FoXVIII790
author: Mattuck, Israel I.

TSBIBLIOTHEK TUBINGEN

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THE ESSENTIALS OF
LIBERAL JUDAISM

THE ESSENTIALS OF
LIBERAL JUDAISM

by
ISRAEL L MATTUCI, AN, D.IL 1,
Rabbz, Liberal Fewish Synagogue

LONDON

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS LTD.
BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.

First Publi&hed, 1947

TO THE MEMORY OF

CLAUDE GOLDSMID MONTEFIORE

T T FO0

This book 1s produced in complete
conformity with the authorized economy
standards

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY
J. W. ARROWSMITH LTD., QUAY STREET AND SMALL STREET, BRISTOL.

CHAPTER

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XVIII

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF IN GoD
Gop AND THE UNIVERSE
THE ProBLEM OF EvVIL
Gop aND ManN .
THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY
Gobp’s GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS .
PRAYER : A
SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT
Tue WorsHIP oF GoD
JupaisM AND THE SociAL ORDER
THE MEssiaNic IDeEa
THE MissioN oF ISRAEL
LiBERAL JupAisM AND ORTHODOX ]UDAISM
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
THE HoLy DAvys "
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JEW

APPENDIX :
JEWISH LITERATURE
THE BIBLE .
THE TALMUD
THE JEWISH APOCRYPHA .
Post-TALMUDIC JEWISH LITERATURE.
TuE TRrRADITIONAL PRAYER BOOK
JEwWISH SECTS .

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INTRODUCTION

THIS book is based on the lessons which for a number of
years have been used in preparing candidates for Confirma-
tion; it aims to present simply, but I hope not too meagrely,
the teachings and practices of Judaism as they are presented
in Liberal Judaism. Following the late Dr. Claude G.
Montefiore, I call this presentation Liberal Judaism; it
has been called Reform Judaism in some places. In
recent years the name Progressive Judaism has come into
use for it, chiefly under the influence of the name,
World Union for Progressive Judaism, adopted for the
international organisation which was established at a Con-
ference held in London in 1926 of representatives of the
Liberal Jewish organisations in Germany, the United
States and England. The fundamental ideas of Liberal
Judaism are also accepted by implication, if not explicitly,
by some congregations which call themselves Conservative.
A religion has three related parts: ideas, observances and
directions for conduct. It is a system of thought, a form of
worship and a way of life. It offers a faith, a discipline and an
ethic. This book deals with these three elements in Judaism
as it is interpreted by, and presented in, Liberal Judaism.
Any attempt to expound the ideas of Judaism is con-
fronted with an initial difficulty. Where shall we find them?
There is no creed in Judaism as in other religions. A creed
is an official statement of the beliefs of a religion which all
its adherents must accept, like the Thirty-nine Articles of
the Anglican Church. There is nothing like it in Judaism.
In the Orthodox Jewish Prayer Book, a creed of thirteen
articles is usually included, which was drawn up by the
great Jewish philosopher Maimonides. It has, however,
no official authority. Some Jewish religious leaders in
Maimonides’ own time, and after him, objected to it.
Judaism has definite ideas; but it has no dogmas, that is,
authoritative statements of beliefs, which must always remain
the same. How, then, shall we know what its essentials are?

vii

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Vil INTRODUCTION

Liberal Judaism answers that they are to be sought in the
Bible, Talmud, Prayer Book, and, in fact, in all Jewish
religious literature. I have, therefore, put brief accounts
of them in an appendix.
But Liberal Judaism is concerned not only with the
‘question, Where shall we find the teachings of Judaism, but
also with the question, How shall we find them? It is the
fundamental principle of Liberal Judaism that Judaism is a
developing religion. There is no book, therefore, or set of
books, which must be treated as the authority for Judaism,
in the sense that what they say must for all time be accepted
as Jewish belief and the observances they command must
for all time be followed as Jewish practice. It gives a very
important place to the instruction derived from the Bible and
Talmud, but it does not maintain that we have to accept all
the ideas or observe all the practices which are in them.
Later developments in thought and life have also to be
taken into account. To find the teachings of Judaism, then,
the ideas handed down in the Jewish tradition, embodied
in Jewish religious literature, chiefly in the Bible and Talmud,
must be combined with modern thought. By combining
Jewish tradition with modern thought, Liberal Judaism finds
the fundamental permanent ideas of Judaism and the way
to express them. Similarly, it finds direction for Jewish
observances by combining Jewish tradition with the thought,
and relating it to the life, of Jews to-day. Following most of
the Prophets, however, Liberal Judaism gives to ceremonies
in their totality only a secondary, and subordinate, place in
its interpretation of Judaism, valuing and stressing only those
which express, and can stimulate, effectively the Jewish spirit.
Not all Liberal Jews will agree with everything that is
said in this book. The divergences involve, however, only
details, not the fundamental attitude, or essentials, in the

Liberal interpretation and presentation of Judaism.
3.1

CHAfTER T
THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM

TuE belief in God is fundamental to Judaism. No one can
call himself a Jew in the religious sense if he does not believe
in God. About some religious ideas it is possible for Jews
to hold different views; but not about the existence of God.
To believe in God means more, however, than to acknow-
ledge His existence. It is not enough just to believe that
thereisa God. To believe in God means also to feel that He
exists. It means, further, to realise that we are individually
related to Him. There are three elements in the belief in God:

(1) the intellectual element, i.e. belief with the mind;
(2) the emotional element, i.e. the feeling of God; and

(3) the personal element, i.e. the feeling for God: a sense
of individual relation with Him, the sense that we have
something to do with Him and that He has something to do
with us, that we are bound to Him and He affects us. Let
me try to explain by analogies these three elements in the
belief in God.
The first element is analogous to our attitude, say, to the
President of Chile. We acknowledge his existence, but it
doesn’t mean anything to us; we have no feelings about him
or towards him. He is there, and by being there explains a
number of things that happen in Chile. About the King of
England, on the other hand, we have some feeling. He not
only exists, but we feel his existence in diverse ways; his
existence has an emotional effect on us. That illustrates the
second element. The third, the personal element, can be

I

o THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

illustrated only by our relation to those who are closest to
us; it is like the relation between a child and his father, or
between a man and wife. The child knows of his father’s
existence, feels it, and realises that he is bound to his father
and that the father affects him; there is an effective relation-
ship between them.
These illustrations cover what we mean by the belief in
God in Judaism. It means an apprehension of Him in
thought, in feeling and in a sense of personal relationship.
If we have the Jewish belief in God, we think of God, we
feel His presence, and we are aware of a dynamic connection
between Him and us. Philosophy may be satisfied with the
first, poetry has enough for its purpose in the second,
religion is not complete without the third element. This is
also, perhaps, the hardest part of religion to attain. Itis the
personal experience of God. It requires the exercise of the
spirit God-ward, by prayer, meditation and study.
There is a difficulty about the belief in God in that He
cannot be defined. The difficulty which some people feel
because, to use their words, “ you can’t prove that God
exists,” is not, I think, very serious. What they mean is that
“you can’t prove it ”’ by physical, or concrete, methods.
You can’t say: “ Look, here is God,” for God can’t be seen
with the physical eyes as we see a tree or a star. The story
is told that the Roman Emperor Hadrian once said to Rabbi
Joshua ben Chananiah, “Show me your God,”’ and threatened
him with death if he failed to comply with the command by
the morrow. The command was silly; but the Rabbi couldn’t
just bluntly say so to the Emperor. He thought of a way out
of his difficulty. The following day, at noon, when the sun
was at its zenith, he returned to the Emperor and bade him
step out into the palace court. When the Emperor complied,
the Rabbi pointed to the sun, asking him to look at it; but
the Emperor could not look at it because of its blinding 11ght
Then Rabbi Joshua said, “ You cannot look upon this, one

