight   
from willing shoulders4 ,but bear it man
 can and must4 ,the  shoulders must be  
at all events willing4    ,judaism as a 
theology stood or fell by its belief    
that man can affect  ,god4 ,if1 for     
instance1 prayer had no validity1 then  
,judaism had no basis4  ,judaism did not
 distinguish between the objective and  
subjective efficacy  of prayer4 ,the two
 went together4 ,the acceptance of the  
will of ,god  and the inclining of      
,god's purpose to the desire of man were
 two sides  of one fact4 ,the ,rabbinic 
,judaism did not mechanically posit1    
however1  the objective validity of     
prayer4 ,on the contrary1 the man who   

prayed  expecting an answer was regarded
 as arrogant and sinful4 ,a famous      
,talmudic  prayer sums up the submissive
 aspect of the ,jew in this brief       
petition  7,berachoth1 #bi a73 ',do ,thy
 will in heaven above1 and grant        
contentment of  spirit to those that    
fear ,thee below2 and that which is good
 in ,thine eyes  do4 ,blessed art ,thou1
 ,o ,lord1 who hearest prayer4' ,this1  
be it remembered1  was the prayer of a  
,pharisee4 ,so1 too1 a very large       
portion of all ,jewish  prayer is not   
petition but praise4 ,still1 ,judaism   
believed1 not that  prayer would be     
answered1 but that it could be answered4
 ,in modern times  the chief cause of   
the weakening of religion all round1 in 
and out of  the ,jewish communion1 is   
the growing disbelief in the objective  
validity  of prayer4 ,and a similar     
remark applies to the belief in         
miracles4  ,but to a much less extent4  
,all ancient religions were based on    
miracle1  and even to the later         

religious consciousness a denial of     
miracle seems  to deny the divine       
,omnipotence4 ,jewish theology from the 
,rabbinic age  sought to evade the      
difficulty by the mystic notion that all
 miracles  were latent in ordered nature
 at the creation4 ,and so the miraculous
  becomes interconnected with           
,providence as revealed in history4 ,but
 the  belief in special miracles recurs 
again and again in ,judaism1 and though 
discarded by most reformed theologies1  
must be admitted as a prevailing        
concept of the older religion4    ,but  
the belief was rather in general than in
 special ,providence4 ,there  was a     
communal solidarity which made most of  
the ,jewish prayers communal  more than 
personal4 ,it is held by many that in   
the ,psalter ',i' in the  majority of   
cases means the whole people4 ,the sense
 of brotherhood1 in  other relations    
besides public worship1 is a perennial  
characteristic  of ,judaism4    ,even   
more marked is this in the conception of

 the family4 ,the hallowing  of         
home-life was one of the best features  
of ,judaism4 ,chastity was  the mark of 
men and women alike4 ,the position of   
the ,jewish woman was  in many ways     
high4 ,at law she enjoyed certain       
privileges and suffered  certain        
disabilities4 ,but in the house she was 
queen4 ,monogamy had been  the rule of  
,jewish life from the period of the     
return from the ,babylonian  ,exile4 ,in
 the ,middle ,ages the custom of        
monogamy was legalised in ,western      
,jewish communities4 ,connected with the
 fraternity of the ,jewish communal     
organisation and the incomparable       
affection and mutual devotion of  the   
home-life was the habit of charity4     
,charity1 in the sense both of          
almsgiving and of loving-kindness1 was  
the virtue of virtues4 ,the very  word  
which in the ,hebrew ,bible means       
righteousness means in ,rabbinic        
,hebrew charity4 ',on three things the  
world stands1' says a ,rabbi1  'on law1 

on public worship1 and on the bestowal  
of loving-kindness4'    ,some other     
concepts of ,judaism and their influence
 on character will  be treated in a     
later chapter4 ,here a final word must  
be said on the  ,hallowing of           
,knowledge4    ,in one of the oldest    
prayers of the ,synagogue1 repeated     
thrice daily1  occurs this paragraph3   
',thou dost graciously bestow on man    
knowledge1  and teachest mortals        
understanding2 ,o let us be graciously  
endowed by  ,thee with knowledge1       
understanding1 and discernment4 ,blessed
 art ,thou1  ,o ,lord1 gracious ,giver  
of ,knowledge4' ,the intellect was to be
 turned  to the service of the ,god from
 whom intelligence emanated4 ,the       
,jewish  estimate of intellect and      
learning led to some unamiable contempt 
of the  fool and the ignoramus4 ,but the
 evil tendency of identifying learning  
with religion was more than mitigated by
 the encouragement which this  concept  
gave to education4 ,the ideal was that  

every ,jew must be a scholar1  or at all
 events a student4 ,obscurantism could  
not for any lengthy period  lodge itself
 in the ,jewish camp4 ,there was no     
learned caste4 ,the fact that  the      
,bible and much of the most admired     
literature was in ,hebrew made most     
,jews bilingual at least4 ,but it was   
not merely that knowledge was useful1   
that it added dignity to man1 and       
realised part of his possibilities4     
,the service of the ,lord called for the
 dedication of the reason as well  as   
for the purification of the heart4 ,the 
,jew had to think as well as  feel ,he  
had to serve with the mind as well as   
with the body4 ,therefore  it was that  
he was always anxious to justify his    
religion to his reason4  ,maimonides    
devoted a large section of his ,guide to
 the explanation  of the motives of the 
commandments4 ,and his example was      
imitated4  ,the ,law was the expression 
of the ,will of ,god1 and obeyed and    
loved  as such4 ,but the ,law was also  

the expression of the ,divine ,reason4  
,hence man had the right and the duty to
 examine and realise how his own  human 
reason was satisfied by the ,law4 ,in a 
sense the ,jew was a quite  simple      
believer4 ,but never a simpleton4 ',know
 the ,lord thy ,god'  was the key-note  
of this aspect of ,jewish theology4     
,,chapter ,v    ,,some ,,observances    
,,of ,,judaism      ,the historical     
consciousness of ,israel was vitalised  
by a unique  adaptability to present    
conditions4 ,this is shown in the       
fidelity  with which a number of ancient
 festivals have been maintained through 
the ages4 ,some of these were taken over
 from pre-,israelite cults4 ,they  were 
nature feasts1 and these are among the  
oldest rites of men4 ,but1  as          
,maimonides wisely said eight centuries 
ago1 religious rites depend  not so much
 on their origins as on the use men make
 of them4 ,people who  wish to return to
 the primitive usages of this or that   
church have no  grasp of the value and  

significance of ceremonial4 ,here1 at   
all events1  we are not concerned with  
origins4 ,the really interesting thing  
is that  feasts1 which originated in the
 fields and under the free heaven1 were 
observed and enjoyed in the confined    
streets of the ,ghetto4 ,the influence  
of ceremonial is undying when it is     
bound up with a community's life4 ',it  
is impossible to create festivals to    
order4 ,one must use those which  exist1
 and where necessary charge them with   
new meanings4' ,so writes  ,mr4         
,montefiore in his ,liberal ,judaism 7p4
 #aee74    ,this is precisely what has  
happened with the ,passover1 ,pentecost1
 and  the ,feast of ,tabernacles4 ,these
 three festivals were originally1 as has
  been said1 nature feasts4 ,but they   
became also pilgrim feasts4 ,after the  
fall of the ,temple the pilgrimages to  
,jerusalem1 of course1 ceased1 and      
there was an end to the sacrificial     
rites connected with them all4 ,the     
only sense in which they can still be   

called pilgrim feasts is that1  despite 
the general laxity of ,sabbath          
observance and ,synagogue attendance1   
these three celebrations are nowadays   
occasions on which1 in spring1  summer1 
and autumn1 a large section of the      
,jewish community contrives  to wend its
 way to places of public worship4    ,in
 the ,jewish ,liturgy the three feasts  
have special designations4 ,they  are   
called respectively ',the ,season of our
 ,freedom1' 'the ,season of the  ,giving
 of our ,law1' and 'the ,season of our  
,joy4' ,these descriptions are  not     
biblical1 nor are they found in this    
precise form until the fixation  of the 
,synagogue liturgy in the early part of 
the ,middle ,ages4 ,but they  have had a
 powerful influence in perpetuating the 
hold that the three  pilgrim feasts have
 on the heart and consciousness of      
,israel4 ,liberty1  ,revelation1        
,joy--these are a sequence of wondrous  
appeal4 ,now it is  easily seen that    
these ideas have no indissoluble        

connection with specific  historical    
traditions4 ,true1 ',freedom' implies   
the ,exodus2 ',revelation1'  the        
,sinaitic theophany2 ',joy1' the harvest
 merry-makings1 and perhaps  some       
connection with the biblical narrative  
of ,israel's wanderings in the          
wilderness4 ,but the connection1 though 
essential for the construction of  the  
association1 is not essential for its   
retention4 ',the ,passover1' says  ,mr4 
,montefiore 7,liberal ,judaism1 p4      
#aee71 'practically celebrates  the     
formation of the ,jewish people4 ,it is 
also the festival of liberty4 ,in  view 
of these two central features1 it does  
not matter that we no longer  believe in
 the miraculous incidents of the ,exodus
 story4 ,they are mere  trappings which 
can easily be dispensed with4 ,a        
festival of liberty1  the formation of a
 people for a religious task1 a people  
destined to  become a purely religious  
community whose continued existence has 
no  meaning or value except on the      

ground of religion1--here we have ideas1
  which can fitly form the subject of a 
yearly celebration4' ,again1 as  to     
,pentecost and the ,ten ,commandments1  
,mr4 ,montefiore writes3 ',we do  not   
believe that any divine or miraculous   
voice1 still less that ,god  ,himself1  
audibly pronounced the ,ten ,words4 ,but
 their importance lies in  themselves1  
not in their surroundings and origin4   
,liberals as well as  orthodox may      
therefore join in the festival of the   
,ten ,commandments4  ,pentecost         
celebrates the definite union of        
religion with morality1  the inseparable
 conjunction of the service of ,god with
 the service  of man4 ,can any religious
 festival have a nobler subject8'       
,finally1 as  to tabernacles1 ,mr4      
,montefiore thus expresses himself3     
',for us1 to-day1  the connection with  
the wanderings from ,egypt1 which the   
latest biblical  legislators attempted1 
has again disappeared4 ,tabernacles is a
 harvest  festival2 it is a nature      

