BM 105 K824g 1898 ornia al r THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES GUIDE FOR INSTRUCTION IN JUDAISM A MANUAL FOR SCHOOLS AND HOMES afcapteD for fteacbers, advances pupils and for private REV. DR K. KOHLSR RABBI OF TEMPLE BETH-EL, NEW YORK NEW YORK PHILIP COWEN, PUBLISHER, 213-215 EAST 44TH STREET 1898 COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY PHILIP COWEN. 106" a Go tbe "Rev. 2>r. K. JBaar, THE FATHERLY GUIDE OF THE FATHERLESS, AND THE WISE EDUCATOR FULL OF LOVE FOR GOD AND OF MAN, THIS MANUAL IS DEDICATED IN SINCERE FRIENDSHIP AND ESTEEM, BY THE AUTHOR. 1991109 PREFACE. To present within the small compass of a school-book the religious and ethical teachings of Judaism in a comprehensive, clear and systematic form, is a task which has engaged the leading teachers in Israel for more than two generations; yet but few have succeeded in producing the work needed to awaken religious fervor, and at the same time to stimulate thovght and create a firm religious conviction in the young. In publishing this humble effort of mine, as the result of many years study and pedagogic experience, I feel satisfied that I have earnestly endeavored to profit by all my predecessors from Plessner down to Stein and Einhorn, and from Leeser to Friedlander while at the same time I have avoided many difficulties in the treatment of metaphysical, dogmatic and ritual- istic questions, by placing myself upon the historical standpoint, and showing, in the notes intended for teachers and advanced pupils, the development of the various religious ideas and practices throughout the Biblical and Rabbinical stages of growth. I have tried to cast light on every religious belief or practice essential to either conservative or progressive Judaism, while I laid more stress upon, and devoted more space, to the ethical side of Judaism, especially of Rabbinical Judaism, than any previous writer has done. I trust, therefore, that my manual will be welcomed by both teachers and pupils, as well as by my colleagues, the rabbis and school superintendents ot this country, as a trustworthy guide for a deeper comprehension of our faith and for a higher appreciation of Israel's lofty mission of Truth, of Righteousness and of Peace. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS. PREFACE v Chapter I. Introductory I. Religion 9 II. The Source of Religion 15 The Holy Scriptures 16 The Five Books of Moses 17 The Prophets , 17 The Hagiographa or remainder of the Sacred Writings , .... 19 III. The Decalogue 22 IV. The Contents of Religion 24 Chapter II. System of Doctrines. I. God 25 God's Qualities or Attributes in Relation to the World 27 The World in Relation to God 29 God in Relation to Man ... 30 II. Man 32 Sin and Repentance 34 Immortality of the Soul 36 III. Israel and Mankind 38 IV. The Creed of Judaism . v 45 Chapter III. System of Duties. A. Duties towards God 49 The Secjnd Commandment 56 The Third Commandment '. . 60 The Fourth Commandment 63 The Fifth Commandment 69 B. Duties Towards our Fellow Beings 77 The Sixth 77 The Seventh Commandment 84 The Eighth Commandment 88 The Ninth Commandment 92 C. Duties Towards Ourselves 97 The Tenth Commandment 97 viii CONTENTS Chapter IV. Religious Observance. Religious Observances 107 Divine Service in The Holy Seasons 112 The Feast of Spring Passover Pesach 114 The Feast of Weeks Shabuoth 117 The Feast of Tabernacles Sukkoth il8 New Year's Day Rosh Hashanah 120 The Day of Atonement Yom ha Kippurim 122 Festivals of Less Importance. Feast of the Maccabees Hanukkah 124 Purim 124 Fast Days.... 125 Appendix A. Tabular Arrangement of the Hebrew Months 128 The Jewish Calendar 129 Appendix B. Benedictions and Prayers for the Talmud 131 Chapter I. Introductory. I. Religion. 1. There is a world round about us which we per- ceive with our senses, and the study of its laws we call Science. But there is a world within us which cannot be reached by our senses it is a world of feeling, thought and will-power. These inner forces make us look up with wonder and awe to a Power greater than we, and regulate our actions and our conduct so as to please this great Power above us. This supreme Power we call God. The consciousness of God and the recognition of our allegiance to Him, is Religion. 2. "Any being far greater and more powerful than we are fills us with awe and fear, and when we think of this great God high above us, we have this feeling of fear and reverences an extreme degree. Religion, then, is first of all Fear of God. It restrains us from doing or saying any thing which is displeasing to God, and thus gives life an earnest and solemn pur- pose. " Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." (Prov. i. 7. ) " Come ye, children, hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord." (Psalms, xxxiv. n.) " Let the fear of God be upon you that ye sin not." (Exodus xx. 20.) "Fear God and do His commandments, for this is th'j-. whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes xii. 13.) 3- The more we think of God's goodness and wis- dom, the more perfect will be our confidence in Him and His guidance. Religion is, therefore, chiefly Faith, or trust, in God. "The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall 1 fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid ?" (Psalm xxvii. i.) "Have faith in the Lord, and you will be safe." (2 Chronicles xx. 20. ) "The righteous shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk li. 4) 4 This consciousness, or inner knowledge of God. leads us to love of God, the highest stage of religion. It urges us to do all He asks and even to give up that which we prize most from pure love of Him. "What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep His commandments which I command thee this day for thy good." (Deut. x. 12.) 5. When we realize how great and good God is, and how little we are compared with Him, we long to give expression to our feeling of awe and adoration . Here religion becomes WORSHIP OF GOD. We worship God when we recognize Him as our Master and humble ourselves before Him. " Thine, Oh Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is Thine. Thine is the King- dom, Oh Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. But who am I and what is my people ? Our days on earth are as a shadow and there is no abiding." (i Chronicles 11-15.) II 6. Prayers and other forms of aevotion are expres- sions of our religious sentiment. The true service of God consists in leading a good and righteous life, or u walking in the way of God." " God said to Abraham ; ' I am the Almighty ; walk before Me and be perfect." (Genesis xvii. i.) " Know the God of thy father and serve Him with a will- ing soul." (i Chronicle xxviii. 9.) "Behold to obey is better than sacrifice." (i Samuel xv. 22.) 7. Religion has been implanted in the heart of every one to make us long for God in order that we may become good, brave and happy. It is, therefore, called the covenant, or a bond of relationship, which God has made with man, who is called u His image." The Bible tells us that God made such a covenant with Noah, the father of all men, after the flood, promising him and all his generations peace and well- being, if they would walk in His ways and observe the laws of humanity. (These laws, called " the laws of the sons of Noah" are those acknowledged by every human conscience.) NOTE. See Genesis ix. 1-17. In commenting upon this Biblical passage the rabbis say (Sanhedrin 56/., Midrash Bereshith Rabba 16 and 24 and the Book of Jubilees vii.) that six, or seven, or more laws were given to Noah and his sons, upon the observance of which the peace of the world could rest: The three capital sins: Murder, Incest (or adultery}, and idolatry (or blasphemy) were forbidden under the penalty of death for the transgressor. Then the eating- of live animals and, some say, also of blood ; robbery and theft, and finally, there was th commandment ordaining the establishment of courts o justice. 12 In the Jewish Sibylline books, written by Alexandrian Jews under the name of the Roman prophetess (Sibyl), represented as daughter of NOAH, and similar works written for the pagan world by the Jews prior to the rise of Christianity, the heathen are commanded to abstain from murder, theft, incest and idol- atry and to practice justice in order to escape the great day of Divine Judgment preceding the restoration of the world. The founders of the Christian Church also admitted only such Gentiles as would promise "to abstain from meats offered to idols, from blood, from strangled beasts and from incest," as we learn from "Acts of the Apostles" (xvi. 18-29). The Noahic-laws enjoined on the Jewish Proselyte of the Gate are, in fact, identical with the unwritten laws of humanity, which every just and true man among the heathen would observe and find happiness thereby. 8 The Jewish religion is the religion founded upon the covenant of Sinai, i.e. the Ten words or Decalogue and the Bible, i.e. the Book of the Covenant and given in charge of Israel, the people of the covenant. "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers only but with us, even us who are all of us alive here to-day.'' (Deut. v. 2-3.) 9. This especial covenant of God with the Hebrew nation was first made when God singled out Abraham, the father of the Hebrews from the rest of men as the one who worshiped the true God and practiced righteousness and kindness. For all the heathen nations worshiped many gods in visible forms (idols) and were led thereby into many ways of wrong-doing and wickedness. Therefore Abraham was chosen by God to preserve the pure faith in God for all genera- tions, in order that through his descendants all nations '3 on earth should learn to know the true God and to walk in the ways of righteousness. "Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have designated him that he should command his children and his household after him that they may keep the way of the Lord to do justice and righteousness to the end that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." (Genesis xviii. 18-19. ) io The main covenant between God and Israel was concluded when, under the leadership of Moses, the whole people were assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the Law of God, while they were con- secrated to be a nation of prophets and priests of God among the nations for all times to come. "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel : 'Ye have seen what I did unto the Egypt- ians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be unto Me a peculiar treasure above all people, for all the earth is Mine. And ye shall be unto Me a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation." (Exodus xix. 3-6. ) ii. Men of all times felt the need of religion. They craved to know that God was near, and ready to help them in their distress, and favor them in their under- takings. But only a certain class of men were thought qualified to draw nigh to God and offer sacrifice or prayer and ascertain His will. Such were the PRIESTS, who led a holier life than the rest of the people, or the Saints (Na^arites), who dedicated their lives to God. But above these there were men chosen 14 by God to communicate to the people His will by wondrous power of inspiration, and to reveal His truth and righteousness to the consciences of men as they never felt them before. These were the Prophets^ inspired men who tell forth the thoughts of God hidden in the soul of mankind. ("Prophet" means "forth-teller.") 12. God sent prophets, or inspired teachers of morality, to other people beside Israel, such as was Balaam in the time of Moses, or Buddha in India, Confucius in China, Zoroaster in Persia, Socrates in Greece and the like. But among all nations, Israel alone was chosen by God lo give mankind prophets, law-givers and singers full of inspiration, to reveal God in man, and thus to establish the true religion of humanity. Israel is therefore called the People of Revelation, and its national literature the Book of Revelation. (The Bible means the Book.) "Without revelation the people become unruly." (Pro- verbs xxviii. 1 8.) "From the rising of the sun unto its setting My name is great among the nations." (Malachi i. n.) "Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall ye prosper." (2 Chronicles xx. 20.) "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations which shall hear all these statutes and say : Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people, For what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for? And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day ?" (Deut. iv. 6-8.) 13. The Jewish religion as far as it contains the essential truths and laws of morality is intended to be the religion of the whole human family. God's covenant with Israel is finally to include all nations on earth, and thus to restore the covenant of God with man. " I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the peoples and for a light of the Gentiles." (Isaiah xlii. 6. ) " Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you the ministers of our God." (Isaiah Ixi. 6.) II. The Source of Religion. 14. The true source of all religion is the human heart. We feel that, above all the things we see there is a great Unseen Being from whom all power and wis- dom and goodness come, and we long for Him, as the child longs for its parent. Moreover, we tremble be- fore Him in fear when we have done wrong, and we feel that He is with us and blesses us when we do what is right and good. All these feelings God has implant- ed into every human soul. "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God," (Psalm xlii. 2. 15. All the patriarchs and prophets of old, like all the good men among the heathen, derived their religion from this source. Being endowed with a purer and loftier soul than the rest of men, they were more fitted 16 to receive and speak forth the divine truth. And when these religious geniuses, as we may call those inspired men of Israel, had done their work and their living voice was no longer heard, their words were preserved in writing and read to devout assemblies as the Word of God. Thus arose the Bible or the Holy Scriptures, and became the source of instruction and guidance, a treasury of comfort and inspiration to Israel and to mankind. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. 16. The Bible is a collection of books containing all that was preserved of the national library of the ancient Hebrews. In it the record is given of the way Israel became the bearer of the highest truths for man- kind; wherefore it bears the name of the Book of Revelation. NOTE. The name Old Testament is not a Jewish name. The Christian Church, constructing the New Testament upon the Hebrew Bible, called the former the Old Covenant, in contrast with the new, but we as Jews believe that Jewish Covenant remains the Covenant of God with man for all time to come and so is never "old." Says Jeremiah xxxi. 31-38: "1 shall make the covenant anew, and write the law upon the heart. But as little as the laws of the sun and the stars shall depart, so little shall the seed of Israel cease to be a peo. pie before me for all days." 17. The Bible is divided into three parts : The Five Books of Law, The Eight Books of Prophets, and The Eleven Books of Holy Poetry. I. THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES. The Pentateuch or the Thorah, consisting of a. Genesis, the book relating the history of the first men and of the Patriarchs. b. Exodus, relating Israel's departure from Eg\pt, the giving of the Law and the building of the Tabernacle. c. Leviticus, containing the laws regarding the altar, the priesthood, and the laws of purity and holiness concerning the whole people. d. Numbers, containing the list of the tribes and the : r journeying in the wilderness. e. Deuteronomy, giving the farewell address of Moses, the repetition of the laws and an account of Moses' death. THE PROPHETS. (Nebiim.} i The Earlier Prophets: called so because they were believed to have been written by Samuel and other early prophets. These consist of a Joshua, containing the history of the Conquest of the Land of Canaan. b. Judges, giving the history of those warriors who ruled over them during the time of poli- tical dependence and anarchy. c. The two books of Samuel (I. and II.), giving the history of Israel under Samuel, Saul and David. d. The two books of Kings (I. and II.), giving the :8 history of Israel from Solomon until the de- struction of the Kingdom of Judah. 