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THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM 3

of God’s messengers; how can you expect to behold God,
the Master Himself? ”’
Much exists which cannot be seen with the eyes, heard
with the ears, or felt with the hands. Such are love and hate,
joy and sorrow, the inspiration of the poet, the vision of the
artist. We can see their manifestations, we cannot see them.
We can see what love does, but the love itself, which is in
the heart, is invisible. Nor can the existence of God be
proved in the way scientists prove their theories. They use
microscopes, but God can’t be seen; they use weights and
measures, but God can’t be weighed and measured. The same
applies to all life. What does life look like? How much does it
weigh? How long is it in inches, feet and yards? But we know
life exists. So, the fact that “ you can’t prove the existence
of God ”’ should not create any great difficulty for thought.
But it does, I think, create a difficulty for some people that
God can’t be defined. It is true that life, too, can’t be
defined, but, then, we are not asked to worship it. But
Judaism requires the worship of God. Yet it does not define
Him. It says, moreover, that He cannot be defined. For
a very good and inescapable reason : you can only define
something which is like other things. An elephant is defined
as an animal, but if there were no other animals, the defini-
tion would be no definition; it would just be like saying: an
elephant is an elephant. Electricity can be defined as a force
because there are other forces. Because according to Judaism
there is only one God, He cannot be defined. God is God.
The only definition the Bible gives of God is that He is
not like men. It was natural for primitive peoples to think
of their gods as magnified men, having bodies like men, but
bigger, stronger, and not subject like the bodies of men to
disease and death. Gods conceived in this way could be
représented by idols and pictured in statues. Judaism from
an early stage in its development rejected idolatry. And
throughout its history Judaism has condemned idolatry as

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4 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

a cardinal sin against God. There are two kinds of idolatry
mentioned in the Bible. One is the idolatry that worships
images, as the Egyptians and Babylonians did, of animals, or
of forms representing things in nature like the sun, moon and
stars. The other kind of idolatry was the use of an image
in the worship of God. Judaism condemned both forms of
idolatry; the first kind because it was the worship of false gods,
the second because it was the false worship of the true God.
The fact that idols were used extensively in the religions
that worshipped many gods may have had something to do
with the uncompromising condemnation of 1dolatry by
Judaism; it was a danger to monotheism, which is the
belief in, and worship of, one God. Moreover, some forms
of idolatry included practices which Judaism condemned
~ as most immoral; so that idol-worship became synonymous
with immorality. But there is still another reason for the
vehement hostility of Judaism against the use of idols in
the worship of God. They imply that God has a physical
form; otherwise he could not be represented in a figure of
stone, wood, or metal. And Judaism maintains insistently
and uncompromisingly that God cannot be conceived in
a physical form.
In the Book of Deuteronomy, the author, in recounting
the story about the giving of the Ten Commandments on
Mount Sinai, to avoid the possible wrong inference from it
that God could be seen, insists: ““ Ye heard the voice (z.e.
the sound) of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a
voice ’ (Deuteronomy 4: 12). Some of the very early
stories in the Bible originally presented God in the form of
a man; such a conception of God 1s called “ anthropo-
morphic.” Later, however, most of these stories were
purged of their anthropomorphism; Judaism could not
harbour, or tolerate, an anthropomorphic conception of
God. On the contrary, practically its only definition of
God in His essence—that 1s, the definition of what He is—

THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM 5

is that He is “ not flesh and blood,” that, as the Jewish
philosophers put it, He is incorporeal, which means that
Heis notabody, He does not have a physical form, as man has.
He must not be represented by an idol. '
But the Jewish conception of God now has a further
consequence; it precludes a belief in an incarnation, the
belief, which is held by several religions, that God has
appeared in the form of a man. There have been many
men in the history of the world who, by their holy character
and good actions, have helped others to “see” God,
that is to realise that there is a God who inspires and guides
men to be holy and to live holy lives. For Judaism, the
prophets lawgivers, poets, great rabbis, and many unnamed
pious souls, have been a channel through whom God
revealed Himself to men. But Judaism does not believe
that any man ever has fully embodied, or ever can fully
embody, God. God is not like man; so no man can ever

be God.

THE SHEMA

Judaism makes one fundamental positive assertion about
the essence of God, how God is, so to speak constituted.
He is One. The affirmation of His unity is the creed of
Judaism. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
One.” It is called the Shema because ‘ Shema,” the
Hebrew for “ hear,” is the first word in its Hebrew form:
SHEMA YISRAEL ADONAI ELOHENU ADONAI ECHAD. It is the
fourth verse of the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy; and with
the five verses that follow it, which are frequently included
when the Shema is referred to, it forms probably the
oldest part of the Jewish Prayer Book. - It 18 \in all
morning and evening services. It is also in the bed-time
prayers in traditional Prayer Books. .
Its most dramatic use has been as a confession of faith
before death. It is uncertain when the practice began for

6 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Jews who are dying to recite the Shema; but it must be
very old, for there is a suggestion of it in the account which
the Talmud gives of the death of Rabbi Akiba, who was
executed by the Romans in 160 c.e. While he was being
terribly tortured, he recited the Shema with a peaceful, or
rather joyful, smile. When the Roman governor, who was
also the executioner, asked him what sorcery enabled him
to bear pain in this way, he replied: “ I am no sorcerer,
but I rejoice that I am permitted to love God with my life.”
Another version says that his disciples asked him why he
faced death so joyfully; and he replied: “ All my life I
have wondered how to fulfil the commandment to love
God with ‘ my soul ’ (referring to the commandment ‘ And
thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, soul,
and might’); and now I can fulfil it.” In the story of his
death, told in the Talmud, it is said that he died just as he
was saying ‘ Echad ”’ (One) the last word of the Shema.
It may be that the practice for Jews to say the Shema
when dying originated with him. But however and when-
ever it originated, it shows, with dramatic impressiveness,
the supreme place given in the religious life of the Jews to
the affirmation of the unity of God.
The unity of God has two meanings. The first is, that
- there 1s one God who is the Creator and Ruler of the
universe, one Supreme Power who alone is to be worshipped
as God. Judaism attained to that idea after a time of
development which supplied a preparation for it. The
writings in the Bible, because they spread over many cen-
turies, afford illustrations of what various and successive
ages thought about God. In those parts, for example,
which were written before the Prophets who lived in the
eighth century B.C.E., we find ideas about God altogether
different from the ideas which these and later Prophets
taught. 'The early conception of God was that He was
the God of the Israelites, while every other nation had its

THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM ¥

own god. Though it was the duty of the Israelites to
worship their God, they yet recognised the existence of
other gods. An Israelite, living in 1000 B.C.E., if asked about
God, would have said: *“ There are many gods, but there is
only one God whom I should worship—the God of Israel.”
With the teachings of the prophets of the eighth century
B.C.E., Amos, Hosea, Micah and Isaiah, there came into
Judaism a newly-developed conception of God. The God
of Israel, they taught, was the God of the whole world,
the Lord of all nations and all peoples. He is the God of
universal justice, taught Amos. All nations are in His
hands and He uses them as He wills, taught Isaiah. He
will redeem Israel from sin and suffering, and through
Israel, He will send redemption to the whole world, taught
all the Prophets. This belief in one God, who alone
is the Power that rules and guides the universe and all
things that are in it, is called monotheism. Itis distinguished
from polytheism, which is the name given to the belief in
many gods. The religions of the Greeks and Romans were
polytheistic. They believed in various gods and goddesses,
each one being the ruler over some part of the universe,
or some phase of life. There were the god of might and
the goddess of wisdom, the god of mechanical arts and the
god of military power, the goddess of beauty and the
goddess of right, the god of rain and the god of sunshine,
and so on; each one having his or her particular work to
do and his or her special powers. Each one was worshipped
in a particular manner. The religions of nearly all ancient
peoples were polytheistic.
The monotheism of the Jewish prophets is also to be
distinguished from what is called dualism. This was the
religion of the ancient Persians. It taught the belief in
two supreme powers, one, the power of light and good,
the other, the power of darkness and evil. The Persians
believed that these two contended for the mastery over