festival4 ,should not a religion have a 
festival  or holy day of this kind8 ,is 
not the conception of ,god as the ruler 
and  sustainer of nature1 the immanent  
and all-pervading spirit1 one aspect of 
the ,divine1 which can fitly be thought 
of and celebrated year by year8  ,thus  
each of the three great ,pentateuchal   
festivals may reasonably and  joyfully  
be observed by liberals and orthodox    
alike4 ,we have no need or  wish to make
 a change4' ,and of the actual          
ceremonial rites connected  with the    
,passover1 ,pentecost1 and ,tabernacles1
 it is apparently only  the avoidance of
 leaven on the first of the three that  
is regarded as  unimportant4 ,but even  
there ,mr4 ,montefiore's own feeling is 
in favour  of the rite4 ',it is1' he    
says1 'a matter of comparative          
unimportance  whether the practice of   
eating unleavened bread in the house for
 the  seven days of the ,passover be    
maintained or not4 ,those who appreciate
  the value of a pretty and ancient     

symbol1 both for children and adults1   
will not easily abandon the custom4'    
,this is surely a remarkable            
development4 ,in the ,christian ,church 
it seems  that certain festivals are    
retaining their general hold because    
they  are becoming public1 national     
holidays4 ,but in ,judaism the hold is  
to be  maintained precisely on the      
ground that there is to be nothing      
national  about them1 they are to be    
reinterpreted ideally and symbolically4 
,it  remains to be seen whether this is 
possible1 and it is too early to        
predict the verdict of experience4 ,the 
process is in active incubation  in     
,america as well as in ,europe1 but it  
cannot be claimed that the eggs  are    
hatched yet4 ,on the other hand1        
,zionism has so far had no effect in    
the opposite direction4 ,there has been 
no nationalisation of ,judaism as  a    
result of the new striving after        
political nationality4 ,many who had    
previously been detached from the       

,jewish community have been brought back
  by ,zionism1 but they have not been   
re-attached to the religion4 ,there  has
 been no perceptible increase1 for      
instance1 in the number of those  who   
fast on the ,ninth of ,ab1 the          
anniversary of the destruction of the   
,temple4 ,hence1 from these and other   
considerations1 of which limited  space 
prevents the specification1 it seems on 
the whole likely that1  as in the past  
so in the future1 the ,festivals of the 
,synagogue will  survive by changes in  
religious significance rather than by   
any deepening  of national association4 
,except that the ,synagogues are decked 
with flowers1 while the ,decalogue  is  
solemnly intoned from the ,scroll of the
 ,pentateuch1 the ,feast of  ,pentecost 
has no ceremonial trappings even with   
the orthodox4 ,passover and             
,tabernacles stand on a different       
footing4 ,the abstention from leavened  
bread on the former feast has led to a  
closely organised system of  cleansing  

the houses1 an interminable array of    
rules as to food2 while  the            
prescriptions of the ,law as to the     
bearing of palm-branches and other      
emblems1 and the ordinance as to        
dwelling in booths1 have surrounded  the
 ,feast of ,tabernacles with a          
considerable1 if less extensive1        
ceremonial4 ,but there is this          
difference4 ,the ,passover is primarily 
a  festival of the ,home1 ,tabernacles  
of the ,synagogue4 ,in ,europe the habit
  of actually dwelling in booths has    
been long unusual1 owing to climatic    
considerations4 ,but of late years it   
has become customary for every          
,synagogue to raise its communal booth1 
to which many ,jews pay visits of       
ceremony4 ,on the other hand1 the       
,passover is par excellence a home      
rite4 ,on the first two evenings 7or at 
all events on the first evening7  there 
takes place the ,seder1 7literally      
'service'71 a service of  prayer1 which 
is at the same time a family meal4      

,gathered round the table1  on which are
 spread unleavened cakes1 bitter herbs1 
and other emblems of  joy and sorrow1   
the family recounts in prose and song   
the narrative of  the ,exodus4 ,the     
service is in two parts1 between which  
comes the evening  meal4 ,the hallowing 
of the home here attains its highest    
point4    ,unless1 indeed1 this         
distinction be allotted to the ,sabbath4
 ,the  rigidity of the laws regarding   
,sabbath observance is undeniable4      
,movement  was restricted1 many acts    
were forbidden which were not in        
themselves  laborious4 ,the ,sabbath was
 hedged in by a formidable array of     
enactments4  ,to an outside critic it is
 not wonderful that the ,jewish ,sabbath
 has  a repellent look4 ,but to the     
insider things wear another aspect4     
,the ,sabbath was and is a day of       
delight4 ,on it the ,jew had a foretaste
  of the happiness of the world to come4
 ,the reader who wishes to have a       
spirited1 and absolutely true1 picture  

of the ,jewish ,sabbath cannot do       
better than turn to ,dr4 ,schechter's   
excellent ,studies in ,judaism  7pp4    
#bif seq474 ,as ,dr4 ,schechter pithily 
puts it3 ',somebody1  either the learned
 professors1 or the millions of the     
,jewish people1  must be under a        
delusion4' ,right through the ,middle   
,ages the ,sabbath grew  deeper into the
 affections of the ,jews4 ,it was not   
till after the ,french  ,revolution and 
the era of emancipation1 that a change  
occurred4 ,mixing  with the world1 and  
sharing the world's pursuits1 the ,jews 
began to  find it hard to observe the   
,saturday ,sabbath as of old4 ,in still 
more  recent times the difficulty has   
increased4 ,added to this1 the growing  
laxity in observances has affected the  
,sabbath4 ,this is one of the most      
pressing problems that face the ,jewish 
community to-day4 ,here and there  an   
attempt has been made by small sections 
of ,jews to substitute a ,sunday        
,sabbath for the ,saturday ,sabbath4    

,but the plan has not prospered4    ,one
 of the most notable rites of the       
,service of the ,passover eve is the    
sanctification with wine1 a ceremony    
common to the ordinary ,sabbath eve4    
,this rite has perhaps had much to do   
with the characteristic sobriety  of    
,israel4 ,wine forms part of almost     
every ,jewish rite1 including the       
marriage ceremony4 ,wine thus becomes   
associated with religion1 and  undue    
indulgence is a sin as well as a vice4  
',no joy without wine1'  runs an old    
,rabbinic prescription4 ,joy is the     
hallmark of ,judaism2  ',joyous         
,service' its summary of man's relation 
to the ,law4 ,so far is  ,judaism from  
being a gloomy religion1 that it is     
almost too light-hearted1  just as was  
the religion of ancient ,greece4 ,but   
the ,talmud tells us of a  class who in 
the early part of the first century were
 known as 'lovers  of sorrow4' ,these   
men were in love with misfortune2 for to
 every trial  of ,israel corresponded an

 intervention of the divine salvation4  
,this is  the secret of the ,jewish     
gaiety4 ,the resilience under           
tribulation was  the result of a firm   
confidence in the saving fidelity of    
,god4 ,and the  gaiety was tempered by  
solemnity1 as the observances1 to which 
we now  turn1 will amply show4    ,far  
more remarkable than anything yet       
discussed is the change effected in  two
 other holy days since ,bible times4    
,the genius of ,judaism is nowhere  more
 conspicuous than in the fuller meanings
 which have been infused  into the ,new 
,year's ,day and the ,day of ,atonement4
 ,the ,new ,year is the  first day of   
the seventh month 7,tishri71 when the   
ecclesiastical year  began4 ,in the     
,bible the festival is only known as a  
'day of blowing the  shofar' 7ram's     
horn74 ,in the ,synagogue this rite was 
retained after  the destruction of the  
,temple1 and it still is universally    
observed4  ,but the day was transformed 
into a ,day of ,judgment1 the opening of

 a  ten days' period of ,penitence which
 closed with the ,day of ,atonement4    
,here1 too1 the change effected in a    
biblical rite transformed  its          
character4 ',it needed a long upward    
development before a day1  originally   
instituted on priestly ideas of national
 sin and collective  atonement1 could be
 transformed into the purely spiritual  
festival which  we celebrate to-day'    
7,montefiore1 op4 cit41 p4 #afj74 ,but  
the day  is none the less associated    
with a strict rite1 the fast4 ,it is one
 of  the few ascetic ceremonies in the  
,jewish ,calendar as known to most      
,jews4  ,there is a strain of asceticism
 in some forms of ,judaism1 and on this 
a few words will be said later4 ,but1 on
 the whole1 there is in modern  ,judaism
 a tendency to underrate somewhat the   
value of asceticism in  religion4 ,hence
 the fast has a distinct importance in  
and for itself1  and it is regrettable  
that the laudable desire to spiritualise
 the day  is leading to a depreciation  

of the fast as such4 ,but the real      
change  is due to the cessation of      
sacrifices4 ,in the ,levitical ,code1   
sacrifice  had a primary importance in  
the scheme of atonement4 ,but with the  
loss  of the ,temple1 the idea of       
sacrifice entirely vanished1 and        
atonement  became a matter for the      
personal conscience4 ,it was henceforth 
an inward  sense of sin translating     
itself into the better life4 ',to purify
 desire1  to ennoble the will--this is  
the essential condition of atonement4   
,nay1  it is atonement' 7,joseph1       
,judaism as ,creed and ,life1 p4 #bfg2  
cf4 supra1 p4 #de74 ,this1 in the       
opinion of ,christian theologians1  is a
 shallow view of atonement4 ,but it is  
at all events an attempt to  apply      
theology to life4 ,and its justification
 lies in its success4    ,of the other  
festivals a word is due concerning two  
of them1 which  differ much in          
significance and in development4 ,purim 
and ,chanuka are  their names4 ,purim   