2 The Latter Prophets. a. Isaiah, containing the addresses of Isaiah, with several late prophecies interwoven. The last twenty-six chapters were written by un- known prophets of and after the Exile. b. Jen miah, containing the addresses of Jeremiah during the last days of the Kingdom of Jndah. c. Ezekiel, containing the addresses of Ezekiel and his plan of restoration of the Temple and the State. d. The Twelve Minor Prophets, consisting of Hosea, containing the addresses of this prophet of Samaria, written under Jeroboa.n II. Joel, containing the addresses of a prophet in times of a great drought. Amos, containing the addresses of the first pro phet in Israel whose words were put into writing. Obadiah, a prophecy against Edom, written at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's warfare. Jonah, a prophetic novel, teaching God's merci- ful love for all mankind. Micah, containing the prophecies of Isaiah's con- temporary, with some later prophecies attached to them. Nahum, containing a prophecy against Assyria's capital, written at the time of its downfall. Habakkuk, containing a similar prophecy written at that time. Zephaniah, prophecy written under King Josiah not long after Assyria's fall. Haggai and Zechariah, containing the addresses of the two prophets living at the time of the restor- ation of the Temple under Zerubbabel. Zachariah ix.-xiv., are earlier prophecies. Malachi, containing the address of a prophet who lived about the same age as Ezra. THE HAGIOGRAPHA, OR THE REMAINDER OF THE SACRED WRITINGS, Contains : The Book of Psalms, divided, like the Pentateuch, into five parts, a collection of one hundred and fifty songs, recited in the Second Temple by the Levites, and partly ascribed to David, " the great singer in Israel." The Proverbs of Solomon, a collection of popular proverbs made by King Hezekiah's men and other representatives of the School of Wisdom. The first ten chapters and the last one were added at a later time. The Book of Job, a dialogue between Job, the great sufferer of Kdom, and his three friends, on God's just dealing with men, with an historical prologue and epilogue written as a lesson of comfort for suffering Israel. The Five Scrolls {Megillotk}^ read respectively 20 on Passover, Pentecost, Ninth of Ab, Feast of Taber- nacles and Purim. (a). Song of Songs, a dialogue between King Solomon and Sulatnith, a fair shepherdess a love song, interpreted to be a dialogue between God and Israel. Read on Passover. (b). Ruth, a shepherd story concerning David's ancestress, Ruth, the faithful. Read on Pentecost. (c). Lamentations over the destruction of Jeru- salem (ascribed to Jeremiah). Read on Ninth of Ab. (d). Ecclesiastes (Koheleth), containing melan- choly reflections on the vanities of life as made by King Solomon, but written probably under the Ptole- maic rulers. Read on Tabernacles. ( of the Jewish people grew and expanded in many directions, of which their later literature bears witness. Among later writings and writers we may mention Josephus and the works of Philo and the other Greek (Hellenistic) writers in Alexandria ; the Talmud : Misnah and Gemarah the Rabbinical Code of Laws or Tradition il Interpreta- 22 tion of the Laws of Moses and the Midrash, or Com- mentary on the various parts of the Bible, containing respectively the Halachah (the practical rules), or the Hagadah (the Homiletic and Ethical interpretation) ; and, finally, the rabbinical literature of mediaeval Judaism (philosophical or legislative, juridical or ritual- istic). NOTE In so far as Christianity and Islamism are daughters of the Jewish religion, based on the Bible history or on the Jewish tradition, the Christian and the Moslem writings form a part of the monotheistic religion given to the world by the Jews, though the same was guarded and kept in its utmost purity by the Jew* alone. 19. Whatever new truth any wise man might at any time derive from the Book of Revelation in conformity with the spirit of Judaism, was regarded by the an- cient rabbis as given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai, for it says : " The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened are the words of the masters of the assembly given from one Shepherd." (Ecclesiastes xii. u.) III. The Decalogue. 20. The highest and most important of all revela- tions are the Ten Words upon which God concluded His covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai. 21. They read as follows : I. I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. II. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness 23 of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them ; for I the Lord thy God am a zealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments. III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. IV. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. On it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- ter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor the stranger that is within thy gates, in order that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched- out arm, therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. V. Honor thy father and thy mother in order that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. VI. Thou shalt not murder. VII. Thou shalt not commit unchastity. VIII. Thou shalt not steal. IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his man- servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, or ass, nor any- thing that is thy neighbor's. (Deut. v. 6-18.) NOTE. The Decalogue in Exodus xx. differs in a few points, and the FOURTH WORD reads thus : " Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but 24 the seventh day is a day of rest unto the Lord thy God. On it thou shalt do no work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is therein, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord, thy God, blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." (Exodus xx. 8-n.) 22. The Ten Words, written on two tablets of stone, called the Tablets of the Covenant, contain the funda- mental teachings of religion and morality for all men and ages. The first tablet contains the laws concerning God (parents stand in place of God ; they are His represen- tatives on earth) ; the second tablet the laws concern- ing MAN. Religion and morality belong together. Fear of God leads to love of man. NOTK. The original division of the Decalogue had the prohibition of Polytheism, contained in the opening sentence of the second commandment, as the first, and the prohibition of idolatry, beginning, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,'' as the second word, but as the two forms of paganism were in the course of time identified, the Jewish tradition took the in- troductory verse as \he_first commandment, while the Catholic (and Lutheran) Church divided the la st ivor d into two com- mandments, taking the first sentence as the ninth and the fol- lowing verse as the tenth commandment. Hence the diversity among the various sects, and also among Jewish writers of old (Philo and the Rabbis). 24 a IV. Contents of Religion. 23. Every religion comprises : A. Beliefs or Doctrines : 1. Concerning God ; 2. ' ' Man ; 3. " the Future. B. Practices and Forms : 1. Laws and Duties ; 2. Rites and Ceremonies. 24. Judaism, or the Jewish religion, which lays all stress on morality, is best divided into THREE parts : A. A system of Doctrines, or religious Truths; B. A system of Duties, or moral Laws ; C. A system of religious practices, or Ceremonial Laws. The first two appeal to the human reason and con- science, and are of a permanent and essential character; the third are forms of worship instituted to awaken and foster the spirit of religion, and are subject to change under the ever-varying conditions of time and place. Chapter II. System of Doctrines. I. GOD. 25. Judaism' s first and fundamental doctrine is, that there is One God, an only One, eternal, spiritual and most holy, who created heaven and earth and ruleth the world with infinite wisdom, with perfect justice ana everlasting love. He is our God, and none besides Him. 26. The confession of faith, which the Jew is to recite morning and evening, and which forms the dis- tinguishing feature, the battle-cry of Judaism, is : " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One" 27. No mortal being knows what God is. He can not be seen, nor comprehended by the human mind. Neither can He be found in any part of the world, be- cause He is the cause of all existence and the source of all intellect and, therefore, above and beyond them all. But reason, conscience and history alike declare that He is. He is the absolute Being to whom all beings owe their existence. "God said to Moses: ' No man can see Me and live.' " (Exodus xxxiii. 20.) " To whom will you compare God ? What likeness will you place alongside of Him." (Isaiah xl. 18. ) 28. Nature, wi'h its wondrous power, beauty and order, offers to our reason the evidence that there is an almighty, all-wise and all-benign Creator, Sustainer and Ruler of the universe. 2* " The heavens declare the glory of God, And the firmament showeth His handiwork." (Psalm, xix. 2- " He spake, and it was done, He commanded, and it stood fast." (Psalm xxxiii. 9.,^ " Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee, The fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee ; Speak to the earth, and it shall inform thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee, Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this ? (Job xii. 7-10.) NOTE. Whether we study the course of sun and stars or the laws of growth of life from mineral to man, we see that nature is only the great workshop in which God, the great Master, works after lofty, all-comprising plans. 29. Conscience or moral sense, the voice of duty, which tells us what we ought to do and ought not to do, reveals to us the presence of a God who commands us to do the right and condemns us for doing wrong, of a Judge who rewards the good and punishes evil. ' ' The Lord looketh down from heaven. He beholdeth all the sons of men, He fashioneth all their hearts, He considerth all their works." (Psalm xxxiii. 13-15.) ' Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence ?" (Psalm cxxxix. 7.) 30. History, while showing us in the development and growth of mankind a design for the constant mental and moral advancement and the gradual vic- tory of the good and the defeat of the powers of evil, furnishes the proof that there is an all-providing Power 27 which watches over the destinies of men and nations and leads them to ever higher ends. " Surely there is a God judging the earth." (Psalm Iviii. ) "As for you, ye thought evil against me, but God designed it unto good." (Genesis 1. 20.) "Who called the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first and the last." (Isaiah xli. 4. ) GOD'S QUALITIES OR ATTRIBUTES IN RELATION TO THE WORLD. 31. We know God only by His works, and accord- ingly attribute to Him certain qualities which none possesses but He. 32. God is One. There is no other god besides Him, nor is there any that can be compared to Him or that shares in His divinity. He is not composed of parts or of persons. He is an absolute Unity. " I am the Lord, that is my name: and my glory I will not give to another." (Isaiah xlii. 8. ) " I am the first and I am the last, and beside Me there is no God." (Isaiah xli. 4.) 33. God is eternal : He is without beginning and without end. He remains from everlasting to ever- lasting ever the same. He is immutable. He changes not. " Of old Thou hast laid the foundations of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Thine hands ; They perish, but Thou endurest ; All of them wax old like a garment. But Thou art the same, And Thy years have no end." (Psalm cii. 25-27 28 From everlasting to everlasting Thon art God." (Psalm zc. ii.) "I, the Lord, change not." (Malachi iii. 6.) 34 God is both infinite in time eternal and infin- ite in space omnipresent. He is everywhere. There is no place nor being in which He is not. He is a spiritual being, the Spirit of all existence, permeating all and everything. He is incorporeal. He has not the limitations of a body. Behold the heavens and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee." (I. Kings viii. 27.) NOTE. When God is spoken of in the Bible as having eyes, hands or mouth, or as being seen or heard, it must not be taken liter- ally, for "the Bible speaks the language of men," say the rabbis. 35. God is omnipotent. His power comprises all powers and activities and is not limited by any other power or will except His own. Whatsoever the Lord pleaseth, that He doeth In heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the deeps." (Psalm cxxxv. 6.) NOTE. The immutable laws of nature are the will of God. If the \rill of God could change. He would not be immutable. In those times, when people had no knowledge of the laws of nature, they saw in every strange occurrence a miracle. The rabbis say that God provided at the very beginning of creation for all the miracles to occur at the right time an implication that the continuity of nature remains unbroken. The miracles related in the Bible illustrate the idea of God's power, especially the kind providence with which He watches over the good and the righteous and the Justice with which He punishes the evil-doers. 2 9 36. God is omniscient. His knowledge comprises all things and thoughts, past, present and future. He is all-wise. He rules and regulates all things after the highest wisdom. " He that hath planted the eyes, shall He not see ? He that hath formed the ear, shall He not hear ? " (Psalm xciv. 9 ) THE WORLD IN RELATION TO GOD. 37. The world is the creation of God. By His will everything was made. His power is immanent in nature, and everything that happens is ordained by Him. Nothing happens which He has not foreseen. There is no chance, nor is there a blind fate. Divine Providence watches over all things, great and small. " God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. " (Genes, i. 21.) " The eyes of the Lord are in every place," (Proverbs xv. 3.) " For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth , so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts higher than your thoughts." ( Isaiah lv- 8-9.) 38. As God, the Creator and Ruler of the world, is both Goodness and Wisdom, so does all that occurs in the world serve a good and wise purpose. Every evil in life, whether physical or moral, must, there/ore, lead to some good in the end. Death and Sin are no powers of evil, but agencies of God sent to test man's 3 power, tria 1 s that bring out the good in ways often mysterious to us. NOTE. Judaism does not believe in a Devil. Satan is repre- sented as one of the angels of God, sent to try Job not to act as his fiend. GOD IN RELATION TO MAN. 39. God is all just. He treats individuals and nations, according to their doings ; He punishes evil and rewards the good. "Great in counsel and mighty in work, for Thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings." (Jerem. xxxii. 19.) 40. God is all-kind. He loves all His creatures, and provides for all their needs. He grants each being all the pleasure that is helpful to its development in the design of creation. He bestows mercy and com- passion on man by giving the sinner time to repent and improve his ways " The Lord is good to all and His mercies are over all His works." (Psalms cxlv. 19.) " O Lord God, merciful and gracious, slow of anger and plenteous in kindness and faithfulness, keeping mercy for thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but leaving no guilt unpunished." (Exodus xxxiv. 6-7.) 41. God is holy He is free from every fault and defect. He is pure and perfect in the highest degree. He loves only truth and goodness. He hates falsehood and wrong. He is absolutely good. " He is the Rock whose work is perfect, for all His ways are just ; a God of truth without iniquity ; just and righteous is He." (Deut. xxxii. 4.) " Thou art of eyes too pure to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." (Habakkuk i. 13.) Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory." (Isaiah vi. 3.) 42. The names by which God is usually called are: " JHVH (usually, but wrongly pronounced Jehovah, while the probably correct form is Yahveh) ' ' the prime mover of all existence," interpreted in the Bible as Ehyeh asher Ehyeh, "the One who shall ever be," "the Everpresent," also "the Everlasting." (Exodus iii. 14.) This name given to God in the Bible was considered in later times to be too holy for pronunciation by any but the priests in the temple, and consequently it became customary to call God by the name of " Adonay The Lord as the Ruler and Master of all things." " Lord of hosts Ruler of all the hosts of heaven." " King of the universe; also Judge of the whole earth." (Psalm xxiv. 7-10, xlvii. 