3 ~ THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

the world to decide which should be absolute ruler; in the
end the power of good would prevail. In opposition to
this belief, the Prophet of the Exile declared in God’s
name: ‘“ I am the Lord, and there is none else; beside me
there is no God. I form the light, and create darkness;
- I make peace, and create evil; I am the Lord, that doeth
all these things” (Isaiah 45: 52 and 7).
The monotheism of the Jewish religion, which has been
called ‘‘ethical monotheism ” because it stresses the
righteousness of God and makes right conduct the way to
worship Him, is the great contribution which the Jews
have made to the civilisation of the world. They were the
first to learn that one God was the Author and Ruler of
the Universe. 'The religions which now hold this belief
received it from the Jews.
The second meaning of the unity of God is that He is
all one. He cannot be divided into parts, or analysed into
aspects. God reveals Himself in an infinite number of
ways. He reveals Himself in all the multifarious pheno-
mena in the physical universe, in the plants and trees,
in the sun, moon and stars, in the thunder and lightning,
in the order of nature wherein each thing has its place and
each force its way. “ The heavens declare the glory of
God and the firmament showeth His handiwork,” sang the
Psalmist. God reveals Himself also in the hearts and minds
of men who are moved, under His inspiration, to aspira-
tions for goodness, to deeds of righteousness, to the love
- of beauty, and to the pursuit of truth. The author of the
Book of Job wrote: * There is a spirit in man, and the
breath of the Almighty gives them understanding” (Job 32:8).
However varied and numerous the manifestations of God,
He is the same in them all. He does not, so to speak,
show a part of Himself, or one side of Himself, at one
time, and another part of Himself, or another side of
Himself, at another time. He is the same in the blade of

THE CONCEPTION OF GOD IN JUDAISM 9

grass, in the glory of the sunset, and in the wisdom, art and
goodness of men. Itisa conception of God which overawes
the mind by its grandeur, and at the same time brings God
near to men. °‘ For thus saith the high and lofty One that °
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the
high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to
revive the heart of the contrite ones’ (Isaiah 57: 15).
The same God dwells in the incomprehensible grandeur
of the universe and pours out His love on men. * There
is no place in the universe without His presence,” said the
Rabbis. He 1is, therefore, to be found whenever and
wherever men seek Him. And they who find Him, find
not a part of Him or an aspect of Him, but Him; so that
He is present in all that they experience, to help them
support the hard, to rejoice in the happy, to pursue the
good. God is One; and human life with its light and
shade, its joys and sorrows, its aspirations and frustrations,
is unified by the faith in Him which exalts the human spirit.
Beyond saying that God is incorporeal and that He is
One, Judaism does not define the essence of God, it does
not describe what He is. But it does define His attributes,
His character. He is eternal, holy, just, loving, perfect
with all kinds of perfection. It is, however, inevitable
that men should not be able fully to apprehend the nature
of God, fully to know Him. For He is God, and man
‘with his limited mind cannot expect to comprehend fully
the infinite God, the Power who is infinitely greater than
the whole universe. The attributes we ascribe to Him
are only an attempt to put into words our limited human
apprehension of Him.

CHAPIER 11
THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

THE difference between knowing God in His essence and
knowing the attributes of God is suggested in an old story
which has been preserved in the Bible. Though it obviously
comes from an early stage in the history of Judaism, the
writer expresses, in primitive language, the idea that God
in His essence cannot be apprehended, but He can be
known, through His works, in His attributes. The story
occurs in the thirty-third chapter of Exodus. In it Moses
says to God: “ Let me see you.” God answers: ‘“ No
man can see me, but you can see my goodness.” Men
naturally hanker to see God. That is why in some religions
God is given an incarnation in a man. But because God
is God, He cannot be seen; and for the same reason, Judaism
maintains, that He cannot be incarnated in a man. But
His attributes, His qualities, can be, and are, perceived by
men. The Lord, the Lord God, is merciful and gracious,
infinitely patient, abounding in lovingkindness and faith-
fulness, keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin ”’ (Exodus 34: 6-7).

LLOVE AND JUSTICE

It is rather odd that this magnificent declaration of
God’s boundless love is followed by the threat of punish-
ment for those guilty of sin; it seems to contradict the
preceding statement that God, in His love, forgives sin.
It rouses the suspicion, therefore, that it may have been

I0

THE ATITRIBUTES OF GOD Il

added by some editor, a suspicion which is strengthened
by the fact that the Hebrew text is incomplete. In the
Talmud, the two parts are reconciled by making the second
apply to sinners who do not repent. It is a fact of human
experience that they who have sinned and repent overcome
the evil spiritual and moral consequences of their sin, but
the sinners who do not repent suffer in their spiritual and
moral nature; frequently their sin brings on them sad
physical consequences. It is a further fact of human
experience that through the channel of heredity the character
of parents affects the lives of their children. But in Jewish
thought and belief, the fact that sin, if unrepented, produces
consequences which might be described as punishment did
not interfere with the belief that God is loving, or hinder
the full experience of His love.
That is possible because Judaism stresses with equal
emphasis the love and justice of God. Love and justice
are not two separate or distinct qualities in Him, they are
not different aspects of Him. They are one and the same.
- God’s love is in His justice, His justice is in His love. In
men love and justice may sometimes conflict; that is because
neither man’s love, nor his justice, is perfect. Butin God
they are perfect, and in their perfection they coalesce.
The necessities of language compel us to speak of God’s
love and justice, though we ought to speak of God’s love-
Just1ce or justice-love, as one.
It is sometimes said that Judaism stresses the JUSthC of
God but not His love. The quotation I have just given
from Exodus 34 should be enough to prevent such an idea.
But there are many other statements in the Bible (and
many more in later Jewish literature) to refute it. Hosea
gives God’s love for Israel the central place in his teaching:
it is like the love of a husband for his wife, which persists
even if the wife is faithless. But God’s love is not only
for Israel, it is for all men. ‘‘ Have we not all one Father?

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12 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2: 10). His
love extends to all His creatures. ‘ The Lord is good to all
and his tender mercies are over all his works >’ (Psalm 145: 9).
Akiba said: ‘‘ Beloved is man, because he was created in
the image of God; still more beloved in that it was made
known to him that he was created in the image, as it is said
‘ In the image of God He made man.”” God showed His
love for men in making them in His own image and in
giving them the knowledge of their divine heritage.
God’s love 1s especially shown in His forgiveness of
sinners. ‘‘ His arm is outstretched to receive the penitent.”
The proclamation of God’s forgiving love (from Exodus 34)
is included in all Jewish penitential services. God’s love
helps the sorrowing and broken-hearted. God has com-
passion like a father: ““ Like as a father pities his children,
so the Lord pities them that revere him ” (Psalm 103: 13).
He comforts like a mother: ““ As one whom his mother
comforts, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66: 13). The
greatest gift of God’s love was the revelation of His Law.
All these and an infinite number of other manifestations of
God show His infinite love. “ Thy loving kindness, O
Lord, is in the heavens; Thy faithfulness reaches unto the
skies ”’ (Psalm 36: 5). Itis thislove of God which makes it
appropriate to call him * Father.”
There is an obvious difficulty, which interferes with the
experience of God’s love, in the sin, misery, sorrow,
suffering and trouble in human life. These things are in
themselves evil, though they may lead to good. There are
also other things in the life of the world which appear to
us to be evil. And evil challenges the faith in God’s love
and interferes with the experience of it. Some people
have found it difficult to believe in God because of the evil
in the world. But we must not forget that the good in the
world also calls for explanation: the order of the universe,
the beauties in nature, the joys in human life, above all,

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THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD 13

the ordinary goodness of men and women, which even
impels them at times to deeds of self-sacrifice. These, too,
call for an explanation. We just expect them; we expect
goodness in the world. Why?
The problem of evil is, however, extremely difficult,
but it is eased by remembering that no event stands by
itself: it belongs to a scheme, emerging out of past events,
related to a pattern of present events, and itself affecting
the course of future events. Obv1ously, therefore, no event
can be judged in isolation, by itself. The judgment *“ good ”’
r “ bad 7 can rightly be made only about the whole pattern
or scheme to which it belongs. And Judaism maintains
the belief that because God is loving the scheme of things
is good. The incidents that may not appear to be good in
themselves are yet somehow related to the goodness of the
whole scheme, like discords in a musical composition which
make an integral contribution to its beauty.
So, too, the justice of God must be sought primarily in
the general scheme of things, in the ordered life of the
universe, in the laws which it follows, in the relation between
causes and effects, between actions and consequences.
This is a somewhat extended meaning of the justice of
God to fit in with the modern conception of the universe
which describes its life by general laws. The justice, like
the love, of God is manifested in its ordered scheme; but
just as His love i1s manifested to men in a personal way,
so, too, 1s His justice. He treats men fairly. In some ways
it 1s harder to realise God’s justice than His love. For if
we direct our thought and feeling towards Him, if we love
Him, we shall feel His love in a personal way. To appreciate
God’s justice a larger framework is needed. It is revealed
in the whole of history more clearly than at any particular
time, in a series of events more clearly than in a particular
event. But we share individually in the course of history;
the historic events in our lifetime impinge on our personal

14 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

lives. God’s justice means that what happens to men
individually happens to them fairly in accordance with the
scheme of things emanating from Him. It may be hard
for us to see His justice, as it is to see His love, in every
event. But it is the firm assurance of Judaism that God’s
love and justice are present together in His dealings with
men.