was probably the ancient ,babylonian    
,saturnalia1 and  it is still observed  
as a kind of ,carnival by many ,jews1   
though their  number is decreasing4 ,for
 ,purim is emphatically a ,ghetto feast4
 ,and this  description applies in more 
ways than one4 ,in the first place1 the 
,book  of ,esther1 with which the       
,jewish ,purim is associated1 is not a  
book that  commends itself to the modern
 ,jewish consciousness4 ,the historicity
 of  the story is doubted1 and its      
narrow outlook is not that of prophetic 
,judaism4 ,observed as mediaeval ,jews  
observed it1 ,purim was a thoroughly    
innocent festivity4 ,the unpleasant     
taste left by the closing scenes of the 
book was washed off by the geniality of 
temper which saw the humours of         
,haman's fall and never for a moment    
rested in a feeling of vindictiveness4  
,but the whole book breathes so         
nationalistic a spirit1 so              
uncompromising  a belief that the enemy 
of ,israel must be the enemy of ,god1   

that it has  become difficult for modern
 ,judaism to retain any affection for   
it4 ,it  makes its appeal to the        
persecuted1 no doubt3 it conveys a      
stirring lesson  in the providential    
care with which ,god watches over ,his  
people3 it bids  the sufferer hope4     
,esther's splendid surrender of self1   
her immortal  declaration1 ',if ,i      
perish1 ,i perish1' still may           
legitimately thrill all  hearts4 ,but   
the ,carnival has no place in the life  
of a ,western city1  still less the     
sectional ,carnival4 ,the hobby-horse   
had its opportunity  and the maskers    
their rights in the ,ghetto1 but only   
there4 ,purim thus  is now chiefly      
retained as a children's feast1 and     
still better as a  feast of charity1 of 
the interchange of gifts between        
friends1 and the  bestowal of alms on   
the needy4 ,this is a worthy survival4  
,chanuka1 on the other hand1 grows every
 year into greater popularity4 ,this    
festival of light1 when lamps are       

kindled in honour of the ,maccabean     
heroes1 has of late been rediscovered by
 the liberals4 ,for the first four      
centuries of the ,christian ,era1 the   
festival of ,chanuka 7',dedication'7    
was observed by the ,church as well as  
by the ,synagogue4 ,but for some        
centuries afterwards the significance of
 the anniversary was obscured4 ,it  is  
now realised as a momentous event in the
 world's history4 ,it was not  merely a 
local triumph of ,hebraism over         
,hellenism1 but it represents  the      
re-entry of the ,east into the          
civilisation of the ,west4 ,alexander   
the ,great had occidentalised the       
,orient4 ,but with the success of the   
,judaeans against the ,seleucids and of 
the ,parthians against the ,romans1  the
 ,east reasserted itself4 ,and the newly
 recovered influence has never  again   
been surrendered4 ,hence this feast is a
 feast of ideals4 ,year by  year this is
 becoming more clearly seen4 ,and the   
symbol of the feast1  light1 is itself  

an inspiration4    ,the ,jew is really a
 very sentimental being4 ,he loves      
symbols4 ,a  good deal of his fondness  
for ritual is due to this fact4 ,the    
outward  marks of an inner state have   
always appealed to him4 ,ancient taboos 
became not only consecrated but         
symbolical4 ,whether it be the rite of  
circumcision1 or the use of phylacteries
 and fringed praying garments1  or the  
adfixture of little scrolls in metal    
cases on the door-posts1 or  the glad   
submission to the dietary laws1 in all  
these matters sentiment  played a       
considerable part4 ,and the word        
sentiment is used in its  best sense4   
,abstract morality is well enough for   
the philosopher1  but men of flesh and  
blood want their morality expressed in  
terms of  feeling4 ,love of ,god is a   
fine thing1 but the ,jew wished to do   
loving  acts of service4 ,obedience to  
the ,will of ,god1 the suppression of   
the  human desires before that ,will1 is
 a great ideal4 ,but the ,jew wished to 

realise that he was obeying1 that he was
 making the self-suppression4 ,he  was  
not satisfied with a general law of     
holiness3 he felt impelled to  holiness 
in detail1 to a life in which the laws  
of bodily hygiene were  obeyed as part  
of the same law of holiness that imposed
 ritual and moral  purity4 ,much of the 
intricate system1 of observance briefly 
summarised in  this paragraph1 a system 
which filled the ,jew's life1 is passing
 away4  ,this is largely because ,jews  
are surrendering their own original     
theory  of life and religion4 ,modern   
,judaism seems to have no use for the   
ritual  system4 ,the older ,judaism     
might retort that1 if that be so1 it has
 no  use for the modern ,judaism4 ,it   
is1 however1 clear that modern ,judaism 
now realises the mistake made by the    
,reformers of the mid-nineteenth        
century4 ,hence we are hearing1 and     
shall no doubt hear more and more1 of   
the modification of observances in      
,judaism rather than of their abolition4

        ,,chapter ,,vi    ,,jewish      
,,mysticism      ',judaism is often     
called the religion of reason4 ,it is   
this1 but it is  also the religion of   
the soul4 ,it recognises the value of   
that mystic  insight1 those indefinable 
intuitions which1 taking up the task at 
the  point where the mind impotently    
abandons it1 carries us straight into   
the  presence of the ,king4 ,thus it has
 found room both for the keen speculator
  on theological problems and for the   
mystic who1 because he feels ,god1      
declines to reason about ,him--for a    
,maimonides and a ,mendelssohn1 but also
  for a ,nachmanides1 a ,vital1 and a   
,luria' 7,m4 ,joseph1 op4 cit41  p4     
#dg74 ,used in a vague way1 mysticism   
stands for spiritual inwardness4        
,religion without mysticism1 said       
,amiel1 is a rose without perfume4 ,this
  saying is no more precise and no more 
informing than ,matthew ,arnold's       
definition of religion as morality      
touched with emotion4 ,neither          

mysticism nor an emotional touch makes  
religion4 ,they are as often as not     
concomitants of a pathological state    
which is the denial of religion4 ,but   
if mysticism means a personal attitude  
towards ,god in which the heart is      
active as well as the mind1 then        
religion cannot exist without mysticism4
    ,when1 however1 we regard mysticism 
as what it very often is1 as an         
antithesis to institutional religion and
 a revolt against authority  and forms1 
then it may seem at first sight         
paradoxical to recognise  the mystic's  
claim to the hospitality of ,judaism4   
,that a religion which  produced the    
,psalter1 and not only produced it1 but 
used it with never  a break1 should be a
 religion1 with intensely spiritual     
possibilities1  and its adherents       
capable of a vivid sense of the nearness
 of ,god1 with  an ever-felt and        
never-satisfied longing for communion   
with ,him1 is what  we should fully     
expect4 ,but this expectation would     

rather make us look  for an expression  
on the lines of the #aaith ,psalm1 in   
which the ,law is so  markedly          
associated with freedom and             
spirituality4 ,judaism1 after all1      
allowed to authority and ,law a supreme 
place4 ,but the mystic relies on  his   
own intuitions1 depends on his personal 
experiences4 ,judaism1 on the  other    
hand1 is a scheme in which personal     
experiences only count in so  far as    
they are brought into the general fund  
of the communal experience4    ,but in  
discussing ,judaism it is always        
imperative to discard all  a priori     
probabilities4 ,judaism is the great    
upsetter of  the probable4 ,analyse a   
tendency of ,judaism and predict its    
logical  consequences1 and then look in 
,judaism for consequences quite other   
than  these4 ,over and over again things
 are not what they ought to be4 ,the    
sacrificial system should have destroyed
 spirituality2 in fact1 it  produced the
 ,psalter1 'the hymnbook of the second  

,temple4' ,pharisaism  ought to have led
 to externalism2 in fact1 it did not1   
for somehow  excessive scrupulosity in  
rite and pietistic exercises went hand  
in hand  with simple faith and religious
 inwardness4 ,so1 too1 the expression of
  ethics and religion as ,law ought to  
have suppressed individuality2 in  fact1
 it sometimes gave an impulse to each   
individual to try to impose  his own    
concepts1 norms1 and acts as a ,law upon
 the rest4 ,each thought  very much for 
himself1 and desired that others should 
think likewise4 ,we  have already seen  
that in matters of dogma there never was
 any corporate  action at all2 in       
ancient times1 as now1 it is not        
possible to pronounce  definitely on the
 dogmatic teachings of ,judaism4 ,though
 there has been and  is a certain       
consensus of opinion on many matters1   
yet neither in practice  nor in beliefs 
have the local1 the temporal1 the       
personal elements ever  been negligible4
 ,in order to expound or define a tenet 

or rite of ,judaism  it is mostly       
necessary to go into questions of time  
and place and person4    ,perhaps1 then1
 we ought to be prepared to find1 as in 
point of fact we  do find1 within the   
main body of ,judaism1 and not merely as
 a freak of  occasional eccentrics1     
distinct mystical tendencies4 ,these    
tendencies  have often been active well 
inside the sphere of the ,law4          
,mysticism was1  as we shall see1       
sometimes a revolt against ,law2 but it 
was often1 in  ,judaism as in the ,roman
 ,catholic ,church1 the outcome of a    
sincere and  even passionate devotion to
 authority4 ,jewish mysticism1 in       
particular1  starts as an interpretation
 of the ,scriptures4 ,certain truths    
were arrived  at by man either          
intuitively or rationally1 and these    
were harmonised  with the ,bible by a   
process of lifting the veil from the    
text1 and thus  penetrating to the true 
meaning hidden beneath the letter4      
,allegorical  and esoteric exegesis     