3-97.) " Father of mankind." (Isaiah Ixiii. 16. ) " Almighty God" "Rock, as the firm and steadfast Power amidst the un- stable forces of life." (Deut. xxxii. 3, Psalm, xviii. 32.) " The Most High." (Psalm, xlvii. 3.) " God of truth and faithfulness (Deut. xxxii. 3), "Keeper and Guardian of every oath and promise." "Shield, Refuge, which is the same as the Protector of man." " Redeemer and Savior." " I alone am the Lord, and be- sides Me there is no Savior." (Isaiah xliii. n. ) 32 II. MAN. 43. Man is created in the image of God. Star, plant and beast are creatures of God ; man alone is His child. He is partly animal, and partly a god-like being. " God created man of His image." (Genesis i. 27.) " Thou hast made him [man] hut a little lower than God, and crowned him with glory and honor." (Psalm viii. 5.) 44. Man is superior to all other earthly creatures in his bodily appearance, his upright stature, his well- poised head and his expressive countenance as well as his symmetrical faculties, the dexterity of his fingers and, above all, his power of speech. But the body is only the temple in which the divine spirit dwells. It is the soul which lends man his dignity and makes him king and master of the earth. " God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils a living soul." (Genesis ii. 7.) " God blessed man, saying: ' Grow and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over all things.' " (Gen. i. 28.) " I will give thanks unto Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." (Psalm cxxxix. 14.) 45. The soul of man is endowed (a) with REASON or the intellectual capacity, with which he discriminates between what is true and false, and with which he learns to comprehend all the causes of things until he has reached the Infinite, the cause of all causes, God. b) With CONSCIENCE, the moral capacity with which he discriminates between what is good and bad, right and wrong, and which impels him to seek for right- 33 eonsness and goodness until he has reached a state of perfection, And (c) with FREE-WILL, or the power by which he chooses between right and wrong and determines his own actions. Free-will makes man responsible for his doings, while brute and infant are not responsible. "Theie is a spirit in man; the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding." (Job xxxii. 8.) " I have set before thee life and death, blessing and curse, choose life!" (Deut. xxx. 19.) 46. Man as a free personality is ca led upon to serve God of his own accord and fulfil His will by overcom- ing evil and doing what is right and good. Being capable of developing all his intellectual and moral faculties, he is in duty bound so to live and to act as to attain the highest perfection in knowledge, virtue and character and to obtain the highest reward, which is happiness without end. "God said to Abraham: 'Walk before Me and be per- fect." " (Genesis xvii. i.) 47. God has implanted into the heart of man the desire to know the nature and causes of things. The more knowledge he acquires, the more power will he obtain to think and act wisely, and the nearer will he come to the comprehension of God's works and thoughts, which are truth. " Happy the man wh : has found wisdom." (Prov. iii. 13.) 48. The acquired habit of acting and living in accordance with the dictates of the conscience is virtue] the habit of acting wickedly is vice. By con- 34 stant exercise of virtue we acquire a. good character, a life built upon firm principles of righteous conduct "A man of faithfulness shall abound with blessings*. (Prov. xxviii. 20.) SIN AND REPENTANCE. 49. Being composed of body and soul, man is moved in h s actions and thoughts either by good or evil desires and inclinations, just as he follows his higher, god-like, or his lower, animal or sensual nature. But just as the soil brings forth tares and weeds first, and yields the better fruit only after long toil by the tiller and sower, so does the human heart first show its earthly nature, before the higher and heavenly longing of the soul is felt. " The imagination of the heart is evil from his youth.' (Genesis viii. 21.) 50. Sin, therefore, is a power of evil dwelling in no other being but man. The angel, as we conceive him, who cannot do wrong, and the animal which cannot be good in a moral sense, are both free from sin. Sin is the power which induces man to do wrong, but does not compel him to do so, and man's god-like nature consists in his mastery over sin. He can control and conquer this evil power and be good of his own free will, thus rising above both animal and angel. NOTE. The story of Adam and Eve pictures the fall of every man from his state of child-like innocence by yielding to sin. It is a parable, not a historical fact. 51. Sin leads to misery, ruin and death of body and 35 soul. Righteous conduct leads to peace, happiness and life immortal. "To the wise the way of life goeth upward, that he may depart from the way downward to destruction." (Proverbs xv. 24.) 52. The man who has sinned still remains God's child and may obtain His forgiveness if he REPENTS, forsakes his ways and turns to the right path. "As 1 live," said the Lord, " I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live." (Ezekielxxiii. 10. ) This applies alike to Hebrews (Read the story of David's sin) and to the Gentiles. (Read the story of Jonah and the men of Nineveh.) 53. Repentance is a feeling of sorrow and pain for having done wrong, mingled with shame and self- reproach. And this will lead to a change of heart, if we, amidst deep self-humilitation (fasting) and prayer, invoke God's pardon and promise to improve our ways. We are, then, no longer the same sin laden creatures with hearts torn by bitter remorse. We try to undo our sins. Repentarj ce works reconciliation , a tenement, which means AT-ONE MENT, setting ourselves at one with God, our Heavenly Father. "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he had committed and keep all My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live ; he shall not die. All his transgressions shall not be mentioned unto him ; by his righteousness shall he live." (Ezekiel xviii. 21-22.) " The people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sack-cloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For the King caused it to be pro- 36 claimed ; ' Let no one taste anything. Let all be covered with sack-cloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence of his hand.' And God saw their doings that they turned away from their evil way. And God bethought himself of the evil that He said He would do unto them, and He did it not. (Jonah iii. 5-10.) IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 54. Man, as far as concerns his body, shares the des- tiny of all animal life. He dies, as he is born, subject to the same laws of growth and decay as is every other earthly creature. But his soulis immortal. It shares in the eternal nature of God of whom it is a part, light of His light, spirit of His spirit. ' A light of God is the soul of man." (Proverbs xx. 27.) ' ' The dust returneth to the earth as it was, but the spirit returneth to God who gave it." (Ecclesiastes xii. 7.) ' ' Thou wilt not leave my soul to destruction. Neither wilt Thou suffer Thy pious one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In Thy presence is fulness of joy. At Thy right hand are delights for ever more." (Psalm xvi. 9-11.) 55. The belief of former ages was that the body will at some future day be reunited with the soul and rise from the grave for a new life on earth. This is the hope of Resurrection. Those who believe in God's immutable will as manifested in nature's laws hold fast to the doctrine that what is of the body is prrishable, while the spirit is imperishable, and continues forever with God, the Fountain of all life. 37 " The dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust. For thy dew is as the dew of the herbs, And the earth shall cast forth the dead." (Isaiah xxvi. 19.) "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness." (Psalm xvii. 15.) "The pious climb from strength to strength, from one sphere of life to an ever higher one." (Talmud. ) 56. The thought of the immortal nature of our soul must prompt us to use this earthly life and all it offers us only as a preparation for the higher life of godliness and righteousness, which lasts forever, and not to spend it on vain things. " When he dieth he shall carry nothing away, His wealth will not descend after him." (Psalm xlix. 18.) ' In the way of righteousness is life. And in the pathway thereof there is no death" (Proverbs xii. 28. ) 57. What the state of the soul will be after life, we shall never know as long as we live in a mortal frame. But we do know that eternal happiness is the reward of doing good, and that every bad action brings ever- lasting misery. ' ' Be not like servants, who work for their master only in expectation of wages." (Antigonos of Socho. ) " The reward of virtue is virtue, the punishment of vice is vice." (Ben Assai. ) NOTE Hell (Gehenna) and heaven (Paradise), as places of pun- ishment for evil-doers and reward for the good in the world to come, are inventions of the human mind (Egyptian and Persian), for an age when men, like children, needed some threat to lure 38 them away from sin, and some promise to bribe them to do right. To-day even our children know that the highest morality is to do the good for the sake of the good, and to shun evil, because it is evil. III. ISRAEL AND MANKIND. 58. All men are children of God. God wrote His laws of righteousness upon every human heart, and planted the hope of future life into every soul. But Israel, being the first people that recognized God as Ruler and Father of all, is called God* s first-born son among the nations, whose mission it is to unite them all into one family. "Thus said the Lord; 'Israel is My first-born son.' '' (Exodus iv. 22.) " He loveth the people; all His saints are in Thy hand. 1 ' (Deut. xxxiii. 3.) " All the righteous among the nations have a share in the bliss of the world to come." (Talmud. ) "Beloved are the children of men, for they are called children of God. Especial love was shown to the children of Israel, for they first became conscious of their being the children of God." (R. Akiba in Mtshnah Aboth.) " Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else." (Isaiah xlv. 22.) 59 God deals in righteousness with all men and nations He rewards them for their good deeds and punishes them for their sins, giving them time to repent and mend their ways. The history of every nation., shows that God is the great educator of man- kind. He leads them through trial and suffering, from error to truth, from oppression to freedom, and also from vice to virtue. 39 NOTE. The Bible stories concerning Egypt and Canaan, Assyria and Babylonia, as well as the prophetical passages, show that every calamity that befell the heathen nations, as well as Israel, was well deserved. It was punishment for their sins. Ancient and modern history gives similar proof that God's ways are justice and righteousness. When we speak of human progress in history, we mean that the divine principles of right, truth and goodness triumph more and more over the brutal forces of nature. " The Lord is righteous, but I and my people are wicked." (Pharaoh in Exodus ix. 27. ) " Consider ye brutish among the people. And ye fools, when will ye be wise ? He that chastiseth nations, shall He not correct ?" (Psalm xciv. 8, 10.) " He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth." (Psalm xcvi. 13.) 60. The inspired prophets and writers of Israel first recognized that the world is made and governed by God in accordance with His great purposes, and that in the coming and going of the ages and nations of history, the sublime plan of Divine Providence is at work. While succeeding one another, they are des- tined in the course of time to bring about the King- dom of God, which is the kingdom of truth and right- eousness on earth. " Say among the nations : ' The Lord is King, He judgeth the peoples with equity.' " (Psalm xcvi, 10. ) "Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket counted as the small dust of the balance." " Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning." "I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last am I." (Isaiah xc. 15, xci. 4-5.) 40 " And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; on that day the Lord shall be One and His name the One." (Zecha- riah xiv. 9. ) 61. In order to accomplish this great end of human history, Israel has been entrusted with the mission of leading all nations to know God and to worship Him in truth and in justice. For this reason he was separ- ated from the rest of the nations as a priestly nation and scattered among all the people on earth, in order that he, as God's chosen one, may at the end of all times unite them all in the glorification of God and the love of -man. "For thou art a holy pesple unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto him- self out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth." (Deut. xiv. 2.) ' And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass.' (Micah v. 6. 62. This glorious future, when all men and nations shall be made one by the divine covenant of love and peace, of justice and truth, is called the time of the Messiah or the Messianic Kingdom, because many prophets of Judah predicted that a King (or Anointed) from the house of David would establish this reign of peace over the world, while residing in Jerusalem as the holy centre. NOTE a. Messiah is "the anointed," the same as Chrtstos (Christ). Here is the main point of issue between Orthodox and Pro- gressive Judaism. Orthodox Judaism expects a restoration of the Jewish State, with its temple and priesthood, and a full re- establishment of all the laws of Moses, including sacrifice and priesthood, believing that only on account of his sinfulness has Israel been driven away from Palestine and dispersed among the nations. Progressive Judaism, on the contrary, considers the sacrificial laws, and similar institutions of old, to be dead and gone forever, and with these also the holiness of the priests, the sons of Aaron, and the hope for a personal Messiah, or King, because the mission of the Jewish people is to unite man- kind in spirit by their monotheistic truth and their work for righteousness and peace. Israel himself is the Messiah, " God's anointed " among the nations, destined to bring about the time of universal peace and salvation, the hope of mankind. " It shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and many people shall go and say : ' Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall decide between many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning- hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ' O house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord.' " (Isaiah ii. 2-5. " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy moun- tain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." [Isaiah xi. 9.] "Yea, He [the Lord] said: ' It is too light a thing that thou shouldst be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the ends of the earth." [Isaiah xlix. 6.J "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a scion from his roots shall sprout forth. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, 42 the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and faithful- ness the girdle of his reins. "Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leo- pard with the kid, cow and bear shall feed together; and the child shall play on the hole of the asp. They shall no longer harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. " On that day shall the root of Jesse stand for an ensign of the people; for it shall the gentiles wait, and his rest shall be glorious." f Isaiah xi.-i-io.] " David, My servant, shall be King over them, and they shall all have one shepherd." [Ezekiel xxxvii.-24.] NOTE b . The prophet of the Exile calls Cyrus, the Persian King, God's Anointed," or Messiah, and does not mention even once the king from the house of David as the hope of Israel. "That saith of Cyrus, he is My shepherd. He shall per- form all My pleasures, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be rebuilt, and to the temple, thy foundations shall be laid. ' ' Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. For Jacob My servant's sake and for Israel Mine elect have I called thee by name, and set thee up, though thou didst not know Me. That they may know from the rising of the sun to the west that there is none beside Me, I am the Lord and there is none else. [Isiah xliv.