HoOLINESS

'The attributes which Jewish teaching ascribes to God
are covered by the affirmation that God is holy. The idea
of holiness is complex; defined most simply, it signifies
supreme exaltation. It includes, therefore, the idea of
perfection. God is a perfect Being without any flaws or
faults. Though we cannot quite understand what this
means in its full divine sense, our human ideas help us to
understand it somewhat. We know that the best of men
have some faults. They may not be good always, nor
can they possess complete knowledge, or fully attain
truth, beauty, righteousness. Human shortcomings make
the very best of men imperfect. But God is perfect. Perfect
truth, perfect goodness and perfect beauty belong to Him.
Perfect love and perfect righteousness are His qualities.

ALMIGHTY

Two other attributes ascribed to God must be mentioned.
One is His power. He is the Source of the forces and powers
that work in the universe. His might is manifested in the
forces of nature; in the force which keeps the planets in
their places, in the quakings of the earth, in the flashes of
lightning, in the growth of plants. The strength which
resides in the seed causing it to grow into a tree comes
from Him. The faculties of man which make it possible
for him to think and to act come from God. God is the

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD ' |

Creator of the universe, and He is the Guide of the universe,
because He is the Source of all life and the forces that make
it up. That 1s the meaning of ‘‘ Almighty.”
It 1s necessary not to confuse the power of God with
such unrestricted activity as a child means by * doing
anything he likes.” God’s activity flows from His nature,
what He does expresses what He 1s. He cannot act differ-
ently from His nature. He acts in accordance with His
nature. That is the fullness of power. God manifests
Himself in the universe, in its existence, in the forces working
in it, in the order which regulates its life. In this sense
. He 1s almighty. The Bible sometimes calls Him * the
Lord of Hosts ” ; though its original meaning may have
been that He was the Lord of the hosts of heaven, the
sun, moon and stars, it came to mean, when used by the
Prophets and in later Judaism, just the God of all power.

ETERNAL

The other attribute that has to be mentioned is one that
belongs both to His qualities and His essence; He is eternal.
In saying that this quality belongs also to His essence I do
not contradict what I have said about our inability to
define the essence of God. The essence of God that can’t
be defined is, so to speak, the stuff He is made of. But
a quality can be an integral part of His being. All His
attributes are. It can, in a sense, be said of them all that
they describe both His essence and character. God is
perfect; He is perfection. God is just; He is justice. God
is almighty; He is all power. He is truth, He 1s beauty,
He is goodness. An analogy may help me to explain what
I mean. When I speak of a red cloth, I conceive of the
redness as a quality of colour attaching to the cloth, though
it may, as in the case of redwood, be an integral part of the
stuff. But when I speak of cotton cloth, cotton describes

16 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

its texture. Now all the attributes of God are in His essence.
But the attribute of eternal is, to use a comparative where
it 1s really inapplicable, more so. That essential significance
of Eternal comes out in the affirmation “ God is Eternal
Life,” and in the frequent use of ‘‘the Eternal” as a
name for God. |
What does eternal mean? It is difficult to put the idea
into words. It may just mean going on for ever, endless,
infinite. Even when defined in this way, it is not altogether
easy to grasp. But that definition does not go deep enough.
‘“ Eternal ”’ means outside space and time. Space and time
are measurements. Inches, acres, gallons, tons are measure-
ments of space; hours, years, centuries are measurements
of time. “ Eternal” describes that which cannot be
measured by space and time. When we say that God is
eternal, we mean that no term referring to space or time
can be used about Him. The eternal attribute of God may
be explained briefly, but inadequately, as follows:
(@) God i1s eternal in time. His existence did not begin
at any one moment, nor will it end at any time. He is
“from everlasting to everlasting,” having no beginning
and no end. In the words of the Psalmist: * Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed
the earth and the world, even from everlasting to ever-
lasting, Thou art God.”
(b) God is eternal in space. He is not at one place, but
not at another, but He fills the universe and is greater
~ than the universe. One cannot say He is in heaven, or
~upon earth; He is everywhere. He fills the universe but
He is also outside it. The universe is a part of Him, but
only a part, for He is greater than the universe.
Of a man we may say that he is here now, to-morrow he
may be elsewhere. But for God there is no now and then.
And there is no here and elsewhere; all is now and here.
He is just Being. The idea is difficult to grasp because it

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD 17

cannot be visualised, we cannot form a picture of it. The
nearest analogy in the physical world is, perhaps, electricity.
Nobody knows what it is, there is no picture of it; but
it cannot help us to grasp fully the idea of eternity because—
here the analogy stops—electricity can be measured, it is
in space and time, being physical though invisible. The
idea of eternity must be altogether reached by the mind,
without the help of the physical senses. Only by thought
can we get some understanding of it. It is the depth of
the now and here.
Theologians often discuss about the transcendence and
immanence of God. Transcendence means that He i1s
more and greater than the universe, and outside it. Imman-
ence means that He is in the universe. Jewish teaching
ascribes to Him both immanence and transcendence. He
is in the universe; He is also outside the universe. The
world reveals Him, but it does not contain Him. He fills
the universe with His presence, but He is more than the
universe. ‘ Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the
whole earth is full of His glory ” (Isaiah 6: 3). But
“ His glory is above the earth and heaven ”’ (Psalm 148: 13).

Tae NAMES OoF GOD

In our prayers we call God, our God, our King, our
Lord, or our Father. In the Bible, He is sometimes called
Jehovah. This name arose through the misreading of the
Hebrew letters by which His name was indicated to the
ancient Hebrews. Those letters were the Hebrew equiva-
lents of JuVH, probably read originally Yahveh. When,
however, the belief in God developed into the belief that
He was the God of the whole universe, this special name
was avoided and finally not used at all; and wherever it
occurred, Adonai, which means Lord, was read instead of
it. 'To remind people that wherever the Bible had juvh,

18 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

they should read Adonai, the vowels of Adonai (a, o, a)
were given to JHVH, so that it looked like Jehovah. And
that is how early Christian translators of the Bible read it,
not knowing that the vowels really belonged to Adonai.
The Bible and the Prayer Book sometimes use Jah for
God; it is a shortened form of juva. 'The Bible also
uses Elohim for God; in the English translation of the
Bible it is always translated God while JHVH is translated

~ the Lord.

Other names for God are, in the Bible, Shaddai (trans-
lated Almighty), El Shaddai (translated God Almighty),
jave Zebaot (Lord of Hosts), the Most High, the Holy
One. In post-Biblical Jewish writings God is referred to
by various names, probably to avoid using the name God.
He is called the Holy One blessed be He; Heaven, as in
the phrase the Kingdom of Heaven which means the rule
of God. The Talmud uses frequently the name, in Aramaic,
Rachmana, the Merciful One. It has a special interest
because it is the name extensively used for God in the
Koran, the Scriptures of the Mohammedans. In Rabbinic
literature, the Name, and the Place, are sometimes used for
God. The appropriateness of these terms is obvious,
except the last one, the Place. The explanation given for
it is that God is the place, the home, of the world; He
encompasses everything, all existence is in Him.