always had this aim3 to find written    
what had  been otherwise found4 ,honour 
was thus done to the ,scriptures1 though
 the  latter were somewhat cavalierly   
treated in the process2 ,philo's        
doctrine  7at the beginning of the      
,christian era7 and the great canonical 
book of  the mediaeval ,cabbala1 the    
,zohar 7beginning of the fourteenth     
century71  were alike in this1 they were
 largely commentaries on the            
,pentateuch4  ,maimonides in the twelfth
 century followed the same method1 and  
only  differed from these in the nature 
of his deductions from ,scripture4 ,this
  prince of rationalists agreed with the
 mystics in adopting an esoteric        
exegesis4 ,but he read ,aristotle into  
the text1 while the mystics read  ,plato
 into it4 ,they were alike faithful to  
the ,law1 or rather to their  own       
interpretations of its terms4    ,but   
further than this1--a large portion of  
,jewish mysticism was the  work of      
lawyers4 ,some of the foremost mystics  

were famous ,talmudists1  men who were  
appealed to for decisions on ritual and 
conduct4 ,it is  a phenomenon that      
constantly meets us in ,jewish theology4
 ,there were  antinomian mystics and    
legalistic opponents of mysticism1 but  
many1  like ,nachmanides 7#aaie-abgj7   
and ,joseph ,caro 7#adhh-aege71 doubled 
the  parts of ,cabbalist and ,talmudist4
 ,that ,jewish mysticism comes to look  
like a revolt against the ,talmud is due
 to the course of mediaeval             
scholasticism4 ,while ,aristotle was    
supreme1 it was impossible for man  to  
conceive as knowable anything           
unattainable by reason4 ,but reason must
  always leave ,god as unknowable4      
,mysticism did not assert that ,god was 
knowable1 but it substituted something  
else for this spiritual scepticism4     
,mysticism started with the conviction  
that ,god was unknowable by reason1  but
 it held that ,god was nevertheless     
realisable in the human experience4     
,accepting and adopting various         

,neo-,platonic theories of emanation1   
elaborating thence an intricate         
angelology1 the mystics threw a bridge  
over the gulf between ,god and man4     
,philo's ,logos1 the ,personified       
,wisdom  of the ,palestinian ,midrash1  
the demiurge of ,gnosticism1 the        
incarnate  ,christ1 were all but various
 phases of this same attempt to cross an
  otherwise impassable chasm4           
,throughout its whole history1 ,jewish  
mysticism  substituted mediate creation 
for immediate creation out of nothing1  
and  the mediate beings were not created
 but were emanations4 ,this view was    
much influenced by ,solomon ibn ,gabirol
 7#ajba-ajgj74 ,god is to ,gabirol  an  
absolute ,unity1 in which form and      
substance are identical4 ,hence  ,he    
cannot be attributively defined1 and man
 can know ,him only by means  of beings 
which emanate from ,him4 ,nor was this  
idea confined to ,jewish  philosophy of 
the ,greece-,arabic school4 ,the ,german
 ,cabbala1 too1 which  owed nothing     

directly to that school1 held that ,god 
was not rationally  knowable4 ,the      
result must be1 not merely to exalt     
visionary meditation  over calm         
ratiocination1 but to place reliance on 
inward experience  instead of on        
external authority1 which makes its     
appeal necessarily to  the reason4 ,here
 we see elements of revolt4 ,for1 as    
,dr4 ,l4 ,ginzberg well  says1 'while   
study of the ,law was to ,talmudists the
 very acme of piety1  the mystics       
accorded the first place to prayer1     
which was considered  as a mystical     
progress towards ,god1 demanding a state
 of ecstasy4' ,the  ,jewish mystic must 
invent means for inducing such a state1 
for ,judaism  cannot endure a passive   
waiting for the moving spirit4 ,the     
mystic soul  must learn how to mount the
 chariot 7,merkaba7 and ride into the   
inmost  halls of ,heaven4 ,mostly the   
ecstatic state was induced by fasting   
and  other ascetic exercises1 a         
necessary preliminary being moral       

purity2  then there were solitary       
meditations and long night vigils2      
lastly1  prescribed ritual of proved    
efficacy during the very act of prayer4 
,thus  mysticism had a farther          
attraction for a certain class of ,jews1
 in that  it supplied the missing       
element of asceticism which is          
indispensable to  men more austerely    
disposed than the average ,jew4    ,in  
the sixteenth century a very strong     
impetus was given to ,jewish  mysticism 
by ,isaac ,luria 7#aecd-aegb74 ,his     
chief contributions to the  movement    
were practical1 though he doubtless     
taught a theoretical  ,cabbala also4    
,but ,judaism1 even in its mystical     
phases1 remains a  religion of conduct4 
,luria was convinced that man can       
conquer matter2  this practical         
conviction was the moving force of his  
whole life4 ,his  own manner of living  
was saintly2 and he taught his disciples
 that  they too could1 by penitence1    
confession1 prayer1 and charity1 evade  

bodily trammels and send their souls    
straight to ,god even during their      
terrestrial pilgrimage4 ,luria taught   
all this not only while submitting  to  
,law1 but under the stress of a         
passionate submission to it4 ,he added  
in particular a new beauty to the       
,sabbath4 ,many of the most             
fascinatingly  religious rites connected
 now with the ,sabbath are of his       
devising4 ,the  white ,sabbath garb1 the
 joyous mystical hymns full of the      
,bride and of  ,love1 the special       
,sabbath foods1 the notion of the       
'over-,soul'--these  and many other of  
the ,lurian rites and fancies still hold
 wide sway  in the ,orient4 ,the        
'over-,soul' was a very inspiring       
conception1 which  certainly did not    
originate with ,luria4 ,according to a  
,talmudic ,rabbi  7,resh ,lakish1 third 
century71 on ,adam was bestowed a higher
 soul on  the ,sabbath1 which he lost at
 the close of the day4 ,luria seized    
upon  this mystical idea1 and used it at

 once to spiritualise the ,sabbath and  
attach to it an ecstatic joyousness4    
,the ritual of the 'over-,soul' was  an 
elaborate means by which a relation was 
established between heaven  and earth4  
,but all this symbolism had but the     
slightest connection with  dogma4 ,it   
was practical through and through4 ,it  
emerged in a number of new  rites1 it   
based itself on and became the cause of 
a deepening devotion to  morality4      
,luria would have looked with dismay on 
the moral laxity which  did later on    
intrude1 in consequence of unbridled    
emotionalism and mystic  hysteria4      
,there comes the point when he that     
interprets ,law emotionally  is no      
longer ,law-abiding4 ,the antinomian    
crisis thus produced meets us in  the   
careers of many who1 like ,sabbatai     
,zebi1 assumed the ,messianic role4     
,jewish mysticism1 starting as an       
ascetic corrective to the conventional  
hedonism1 lost its ascetic character and
 degenerated into licentiousness4  ,this

 was the case with the                  
eighteenth-century mysticism known as   
,chassidism1 though1 as its name        
7',saintliness'7 implies1 it was        
innocent enough at its initiation4      
,violent dances1 and other emotional    
and sensual stimulations1 led to a state
 of exaltation during which  the line of
 morality was overstepped4 ,but there   
was nevertheless1  as ,dr4 ,schechter   
has shown1 considerable spiritual worth 
and beauty  in ,chassidism4 ,it         
transferred the centre of gravity from  
thinking to  feeling2 it led away from  
the worship of ,scripture to the love of
 ,god4  ,the fresh air of religion was  
breathed once more1 the stars and the   
open  sky replaced the midnight lamp and
 the college4 ,but it was destined to   
raise a fog more murky than the confined
 atmosphere of the study4 ,the  man with
 the book was often nearer ,god than was
 the man of the earth4    ,the          
opposition of ,talmudism against the    
neo-mysticism was thus on the  whole    

just and salutary4 ,this opposition1 no 
doubt1 was bitter chiefly  when         
mysticism became revolutionary in       
practice1 when it invaded the           
established customs of legalistic       
orthodoxy4 ,but it was also felt that   
mysticism went dangerously near to a    
denial of the absolute ,unity of  ,god4 
,it was more difficult to attack it on  
its theoretical than on its  practical  
side1 however4 ,the ,jewish mystic did  
sometimes adopt a most  irritating      
policy of deliberately altering customs 
as though for the  very pleasure of     
change4 ,now in most religious          
controversies discipline  counts for    
more than belief4 ,as ,salimbene asserts
 of his own day3  ',it was far less     
dangerous to debate in the schools      
whether ,god really  existed1 than to   
wear publicly and pertinaciously a frock
 and cowl of  any but the orthodox cut4'
 ,but the ,talmudists' antagonism to    
mysticism  was not exclusively of this  
kind in the eighteenth century4         

,mysticism  is often mere delusion4 ,in 
the last resort man has no other guide  
than  his reason4 ,it is his own reason 
that convinces him of the limitations   
of his reason4 ,but those limitations   
are not to be overpassed by a  visionary
 self-introspection1 unless this1 too1  
is subjected to rational  criticism4    
,mysticism does its true part when it   
applies this criticism  also to the     
current forms1 conventions1 and         
institutions4 ,conventions1  forms1 and 
institutions1 after all1 represent the  
corporate wisdom1  the accumulated      
experiences of men throughout the ages4 
,mysticism is the  experience of one4   
,each does right to test the corporate  
experience by  his own experience4 ,but 
he must not elevate himself into a law  
even for  himself4 ,that1 in a sentence1
 would summarise the attitude of        
,judaism  towards mysticism4 ,it is     
medicine1 not a food4        ,,chapter  
,,vii    ,,eschatology      ,that the   
soul has a life of its own after death  

was a firmly fixed  idea in ,judaism1   
though1 except in the works of          
philosophers and in  the liberal        
theology of modern ,judaism1 the grosser
 conception of a  bodily ,resurrection  
was predominant over the purely         
spiritual idea of  ,immortality4        
,curiously enough1 ,maimonides1 who     
formulated the belief in  ,resurrection 
as a dogma of the ,synagogue1 himself   
held that the world to  come is         
altogether free from material factors4  
,at a much earlier period  7in the third
 century7 ,rab had said 7,ber4 #ag a73  
',not as this world is  the world to    
come4 ,in the world to come there is no 
eating or drinking1  no sexual          
intercourse1 no barter1 no envy1 hatred1
 or contention4 ,but the  righteous sit 
with their crowns on their heads1       
enjoying the splendour  of the          
,shechinah 7the ,divine ,presence74'    
,commenting on this in various  places1 
,maimonides emphatically asserts the    
spirituality of the future  life4 ,in   