-28 xlv.-6.] Also Israel is called " God's anointed." " When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another. He suffered no man to do them wrong ; yea, He reproved kings for their sake. Touch not Mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm." [Psalm cv.-i3 -IS-] "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : After glory He hath sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for He that 43 , toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye." [Zechariah ii.-8.] " Behold, My servant shall be exalted and be very high. He is despised and rejected of man, a man of sorrows. Surely he hath born our griefs, he was wounded for our transgressions, and with his stripes are we healed." [Isaiah lii.-liii.] NOTE c. The suffering servant of the Lord is none else but Israel. Both Christianity and Islamism, in adopting parts of the Jewish faith and morality, have become God-appointed missionaries of Judaism, destined to spread the truth of the monotheistic religion of Abraham among the Gentile world and prepare the same for the highest form of religion and morality. [Maimonides and other Jewish philosophers.] 63. As teacher and guardian of the pure faith in God and of the hope for a reunited mankind, the Jewish people has also been submitted ever anew to severe tests and trials to prove its fidelity to God and its sacred mis- sion. Its sins and failings are punished more severely than those of other people, because as the chosen priest of mankind, Israel is to lead an exemplary life of the utmost purity and holiness, one based on the principle of the highest virtue and righteousness. " You only have I singled out of all the families of the earth; therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities." (Amos iii. 2.) "Yet, I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed, how, then, art thou turned into a degenerate plant of strange vine unto Me ?" (Jeremiah li. 21.) "As I live, said the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm, and with wrath poured out will I rule over you .... and will cause you to pass 44 under the rod, and bring you into the bond of the covenant and cleanse you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord. And I will be sanctified by you before the heathen. ' (Ezekiel xx. 33-4I-) 64. The mission of Israel is, therefore a threefold one : a) to teach and proclaim the Unity of God and thus to unite all minds and hearts by a truth longed for and felt by all alike. b) To teach and practise the law of Righteousness, which is the foundation of all morality and all human welfare, individual and social. c) To work both as a religious and as a national body for unity and peace among all nations and classes of men and link them into one bond of brotherhood. " Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from violating it and taketh hold of My covenant, even them, I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isaiah Ivi. 6-7.) " And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many as a dew from the Lord and as the showers upon the grass." (Micah v. 7 ) "The Jewish people were dispersed over the wide earth for the sole purpose of propagating the truth and winning many Gentiles for it, as it is written : ' I shall sow her unto Me in the earth (Hosea ii. 23). No one sows seeds unless he expects to reap a plenteous harvest. ' " (Rabbi Eliezer in Talmud Pesachim 87^.) NOTE. After the dispersion of the races of man over the earth subsequently to the deluge, the call of God came to Abraham : "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from 45 thy father's house into the land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation and in thee all families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis xii. 1-3.) NOTE. And so says the prophet concerning the future in the name of God: " Then I will turn unto the nations a pure language, that they may all call on the name of the Lord, and serve Him with one accord." (Zephaniah iii. ga. ) IV. THE CREED OF JUDAISM. 65 Judaism has doctrines rather than creeds. The truth of Israel is taught, not imposed upon, the people. It is based on the facts of history. It is not a philos- ophy, but a message to the world. Still, in order to defend Judaism against the creeds of other sects, the Jewish masters set down certain articles of faith as fundamental. Among these Maimonides, the great Jewish mastet in Spain, at the close of the twelfth century, formulated thirteen articles of the Jewish faith, which found general acceptance among the Israelites of various lands and also a place in the old Prayer-book. 66. They read as follows : I. / firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is both Creator and Ruler of all created beings, and that He alone hath made, doth make, and ever will make all works of nature. II. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is One, and no Unity is like His in any form, and that He alone is our God who was, is, and ever will be. III. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is not a body, and no corporeal relations apply to Him, and that ther exists nothing that has any similarity to Him. 4 6 IV. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name. was the first and will also be the last. V. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, is alone worthy of being worshiped, and that no other being is worthy of our worship. VI. I firmly believe that all the words of the Prophets are true. VII. I firmly believe that the prophecy of Moses, our Master (peace be upon him!) was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those that preceded him and of those that fol- lowed him. VIII. I firmly believe that the Law which we possess now is the same which hath been given to Moses our Master (peace be upon him !). IX. I firmly believe that this Law will not be changed, and that there will be no other Law (or Dispensation) given by the Creator, blessed be His name. X. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be His name, knoweth all the actions of men and all their thoughts, as it is said : " He that fashioneth the hearts of them all, He that considereth all their works." (Psalm xxxiii. 15.) XI. I firmly believe that the Creator, blessed be He, rewardeth those who keep His commandments and punisheth those who transgress His commandments. XII. I firmly believe in the coming of the Messiah, and although he may tarry, I daily hope for his coming. XIII. I firmly believe that there will take place a revival of the dead at a time which will please the Creator, blessed be His name, and exalted His memorial forever and ever ! 67. These thirteen articles were reduced by Simon Duran and Joseph Albo, Jewish philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, into three funda- mental articles of faith : a) GOD as specified in the first five articles of Maimonides: 47 Gods' existence, unity, incorporeality. eternity. He the sole adject of man' s worship. b) REVELATION as specified in Article vi.-ix. : Prophecy, Moses supreme authority. Divine origin of the Law, Immutability of (he Law of Moses, both the written and the oral one. c) RETRIBUTION or REWARD AND PUNISHMENT as specified in articles x.-xiii. : Divine Judgment, Retribution, Messiah and Resurrection. 68. On the following three or rather four articles all the believers in Judaism agree : I. We believe that there is one God, an only Being, eternal, spiritual and most holy who created heaven and earth and ruleth the world with perfect wisdom, with infinite justice and everlasting love. He is our God and none besides Him. Him we are bidden to love with all our heart, and all our soul, and all our might; exclaiming: " Hear, O Israel, the Lord cur God, the Lord is One." Ha. We believe that all men are children of God, endowed with an immortal spirit, destined to share in the eternal hap- pfness by following His ways of righteousness. lib. We also believe that Israel, having been the first to recognize God, hath received a special revelation of His will with the Mission of being His chosen priest among the nations to lead them to truth and salvation. " The Law which Moses gave us is the heritage of the Congregation of Jacob." (Deut. xxxiii. 4.) " Blessed be the Lord who hath given the Law unto Israel in His holiness! '' III. We believe that God tuleth and judgeth all men and nations in tighteousniss and love. By reward and punishments, by joys and suffer- ings He educatelh and leadeth them to ever higher aims until at last they shall arrive at the end of all time, when truth, justice and peace shall unite mankind in the life of divine love and eternal salvation, and God will be King and Father of all. 4 8 This is the Kingdom of God for which we all hope and wait, and for w'aicb we work with all the strength of body and soul. "The Lord shall reign forever: Thy God, O Zion, from generation to generation, Hallelujah." 49 Chapter III. System of Duties. 69. Duty is that which is felt to be due to some one; a commandment of God which enjoins us either to do a certain thing a. positive law or not to do it a pro- hibitive law. 70. There are moral duties, such as we have to observe, because we are moral beings, binding on all men and at all times; and ceremonial laws, binding only on members of a certain religion for whom these practices are intended as signs and symbols of some religious truth, and they may change according to time and surroundings. THE PRINCIPLE OF MORALITY. 71. The fundamental principle of all moral duty is given in the Biblical commandment : " Be ye holy, for holy am /, the Lord your God.' 1 '' (Leviticus xix i.) This enjoins man to strive for the utmost purity of life, and thus come ever nearer to God, the highest ideal of perfection. " Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord ? Or who shall stand in His holy place ? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who lifteth not his soul for falsehood, and sweareth not for deceit." (Psalm xxiv. 3, 4.) NOTE. Hillel, when asked by a heathen mocker to tell him all the commandments of the law while he stood before him on one foot, answered: " Do not do unto others what thou dost not want others to do unto thee. This is the principle, the rest is its commentary." Still, this is only one side of man's duty. Micah, the prophet, expressed it more explicitly: "Thou hast been told, 50 oh man, what is good and what the Lord thy God requires ot thee: ' Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with thy God.'" (Micah vii. 6-8.) Here we have three principles of morality expressed: Justice, Kindness and Humility before God. 72. As regards their object, the Duties are best divided into three classes : a) Duties towards God. b) Duties towards our fellow-beings. c) Duties towards ourselves. NOTE. Following the example of many rabbis, ancient and modern, we take the Decalogue as the foundation of the entire system of ethics. A. Duties towards God. 73. The first of the Ten Words addresses itself both to the nation and the individual, as though to say; " I am the Lord of the world, and at the same time thy God, who takes care of thee, thy Redeemer, Protector and all-providing Father, ever ready to help and to rescue thee from need and woe." NOTE. From this fatherly relation of God to man follows the FILIAL relation of man to God. "Children ye are unto the Lord your God." (Deut. *iv. i.) 74. The first duty, then, we have towards God is to have perfect faith in Him and feel confident that, whatever danger or distress may beset us, He will in the end lead us to the right path of salvation; for. whatever He does, is for our best. The steps of man are ordered by God, and He regulates His destinies." (Psalm xxxvii. 23.) " Commit thy way unto the Lord, and trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." (Psalm xxxvii. 5.) " God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change, and though the mountains be moved in the heart of the seas." (Psalm xlvi. 2-3.) " The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear ? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall 1 be afraid ?" (Psalm xxvii. 2.) " I hold God forever before mine eyes, for if He be to my right hand, I do not stagger." (Psalm xvi. 8.) " Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me ; Thy rod and Thy staff will comfort me." (Psalm xxiii. 4.) " For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath compassion on thee." (Isaiah liv. 10.) " Whatever the Merciful One doth, He doth it for our good." (Saying of Rabbi Akiba.) 75. We also owe to God thankfulness, when we are prosperous and happy, for He is the Author of life and health, the Giver of all joy and success ; and also when affliction and trial are upon us, for they are sent to chasten and better our souls. ' ' Beware, lest thou forget the Lord thy God, and thou say in thy heart : My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth." (Deut. viii. 12.) " Bless my soul, the Lord, and forget not all His benefits." (Psalm ciii. 2.) "I am not worthy of all the kindness and faithfulness which Thou hast shown unto Thy servant." (Jacob in Genesis xxii. 4.) " Doth not from the mouth of the Most High proceed the evil as well as the good ?" (Lamentation iii. 38.) 52 "Should we accept the good alone from God, and not accept the evil ? " " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job i. 21, ii. 10.) " As a man chaste neth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." (Deut. viii. 5. ) " We must thank God for the evil as well as for the good, for in the end all will turn out to be good." (Mishnah B'rachoth. ) 76. The chief duties which religion imposes upon us are fear of God and love of God. We fear God, that is, we stand in awe and reverence before Him when we think of Him as the great Lord and Master, in whose hands are our destinies, and whose will we all must obey. Fear of God will prevent us from haughty pride. Dread of His displeasure will keep us from doing wrong. "Sin speaketh with power to the wicked within him, for there is no fear of God before his eyes." (Psalm xxxvi. 2.] " Fear of God, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job xxviii. 28.) 77. Our highest duty towards God is to love Godo& our Father with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our might. With all our heart, that is, to cling to Him in pure affection and devotion, as a child clings to his parent, doing everything to please Him, and delighting in His greatnesss and goodness. With all our soul, that is, to subordinate all our desires, inclina- tions and passions to His will, to acknowledge His love in all His doings and dispensations, and to be of one accord with Him, whether in j'oy or in grief. With all 53 our might, that is, to concentrate all our powers and energies to perform His will and bring every sacriBce to honor Him as the Holy One. " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Deut. vi. 4-5-) " Love God more than you do your life and fortune or anything you hold dear on earth." [R. Akiba in Midrash.] 78. We manifest our love to God by showing love and sympathy to all our fellow-men as His children. "Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us ? Why, then, should we deal faithlessly one with the other?" [Malachi ii. 10.] 79. The best way to show our gratitude and love to God is to obey His will and avoid sin, bothf in action and in thought. "And now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord, to walk in His ways and to love Him." [Deut. x. 12.] "That the fear of God may be before you that ye sin not." [Exodus xx. 20. J " Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." [I. Samuel xv. 22.] 80. It is, however, our special duty to worship God, that is, to give solemn expression to our feelings of faith and gratitude, of awe and adoration, of reverence and love of God. The ancient form of worship was chiefly sacrifice accompanied by song. The form of worship prevalent since the days of the founders of the synagogue is Prayer, public or private, at regular hours and seasons, and on special occasions. 54 81. Prayer is the communion of our soul with God. As the child trustfully comes to the parent with its every joy or sorrow, trouble or perplexity, so do we but follow the deepest need of our natures when we pour forth our prayers to God our Father. To Him we offer praises in adoration of His great- ness ; thanksgiving in recognition of all His blessings ; supplication when we feel our human weakness and need ; pleading for forgiveness when conscious of sin and misdoings; yearning for consolation in trouble and affliction; aspirations for hope and strength in anguish and perplexity, and also our humble submission to His will in hours of trial and tribulation. 