CHAPTER 111
GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEEF IN GOD

THE belief in God was always accepted in Judaism as
axiomatic. There could be no questioning it.
A Psalmist does say: “ The fool saith in his heart; There
is no God,” but the Psalmist expresses the general view of
his time that nobody but a fool would think of denying the
existence of God. So the Bible and Talmud contain no
arguments about the existence of God or attempts to
prove it. Jewish philosophers of later times did, like other
philosophers, discuss the grounds for the belief in Him,
but the Prophets of the Bible and the Rabbis of the Talmud
did not argue about Him. They gave instruction in the
way to serve Him, with exhortations to men to obey His
Law loyally and zealously.
The Prophets pointed to the manifestations of God in
nature and to the evidence of His guidance in history,
especially in the history of Israel, to impress on men the
duty to worship Him. It is the theme of the sermons in
the Book of Deuteronomy that Israel must give loyal and
loving service to God who brought them out of Egypt,
gave them a revelation of His Law, and led them safely
through the wilderness. The author of Deuteronomy
could not conceive that these great events could have hap-
pened without the will of God. And all Jewish teaching
agrees with him in seeing God’s guidance in Jewish history.
Similarly, all Jewish teaching agrees with the view often
expressed in the Bible that the phenomena of nature are
the work of God. That idea is stressed sometimes to evoke

20 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

loyalty and devotion to God, as in the tenth chapter (verse 14)
of Deuteronomy; and sometimes to encourage trust in
God, as in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah, where the Prophet
reminds the Jewish exiles, who were sceptical about his
prophecy that they would be delivered, that the creation
and rule of the universe show the greatness of God’s power.
The two sources, nature and history, from which the
Biblical writers drew arguments for trust in God and loyal
-service to Him, supply the first grounds for the belief in
Him. Let us examine them.

Gop IN NATURE

An American writer of the last century, who was also a
scientist—John Fiske—wrote a little book entitled T/rough
Nature to God, which attained considerable popularity when
published and maintained it for a considerable time. He
marshalled many facts in the physical universe to support
the conclusion that there is a mind behind it. Sir James
Jeans has in our time pursued a similar line of thought.
Not all scientists have agreed with them; but really God
is not a subject for science. Its field is nature, it deals with
the physical events and phenomena which constitute the
physical universe. That which is not physical falls outside
its field. It is important to appreciate that fact.
Some people have the idea—I am afraid that some
scientists have encouraged it—that science explains, or can
explain, everything. Of course, it does nothing of the sort.
There are many things 1t doesn’t, and can’t, explain. It
does not explain why Shakespeare’s plays are great and
how Shakespeare got the genius to write them ; why Raphael’s
paintings, Michelangelo’s statues and Beethoven’s sym-
phonies are beautiful and how their authors got the ability
to create them. It does not explain why it is right to make
great sacrifices to help others and to maintain the best

GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF IN GOD 21

kind of life in ourselves. In other words, science does not
have anything to do with literature, art, music, and morality.
But that 1s not all. Even in nature, in the physical universe,
science covers only a limited field. It cannot, for example,
explain what life 1s. It describes, in biology and related
fields, how living things behave, but it cannot explain what
life itself 1s. Yet obviously it is the most fundamental
reality in the physical universe.
The very first thing we learn to know about ourselves is
that we are alive, and that there is in us a certain something
which we call “‘ life.”” We cannot define it, but we know
we have it. It works within us, making us grow, making
us want certain things, such as air and food for our bodies,
and knowledge for our minds. This life in us feels, thinks
and wills (z.e. resolves upon doing things). We find that
we have a body, which we can exercise, and powers, such
as the faculty of thought and power of action, which we
can use.
But not only human beings possess life. All animals
have it too, and, in what appears to be a lesser degree, the
flowers, the trees, and the grass; in them, too, there is life,
growing and working, so that a tiny seed becomes a beautiful
flower, or a large tree bearing fruit. In a still lesser degree,
this life may also be present in other parts of physical
nature, such as stones; science teaches that there is nothing
in the universe in which there is not this principle or
quality of life. Whence does it come, this life in men, in
animals, in the flower and trees, and in the star?
Moreover, life is constantly developing. Out of the lower
comes the higher. There is evolution. We are told by
scientists that the beautiful and the good things which we
now see in the world have not always been so beautiful and
good. Man is perhaps the best example. At one time he
was on a par with the monkey, and still further back perhaps
no more than the jellyfish. Yet see what he is now! He has

22 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

been developing—we don’t know for how long. Is there any
goal towards which this development is directed? Why
does life develop?
While science describes what happens in the physical
universe, it does not explain why. And—this is perhaps
the most important point of. all—while science describes
the physical universe, it does not explain its origin, whence
it comes, and why it is here. In the nebular hypothesis,
science suggests (though it cannot prove) how the earth,
the stones, trees and plants came into being. The hypothesis
is that originally there was just a ball of fire revolving at an
inconceivable speed, which, as it revolved, shot off bits of
itself which, being separated from the fire, lost their heat.
The earth was one of those bits; when it became cold enough,
things began to grow on it. Now, this theory does not
explain why there should have been a ball of fire, or why
the bits that shot off should have cooled, or why when the
bit which is our earth cooled, it should have produced plants,
trees, animals and men.
Let me make it emphatically clear that I do not mean to
underrate the importance of science. On the contrary, I
recognise its very high value. Not only because of its
practical achievements, the machines it has invented, the
medicines it has discovered or produced, and the innumer-
able ways by which it has added security, comfort and power
to human life, but also because it gives us a knowledge of
truth about the physical universe. And truth in all its
aspects has a supreme value. But I want to point out that
science deals only with a part of the universe. In thatfield,
it speaks with complete authority so that its results must be
accepted. But its authority does not extend to the whole
universe, and what it says about its own field does not
necessarily apply to the whole universe.
Religion answers the questions about the universe which
science does not answer, and explains facts in the universe

GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF IN GOL 23

which are outside the field of science. The first of the
questions is: Whence comes the world? If some morning
upon waking we find in the room a vase of flowers which
had not been there the night before, then we should at once
ask: Who put them there? So, just as soon as we begin to
think, we ask that question about the world and the things
1 1t.
The answer which Judaism gives is: *“ From God.” The
world comes from God. God exists, so to speak, in His own
right. He is, in the language of philosophers, self-existent;
in the language of religion, eternal; in the language of prayer,
there was none before Him. By His will the world came
into being. That is what we mean by saying that God is the
Creator of the Universe.
The principle, or the belief, that God created the world is
a principle of religion. Science can have nothing to say
about it. Nor does it try ; it just describes the ways by which
the physical world came to be what it is. It has the nebular
hypothesis by which it tries to explain how the earth, the
stars and planets came from an original ball of fire. It has
the theory of evolution, to describe how the diverse forms of
life developed on the earth. It describes what has happened,
but does not explain it. The physical universe shows,
according to Jewish teaching, the creative work of God, and
the natural laws which physical events follow, show His
method of creation. It is reasonable to argue that the
physical universe gives grounds for the belief in God.