his ,siraj he says1 with reference to   
the utterance of  ,rab just quoted3 ',by
 the remark of the ,sages with their    
crowns on their  heads is meant the     
preservation of the soul in the         
intellectual sphere1  and the merging of
 the two into one4444 ,by their remark  
enjoying the  splendour of the          
,shechinah is meant that those souls    
will reap bliss in  what they comprehend
 of the ,creator1 just as the ,angels   
enjoy felicity in  what they understand 
of ,his existence4 ,and so the felicity 
and the final  goal consists in reaching
 to this exalted company and attaining  
this high  pitch4' ,again1 in his       
philosophical ,guide 7,i4 xli471        
,maimonides  distinguishes three kinds  
of 'soul'3 7#a7 ,the principle of       
animality1 7#b7  the principle of       
humanity1 and 7#c7 the principle of     
intellectuality1 that  part of man's    
individuality which can exist           
independently of the body1  and         
therefore alone survives death4 ,even   

more remarkable is the fact that        
,maimonides enunciates the same opinion 
in his ,code 7,laws of ,repentance1     
viii4 #b74 ,for the ,code differs from  
the other two of the three main  works  
of ,maimonides in that it is less       
personal1 and expresses what the  author
 conceives to be the general opinion of 
,judaism as interpreted by  its most    
authoritative teachers4    ,there can be
 no question but that this repeated     
insistence of ,maimonides  has strongly 
affected all subsequent ,jewish thought4
 ,to him1 eternal  bliss consists in    
perfect spiritual communion with ,god4  
',he who desires to  serve ,god from    
,love must not serve to win the future  
world4 ,but he does  right and eschews  
wrong because he is man1 and owes it to 
his manhood  to perfect himself4 ,this  
effort brings him to the type of perfect
 man1  whose soul shall live in the     
state that befits it1 viz4 in the world 
to  come4' ,thus the world to come is a 
state rather than a place4    ,but      

,maimonides' view was not accepted      
without dispute4 ,it was indeed  quite  
easy to cite ,rabbinic passages in which
 the world to come is  identified with  
the bodily ,resurrection4 ,against      
,maimonides were produced  such         
,talmudic utterances as the following3  
',said ,rabbi ,chiya b4 ,joseph1  the   
,righteous shall arise clad in their    
garments1 for if a grain of wheat  which
 is buried naked comes forth with many  
garments1 how much more shall  the      
righteous arise full garbed1 seeing that
 they were interred with  shrouds'      
7,kethub4 #aaa b74 ,again1 ',rabbi      
,jannai said to his children1  ,bury me 
not in white garments or in black3 not  
in white1 lest ,i be not  held worthy   
7of heaven7 and thus may be like a      
bridegroom among mourners  7in          
,gehenna72 nor in black1 lest if ,i am  
held worthy1 ,i be like a mourner  among
 bridegrooms 7in heaven74 ,but bury me  
in coloured garments 7so that  my       
appearance will be partly in keeping    

with either fate71' 7,sabbath1  #aad a74
 ,or finally3 ',they arise with their   
blemishes1 and then are healed'  7,sanh4
 #ia b74    ,the popular fancy1 in its  
natural longing for a personal existence
  after the bodily death1 certainly     
seized upon the belief in ,resurrection 
with avidity4 ,it had its roots partly  
in the individual consciousness1  partly
 in the communal4 ,for the ,resurrection
 was closely connected with  such hopes 
as those expressed in ,ezekiel's vision 
of the re-animation  of ,israel's dry   
bones 7,ezek4 xxxvii474 ,thus popular   
theology adopted  many ideas based on   
the ,resurrection4 ,the myth of the     
,leviathan hardly  belongs here1 for1   
widespread as it was1 it was certainly  
not regarded  in a material light4 ,the 
,leviathan was created on the fifth day1
 and  its flesh will be served as a     
banquet for the righteous at the advent 
of ,messiah4 ,the mediaeval poets found 
much attraction in this idea1  and      
allowed their imagination full play     

concerning the details of  the divine   
repast4 ,maimonides entirely            
spiritualised the idea1 and  his example
 was here decisive4 ,the conception of  
the ,resurrection  had other            
consequences4 ,as the scene of the      
,resurrection is to be  ,jerusalem1     
there grew up a strong desire to be     
buried on the western  slope of ,mount  
,olivet4 ,in fact1 many burial and      
mourning customs of  the ,synagogue     
originated from a belief in the bodily  
,resurrection4 ,but  even in the        
orthodox liturgy the direct references  
to it are vague and  idealised4 ,two    
passages of great beauty may be cited4  
,the first is taken  from the           
,authorised ,daily ,prayer ,book 7ed4   
,singer1 p4 #e73    ',o my ,god1 the    
soul which ,thou gavest me is pure2     
,thou didst create it1  ,thou didst form
 it1 ,thou didst breathe it into me2    
,thou preservest it  within me2 and     
,thou wilt take it from me1 but wilt    
restore it unto me  hereafter4 ,so long 

as the soul is within me1 ,i will give  
thanks unto  ,thee1 ,o ,lord my ,god and
 ,god of my fathers1 ,sovereign of all  
works1  ,lord of all souls6 ,blessed art
 ,thou1 ,o ,lord1 who restorest souls   
unto  dead bodies4' ,the last phrase is 
also extant in another reading in the   
,talmud and in some liturgies3 ',blessed
 art ,thou1 who revivest the dead1'  but
 the meaning of the two forms is        
identical4 ,this passage1 be it noted1  
is ancient1 and is recited every morning
 at prayer4 ,the second passage is      
recited even more frequently1 for it is 
said thrice daily1 and also forms  part 
of the funeral service4 ,it may be found
 in the ,prayer ,book just  quoted on p4
 #dd3 ',thou1 ,o ,lord1 art mighty for  
ever1 ,thou quickenest  the dead1 ,thou 
art mighty to save4 ,thou sustainest the
 living with  loving-kindness1          
quickenest the dead with great mercy1   
supportest the  falling1 healest the    
sick1 loosest the bound1 and keepest    
,thy faith to  them that sleep in the   

dust4 ,who is like unto ,thee1 ,lord of 
mighty acts1  and who resembleth ,thee1 
,o ,king1 who killest and quickenest1   
and causest  salvation to spring forth8 
,yea faithful art ,thou to quicken the  
dead4'    ,the later history of the     
doctrine in the ,synagogue may be best  
summarised  in the words of ,dr4        
,kohler1 whose theological articles in  
the ,jewish  ,encyclopedia deserve      
grateful recognition4 ,what follows may 
be  read at full length in that work1   
vol4 vi4 p4 #efg3 ',while mediaeval     
philosophy dwelt on the intellectual1   
moral1 or spiritual nature of the  soul 
to prove its immortality1 the           
,cabbalists endeavoured to explain the  
soul as a light from heaven1 after      
,proverbs xx4 #bg1 and immortality as  a
 return to the celestial world of pure  
light4 ,but the belief in the           
pre-existence of the soul led the       
mystics to the adoption1 with all  its  
weird notions and superstitions1 of the 
,pythagorean system of the              

transmigration of the soul4' ,moses     
,mendelssohn revived the ,platonic form 
of the doctrine of immortality4         
,thenceforth the dogma of the           
,resurrection  was gradually discarded  
until it was eliminated from the ,prayer
 ,book of  the ,reform congregations4   
,man's future was thought of as the     
realisation  of those 'higher           
expectations which are sown1 as part of 
its very nature1  in every human soul4' 
,the statement of ,genesis that ',god   
made man in  ,his own image1' and the   
idea conveyed in the text 7#a ,samuel   
xxv4 #bi71  ',may the soul 444 be bound 
up in the bundle of life with the ,lord 
thy  ,god1' which as a divine promise   
and a human supplication 'filled the    
generations with comfort and hope1      
received a new meaning from this view   
of man's future2 and the ,rabbinical    
saying 7,ber4 #fd a73 ,the ,righteous   
rest not1 either in this or in the      
future world1 but go from strength  to  
strength until they see ,god in ,zion1  

appeared to offer an endless  vista to  
the hope of immortality4'    ,but quite 
apart from this indefiniteness of       
attitude as to the meaning  of          
immortality1 it is scarcely possible to 
speak of a ,jewish ,eschatology  at all4
 ,the development of an ,eschatology    
occurred in that section of  ,jewish    
opinion which remained on the fringe4   
,it must be sought in the  apocalyptic  
literature1 which has been preserved in 
,greek4 ,the whole  subject had but a   
small attraction for ,judaism proper4   
,naturally there  was some curiosity and
 some speculation4 ,the ,day of the     
,lord1 with its  combination of         
,retribution and ,salvation1 was        
pictured in various ways  and with some 
elaboration of detail4 ,paradise and    
,hell were mapped out1  and the         
comfortable compartments to be occupied 
by the saints and the  miserable        
quarters of sinners were specified with 
the precision of an  ,ordnance ,survey4 
,purgatory was an institution not       

limited to the ,roman  ,catholic        
,church2 it had a strong hold on the    
mediaeval ,jewish mind4 ,the            
intermediate state was a favourite      
escape from the theological necessity   
of condemning sinners to eternal        
punishment4 ,the ,jewish heart could    
not suffer the pain of conceiving       
,gehenna inevitable4 ,so1 one by one1   
those who might logically be committed  
there were rescued on various  pretexts4
 ,in the end the number of the          
individual sinners who were to  suffer  
eternal torture could be named on the   
fingers of one hand4    ,by the         
preceding paragraph it is not implied   
that ,jewish literature in  ,hebrew has 
not its full complement of fancies1     
horrible and beautiful1  regarding      
heaven and hell4 ,but such fancies were 
neither dogmatic  nor popular4 ,they    
never found their way into the tenets of
 ,judaism as  formulated by any         
authority2 they never became a moving   
power in the life  of the ,jewish       