82. When we pray,we do not presume to acquaint the All-knowing God with our wants, but feeling that God is nigh when we call on Him, we derive strength and courage, comfort and inspiration from the conviction that He is our all-benign Father, who hears the prayers of all His children. We should, therefore, make it the holiest duty of our life to seek constant intercourse with God on high, so as to secure His help and favor at all times, looking to Him for protection in danger, for strength in temptation, for comfort iu sorrow, for pardon when our conscience is troubled with sin, and for peace and guidance in hours ot con- flict and anguish. " Seek ye the Lord, while He may be found; call ye upon Him while He is near." [Isaiah Iv. 6.] "The Lord is near to fll who call on Him in truth." [Psalm cxlv. i8.J 55 " On the day that I call, Thou answerest me; Thou en- couragestme with strength in my soul." [Psalm cxxxviii. 3.) 83. At all times pious men assembled at sunrise and sunset and on festal seasons for common worship and devotion. The great founders of the Synagogue pre- scribed that every faithful son of Israel should recite every morning and evening such prayers and parts of Scriptures, as were best fitted to express his "acknowl- e^gment of the sovereignty of God," and his " willing- ness to seive Him and fulfil all His commandments." NOTE. The recital of the SAm'a was called "the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of God." " Know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord search- eth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts; if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever." (i. Chroni- cles xxviii. 9.) 84. It is the duty of man endowed with reason to learn to know the ways of God, observe His works in nature and history, and study His revelations through the sacred books so as to arrive at an ever higher con- ception of His greatness and of His will, and thereby grow ever wiser and better. ' Show me Thy ways, O Lord, that I may know Thee to the end that I may find favor in Thine eyes." [Exodus xxxiii. 13.] ' ' Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things in Thy Law." [Psalm cxix. 18.] " For the Lord is a God of knowledge." [i. Samuel ii. 3.] " Lift up your eyes on high and see who hath created these, who bringeth out their hosts by number." [Isaiah xl. 26.] 56 "This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night." [Joshua i. 8.] THE SECOND COMMANDMENT. 85. We are forbidden to worship any being besides God, the Only One, or to call any being by the name of God, except Him, the Father of all men and the Spirit of all Life. NOTE. The heathens of old were polytheists, "believers in many gods," worshipers of sun, moon and stars, or of beasts and men representing either strength [Egyptian] or beauty [Greek] or the power of destiny [Babylonian], or good and evil [Persian]. Modern heathens call nature or the universe God [Pantheism} or they deny or doubt the existence of God [Atheism and Agnosti- cism], thus making man the highest being, in spite of his limited reason and knowledge. Judaism teaches pure Monotheism God as the only self-conscious Being, undivided and indivisible, dwelling in all and yet above all, the perfect Unity. "There is none like unto Thee, O Lord; Thou art great, and Thy name is great in might, the living God, the ever- lasting King. The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens." [Jeremiah x. 6-10.] 86. We are forbidden to worship God under any form or image, or represent Him as if He had some form visible to the eye. NOTE. The heathens made themselves idols, and so did Israel in olden times. But, says Moses, "Take heed, for ye saw no man- ner of form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire." [Deut. iv. 16.] And when the Bible often speaks of God as though he had human form, such an- thropomorphisms must be taken in a figurative sense accord- ing to the teachings of the rabbis. 57 87. We are furthermore forbidden to put oui trust in any other being or power besides God, the Omni- potent. All belief in witchcraft, in lucky or unlucky stars, days or numbers, in good or evil spirits, in charms, fortune-te ling and fate, every superstitious practice is sin, a violation of the Second Command- ment. " There shall not be found with thee one that useth divin- ation or that practiseth augury, an enchanter, sorcerer, a charmer or a wizard and necromancer. Thou shalt be per- fect with the Lord thy God." [Deut. xviii. 10-13.] " Learn not the way of the heathen, and fear not the signs of heaven. They are vanity, the work of error. Be not afraid of them, they can do no evil or good. The portion of Jacob is not like these, for He, God, is the former of al things." [Jeremiah x. 2-16.] ' ' Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and besides Thee I desire none on eath." [Psalm Ixxiii. 25.] 88. Put yourtrust neither in your strength, wealth, wisdom, nor in any man, but in God alone. " Thus, saith the Lord: ' Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty glory in his might. Let not the rich glory in his riches, but let him that glories glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who exerciseth loving kindness, judgment and righteousness on earth, for in these things I delight.' '' [Jeremiah ix. 23-24.] 89 Rather than to bow to idols or to worship any other being but the Only One God, the Israelite is enjoined to die at the hand of cruel persecutors in order to testify to his perfect faith in God and glorify His name before the world. 58 ' I shall be magnified and sanctified and made known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." [Ezekiel xxxviii. 23.] " Precious it the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." [Psalm cxvi. 15.] NOTE. Martyrdom in the cause of faith is called "Sanctification of the name of God." 90. "God is jealous," (zealous) means that He cannot allow truth to take the place of falsehood, and wrong to take the place of right He cannot tolerate evil, but punishes it in the shape of physical, moral and spirit- ual ruin working upon the evil-doer and upon his children and children's children if these follow hisexatnp'e iu "hating God." But, while evil works its bad influence unto the fourth generation, the good influence works its blessing even to the thousandth generation of those who keep on the path of virtue. " Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness. The wicked one cannot remain before Thee." [Psalm v. 5.] NOTE. Children of wicked parents inherit their bad name and evil inclinations and are easily influenced by their bad example. So an evil-doer brings punishment upon his children and children's children. But all the greater is the merit of those children who overcome all these bad tendencies and influences, and become good and virtuous men. What mean ye in saying : ' The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge ?' Behold, all souls are Mine. The father, because he did that which is not good, he shall die in his iniquity. Yet, when the son doth what is lawful and right he shall live. The soul that sinneth shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and 59 the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." [Ezekiel xviii. 1-20.] On the other hand, the piety and good deeds of parents will work blessings upon the children for many generations to come. God will remember their merits, and their memory will serve as a power for good even to an undeserving posterity, so that the seeds of virtue will bear fruit in the end. " Thus saith the Lord : ' I remember unto thee the faith- fulness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, how thou followest me in the wilderness, a land that was not sown." [Jeremiah ii. 2.] " I wHl bless thee for the sake of Abraham, My servant." [Genesis xx vv. 24.] 91. God alone is holy. He is the ideal of perfection and purity. Before Him we feel ashamed of our sinful acts or thoughts. Him we offend in doing, or plan- ning evil, and He alone can forgive our tresspasses. No priest nor any other power stands between man and his Maker to intermediate and work the atonement of sin. He waits for the repentance of the sinner and gives him lime to improve his ways. " I, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." [Isaiah xlin. 25.] " Lord, God, full of compassion and gracious, slow to an- ger and plenteous in mercy and faithfulness, keeping mercy for thousands of generations, forgiving iniquity, transgres- sion and sin, who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Thy mercy ! " And the Lord said: ' I have pardoned according to thy word.' " [Exodus xxxiv. 6; Numbers xiv. 17.] 6o " Happy are ye, O Israel ' Before whom are ye to purify yourselves, and who doth purify you ? Your Father in heaven. He alone is the Fouutain of Purity, the H..pe of Salvation " [R. Akiba m Mishna Yoma.] 92. God, the Most High and Holy One, is greatest in His condescension. He comes down to man to help him in all his needs. He delights in humbleness. He hates the proud and haughty and dwells with those who are humble of heart We must be humble our- selves before Him, confess our weakness and sin l>ef re Him and implore His aid in every good endeavor. "Thus saith the high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is the Holy One, I dwell in the high anr) holy place, but also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit." [Isaiah Ivii. 15.] " Thou saveth the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes Thou bringest down." " Thy condescension maketh me great." [Psalm xviii. 27, 35.] "R. Eliezer said to his disciples. " Repent of your sins one day before you die! " " How shall we know when we will die ?" asked they; whereupon the master said: " There- fore repent each day of your life, so as to meet your Maker free from guilt whenever He summons you." [Aboth di R. Nathan.] THE THIRD COMMANDMENT. 93. The literal translation of the Third Command, ment is: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord upon thy lips] for falsehood ; for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who taketh His name [upon his lip ] for falsehood. 1 ' It not only forbids false swear- 6i ing, but it also threatens the perjurer with severe punishment, because perjury destroys the very founda- tion of all justice. NOTK. Upon the solemn oath rests the faith of the people, the safety of society, and the peace of the nation. He who takes an oath calls God as witness that what he declares, or promises, is true, and he pledges his life for his word, He who calls God as witness for things that are untrue commits a threefold crime Besides telling a lie, he abuses the name of God and he shakes the faith of the people in truth and justice. His life is forfeited. In former times he who took an oath had to face the blood or the pieces of some killed animal, or to listen to some awful curse while he said: " Let God punish me in the same manner if I did not do this, or if I will not do that," and the punishment was sure to come upon him, if he swore falsely. In latter days a milder form came into use: " So help me God that I shall speak the truth," but the meaning is the same. A perjurer is an enemy of God and society. "Ye shall not swear by My name falsely, and thereby profane the name of thy God, I am the Lord thy God." [Leviticus xix. 12.] "This is the curse for every one that stealeth and every one that sweareth falsely by My name, and it shall abide in his house and consume it." [Zachariah v. 3-4.] 94. If we have promised under oath to do a certain thing; and afterwards omit do'ng it, we are guilty either of having broken our oath, or of having sworn deceitfully, because we did not keep, or did not intend to keep a promise made sacred by oath. " When thou makest a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou halt not delay to pay it, foi the Lord thy God will require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. [Deut xxiii. 21.] 95 Because all swearing leads to abuse, our ancient 62 masters translated the Third Commandment: "Thou shalt not utter the name of the Lord thy God in vain," implying thereby the following rules: a Swear only on solemn occasions, when an oath is demanded at the court of justice or for the per- functiou of an office. " Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God ; Him shalt thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, and by His name shalt thou swear." [Deut. x. 21.] " Thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth ! in truth, in judg- ment and in righteousness." [Jeremiah iv. 2.] b. Never swear, nor utter the name of God carelessly, or unnecessarily, or for profane purposes. "Accustom not thy mouth to swear, and train not thy lips to utter the name of the Holy One." [Sirach xxiii. 9.] " Let thy yea be yea, and thy nay, nay." [Talmud, B. Metzia, 490. Midrash Ruth Rabba to Hi. 18.] 96. The peace and welfare of men and nations rest upon faithfulness Every relation of man to man, every covenant of friendship and peace derives its sanctity from God, the Keeper and Guardian of the covenant of life. Whosoever is faithless to the duties he has assumed, whether he has charge of a*household or a public office, of a profession or of* some work he is pledged to perform, violates the name of God. 4 He who sweareth on earth, sweareth by the God of faithfulness.'' [Isaiah Ixv. 16.] "Thus saith the Lord: ' If there was not My covenant of day and night, I would not have appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth.' " [Jeremiah xxxiii. 25.] 63 " He who does not keep his word, will meet the punish- ment of Him who visited the generation of the flood." [Talmud Baba Metziah 44. ] THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT 97. The Fourth Commandment ordains that, after the six days of work, we should set aside the seventh day of the week as a day of rest consecrated to God and the higher purposes of life. While abstaining from labor, we should keep the Sabbath holy, and devote it solely to those things which draw us nearer to God. NOTE. The main object of the Sabbath is not so much cessation of labor as the sacctification of the day. Therefore does the commandment not begin with the prohibition of work, but with the words: " Remember (observe) the Sabbath day to render it holy." The Sabbath is not a negative but a positive command. " If thou turnest back thy foot from the Sabbath, from pursuing thy business on My holy day, and callest the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honored, and thou honorest it by not doing thy wonted things, nor following up thy business, nor speaking on thy own affairs, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord'" (Isaiah Iviiii. is./.) 98 The Sabbath is intended first of all to secure to man the needed bodily rest and recreation after the six days of toil and care. We owe it to our body to guard it against over exertion and exhaustion. And this law of nature extends to all our fellow-beings Therefore, it is explicitly demanded that the servant should rest as well as the master, and the hired laborer as well as he who lives in prosperity. Even the beast in our employ should have respite. 6 4 Tims the Sabbath declares all men to be free and equal before God And that the creatures under man's dominion should also be treated with regard. NOTE. The reason for the observance of Sabbath is stated to be: " In order that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. and thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm." There- fore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath Day. (Deut. vi. 14.) "Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day shalt thou rest, in order that thine ox and thine ass may have respite, and the son of thine hand-maid, and the stranger may be refreshed." (Exodus xxiii. 12.) The Hebrew slaves in Egypt were not allowed to rest (see Exodus v. 5-17). Ancient civilization was founded on slavery. The Jewish Sabbath first proclaimed liberty to man. 99. The Sabbath is, furthermore, to remind man of his higher destiny as caild and co-worker of God. On that day he should lay aside his cares and labors for his bodily life, and concern himself more with the things that elevate and enrich his mind and heart, and provide for his spiritual needs. As in God's week of creation the Sabbath symbol- izes the sublime peace and bliss resting upon a world consumrruted after His eternal plan of wisdom and goodness, so should the Sabbath-repose at the end of each week crown also the work of man with divine peace and bliss. NOTR. The Biblical story of the six day's creation and the seventh day of rest, based, as we know to-day, upon the old Babylonian 65 week, conveys to us the grand religious truth that the world is the work of God's infinite wisdom and goodness, and its com- pletion is the cause of everlasting joy and peace. With God, who is above the confines of space and time, Sabbath means perfection and peace, while days signify epochs or stages in the evolution of the world. The Biblical creation story implies as the ancient rabbis say the idea of progress, though it differs greatly in form from our scientific conception of the formation of the world. In keeping the Sabbath we are exhorted to hold God before our mind as the great Master-worker whose work is perfect, and whose rest is peace and happiness for all. God is to be our pattern, while we are His co-workers. 