THE SPIRIT IN MAN

The history of mankind presents the most significant
development of all. We should have to go back hundreds of
thousands of years for the time when men looked different;
but not so long ago men thought differently and felt differ-
ently from what they do to-day. Historic records, though

NG o

24 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

they cover a comparatively small part, the most recent one,
of the history of man, show that there has been growth in
every department of human life—in the knowledge of truth,
in the knowledge of art, in government, and so on. The
~ civilisation which separates us from primitive man means
more knowledge, finer arts, and, above all, a higher sense of
goodness, with an increased ability to distinguish between
right and wrong. Compare the white man who lives in the
western and northern parts of the world with the Fiji
Islanders.
As we read history we see that man has been gradually
advancing, though slowly and not steadlly He knows more,

that means he has grown in the possession of truth; he has

developed the arts, that means he has grown in the apprecia-
tion of beauty; he is guided by higher moral standards, that
means he has grown in the knowledge of right and wrong.
However dissatisfied we may be with human life as it is, and
however much we want to improve it, we must yet recognise
that in all that matters most, it is better than it was. That
is plain beyond any possible doubt when we compare man
as he is now with man as he was when he lived in caves or
even as he was later when he emerged into history.. Why,
we may ask, has he progressed instead of standing still?
Standing still is easy—progressing is hard. It cannot be
said that the desire for happiness has impelled him. The
progress has not made him happler Who has led him to
progress?
The nature of man gives, however, the strongest reason
for the belief in God. Man is a part of the universe; but he
has faculties and powers which distinguish him from other
parts of the universe, giving him and his life a special
quality. He shares with the other parts of the universe a
physical life, but he possesses also a form of life which is
not physical. His life manifests itself in him in a two-fold
form. 'There is his physical life which is in the body, and

GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF IN GOD 25

there is his spiritual life. Whether any other creature in
the universe possesses spiritual life, we have no means of
knowing. We do, however, know of its existence in man,
because we feel it in ourselves, and we can percelve it
working in others.
The spiritual life in man has sometimes been called his
soul. But whether we call it soul or give it any other name,
or give it no name at all, we know it from its manifestations.
We cannot see it with our eyes (because it is spiritual) but
we can perceive it with our understanding; we can see the
ways in which it shows itself. Thought and conscience are
two of its manifestations.
Thought itself is not a physical thing. It cannot be seen,
it cannot be weighed, it cannot be measured. It belongs to
the mind, which is not physical. We use the brain in think-
ing, but if there were a way by which we could look into the
brain with our eyes, we should not see the ideas we are
thinking. Mind uses the brain, but the brain is not the mind.
The same thing can be said about conscience. It makes
judgments between right and wrong. Now, such judgments,
like 1deas, cannot be seen with the physical eye; they cannot
be touched, or apprehended by any physical means. But
both thought and conscience are not only a real part of us
but, we might also say, the most important part of us. Each
human being is aware of them in himself.
Thought and conscience in man have an important im-
plication for our understanding of the universe. Thought
deals with truth; by it we try to find out what is true, and
to distinguish between the true and the false. It implies,
therefore, that there is such a thing as truth and that it is
man’s business to find it, that there are true ideas and it is
man’s duty to hold them. Conscience implies that there is
right and there is wrong, and that it is man’s duty to find
out what is right and what is wrong, and to follow the right
and avoid the wrong.
B

26 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The spiritual life in man gives ground, therefore, for the
belief in God in two ways. First, by itself. . It shows that
physical things do not constitute the whole of the universe.
The universe is more than matter; so that it cannot be
explained in terms of matter and physical forces. Secondly,
" by its activity. In his spiritual activity man pursues truth,
strives for goodness, and rejoices in beauty. All this is
natural to us; we just think it natural that we should want
to know things, that scientists should give up their lives in
finding out things about the universe. Some of their dis-
coveries are useful, but a good many are not, they are just
knowledge about the universe—that is knowledge of truth.
We just think it natural that we should find delight in
literature, art and music, and in all that gives us the sense
of beauty; and we think it natural that men and women
should spend their lives, sometimes in spite of great hard-
ship, to create beautiful statues, paintings, symphonies, or
writings. We think it natural to make a distinction between
right and wrong. Even small children have a sense of right
and wrong; they know that it is right to do certain things,
though they do not always do them, and that it is wrong to do
others, though they do not always avoid them. Whence this
sense of right and wrong?
If we say that it is inherited knowledge, we are only
putting the question further back. If I have inherited my
conscience from my ancestors and they from theirs, and so
on, as far back as you like, there still remains the question:
How did conscience begin? When man first came to know
a difference between right and wrong, who taught him?
The important fact is that men always have had a conscience;
they have always had some sense of right and wrong. Though
morality has undergone a development, so that actions
considered right at one time were considered wrong later,
and actions considered wrong sometimes came to be con-
sidered right, the fact that there always has been morality,

.

GROUNDS FOR THE BELIEF IN GOD 277

that men always have distinguished between right and wrong,
is significant for our understanding of the universe, for
since man is a part of the universe, his nature must give
‘some idea about the nature of the universe.
To sum up, a number of questions present themselves to
us when we think about the universe. Whence does it
come? What is the source of life? Why has this life the
power of development, which in the case of man shows
itself in his progress to a higher and better kind of life?
Whence does man derive his spirit with his love of truth,
discrimination between good and evil, and appreciation of
beauty? There are various answers to all these questions
which philosophers and others have given. No one answer
has ever been accepted by all men. The questions are so
difficult that to answer them with absolute certainty would
require more knowledge than any human being, or group
of human beings, have had, or perhaps ever can have. We
must be satisfied with the most likely answer—the answer
which most appeals to our reason and satisfies our feelings.
The answer Judaism gives is: God is the Author of the
universe and the Source of its life, the Power that guides it,
the Source of man’s spirit with its power of apprehending
truth, goodness and beauty. 'The life of the universe must
come from a source of all being. 'The spirit of man shows
that there is spirit in the universe. The sense of goodness
in man must come from a goodness which is much higher,
much greater, infinitely better than itself. And there must
be a power which is interested in making the world and
humanity move forward towards a better life. As when we
see a ray of light, we look for its source and find that it comes
from some burning flame which is all light, so when we see
some life, some goodness, we know that the source must be
that which is all life, all goodness.
The grounds, then, for our belief in God are the life of
the universe and the life and nature of man. The belief in

28 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

God explains them; it also makes sense of the universe.
What does the world mean? Is it merely a jumble of events?
The belief in God explains the world and gives a meaning
to its life. At first the universe and man present a mystery.
But, out of the mystery comes the answer to our question-
ings. Life, power, goodness, truth, beauty, all come from
Him who is the Great Author, God. And they lead to Him.
Men learn to know God best, however, through inner,
personal experience. We learn to know Him as we learn to
know a human friend—by communion. We feel the love
of a human friend when we are with him. So do we feel
the attributes of God, His perfect love and perfect goodness,
when we feel His presence. We experience God when we
experience the qualities which make up His being. We can
also experience Him Himself, feel His presence. Our
first knowledge of Him comes to us from those men who,
because they had this experience of God in the highest
degree, have by their lives and by their writings become our
teachers in the knowledge of Him. But faith in God comes
to men in largest measure only when they strive, by work,
thought and prayer to realise His presence, to come near to
Him, and to commune with Him.
The ultimate ground for our personal faith in God is
something in ourselves which finds intellectual and emotional
satisfaction in that faith. It explains us to ourselves and it
explains the universe to us. 'The belief in God answers
such questions as “ Why is there a world?”’ and ““ Why are
some things right and others wrong ?”’ But that is not all.
It gives men a Friend and Helper who satisfies their spiritual
longings and needs with His love and light. Ultimately, men
find God in the universe by finding Him in themselves.

CHAPIER IV

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE

THERE emerges from the preceding discussion of the grounds
for the belief in God the view of God’s relation to the
universe as a whole and of His special relation to men.

What God means to the universe and to man is summed up
in the *“ Adon Olam.”

Lord of the universe, who reigned
Ere earth and heaven’s fashioning,
When to create the world he deigned,
Then was his name proclaimed King.

And at the end of days shall he,
The dreaded one, still reign alone,
Who was, who is, and still will be
Unchanged upon his glorious throne.

And he is one; his powers transcend,
Supreme, unfathomed depth and height,
Without beginning, without end,
His are dominion, power, and might.

My God and my Redeemer he,
My Rock in sorrow’s darkest day,
A help and refuge unto me,
My cup’s full portion when I pray.

My soul unto his hand divine
Do I commend; I will not fear;
My body with it I resign;
I dread no evil; God is near.