masses4 ,it was the poets who nourished 
these lurid ideas1  and poetry which has
 done so much for the good of religion  
has also done  it many a disservice4    
,judaism1 in its prosaic form1 accepted 
the ideas  of ,immortality1             
,retribution1 and so forth1 but the real
 interest was in  life here1 not in life
 hereafter4    ,we can see how the two  
were bridged over by the ,jewish        
conviction of  human solidarity4 ,for   
twelve months after the death of a      
father the son  recited daily the       
,kaddish prayer 7,authorised ,daily     
,prayer ,book1  p4 #gg74 ,this was a    
mere ,doxology1 opening3 ',magnified and
 sanctified  be ,his great name in the  
world which ,he hath created according  
to ,his  will4 ,may ,he establish ,his  
kingdom during your life and during your
 days1  and during the life of all the  
house of ,israel1 even speedily and at a
  near time1 and say ye ,amen4' ,as to  
the ,messianic idea of the ,kingdom of  
,god1 something will be said in the next

 chapter4 ,but this ,doxology was       
believed efficacious to save the        
departed soul when uttered by the living
  son4 ,the generations were thus bound 
together1 and just as the merits of  the
 fathers could exert benign influence   
over the erring child on earth1  so     
could the praises of the child move the 
mercy of ,god in favour of  the erring  
father in ,purgatory4 ,it was a         
beautiful expression of the  unbreakable
 chain of tradition1 a tradition whose  
links were human  hearts4 ,in such      
conceptions1 rather than in descriptive 
pictures of  ,paradise and ,gehenna1 is 
the true mind of ,judaism to be         
discerned4    ,that the first formal    
sign of grief at the death of a parent  
should be a  ,doxology will not have    
escaped notice4 ,god is the ,righteous  
,judge4 ,thus1  in the ,eschatology of  
,judaism1 this idea of ,judgment        
predominates4 ,a  favourite passage was 
the ,mishnic utterance 7second century73
 ',rabbi  ,eleazar said3 ,they that are 

born are destined to die1 and they that 
die to be brought to life again1 and    
they that live to be judged4'  7,aboth1 
iv4 #bi74 ,but in another sense1 too1   
there was judgment at  death4 ,the      
sorrow of the survivors1 like the       
decease of the departed1  was to be     
considered as ,god's doing1 and         
therefore right4 ,hence in the  very    
moment of the death of a loved one1 when
 grief was most poignant1  the survivor 
stood forth before the congregation and 
praised ,god4 ,and so  the ,burial      
,service is named in ,hebrew ',zidduk   
,ha-din1' i4e4 ',the  ,justification of 
the ,judgment4' ,a few sentences in it  
ran thus 7,prayer  ,book1 p4 #cah73     
',the ,rock1 ,his work is perfect4444   
,he ruleth below and  above1 ,he        
bringeth down to the grave and bringeth 
up again4444 ,blessed be  the true      
,judge4' ,and perhaps more than all     
attempts to analyse beliefs  and dogmas1
 the following prayer1 recited during   
the week of mourning  for the dead1 will

 convey to the reader the real attitude 
of ,judaism  7at least in its central   
variety7 to some of the questions which 
have  occupied us in this chapter4 ,the 
quotation is made from p4 #cbc of the   
same ,prayer ,book that has been already
 cited several times above3    ',o ,lord
 and ,king1 who art full of compassion1 
in whose hand is the soul  of every     
living thing and the breath of all      
flesh1 who killest and makest  alive1   
who bringest down to the grave and      
bringest up again1 receive1  we beseech 
,thee1 in ,thy great loving-kindness1   
the soul of our brother  who hath been  
gathered unto his people4 ,have mercy   
upon him1 pardon all  his               
transgressions1 for there is not a      
righteous man upon earth1 who  doeth    
good and sinneth not4 ,remember unto him
 the righteousness which  he wrought1   
and let his reward be with him and his  
recompense before  him4 ,o shelter his  
soul in the shadow of ,thy wings4 ,make 
known to ,him the  path of life3 in ,thy

 presence is fulness of joy2 at ,thy    
right hand are  pleasures for evermore4 
,vouchsafe unto him of the abounding    
happiness  that is treasured up for the 
righteous1 as it is written1 ,oh how    
great  is ,thy goodness1 which ,thou    
hast laid up for them that fear ,thee1  
which  ,thou hast wrought for them that 
trust in ,thee before the children of   
men6    ',o ,lord1 who healest the      
broken-hearted and bindest up their     
wounds1  grant ,thy consolation unto the
 mourners3 put into their hearts the    
fear and love of ,thee1 that they may   
serve ,thee with a perfect heart1  and  
let their latter end be peace4    ',like
 one whom his mother comforteth1 so will
 ,i comfort you1 and in  ,jerusalem     
shall ye be comforted4 ,thy sun shall no
 more go down1 neither  shall thy moon  
withdraw itself2 for the ,lord shall be 
thine everlasting  light1 and the days  
of thy mourning shall be ended4    ',he 
will destroy death for ever2 and the    
,lord will wipe away tears from  off all

 faces2 and the rebuke of his people    
shall he take away from off  all the    
earth3 for the ,lord hath spoken it4'   
,,chapter ,,viii    ,,the ,,survival    
,,of ,,judaism      ,the ,messianic     
,hope has an intimate connection with   
,eschatology4 ,whereas1  however1 the   
latter in so far as it affirmed a       
,resurrection conceived  of the         
immortality of ,israelites1 the former  
conceived the ,immortality  of ,israel4 
,it is not necessary here to trace the  
origin and history of  the ,messianic   
idea in ,judaism4 ,that this idea had a 
strong nationalistic  tinge is obvious4 
,the ,messiah was to be a person of     
,davidic descent1  who would be the     
restorer of ,israel's greatness4        
,throughout ,jewish  history1 despite   
the constant injunction to refrain 'from
 calculating  the date of the end1' men 
have arisen who have claimed to be      
,messiahs1  and these have mostly       
asserted their claim on nationalistic   
pleas4 ,they  were to be kings of       

,israel as well as inaugurators of a new
 regime of  moral and spiritual life4   
,but though this is true without        
qualification1  it is equally true that 
the philosophers of the ,middle ,ages   
tried to  remove all materialistic      
notions from the ,messianic idea4 ,it is
 very  difficult to assert nowadays     
whether ,judaism does or does not expect
  a personal ,messiah4 ,a very marked   
change has undoubtedly come over the    
spirit of the dream4    ,on the one hand
 the neo-,nationalists deny any         
,messianic hopes4 ,when that  great     
leader1 ,theodor ,herzl1 started a      
,zionistic movement without claiming  to
 be the ,jewish ,messiah1 he was putting
 the seal on a far-reaching change  in  
,jewish sentiment4 ,dr4 ,j4 ,h4         
,greenstone1 who has just published an  
interesting volume on the ,messianic    
,idea in ,jewish ,history1 writes  7p4  
#bgf73 ',after the first ,basle         
,congress 7#ahig71 when ,zionism assumed
  its present political aspect1 ,dr4    

,max ,nordau1 the vice-president of the 
,congress1 found it necessary to address
 an article to the ,hebrew-reading      
public1 in which he disclaimed all      
pretensions of ,messiahship for himself 
or for his colleague ,dr4 ,theodor      
,herzl4' ,we have thus this             
extraordinary  situation4 ,many orthodox
 ,jews stood aloof from the ,zionistic  
movement  because it was not ,messianic1
 while many unorthodox ,jews joined it  
just  because of the movement's         
detachment from ,messianic ideas4    ,it
 may be well to cite ,dr4 ,greenstone's 
verdict on the whole question1  as the  
reader may care to have the opinion of  
so competent an authority  whose view   
differs from that of the present writer4
 ',sacred as ,zionism  is to many of its
 adherents1 it cannot and will not take 
the place of the  ,messianic hope4      
,zionism aims at the establishment of a 
,jewish ,state in  ,palestine under the 
protection of the powers of ,europe4    
,the ,messianic hope  promises the      

establishment1 by the ,jews1 of a       
world-power in ,palestine  to which all 
the nations of the earth will pay       
homage4 ,zionism1 even  in its political
 aspect1 will fulfil only one phase of  
the ,jewish  ,messianic hope4 ,as such1 
if successful1 it may contribute toward 
the  full realisation of the hope4 ,if  
not successful1 it will not deprive  the
 ,jews of the hope4 ,the ,messianic hope
 is wider than the emancipation  of the 
,jews1 it is more comprehensive than the
 establishment of a  ,jewish1           
politically independent ,state4 ,it     
participates in the larger  ideals of   
humanity1 the ideals of perfection for  
the human race1 but it  remains on      
,jewish soil1 and retains its peculiarly
 ,jewish significance4  ,it promises    
universal peace1 an age of justice and  
of righteousness1 an  age in which all  
men will recognise that ,god is ,one and
 ,his name ,one4  ,but this glorious age
 will come about through the            
regeneration of the  ,jewish people1    

which in turn be effected by a man1 a   
scion of the house  of ,david1 sent by  
,god to guide them on the road to       
righteousness4 ,the  people chosen by   
,god to be ,his messengers to the world 
will then be  able to accomplish their  
mission of regenerating the world4 ,this
 was  the ,messianic hope proclaimed by 
the prophets and sages1 and this is  the
 ,messianic hope of most ,jews to-day1  
the difference between the  various     
sections being only a difference in the 
details of the hope'  7op4 cit41 p4     
#bgh74    ,dr4 ,greenstone surely cannot
 mean that the question of a 'personal  
,messiah' is a mere detail of the       
belief4 ,yet it is on that point that   
opinion is most divided among ,jews4    
,the older belief undeniably was what   
,dr4 ,greenstone enunciates4 ,but for   
this belief1 none of what ,mr4 ,zangwill
  aptly terms the ',dreamers of the     
,ghetto' would have found the ready     
acceptance that several of them did when
 they presented themselves as  ,messiah 