100. The Sabbath is to sanctify life. To this end the Sabbath, being " the day holy to the Lord," has been instituted as a day of common religious devotion and instruction. Each member of the community is, therefore, in duty bound to attend divine service and listen to the word of God, read and expounded to the worshiping assembly on this day. " Only My Sabbath ye shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. . . . Wherefor the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual cove- nant. (Exodus xxxi. 13-17. ) NOTE. On Sabbath day the people used to go to hear the words of the prophet (See 2 Kings iv. 23.) Josephus writes: " Our legislator (Moses) caused the people to abandon all other employments and assemble to hear the Law and to study it carefully every week a thing which all other legislators failed to do.'' (Contra Apion li. 17.) Agatharchides, a Greek author of the second pr ^-Christian cen- tury, writes; " There is a people, called Jews, living in a city 66 called Jerusalem, who have the custom of resting every seventh day, on which day they carry no arms, nor do they any work in the field, neither do they busy themselves with any affairs of life, but they spread out their hands in prayers in holy places until evening." (Josephus eodem.) Philo writes : 'On the seventh day there are spread before the people in every city innumerable lessons of prudence, justice and all other virtues, while all listen, eager for instruction, and so the lives of all are improved." (Philo on the Sabbath.) 101. The Sabbath is to lend especial joy and sanc- tity to the home. It is a day for family reunion. In rallying the members of the household around a table offering richer and sweeter things for the palate than on week days, and overflowing with songs and thanks- givings in honor of the day, the Sabbath of old filled the hearts with cheer and comfort and greatly strength- ened the ties of mutual affection and the sentiment of piety and reverence in the family circle. "Ye shall reverence every man his mother and his father, and ye shall keep My Sabbath days, I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus xix. 3.) NOTE. This close relation between Sabbath observance and filial piety is best shown in the verse just quoted. For the purpose of rendering the Sabbath the means of cheering and sanctifying home-life, the kindling of the Sabbath lamp was especially ordained by the rabbis. Josephus proudly says :" There is not nation nor city among the Greeks in which our seventh day of rest and the lighting of lamps has not been introduced." (Con- tra Apion ii. 39.) " Hallow the Sabbath and bless it this is done by wine and song of praise " (Midrash Mechiltha.) 103. Moreover, the Sabbath should enlarge our sympathies and cause us to consider the needs of all 67 our fellow-creatures. In demanding a season of rest for every fellow being, for the domestic animal as well as for the slave and the hired " stranger," the Fourth Commandment admonishes us to have due regard to all the claims which any state of helplessness and want lays upon humanity. " All matters pertaining to charity and education may be discussed and decided upon on the Sabbath day, for these are not 'thine own affairs, but God's." (Talmud Sab- bath 150 a.) 103. While all kinds of labor are prohibited on Sab- bath, such work as is required in the interest of an imperiled life, or in the interest of public safety, or for the maintenance of religious worship, is permitted. NOTE. A great deal of blame for the general neglect of the Sab- bath falls upon the rabbis, who much against the spirit of the Bible made the Sabbath laws an intolerable burden. The Bible expressly forbids agricultural and industrial as well as hard household work, such as was in ancient days the kindling of fire and the gathering of wood. (See Exodus xxxiv. 21 ; xxxv. 3; Numbers xv. 32; Jeremiah xviii. 21; Nehemiah xiii. 15-21). The Talmud enumerates thirty -nine chief labors and innumer- able derivative forms of work, laying down the principle that, whatever labor was required for the tabernacle, was forbidden on Sabbath. This was based on the fact that before the erection of the tabernacle a special law was promulgated prohibiting work on the Sabbath day. (Exodus xxxv. 2). The more im- portant fact, however, ought not to remain unnoticed that what- ever work formed part of the service in the tabernacle or temple, as the slaughtering or burning of sacrifice and the like, was ordained to be done on the Sabbath, it being done in honor of the Sabbath. When the saving of human life or the public welfare demanded 68 the setting aside of the Sabbath laws, the rabbis also declared: " The Sabbath is given to you (man), not you (man) to the Sab- bath." (Simon ben Mnasea in Mechiltha Vayakhel ; see also i Maccabees ii. 41, and compare Joshua vi. 15, and 2 Kings vi. 5-9-) 104. While the seventh day as such is observed only by Israel, the law of the Sabbath applies, like all the other Commandments of the Decalogue, to all men as children of God " It shall come to pass that from New Moon to New Moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath shall all flesh come to pros- trate themselves before Me, saith the Lord." (Isaiah Ixvi. 23.) " Also the strangers that join themselves to the Lord to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, to be His ser- vants, every one who so keepeth the Sabbath as not to pro- fane it, and who lays hold on My covenant I will bring to My holy mountain and gladden in My house of prayer. . . . My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." (Isaiah Ivi. 6-7.) NOTE. The Jewish institution of the Sabbath was the means by which the Christian church won the pagan world for the God of Israel. And what the Sunday, instituted in order to separate the Christian from the Jew, became to the Church a substitute for the Jewish Sabbath Friday is to the Moslem, a day holy to God. Thus the Jewish Sabbath still stands between Christian- ity and Islamism as a sign and symbol of the larger covenant between God and the one undivided humanity. 105 Sabbath rest is the seal of consecration put by God on labor. Work is holy. Man's duty is to labor and by his industry to add to the wealth, the comfort and happiness of the world. Idleness is sin. " Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work." (Exodus xx. 9.) 69 " God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to watch it." (Genesis v. 15.) " Work was the price Adam had to pay for his food also when in Paradise." (Aboth de R. Nathan xi. i. ) " Even in th wilderness manna fell only for those who went out on workdays to gather, not for the idler." (Mechil- tha B'shallach.) "When the Lord cursed Adam saying: 'Thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth for thee," he wept and said: 'Must I and mine ass eat out of one crib ? ' But then, the Lord continued: ' By the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread,' he was cheered and comforted." (Talmud Psachim n8a. ) " Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands ; then shalt thou be happy, and it shall be well with thee." ( Psalm cxxviii. a. ) " Work dignifies the workman." (Nedarim 49^.) THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT. 106. Next to God, our parents have the highest claim on our love and gratitude. They are our greatest benefactors and truest friends on earth. Like God, the Author of our being, they made us what we are. Watching with untiring care over our helpless infancy they provide for our physical needs, and, as we advance in years, they train and guide us wiih wis- dom and love, ever anxious to unfold our intellectual and moral powers until we would attain a state of self-reliance and are enabled to partake of the higher life of mankind. Thus the parents stand to the child in the place of God. Messengers of His benign pro- 70 vidence, they manifest that divine love which delights in doing good without regard to recognition. NOTE. The law which commands us to honor father and mother is closely allied to the preceding four commandments ordaining reverence of God. He who honors his parents honors God, in whose place they stand, and he who dishonors them dishonors also God. 107. We are not told to " love " father and mother, because nature compels us to love those who inces- santly bestow kindness upon us. The Fifih Command- ment enjoins us to show to our parents our utmost honor and reverence, and this implies obedience, life- long gratitude and faith ful devotion, " Ye shall fear (reverence) every man, his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbath days, I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus xix. 3.) "Why is the mother mentioned here first, and in the Decalogue the father first ?" ask the rabbis, and they answer ; "This is to teach you that you must respect the authority of your mother as much as that of your father, and pay as much affectionate regard to your father as you do to your mother." (Talmud Kiddushin 30^ ) " My son, keep the commandment of thy father, and for- sake not the instruction of thy mother. Bind them continu- ally upon thy heart, and tie them about thy neck." (Prov vi. 20-2 j.) 108. We can never repay to our parents the innumer- able blessings they have conferred upon us during all ourUife. All the more must we show our thankful- ness to them by doing everything in our power to please them and gladden their hearts, and avoiding everything that may cause them grief and pain. Of course, we honor them most by our honorable conduct, which makes them feel that they have bestowed their kindness upon good and worthy children. Still, every little attention, every outward token of our grateful love and esteem, becomes a source of joy and satisfac- tion to the parental heart. "A wise son maketh the father glad; a foolish son is the grief of his mother." (Proverbs z. i.) "Cursed be he who holdeth in light esteem his father or his mother." (Deut. xxvii. 16.) " He that curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in great darkness." (Proverbs xx. 20.) " The eye that mocketh at his father and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pluck it out, and young eagles may devour it." (Proverbs xxx. 17.) 109. Parents are placed 'over their children with the right and duty to govern and direct them for life's sacred tasks. Therefore, the children must acknowl- edge their authority and obey them willingly and cheerfully. They must treat them with the utmost respect and never speak to, or of, them except in terms of tender affection and piety; nor say, nor do anything that may offend them, nor put them to ridicule, but listen to their words with humble reverence and, as far as possible, fu!61 every wish of theirs, as if it were God's. " Three beings share in man's life: The father, the mother and God. If you honor and reverence father and mother says God you also honor and reverence Me. If you dis- please and cause them grief, you also grieve Me." (Tal- mud Kiddushin 30^31.) " Do you wish to know what filial respect signifies ? Learn it from Dama ben Nethina of Askalon, the heathen, who pre- ferred to forego a most profitable bargain to disturbing his father's sleep, and who allowed himself to be insulted in public JY an irascible mother without opening his mouth in protest." (Talmud Kiddushin 31.) " 'Honor father and mother" that is: Be of service to them, when they take their meals or dress, or come or leave. Rise before them, as before the presence of God. ' Reverence mother and father ' that is: Do not take their places in public, or their seats at home, nor contradict their words, nor use words of censure and approval in regard to what they say, as if you were their equal ! " (Talmud Kid- dushin 31.) " When the parents tell their child to do wrong, they can not claim obedience, for both parents and children are obliged to honor God and fear Him, for it says : Ye shall fear every man, his mother and father, and observe My Sabbath days, I am the Lord. You are both enjoined to fulfil My Commandments." (Sifra Leviticus xix. 3.) ' Yet, even when the parents are in the wrong, it does not behoove the child to censure them except in an humble, pleading manner." '' (Talmud Kiddushin 31.) " The Lord hath given the father honor over his children, and confirmed the authority of the mother over the sons. "He thatfeareth the Lord will honor his father and serve his parents as his masters. "Honor thy father and mother both in word and in deed, that a blessing may come upon thee from them. "Glory not in the dishonor of thy father, for thy father's dishonor is no glory unto thee." (Ben Sirah Ecclesiasticus iii. 2-10.) no. We owe love and respect to our parents, not only as long as we are under their care and enjoy their protection and support, but still more when we have 73 reached a state of independence and are no longer recipients of their bounties. As they advance in years and grow feeble and helpless, it becomes our duty to afford them every possible assistance and comfort in return for what they have done for us in former days. We must bear with their weaknesses and do all we can to render their old age peaceful and pleasant. NOTE. It is especially in view of what grown children do in honor of their parents in order to make old age blessed for them, that the Fifth Commandment holds out the promise: ' in order that thy days may be long." If we render old age a period of bless- ing for our parents, our children will also honor us when we shall have grown old. "Children's children are the crown of old men, and the glory of their children are their fathers." (Prov. xvii. 6.) " Whoso honoreth his father shall have joy of his own children. " My son, help thy father in his age, and grieve him not as long as he lives, and if his understanding fail, have patience with him, and despise him not when thou art in thy full strength." (Ecclesiasticus iii. 5-13.) " Despise- not thy mother when she is old."' (Proverbs xxiii. 22.) 'Thus saith thy son Joseph : ' God hath made me lord of all Egypt. Come down un^o me and thou shalt be near unto me, and I will nourish thee.' " (Genesis xlv. 9-11.) 'Though obliged to go begging, you should not withhold support from your impoverished parents. ' (Jerush Peah. i. i.) in. We must honor the name and memory of our patents when they are absent and dead, and never mention them except with some expression of our regar ! and pious love for them. 74 " Honor your parents both when they are alive and when they are dead. In the one case do not call them by their common name, but some endearing attribute, such as ' My dear father!' and in the other say, 'Blessed be his memory !' Hence came also the Jewish custom of commemorating the anniversary of death of father and mother." (Kiddushin 3i Feast of Weeks (Shabuot/i), and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth\ and the two festivals of solemn reflection'. New Year's Day (Rosh Ha-Shanah}, and the Day of Atonement ( Yont Hakkippurim). __ "3 " Three times shalt thou keep a feast of pilgrimage unto Me in the year: The feast of unleavened bread, for on it thou earnest out of Egypt; and the feast of the harvest of the first fruits of thy labor which thou hast sown in the field ; and the feast of ingathering at the close of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labors out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God." (Exodus xxiii. 14-17. ) " In the seventh month, on the first day, ye shall have a Sabbath, a memorial day of blowing the trumpet. . . . On the tenth day of the seventh month there shall be a day of atonement, it shall be an holy convocation unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer a fire offering unto the Lord, and ye shall do no work on that same day ; for it is a day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God." (Leviticus xxiii. 