29

30. THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

CREATION

God is the creator of the world; it comes from Him. The
prophet Jeremiah makes God’s creative power the distinc-
tion between Him, the true God, on the one hand, and the
false gods and idols on the other. He calls them vanity,
because they have no creative power. God is the true God
because He is the creator of the world. Thus shall ye
say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens
and the earth, these shall perish from the earth and from
under the heavens. He (the true God) has made the
earth by his power, he has established the world by his
wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out
the heavens ”’ (Jeremiah 10: 11-12).
The creative power of God is referred to in the fortieth
chapter of Isaiah which says of God that He “has measured
the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven
with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills
in a balance ” (Isaiah 40: 12). That God is the creator of
the world is taught by the first verse of the Bible: ‘ In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
The first chapter of Genesis has caused religion a good
deal of difficulty, unnecessary difficulty. It says that the
earth and sky, the sun, moon and stars, trees and plants,
beasts, birds and men were from the beginning as they are
now. Scientists, however, say that they are the result of
millions of years of development. For those who believe
that the Bible contains a perfect revelation from God, that
it was, so to speak, dictated by Him, so that every sentence
must be true, the discrepancy between science and the
creation story in the first chapter of Genesis produces a
difficulty. For the Liberal Jewish view, however, of the
Bible, which will be fully explained in a later chapter, there
is no difficulty at all. It does not require that we accept

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE 31

every detailed statement in it as historically or scientifi-
cally true. The general underlying idea may be true, but
the details in which it is expressed may not be.
So Liberal Judaism does not accept the account of creation
in the first chapter of Genesis. It accepts from science the
idea that life on the earth developed from lower forms to
higher forms, from weaker to stronger, from the crude to
the finer. This development shows the constant working
of God’s creative power. The world was not created once
for all, but is still being created, by God. Instead, therefore,
of saying with the author of the first chapter of Genesis that
God created all forms of life in their full development during
six days somewhere in the remote past, we believe that God
has been creating forms of life during millions of years,
that He is still creating, and that He will continue to create,
until the universe and all things in it have become a perfect
expression of His being.
The theory of evolution, therefore, which is associated
with Darwin, does not deny God’s creative power. It has
two parts. The first is that life has evolved from crude and
simple beginnings to finer and more varied forms. That
part of the theory is older than Darwin. He went further,
however, by adding an explanation of how evolution works;
he called it ‘‘ the theory of natural selection.” Many forms
of life come into being but only those survive which are
suited to their environments; they are selected for life.
The dinosaurus perished because it did not suit the condi-
tions of life, the elephant lives because it does. Not all
scientists accept this theory but all agree that there has been
evolution. We do not, however, know the “law” of
evolution, how it works, what process or method it uses.
For religion, as Liberal Jews understand it, evolution is the
name for God’s creative work. The *‘ law of evolution,” if
we knew it, would describe the method which God uses in
creating the world. |

32 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The first chapter of Genesis contains, or suggests, how-
ever, some ideas which have a permanent religious value,
such as that ““ man was created in the image of God.” But
its most fundamental idea is that the world comes from God.
To the question which arose naturally in the minds of men
when they began to think, Whence comes the world ?
different peoples of antiquity gave different answers. Even
the second chapter of Genesis gives a somewhat different
account from the first, but both agree that God is the creator
of the world. 'That idea gives permanent religious value to
the Biblical creation story. It is fundamental. The details
in the story have no importance; they belong not to religion
but to an ancient, and very much antiquated, attempt at
science.
We can grasp the religious significance of the creation
story in Genesis more clearly if we compare it with the
creation story of the Babylonians, from which some scholars
think it was derived. 'The Babylonian account of creation
tells us that first the gods came into existence. Then the
lower gods rebelled against the higher ones. Tiamat, a
monster with a brood of monsters, was the leader of the
former. She was slain by Marduk, the champion of the
higher gods; and out of her body the world was created.
Tiamat was the dragon of chaos and darkness; Marduk the
god of light and order. In Genesis, there is only one God,
not many gods, and He created the world; one power over
the whole universe, not a number of contending powers.
When, however, we pass from the general and funda-
mental principle that underlies the creation story in Genesis
to details, we leave the realm of religion and enter the realm
of science. And according to science creation is not to be
conceived as an act completed in the past, but as a continuous
- process, producing growth and development. Evolution ”’
is the name for this creative process. It describes the
working of God’s creative power in the universe.

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE 33

LLAws oF NATURE

Similarly, God’s activity is manifested in all that happens
in physical nature. The ways in which it works are des-
cribed in what are called “ the laws of nature.” The law
of gravity is an example. If we throw a ball into the air
we know that it must come down again, drawn back to the
earth by a force called gravity. We always expect that to
happen because, so far as we know, it always has happened;
and the explanation given by science is that the earth
attracts objects to itself. It is this force which keeps all
things upon the earth from flying off into space. We could
find other illustrations of the laws of nature in the ways of
growth, whether growth of a human being or the growth of
an animal or plant. There are the laws by which chemical
elements when combined produce substances; as when two
parts of hydrogen mixed with one part of oxygen produce
water. It 1s a law that the earth revolves around the sun.
These laws describe the ways in which things happen in
the physical universe.
They are not laws in the sense that they are command-
ments. ‘‘ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” is a
law which is a commandment. A law of nature is not a
matter of ‘‘ought,” it justis. The law of evolution does not
say that things ought to develop; it just says that they did,
and do, develop. That a plant requires sunlight for its
growth is a law which describes what happens. It is the
work of science to find out these laws. They have always
existed, but the knowledge of them has come to men gradu-
ally. Science, by its investigations, studies and experiments,
has always striven, and strives now, to learn what they are ;
from time to time it has learnt, and is learning, to know more
of them. Before the time of Isaac Newton, for example, the
law of gravity was not known. Similarly, there was a time
when we did not know about evolution. Before the time

34 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

of Copernicus and Galileo, men thought that the sun moved
around the earth. We now know that the earth moves
round the sun.
What science calls the laws of nature religion calls the
ways of God; they describe the ways in which He works in
the physical universe. There need be no conflict between
science and religion. Science is a knowledge of the material
universe, religion explains the universe; science describes
the physical life of the universe, religion tells whence it comes;
science finds out the ways in which things happen, religion
says those are the ways in which God works; science shows
us the world, religion shows us God, the Creator and Guide
of the world.
The idea that there is a conflict between science and
religion arose largely because of some stories in the Bible,
chiefly, besides the story of creation, the stories of miracles.
Science says that miracles cannot happen. For the Liberal
Jewish view of the Bible its stories of miracles create no
difficulty. We need not accept them as historic records of
actual events. But because the Bible contains these stories,
the question of miracles has intruded itself into religion.

MIRACLES

The question falls into two parts. In the first place, did
the miracles in the Bible happen? Secondly, can miracles
happen? If the answer to the first question 1s ‘‘ yes,” then
it answers also the second question. But the answer to the
first question cannot be an assured ‘‘yes.” 'The Bible is
not in its purpose a history-book. There are reasons for
thinking that many of the stories in it are unhistorical.
There are divergent stories about the same event; they
can’t all be historically true. The Bible was written long
after some of the events about which it tells, so that the
writers had to use stories which for many centuries had been

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE 35

handed down simply by word of mouth. Fathers told them to
their sons, and they to their sons, and so on. It was only
natural that the stories changed during the process.
Let me give one example—the story of the crossing of
the Red Sea in Exodus 14. The Hebrews left Egypt about
1300 B.C.E. The account of the Exodus, in our Bible, was
written probably about goo B.c.k. It obviously combines
two older accounts. In one story, when the Hebrews came
to the Red Sea a strong east wind driving the waters back
from the shore enabled them to cross. The Lord caused
the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and
made the sea dry land.”
In the other story, ‘“‘the waters were divided.” “And the
- children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the
dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their
right hand, and on their left.”
The first story tells of a fortunate occurrence. It was a
thing liable to happen any time, the wind blowing back the
water. Fortunately for the Hebrews, according to the first
version of the story, it happened when they wanted to cross.
The second story, however, tells that something happened
which never happened before and has never happened since;
something which cannot be explained by the way in which
water normally behaves; in fact, the Red Sea, according to
that story, behaved in a way in which water probably never
could behave, but it did so then because God told it to. It
was a miracle.
- It is impossible to say what did bappen; but it is evident
that Exodus 14 cannot be taken as historical evidence of
what happened. This applies to all the stories of miracles
that are found in the Bible. It cannot be said that they
happened.
The second question is: Can miracles happen? Science
answers: No; everything that happens must be in accord
with, and be explained by, the ““ laws of nature,” an event