or his forerunners4 ,and no doubt there 
are many ,jews who still  cling to this 
form of the belief4    ,on the other    
hand1 there has been a slow but         
widespread tendency to  reinterpret the 
whole intention of the ,messianic hope  
of ,judaism4 ,in  #ahfi1 and again in   
#ahhe1 ,american ,conferences of liberal
 ,rabbis adopted  resolutions to the    
following effect3 ',the ,messianic aim  
of ,israel is not  the restoration of   
the old ,jewish ,state under a          
descendant of ,david1  involving a      
second separation from the nations of   
the earth1 but the  union of all        
children of ,god in the confession of   
the unity of ,god1  so as to realise the
 unity of all rational creatures and    
their call to  moral sanctification4'   
,this view sees in the destruction of   
the ,temple  and the dispersal of       
,israel not a punishment but a stage in 
the fulfilment  of ,israel's destiny as 
revealed to ,abraham4 ,israel is        
,high-,priest1 and  can only fulfil his 

mission in the close neighbourhood of   
those to whom  he is elected to         
minister4    ,this1 no less than the    
non-,messianic ,zionism1 is a           
considerable change  from older beliefs4
 ,as a ,messianic hope it transcends the
 visions of  ,isaiah4 ,the prophet looks
 forward to an ideal future1 a reign of 
peace  and felicity1 but the nations are
 to flow to ,zion4 ,the significance of 
the change lies in this4 ,the ,messianic
 idea now means to many ,jews a  belief 
in human development and progress1 with 
the ,jews filling the role  of the      
,messianic people1 but only as primus   
inter pares4 ,it is  the expression of a
 genuine optimism4 ',character1 no less 
than ,career1'  said ,george ,eliot1 'is
 a process and an unfolding4' ,so with  
the ,character  of mankind as a whole4  
,but this idea of development1          
unfolding1 is quite  modern in the real 
sense of the terms2 it is something     
outside the range  even of the second   
,isaiah4 ,judaism was never quite sure  

whether to join  the ranks of the       
'laudatores temporis acti1' or to       
believe that man  never is but always to
 be blest4 ,on the one hand1 the person 
of ,adam was  endowed with perfections  
such as none of his successors matched4 
,on the  other hand1 the ,golden ,age of
 ,judaism1 as ,kenan said1 was thrown   
forward  into the future4 ,that on the  
whole ,judaism has taken the prospective
  rather than the retrospective view1 is
 the sole justification for the  modern 
conception of the ,messianic ,age which 
is fast becoming predominant  in the    
,synagogue4 ,the ,synagogue does not    
share the ,roman poet's sentiment3      
',a race of men baser than their sires  
,gave birth to us1 a progeny more vile1 
,who dower the world with offspring     
viler still'2    but the ,english poet's
 trust3      ',yet ,i doubt not through 
the ages one increasing purpose runs1   
,and the thoughts of men are widened    
with the process of the suns4'          
,denouncing the ',calculators of the    

,end1' a ,rabbi said 7,sanh4 #ig b73    
',all the computed terms have passed1   
and the matter dependeth now on         
repentance and good deeds' 7cf4 ,s4     
,singer1 ,the ,messianic ,idea in       
,judaism1  pp4 #a and #ah7    ,if1      
however1 ,israel is not destined to a   
,restoration1 if the  ,jewish ,mission  
is the propagation of an idea1 on what  
ground is the  continued existence of   
,israel as a separate organisation      
defensible or  justified8 ,israel is    
indestructible1 said ,jehuda ,halevi in 
the twelfth  century2 certainly ,israel 
is undestroyed4 ,when ,frederick the    
,great  asked what should make him      
believe in ,god1 he received in answer1 
'the survival of the ,jews4' ,dr4       
,guttmann of ,breslau not long since put
  forward a similar plea in vindication 
of the continued significance of        
,judaism4 ,in nature all forms die when 
their utility is over2 in history1      
peoples succumb when their work in and  
for the world is complete4 ,shall1  he  

asks1 we recognise ,judaism as the      
solitary exception1 as the unique       
instance of the survival of the unfit   
and the unnecessary8    ,the modern     
apologists for all religions rarely     
belong to the rank  and file4 ,whether  
it be ,harnack for ,christianity or ,mr4
 ,montefiore  for ,judaism1 the         
vindicators stand far above the average 
of the  believers whose faith they are  
vindicating4 ,the average man needs  no 
defence for a religion which enables him
 to live and thrive1  materially and    
spiritually4 ,the importance of this    
consideration is very  great4           
,restricting our attention to ,judaism1 
it is clear that it still  offers ideals
 to many1 prescribes and enforces a     
moral law1 teaches a  satisfying        
doctrine of ,god4 ,if so1 then it is    
futile to discuss whether  ,judaism is  
still necessary4 ,can the world afford  
to surrender a single  one of its forces
 for good8 ,if there are ten millions of
 men1 women1 and  children who live1 and

 live not ignobly1 by ,judaism1 can it  
be contended  that ,judaism is obsolete8
 ,the first1 the main justification of  
,judaism is  its continued efficiency1  
its proved power still to control and   
inspire  many millions of human lives4  
,there are more people living as ,jews  
to-day1  than there were at any previous
 moment in the world's history4    ,but1
 like many answers to questions1 this   
reply does not satisfy those  who raise 
the question4 ,i refer exclusively to   
the doubters among the ,jews            
themselves1 for if ,jews were themselves
 convinced of the justification of  the 
,jewish separateness1 the rest of the   
world would be convinced4 ,now1  the    
,jews who ask this question are those   
who are not so completely given  over to
 ,judaism1 that they are blind to the   
claims of other religions4  ,to them the
 question is one not of absolute1 but of
 comparative  truth4 ,judaism may still 
be a power1 but it may not be a         
desirable  power4 ,the further question 

therefore arises as to the mission of   
,israel  in history to come as well as  
in history past4 ,history seems         
contradicted  by the claim made by      
,judaism4 ,jews are quick enough to see 
the weakness  of the pretension made by 
certain sects of dogmatic ,christianity 
that  it is the last word of religion1  
that all saving truth was once for  all 
revealed some nineteen centuries ago4   
,history1 says the ,jewish              
controversialist1 teaches no such       
lessons of finality4 ,forces appear1    
work their destined course1 and then    
make way for other forces4 ,the world   
does not stand still2 it moves on4 ,then
 how can ,judaism claim for itself  a   
permanence1 a finality1 which it must   
deny to every other system1  to every   
other influence which has in its turn   
moulded human destiny8    ,a favourite  
answer is3 ,judaism is the exception    
that proves the rule4 ,it  has been a   
permanent force in the world's history4 
,it is argued  that ,jewish ideals have 

exercised recurrent influence at all    
important  crises4 ,dr4 ,guttmann       
somewhat rhetorically makes this        
identical claim4 ,he  points to the     
birth of ,christianity1 the rise of     
,islam1 the mediaeval  ,scholasticism1  
the ,italian ,renaissance1 the ,german  
,reformation1 the  ,english and         
,american ,puritanism1 the modern       
humanitarian movement1 as               
exemplifications of the continued power 
of ,judaism to mould the minds  and     
souls of men4 ,there is a sense in which
 this claim is just4 ,it  is a valuable 
support to the ,jew's allegiance to     
,judaism4 ,but even if  ,dr4 ,guttmann's
 claim were granted1 and it is          
considerably exaggerated1  how does it  
help8 ,we are all agreed as to the debt 
which the world owes  to ,greece4 ,that 
debt is a great one4 ,is it obsolete8   
,surely not4 ,greece  has again and     
again revived its ancient power to      
inspire men4 ,the  world would be a poor
 one to-day without all that ,greek     

culture stands  for4 ,greece did not    
give men enough to live by2 ,hebraism   
did that4 ,but  ,greece made life more  
worth living4 ,hellenism is an          
ever-recurrent  force in human          
civilisation4 ,yet no one argues that   
because ,hellenism  is still necessary1 
,hellenes are also necessary4 ,who      
contends that for  carrying on ,greek   
culture you need ,greeks8 ,on the       
contrary1 it was the  case of ,greece   
that gave rise to the profound          
observation that just as  a man must die
 to live1 so peoples must die that men  
may live through  them4 ,renan1 who1    
among the moderns1 gave fullest value to
 this truth1  included ,judaea with     
,greece in the generalisation4          
,certainly as a nation1  whether        
temporarily or irrevocably1 ,judaea     
perished no less than ,athens1  that a  
new world might be born4 ,and a new     
,jewish nation would no more  be the old
 ,judaea of ,isaiah than the ,athens of 
to-day is the ,athens of  ,pericles1 or 

the ,rome of to-day the ,rome of        
,augustus4 ,history does not  retrace   
its steps4    ,athens fell1 and with it 
the ,athenians4 ,why then1 when ,judaea 
fell1 did  the ,jews remain8 ,greek     
culture does not need ,greeks to carry  
it on2  why does ,jewish culture need   
,jews8 ,the first suggestion to be      
offered  is this3--,israel is the       
protestant people4 ,every religious or  
moral  innovator has also been a        
protestant4 ,socrates1 ,jesus1 ,luther2 
,isaiah1  ,maimonides1 ,spinoza2 all of 
them1 besides their contributions--very 
unequal contributions--to the positive  
store of truth1 assumed also the        
negative attitude of protesters4 ,they  
refused to go with the multitude1  to   
acquiesce in current conventions4 ,they 
were all unpopular and even             
anti-popular4 ,the ,jews as a community 
have fulfilled1 and are fulfilling1     
this protestant function4 ,they have    
been and are unpopular just because  of 
their protestant function4 ,they refuse 