24-28.) NOTE. Kiddush and Habdallah. As among the Hebrews the night ushers in the day, Sabbath and Holy-days begin with the evening service in the Synagogue. Then the meal at home is solemnized by the recitation of a benediction over the cup of wine in sanctification of the day (Kiddush) before the break- ing of the bread. At the close of the Sabbath, a similar benediction is recited over the wine, the light and fragrant spices. This ceremony, called Habdallah, was also originally connected with the Sabbath meal. It was the regular Sabbath dinner which was prolonged amidst song and learned discussions on the Law, until sunset, when the light was kindled, and fragrant spices were brought in in Oriental fashion. Then the one who presided at the table said first grace over the meal, then the blessing over the wine, and over the light and the spices. After this, he took solemn leave of the Sabbath, reciting the benediction containing thanksgiving to God for having "distinguished" the holy Sabbath from the rest of the week-days, as He dis- tinguished Israel as a holy nation from the rest of mankind. This ceremony of Habdallah (which means distinction) was retained, after its connection with the Sabbath meal had been severed. (See Mishna B'rachoth viii. 5.) A. THE FEAST OP SPRING. PASSOVER. PESACH. 168. Passover, beginning on the eve of the fifteenth day of Nissan, the month of Spring, and ending with the twenty-first day thereof, lasting, according to Scripture, seven days, of which the first and the last are holy days. It is in the first instance the festival of Spring, on which man in common with nature cele- brates the renewal of life, and chiefly the Feast of Redemption, commemorating the great event of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and holding forth the promise of mankind's redemption from all thraldom in the future, a festival of joy and thanksgiving, of liberty and of hope. " Observe the month of spring and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy Cod, for in the spring month the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night." (Deut. xvi. i.) 169. The Symbols of the Passover feast are : 1. The Passover lamb : during the time of the Temple it was to be sacrificed and eaten on the eve of Passover as the meal of the covenant-, 2. The Unleavened Bread (MatzaK), and 3. Bitter herbs, to be eaten together with the Matzah at the Passover eve meal. No other but unleavened bread is to be eaten during the whole Passover festival. "5 "Ye shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall eat unleavened bread until the one and twentieth day of the month. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses. On the first day there shall be an holy convocation and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation. No manner of work shall be done on them, save that which a man must eat may be prepared by you." ' ' And ye shall kill the lamb in the evening and take of the blood and strike the lintel and the two sideposts with the blood on the threshold, and none of you shall go out of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass to smite the Egyptians, and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel and the sideposts, He will pass over into your door and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite. And ye shall observe this for an ordinance to thee and thy sons forever. And it shall come to pass when your children shall say: ' What mean ye by this service:' thus ye shall say: ' It is the sacrifice of the Lord's threshold crossing because He crossed the threshold of the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians and saved our houses.' .... This is the night of -watching unto the Lord, the night of watching of the Lord for all the children of Israel throughout all generations." (Exodus xii. 6-42.) NOTE. Pesach is the name for the threshold sacrifice. When the Angel of Death went from house to house in Egypt to slay the first-born, God passed over the threshold of the houses of the Israelites to become their Protector and Savior of all time ; the lamb sacrificed and eaten in each Jewish house, serving as a sacrifice of covenant, and the blood sprinkled on the doorpost being the token of the covenant, by which each Israelite was rendered a priest in the sanctuary of his home and each house dedicated to the service of God. The first night of Passover was, therefore, keept sacred at all times as the night of God's watch- ing over Israel, and celebrated in each Jewish household with song and recitations of psalms and prayer over blessed cups of wine in gratitude to God, "the Guardian of Israel, who sleepeth not, nor slumbereth," who has redeemed Israel from so many perils and persecutions in the past, and in joyful hope that He will bring about the great Messianic redemption in the future. The Matzah or unleavened bread should remind us of the readiness with which the Israelites in Egypt followed the bid- ding of God and His servant, Moses, to leave Egypt without waiting till the dough was leavened and baked in the oven. They trusted in God. and so the dough on their shoulders was baked in the hot sun and sand of the desert and they ate the bread unleavened. Thus the Matzah offers us the lesson of perfect confidence in God and willingness to do His bidding. The bitter herbs should remind us of the bitter lot the Israel- ites had in Egypt. " They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry," (Exod. xii. 39.) 170. The Passover should teach us: a. To be forever thankful to God our Redeemer for the liberty we enjoy, and for the kindness and mercy with which He watched over us and our fathers in past days ; b. To trust in Him at all times and hope for the redemption of every oppressed nation or individual, and c. To do what is in our power to offer relief to the oppressed and help to the unprotected. " The stranger that dwelleth with you, shall be unto you like the home-born, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Levit. six. 34.) IT; B. THE FEAST OF WEEKS. - SHABUOTH. 171. Shabuoth, or the Feast of Weeks, is celebrated on the sixth of Sivan, the third month, seven weeks after the first day of Passover. It was originally only a farmer's festival at the conclusion of the seven har- vest weeks. Two loaves of bread, baked of the new wheat, were brought upon the altar as a thank-offering on that day; it is, therefore, called the Feast of the First Offerings. But in later times it was rendered the Feast of the First Fruit of Israel's spiritual life, because it commemorated the day of the Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, which took place about that time. Thus Pentecost, or the fiftieth day after Pesach, is celebrated throughout Israel as the day when the people crowned the freedom obtained on Passover with the vow of self-consecration to its great task of being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation among all the people on earth. ' ' Seven weeks shalt them number from the time when thou puttest the sickle to the corn, and then shalt thou keep the Feast of Weeks unto the Eternal thy God." (Deut. xxi. 9.) "Ye shall count from the day ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering seven complete weeks, and on the fiftieth day ye shall offer as new meal-offering two loaves baked with leaven as the first fruits of the Lord." (Levit. xxiii. 15-17.) 'In the third month the same (first) day they came in sight of Mount Sinai." (Exodus xix, iff.) NOTE. In modern times the Shabuoth, or the Memorial Day of Sinai has been most properly selected as the day of consecration of Israel's youth to the faith of their fathers (Confirmation Day). n8 172. The Feast of Weeks should teach us : a. To be thankful for the blooming and blossom. ing of life in nature, j-o rich with blessing and hope for all ; b. To be thankful for the great boon of the Law with which God has entrusted us, and c. To vow and resolve every year anew to be loyal to our great mission and God's covenant of our fathers on Sinai. "All the Lord hath spoken we will do and obey." (Exod. xix. 8 ; xxiv. 7. ) C. FEAST OF TABERNACLES. - SUKKOTH. 173. Sukkoth, or the Feast of Tabernacles, begins with the fifteenth of Tishri, the seventh month, aod ends with the twenty second day, the first day being holy; the last day, however, bears a special name: Feast of Conclusion Azereth. It was originally the vSeason of Harvest Joy and Thanksgiving. It was celebrated in tents by the people gathered at Jerusalem, after the crops and fruits bad all been gathered in Therefore it was also calU d Feast of Ingathering. The Mosaic Law, however, declares that it should also bring into remembrance the merciful guidance of God with which He watched over our fathers during their journeying in the wilderness and protected them in their frail tents amidst the storms and dangers sur- rounding them for forty years. "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation ; ye shall do no field work thereon. On the eighth day shall be a holy convoca- tion unto you Ye shall dwell in booths seven days, that your generations may remember that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt." (Levit. xxiii. 39-43.) 174. The Symbols of Sukkoth are : 1. The dwelling in booths ; 2. The waving of a palm branch (Lulav], together with a citron-like fruit (Ethrog), fresh myrtle boughs and willow branches, during the festal procession and amidst the recital of psalms and hymns. ' And ye shall take on the first day the fruit of the goodly tree, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." (Levit. xxiii. 40.) NOTE. The dwelling in booths was to be done in token of grati- tude for God's protection shown to the people Israel during the centuries of their wandering on earth amidst the storms of per- secution that raged over them. The waving of the Lulav, originally a form of joyful worship of God, the Giver of all good, was afterwards rendered the symbolic expression of the manifold kinds and types of human life. Living in a western land, we should bring the most beautiful plants of our country into the synagogue, in addition to the Oriental kinds, and thus express our thankfulness to God on the first day of Sukkoth. " And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty days in the wilderness to humble and to prove thee. He fed thee with manna. He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, that thou 120 mightest know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that -proceedeth out of His mouth doth man live." (Deut. viii. 2, 3.) 175 The Feast of Conclusion (Azeretti), solemnized by prayers for the approaching (rainy) winter season, reminded the Israelite of old especially of the pouring out of God's spirit upon His people, as manifested in the Law. The Sukkoth festival, therefore, concludes with the Feast of Rejoicing with the Law (Simchath Torah), when the closing chapters of the Torah are read in the Synagogue amidst great solemnity. 176. The Sukkoth should teach us : 1. Gratitude to God for the year's blessings ; 2. Thoughtful provision for the needy, before the hard winter season sets in, and 3. A Fostering of the spirit of, and zeal for, the. Torah, Israel's spiritual harvest; D. NEW YEAR'S DAY. ROSH HASHANAH 177. New Year's Day (Rosh Hashanah} is celebrated on the fir>t day of Tishri, and called in the Bible Day of the Blowing of the Tntmpet. The seventh month, following the six months of work in the field, was welcomed as a Sabbatical month of rest and recreation by all the inhabitants of Palestine and, therefore, its new moon was greeted with louder sounds of the trum- pet than that of any other month (see Numbers x. 10). In the course of time the u turning point of the year," the fading leaf and the falling foliage awak- 121 ened serious thoughts in man, and the solemn tone of the Shofar addressed itself to him in the words:"A wake, ye men, from slumber, arouse from lethargy, search your ways, remember your God and return to the path of duty!" The Day of Memorial became to the people a day of self-examination, a Day of Judgment ', when the Ruler of Life sits on the world's throne to investigate the doings of man, and allot to each, as it were, his destiny for the coming year, whether for life or for death for happiness or for woe. " Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not tremble ?" (Amos iii. 6.) " For the Lord is our Judge ; the Lord is our Lawgiver; the Lord is our King; He will save us." 1)8. The New Year's Day admonishes us a, to look back upon the past year with its experiences of joy and sorrow, with gratitude to God, the Ruler of our Destiny, and renew our trust in Him ; b. to look back upon our doings and misdoings during the year* recognizing that God, the stern Judge of the world, searches our hearts and reads every thought therein, and determined to begin the new life with better resolves and with higher purposes ; c, to look upon the life of mankind and especially upon the history of Israel in the light of God's revelations on Mount Moriah, Sinai and Zion. NOTE. Regarding these three ideas; God our Ruler, God our Judge, and God our Educator (Malchioth, Zichronoth and SKofarotK), read the three chief portions of the sublime New Year's Mussaf prayer in the ancient Ritual, 122 E. THE DAY OP ATONEMENT. YOM HA KIPPURIM. 179. The Yom ha Kippurim, or Day of Atonemen , on the tenth day of Tishrt, is the holiest day of the year. It gives expression to the'sublimest teachings of the Jewish religion, which are : . Sin is not an evil power ruling over man and plotting his ruin, but merely a weakness or failing of man, always subject to his control, if he but earnestly strive to overcome it ; b. Man is a child of God and is, therefore, ever certain of the forgiving mercy of God, who will receive him in favor as soon as he returns penitently to Him; c. No priest or any other mediator is necessary to work atonement for man's sin ; he himse 1 f can make himself at one with his Maker by casting his sinful past into the sea, to begin a new life of virtue, goodness and rectitude; d. One must be reconciled with our neighbor before we ask God's pardon. 1 80. In order to feel the real shame and grief of sin and at the same time realize the glorious privilege of being allowed to implore God's pardon, we are bidden to humble ourselves before God in prayer and peni- tence, in fasting, and in abstinence from all worldly care and pleasure, and by continual devotion and solemn praise of the Most High during the whole day (and the previous evening) to rise to the highest perception of the divine love and holiness and thus attain heavenly peace. 123 " Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord , and He will have mercy on him, and unto God, for He will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah Iv. 6, 7.) 181. The Atonement Day teaches us: a. That we should ever watch our ways and guard against sin, for we may avoid guilt and be pure and innocent like a child ; we are born ivithout sin: b. That we should ever be sincere in confessing our failings before God, our fellow-men and ourselves, and earnestly endeavor to repent of them, and c. That we should ever amend our ways in order to live in peace with God and man. NOTE. The days from New Year to the Day of Atonement are called the Ten Penitential Days (Asereth Vmai T^shubah.) They are of an earnest, but by no means cheerless and gloomy character. "When men are summoned before a worldly ruler to defend themselves against some charge, they appear down- cast and dressed in black like mourners. Israel appears before God on the Judgment Day dressed in white as if going to a feast, because he is confident that God will pardon, and not condemn." (Jerusalem, Rosh Hashanah i. i.) The white garments worn in the synagogue of old by the pious Jew were therefore originally not reminders of the grave, but of the festal character of the days appointed for life's spiritual renewal! NOTE b. As regards the additional holy-day for Pesach, Shabuoth and Sukkoth and the Rosh Hashanah see Appendix A. 124 FESTIVALS OF LESS IMPORTANCE. FEAST OF THE MACCABEES. 182. Hanukkah or the Maccabean festival begins on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev and lasts eight days. It commemorates the victory of Judah, the Maccabe^ and his heroic brothers, sons of Mathathias the Hrs- monean, over the army of the Syrian King Antiochus, the persecutor of the Jews. Temple and priesthood had been profaned by idolatrous practices and vices, when Judah and the faithful men that followed him fought with wondrous power until the superior forces of the enemy were routed and the temple purified and rededicated. On the same day on which three years before, the idol had been put up in the Temple, on the 25th day of Kislev, the lights were kindled anew to celebrate the victory of truth over falsehood, of light over darkness. Ever since it has become the custom in Israel to celebrate the Feast of Hanukkah ("Re-Dedication"} also called Festival of Lights, by illuminating the house of God and our private homes. NOTE. Read parts of the first and the second Book of the Macca- bees. The saying goes that the name of the M K B /, as writ- ten in Hebrew, is derived from the inscription on their banner, Mi Komocha Baelim Ihvh "Who is among the mighty like Thee, O Lord!" Certainly only by such feelings of trust in God could they have won the glorious victory. PURIM : 183. The Feast of Purim on the fourteenth of Adar commemorates the rescue of the Jews of Persia from 125 the plot of destruction laid against them by Haman, the wicked prime minister of Ahasverus (Xerxes), King of Persia. Purim signifies lots. Haman had lots cast to decide the day when the Jews of Persia should be killed, but the lots were turned against him. Through Esther, the queen, and her uncle Mordecai, the plan was defeated, and the day became a day of victory and joy for the Jew, and of woe and doom for his enemies. 184. The feast was always celebrated by joyous banquets and the sending of presents to neighbors and gifts to the poor. The reciting of the Book of Esther was accompanied by expressions of good humor. It was more a popular festival than a solemn day of thanksgiving. It teaches us ever to have faith in God, the Guardian of Israel, and ever to remember the needy in the midst of joy. FAST DAYS. 185. Sad events in Jewish history gave rise to a number of fast days: a. The Tenth of Tebeth, when the siege of Jeru- salem began; b. The Seventeenth day of Tammuz, when Nebu- chadnezzar took Jerusalem by storm; c. The Ninth day of A.b, when the Temple was destroyed by fire and the independence of the Jewish state ceased, and 126 d. The Third day of Tishri, when Gedaliah, one of Israel's noble sons, was treacherously slain. (Jerem. xli. and ad book of King, xxv. 25 ) 186. The Ninth Day of Ab recalls to our memory the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, by Nebu- chadnezzar, King of Babylon, and also of the second Temple, which was destroyed by fire on the same day under Titus, the Emperor, in the year 70 c. E. The Ninth of Ab, therefore, has for centuries been observed as a day of fasting and mourning, on which Israel humbles herself before God, bewailing in mournful strains (Lamentations of Jeremiah) the loss of her Temple and country. In numerous congregations of the present time, however, the Ninth of Ab is celebrated as a day of solemn thanksgiving and praise. The loss of the Temple, and the dispersion of Israel among the nations of the earth, are no longer looked upon as woeful calamities, but rather as beneficial dispensations of a benign Providence, in fact, as the beginning of the fulfilment of the prophetic promise, " Mine house shall be a house of prayer for all nations," and the realization of our mission among the nations, which is to lift the banner of light and truth, and to trans- mit the great truth of One God and One Humanity of One Love, One Justice and One Truth to the world at large. When the people sent to the prophet Zechariah to ask God ; " Shall I weep in the fifth month with abstinence, as I have done these many years ?" 127 "The word of the Lord of hosts came unto him saying, 'Say unto all the people of the land and to the priests; When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth month, did ye in anywise fast for me ; and if you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? These are things that ye shall do; execute true justice, show kindness and mercy every man to his brother, defraud not the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor ; imagine not evil in your heart one against another ; speak ye truth, every man to his neigh- bor, and with judgment and peace judge ye in your gates. Let none of you think evil in his heart against his neighbor, and love not a false oath. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. The fast of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth, shall become to the house of Judah gladness and joy and merry festivals ; only love ye truth and peace.' " (Zechariah yii.-viii. 19.) 128 Appendix A. TABULAR ARRANGEMENT OF THE HEBREW MONTHS. HEBREW MONTHS NUMBER OF DAYS CORRESPONDING SECULAR MONTH DISTINGUISHED DAYS SPRING MONTHS From about Nisan lyar 30 2 9 Mch. 20 to Apl. 16 Apl. 19 to May 17 1 5th and 2ist, Pesach. Sivan 30 May 1 8 to June 16 6th day, Shabuoth. SUMMER MONTHS Tammuz Ab Elul 29 30 29 June 17 to July 15 July 15 to Aug. 14 Aug. 16 to Sept. 13 1 7th day, Fast of Tammuz. 9th day, Fast of Ab. AUTUMN MONTHS Tishri Marcheshvan 30 29 or 30 Sept. 14 to Oct. 13 Oct. 14 to Nov. 13 f ist day, Rosh Hashanah. J loth day, Yom 1 Hakkippurim. 1 5th, Sukkoth- [22d, Atsereth. Kislev 29 or 30 Nov. 14 to Dec. 13 25th day, Hanukkah. WINTER MONTHS Tebeth 29 Dec. 14 to Jan. 12 loth day, Fast. Shebat 3 Jan. 13 to Feb. 12 Adar 29 Feb. 13 to Mch. 15 i4th day, Purim. Leap Year, We- Adar, ad Adar 129 THE JEWISH CALENDAR. The Jewish Calendar, as we now have it, was arranged by Rabbi Hillel, a descendant of the great Master Hillel, in the fourth century of the Christian era. Originally, the beginning of each month, Rosh Chodesh, was proclaimed by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, after the appearance of the new moon had been testified to by two witnesses, and then messengers were sent to all the Jewish congregations to announce the fact. Since many of them, however, on account of the distance from Jerusalem, could be reached only after several days, thus leaving them in doubt which day, for example, is the first day of Tishri, it was ordained that all the Israelites, residing outside of Palestine, should keep one day in addition to the biblical holiday, so that the second and eighth day of Pesach, the second day of Shabuoth and Rosh Hashanah, and the second day of Sukkoth and Atsereth, became appointed holidays. Orthodox congregations which still continue to keep these additional days hold that days which were celebrated for centuries, ought ever to be observed ; while progress- ive Judaism maintains that, since our calendar is fixed by astronomical calculation for all time, the additional days have lost their significance and sanctity. The year is a lunar year, consisting of twelve months, that is: twelve times 29 days and a half, or 354 days, and consequently eleven days shorter than the solar year, which counts 365 days. In order to make up for this annual difference, a whole month is inserted every third or second yar : that is to say, every 3d, 6th, 8th, nth, i4th, iyth and ipth year in a cycle of 19 years is a leap year of 13 months. 130 The months alternate in length : Nisan has 30, Jyar 29 days, and so on, only Marchcshvan and Kulev, when not so alternating, have at times either 29 or 30 days. This is done to prevent the Day of Atonement falling on a Sunday, Tuesday or Friday which seemed for certain reasons to be undesirable. The rule is : New Year can never fall on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Appendix B. BENEDICTIONS AND PRAYERS FROM THE TALMUD. " Offer your thanks to God before you enjoy any of His gifts; for 'the Lord's is the earth and all that filleth it,' and only when you acknowledge that He is the benign Giver, the gift will be yours." (B'rachoth 350.) Nor should we only praise God for that which affords us joy ; we must bless Him also for what is apparently evil for it says: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy might that is: Thou shalt recognize Him as thy loving Father in all thy experi- ences, whether they be joyous or sorrowful. (B'rachoth 54*. ) The Talmud prescribes : Before one eats fruit, he should say : " Blessed be God, King of the Universe, the Creator of the fruit of the tree." When eating vegetables, he should say: " Blessed be God, the Creator of the fruit of the earth." When eating bread ; " Blessed be God, who bringeth forth bread from the earth." When eating other food prepared of meal : " Blessed be God, who created all kinds of food for the nourishment of men." When drinking water: " Blessed be God, by whose word all things exist." When drinking wine : " Blessed be God, who created the fruit of the vine to gladden the heart of man." 132 After having partaken of any of these, he should say: " Blessed be God, who hath created manifold beings, and who supplieth all their wants and sustaineth the life of every living being. Blessed be Thou, the Living One of all Eternity." When enjoying the fragrance of plants, fruits, or spices or oils ; "Blessed be Gjd, who created the fragrant plants (spices), (fruits), (oils)." When one hears thunder, a tempest and an earthquake, he should say: "Blessed be He, whose power and might fill the world." When one sees lightning or shooting-stars, lofty mountains or great deserts or lakes, he should say : " Blessed be the Maker of the work of creation." When one sees the ocean : " Blessed be He who made the great sea." On seeing the rainbow : " Blessed be He who remembereth the covenant, is faithful to His covenant, and keepeth His word." On seeing the first blossoms in spring : " Blessed be He who never faileth to fill the world with beauty, in order to afford delight to man." On seeing beautiful things, animals or men : " Blessed be He who has made such forms of beauty in His world." On seeing dwarfs or giants, ugly and deformed creatures; " Blessed be He who varieth the form of His creatures." On seeing a Jewish sage famous for his learning; " Blessed be He who hath imparted of His wisdom to those that fear Him." 133 On seeing a wise man of the Gentiles famous for his knowledge : " Blessed be He who hath imparted of His wisdom to mortal man." On seeing one of the world's great rulers : "Blessed be He who hath imparted of His glory to mortal man." On hearing good tidings: "Blessed be He who is good, and dispenseth good." On hearing evil tidings: " Blessed be He who judgeth the world in truth." At every new experience of joy, when eating the first fruit of the season, or entering a new season, or wearing a new garment and the like : " Blessed be He who hath kept us alive and preserved us, and permitted us to reach this season of joy." On seeing a friend restored to health after severe illness: "Blessed be the Lord, who hath restored thee to life." On returning to the synagogue after having gone safely through sickness or danger ; " Blessed be the Lord, who vouchsafeth benefits even to the undeserving, and hath vouchsafed good unto me." On hearing the cock crow in the morning: " Blessed art Thou, O God, who hast given the cock the intelligence to distinguish between day and night." When one opens the eyes to see the light of day, he should say : " Blessed be He who openeth the eyes of the blind." When he raises himself up in bed : " Blessed be He who freeth them that are bound." When he puts on his garments ; " Blessed be He who clotheth the naked." 134 When he stands upright: "Blessed be He who raiseth up them that are bowed down." When he sets his foot on the ground: * " Blessed be He who spread forth the earth upon the waters. " When he steps forth to walk : " Blessed be He who maketh firm the steps of man." When he has tied up his sandals : " Blessed be He who provideth for all my wants." When he puts on his belt ; '< Blessed be He who girdeth Israel with might." When he puts his turban or cover on his head; " Blessed be He who crowneth Israel with glory." When he washes his hands: ' Blessed be God, who hath sanctified us by com- manding to hold up our hands in prayer." When he washes his face : " Blessed be He who removeth sleep from mine eyes, and slumber from mine eyelids." And when he retires to sleep : " Blessed be He who maketh the bands of sleep to fall upon my eyes and slumber upon my eyelids. Give light again to my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death, for it is Thou' who givest light to the apple of the eye. Blessed be Thou who givest light to the whole world in Thy glory." On seeing places where great wonders occurred : " Blessed be He who hath done wondrous things unto our fathers (unto me) at this place." 135 On seeing large multitudes of people gathered in one place ; " Blessed be He who created all these people so different in complexion and in thought, and yet knoweth the secret of all." O- seeing idols worshiped, he should say : " Blessed be He who showeth long-suffering to those who transgressed His will." On seeing synagogues in ruin: " Blessed be He who judgeth in truth." On seeing ruined synagogues restored : " Blesseth be He who restoreth the desolate one ^o glory." (Brachoth p. 35-43 ; 54-60.) On seeing the New Moon recite the following benediction: " Blessed art Thou O Lord, by whose words the heavens were created, and by the breath of whose mouth all their hosts were made. Limit and time are assigned to each; they may not alter their appointed charge. Glad are they and rejoice in doing the bidding of their Master, the Worker of Truth, who bade the Moon ever to renew itself a resplendent symbol of renewal for those chosen from of old to glorify the Creator for the coming of His glorious Kingdom! Praise unto Thee, O Lord, Renewer of the months! " (Sanhedrin 420.) 136 Appendix C. THE JEWISH ERA. The Jew counts his years from the creation of the world. What a grand testimony to the cosmopolitan character of the Jew! The Christian counts his years from the birth of his Messiah or Christ; the Moham- medan from the year of the Hegira, the flight of hia prophet from Mecca, 622 of the Christian era. The Jew points back to the world's beginning, to the first man as if to say : ' 'With the first man the true religion, the faith in the One God of heaven and earth, was born, and with that day the history of Judaism begins. ?> This, however, was not always the case. In Bibli- cal times the years were counted from the time of Israel's exodus from Egypt (see I Kin^s vi. i), while the common events were reckoned after the years of the reigning king. During and after the exile, the Babylonian captivity was made the era by which the events were to be fixed (see Ezechiel xl. i). In later times we find the so-called Greek Era in use, that is in common with the Syrians and Persians, the Jews counted the years from the ascension of Seleucus Nicator to the throne of Syria at 312 before the Chris- tian Era (see i Mace. i. u), and this era was adhered to in Jewish writings for many centuries. The establishment of the Maccabean Kingdom in the year 143 B. Ch. E. (i Mace. xiv. 26), did not last long enough to render it a new era in Jewish chro- nology. 137 After the destruction of the second temple, tne attempt was made, but without success, to make this sad event a new era for the Jewish dispersion. la the meantime Jewish historians from Josephus to the late Rabbinical chroniclers reckoned the events of history in accordance with Biblical chronology, from the creation of the world, and the early Chrstian writeis followed this example. And when at last the Church had fixed the Christiaa Era first intro- duced in the middle of the fifth century and Islam- ism the Mohammedan Era for universal use, the Creation Era became dominant among the Jews. Thus we find it in the tenth century. According to the sanne the Creation took place 3760 year j before the Christian i ra. The history of the earth, the history of man the history even of empires like Egypt, Babylonia and others, has in our days of research grown too large to be encompassed within the six thousand years of Biblical chronology. It is unwise, therefore, to ad- here literally to the Jewish Era of the World's Crea- tion. It is not thousands but tens of thousands of years since Adam, the first man, rose on earth with his face bent heavenwards. Still the Jewish reckoning expresses the great truth symbolically that history begins with man as the son of God and ends with the united brotherhood of man, with the millenium of universal peace, truth and justice on earth. The Christian Era forms the stepping-stone in the bringing about of this great Messianic end, and so '38 does the Mohammedan Era. But who can tell what otner great religious and social forces will yet appear in history to work out a new era in human civiliza- tion far superior to either of these? The Jew who recognizes the great work of v hristian Civilization in the midst of which he stands as a far more potent factor than his fellow-citizens are ready to acknowl- edge, waits and hopes until the end. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. "R21-97 REitt. SOUTHERN REGIONAUIBRARYFACjLITY A 000876089 4