to go with the multitude2  they refuse  
to acquiesce4 ,geiger used this argument
 very forcibly1  from the spiritual     
point of view1 in the early part of the 
nineteenth  century1 and ,anatole       
,leroy-,beaulieu 7in his book ,israel   
among the  ,nations7 even more forcibly 
used it at the end of the same century1 
from the historical point of view4 ,this
 ingenious ,french observer cites  a    
suspicion that 'the sons of ,jacob1 as  
compared with the rest of the  human    
race1 represent a higher state of       
evolution' 7p4 #bcb74 ,no modern  ,jew  
would make so preposterous a claim4 ,but
 when the same writer sees  in the ,jew 
a different stage of evolution1 then he 
is on the  right tack4 ,here is a       
passage which deserves to be quoted     
again and  again3 ',i have little taste1
 ,i confess1 for uniformity2 ,i leave   
that  to the ,jacobins4 ,my ideal of a  
nation is not a monolith1 nor a bronze  
formed at a single casting4 ,it is      
better that a people should be composed 

of diverse elements and of many races4  
,if the ,jew differs from us1 so  much  
the better2 he is the more likely to    
bring a little variety into  the flat   
monotony of our modern civilisation' 7p4
 #bfa74 ,and the same  argument applies 
to religions4 ,there is a permanent     
value to the world  in ,israel's        
determined1 protestant attitude4 ,the   
handful of protestants  who1 in         
,elijah's day1 refused to bow to ,baal  
and to kiss him1 were the  real saviours
 of their generation4 ,and though the   
world to-day is in no  need of such     
salvation1 still the ,jew remains the   
finest exemplification  of the truth    
that ,god fulfils ,himself in many ways1
 lest one good custom  should corrupt   
the world4    ,then again1 ,judaism     
seems destined to survive because it    
represents  at once the ,god-idea and   
the ethical idea4 ,the liberal ,jew1 as 
well as  the orthodox1 believes that no 
other religion does this in the same way
  as does ,judaism4 ,putting it crudely1

 the ,jew would perhaps admit that      
,christianity has absorbed1 developed1  
enlarged and purified the ,hebrew       
ethics1 but he would1 rightly or        
wrongly1 think that it has obscured by  
dogmatic accretions the ,jewish         
,monotheism4 ,on the other hand1 the    
,jew  would admit that ,islam has       
absorbed and purified the ,jewish       
,monotheism1  but has done less of the  
flattery of imitation to the ,hebrew    
ethics4 ,islam  has certainly a pure    
creed2 it freed itself from the         
entanglements of  anthropomorphic       
metaphors and conceptions of ,god1 which
 are apparent in  the early strata of   
the ,hebrew ,bible1 and from which      
,judaism1 because  of its reverence for 
the ,bible1 has not emancipated itself  
yet4 ,but that  it can emancipate itself
 is becoming progressively more clear4  
,and even  if we drop comparisons1      
,judaism stands for a life in which     
goodness and  ,god are the paramount    
interests4    ,but1 beyond all1 the ,jew

 believes himself to be a ,witness to   
,god4 ,he  thinks that on him1 in some  
real sense1 depends the fulfilment of   
the  purposes of ,god4 ,it may be an    
arrogant thought1 but unlike most boasts
 it  at once humiliates and ennobles1   
humiliates by the consciousness of what 
is1 ennobles by the vision of what might
 be4 ,after enumerating certain  ethical
 and religious ideas which1 he holds1   
,judaism still has to teach  the world1 
the ,rev4 ,m4 ,joseph adds3 ',but to the
 ,jew himself1 first of  all1 these     
truths are uttered4 ,he is to help to   
win the world for the  highest ideals4  
,but if he is to succeed1 he must       
himself be conspicuously  faithful to   
them4 ,he is the chosen1 but his very   
election binds him to  vigorous service 
of truth and righteousness4 ,be ye      
clean1 ye that bear  the vessels of the 
,lord4 ,only when ,israel proves by the 
nobility of his  life that he deserves  
his holy vocation will the              
accomplishment of his  mission be at    

hand4 ,when all the peoples of the earth
 shall see that he  is worthily called  
by the name of the ,lord1 the ,divine   
name and law will  be near to the       
attainment of their destined empire over
 the hearts of men'  7,judaism as ,creed
 and ,life1 p4 #eac74    ,a community   
that believes itself to fill this place 
in the ,divine  purpose deserves to     
live4 ,its separate existence is a      
means1 not an end2  for when all has    
been said1 the one ,god carries with it 
the idea of one  humanity4 ,the         
,fatherhood of ,god implies the         
brotherhood of man4 ,and so1  amid all  
its trust that the long travail of      
centuries cannot fulfil  itself in      
,israel's annihilation1 amid all its    
particularism1 there soars  aloft the   
belief in the day when there will be no 
religions1 but only  ,religion1 when    
,israel will come together with other   
communions1 or they  with ,israel4 ,and 
so1 thrice daily1 in most ,synagogues of
 ,israel1 this  prayer is uttered3 ',we 

therefore hope in ,thee1 ,o ,lord our   
,god1 that we  may speedily behold the  
glory of ,thy might1 when ,thou wilt    
remove the  abominations from the earth1
 and the idols will be utterly cut off2 
when the world will be perfected under  
the kingdom of the ,almighty1  and all  
the children of flesh will call upon    
,thy name1 when ,thou wilt  turn unto   
,thee all the wicked of the earth4 ,let 
all the inhabitants of  the world       
perceive and know that unto ,thee every 
knee must bow1 every  tongue must swear4
 ,before ,thee1 ,o ,lord our ,god1 let  
them bow and fall2  and unto ,thy       
glorious name let them give honour4 ,let
 them all accept  the yoke of ,thy      
kingdom1 and do ,thou reign over them   
speedily1 and for  ever and ever4 ,for  
the ,kingdom is ,thine1 and to all      
eternity ,thou wilt  reign in glory2 as 
it is written in ,thy ,law1 ,the ,lord  
shall reign for  ever and ever4 ,and it 
is said1 ,and the ,lord shall be ,king  
over all the  earth2 in that day shall  

the ,lord be ,one1 and ,his name ,one4' 
,modern ,judaism1 in short1 claims no   
finality but what is expressed in  that 
hope4 ,it holds itself ready to develop1
 to modify1 to absorb1 to  assimilate1  
except in so far as such processes seem 
inconsistent with  this hope4 ,modern   
,jews think that in some respects the   
,rabbinic ,judaism  was an advance on   
the ,biblical2 they think further that  
their own modern  ,judaism is an advance
 on the ,rabbinic4 ,judaism1 as they    
conceive it1 is  the one religion1 with 
a great history behind it1 that does not
 claim the  religious doctrines of some 
particular moment in its history to be  
the  last word on ,religion4 ,it thinks 
that the last word is yet to be spoken1 
and is inspired with the confidence that
 its own continuance will make  that    
last word fuller and truer when it      
comes1 if it ever does come4            
,,selected ,,list ,,of ,,books ,,on     
,,judaism      ,this list does not      
include works on the early ,religion of 

,israel1  or articles in the standard   
,dictionaries of the ,bible4 ,for the   
rest1  only works written in ,english   
are cited1 and for the most part ,jewish
  expositions of ,judaism4    ,articles 
in the ,jewish ,encyclopedia 7,new ,york
 and ,london1 ,funk  and ,wagnalls1 #ab 
vols4 #aija-aijf74 ,especially the      
following3 ',articles of  ,faith' 7,e4  
,g4 ,hirsch72 ',atonement' 7,k4         
,kohler72 ',cabala' 7,l4 ,ginzberg72    
',catechisms' 7,e4 ,schreiber72         
',conferences' 7,d4 ,philipson72        
',ethics'  7,k4 ,kohler1 ,i4 ,broyde and
 ,e4 ,g4 ,hirsch72 ',eschatology' 7,k4  
,kohler72  ',god' 7,e4 ,g4 ,hirsch72    
',hassidim' 7,s4 ,m4 ,dubnow72          
',immortality'  7,k4 ,kohler72          
',judaism' 7,k4 ,kohler72 ',law1        
,codification of' 7,l4 ,ginzberg72      
',messiah' 7,m4 ,buttenwieser72         
',nomism' 7,j4 ,z4 ,lauterbach and ,k4  
,kohler72  ',pharisees' 7,k4 ,kohler72  
',keform ,judaism' 7,e4 ,g4 ,hirsch and 
,d4 ,philipson72  ',resurrection' 7,k4  

,kohler72 ',sabbath' 7,e4 ,g4 ,hirsch   
and ,j4 ,h4 ,greenstone72  ',theology'  
7,j4 ,z4 ,lauterbach74    ,m4           
,,friedlander4--,the ,jewish ,religion  
7,kegan ,paul1 #ahia74    ,j4 ,h4       
,,greenstone4--,the ,messiah ,idea in   
,jewish ,history  7,philadelphia1       
,jewish ,publication ,society of        
,america1 #aijf74    ,m4                
,,joseph4--,judaism as ,creed and ,life 
7,london1 ,macmillan1 #aijc74    ,n4 ,s4
 ,,joseph4--,religion1 ,natural and     
,revealed 7,london1 ,macmillan1  #aijf74
    ,m4 ,,lazarus4--,the ,ethics of     
,judaism 7,london1 ,macmillan2 #b vols41
  #aijj-a7    ,c4 ,g4                   
,,montefiore4--,hibbert ,lectures       
7,london1 ,williams and ,norgate1       
#ahib1 especially ,lectures             
,,vii4-,,ix474    ------,liberal        
,judaism 7,london1 ,macmillan1 #aijc74  
,s4 ,,schechter4--,studies in ,judaism  
7,london1 ,a4 and ,c4 ,black1 #ahif74   
,e4 ,,schurer4--,a ,history of the      
,jewish ,people in the ,time of ,christ 

7,edinburgh1 ,t4 and ,t4 ,clark1 #ahij74
    ,s4 ,,singer4--,authorised ,daily   
,prayer ,book 7,london1 ,eyre and       
,spottiswoode2 many editions74