36 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

must be the result of preceding causes which will always
produce the same effect. That does not exclude unusual
events resulting from a rare combination of causes, or even
a unique event resulting from such a combination of causes
as has never occurred before. Science says: I have never
found such an event, and there is no historically reliable
record of one. But even if such an event had occurred, so
long as 1t could be explained as the result of antecedent
physical causes, it would not have been a miracle.
If the stories of miracles in the Bible could be accepted as
historically accurate, then the events of which they tell
would have natural explanations which we have not yet
found. The Red Indians did not know the natural explana-
tion of an eclipse of the sun, they thought it a miracle. But
if there are natural explanations for the miracles in the Bible,
then they were not miracles. The essential point about
a miracle is that it is an occurrence contrary to the laws of
nature, produced by the special intervention of God.
For, what is a miracle? The word is now used in different
senses. If a man’s motor-car overturned with him in it
and he crawled out from under it unhurt, we say it was a
miracle. But obviously, that is not the same as if the motor-
car suddenly rose into the air and flew. Technically, a
_miracle is an incident which seems to violate a law of nature.
When there is another known law to explain it, it is not a
miracle. An aeroplane, being heavier than air, violates, in
flying, the law of gravity; but its power to fly is explained
by the laws of mechanics. On the other hand, if a bar of
steel suddenly rose and flew, that would be different, there
would be nothing in our knowledge to explain it. It is, for
example, a law of nature that the earth constantly revolves
about the sun. If the earth should for a moment stand still,
we should say that it was a miracle, unless we discovered some
law which would explain this moment of cessation in- the
earth’s motion.

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE 94

On the basis of what we believe about the relation of God
to the universe, I find it impossible to believe in miracles.
God rules the universe by the laws of nature. They describe
the ways in which He works in the universe. And God,
being perfect, does not change. To the ancients miracles
presented no difficulty or problem. They did not know
about laws of nature. Men generally believed that God ruled
the world by special commands. Things happened because
God ordered in each case that it should happen. And
therefore something quite unusual could, to their way of
thinking, happen just as well as not. If it rained on a Mon-
day morning at ten o’clock, it did so (they thought) because
God specially commanded that the rain should come down
at that time. But science has taught us that there are causes
which produce the rain.
But whatever be our personal views about miracles, I
must stress the fact that religion as interpreted in Liberal
Judaism does not require us to believe in them. That does
not, however, mean that the stories of miracles which are in
the Bible have no value. They cannot be used as history but
they have a psychological and religious meaning. They show
how great some events and persons were considered. The
story of the crossing of the Red Sea shows that the ancient
Hebrews considered the Exodus from Egypt so great an
event that it could only have come through the special help
- of God. And the writers of the Bible used these stories to
prove that God was the Guardian and Guide of Israel; that
He helped and saved Israel in times of crisis. To them the
sign of God’s providence and power was the occurrence of
something extraordinary, something miraculous. God’s
providence and God’s power are something real to us, too.
We, too, see evidence of them in events in Israel’s past
history, but we need not surround them with stories of
miracles. God’s workings and His power manifest them-
selves in the ordinary course of life; and He brings great

38 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

events to pass by means which, though they seem ordinary
because they are in accord with the order in the universe
which He has ordained, are yet the wonderful tokens of His
Providence.
A similar significance attaches to the stories of miracles
performed by great men. There is a story that Elisha
brought back to life a dead child. This and other stories
about him show how the people of his time, and of later
times, felt his greatness; they saw in it a divine power. For
us a great man shows his divine quality in all his good works.
There is a poem by an American poet which 1llustrates
the point of view I am trying to expound. A pious man,
feeling depressed, decides to make a pilgrimage to a distant
mountain where, tradition said, God reveals himself. When
he reaches the mountain he waits and watches, first eagerly,
then patiently, for a miracle; but none comes. As he turns
away, disappointed, depressed and sorrowful, with eyes
downcast, he sees a small violet. His spirit leaps with joy.
Here is a revelation of God. Yet there are plenty of violets
around his home; but he did not appreciate them. So he
concludes: |

Had I but trusted to my nature
And had faith in lowly things,
Thou Thyself wouldst then have taught me
And set free my spirit’s wings.

The stories of miracles arose out of the feeling of God’s
rule over the universe and His guidance for men. But His
rule over the universe 1s to us manifested in the ordinary
ways of nature—as they were to the author of Psalm 104
and the Prophet of Isaiah 40. God’s power in creating and
ruling the universe is to be seen in all things of the world,
whether they be great or small. There is not a creature in
whom there is not a sign of God’s working, for all the life

GOD AND THE UNIVERSE 39

in the universe, and all the power by which that life is
sustained, guided and developed, all come from God.
“ Why ” it is asked in a passage in the Talmud, * did God
reveal himself to Moses in a bramble bush, the lowliest, or
poorest, of shrubs ? Would a fruit tree not have been more
appropriate?”’ 'The answer is: To show that there is no
place without the Shechinah (the presence of God),” that
‘there 1s no place in the world where He is not. He fills it
all so that all manifests Him. The life that is in the tiny
blade of grass, or in the little flower, even as the life that is
in man, or as the light that streams from the sun, all alike
are from God; and the power which makes that tiny blade
of grass to grow, and that tiny flower to bloom and blossom,
is the same power that makes man live, grow, think and
achieve. God’s life and God’s activity are in all things in
the universe; in accordance with His laws, in obedience to
His rule, they come into being and live.
It is a teaching of Judaism that the world, because it
emanates from God and is the scene of His activity, is a
good world. The idea is found in the first chapter of
Genesis. ‘“ And God saw everything that he had made,
and behold it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). It is
difficult to perceive the goodness of the world in every one
of its details; but that did not, and does not, prevent the
Jewish affirmation that it is a good world because it is God’s
world. |

CHAPTER V
dHE PROBLEM OF EVIL

As in other fields of human thought so in the field of religion
there are a number of problems; and as in philosophy and
science so in religion, some of the problems remain unsolved.
Human knowledge is necessarily limited. Though man has
in the course of his progress discovered much about the
universe, he cannot hope to attain a complete knowledge of
it, which means a knowledge of all truth. The universe 1s
so vast, life so profound, and truth so unlimited, that it would
be presumptuous of men to think that they could ever know
everything. However large the field of human knowledge
becomes, there will always remain a field of human ignorance.
However much men learn, there must remain some things
which they do not know. There is, therefore, no department
of human thought free from problems which have not yet
been solved. In religion that applies to the problem of evil.
What is the problem of evil? It can be put simply into a
question. Why is there evil in the universe? Since God is
perfect goodness and since He i1s the Author, Ruler and
Guide of the universe, why are there some things in it which
are not good, creatures and events which, so far as we know,
are evil? A word of caution must be interposed here. Not
all which we call evil necessarily 1s evil. We judge things
~ from our human point of view; that is inevitable. But we
~ have to allow for the possibility that many things in the uni-
verse should not, and cannot, be judged from the human
point of view. _
We call earthquakes evil. Certainly, the suffering they

40

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 41

cause 1s evil. About that there can be no question. But
does that justify us in calling the earthquake evil? The tiger
and the lion are dangerous to men, but does that justify us
in calling them evil? But we are, I think, justified in asking
why there are forces in nature which cause destruction, like
floods, storms and earthquakes; dangerous beasts, like lions
and tigers; parasites, like the ivy which, clinging round the
tree, kills it, and the disease-germs which attack men and
animals. We ask why do they exist, because the destruction
and sufferings which they cause do not seem to fit in with the
idea that God is the Creator and Ruler of the world. There
may be a good side to them ; in some cases we can see it, but
in many we do not know what good they do. But the suffer-
ing they cause would still remain a problem, though obviously
not so acute, if they also performed a beneficial service.
In the sphere of human life, the problem of evil is raised
by two facts: suffering and sin. Why do men suffer and
why do they sin? How can the existence of sin and suffering
be reconciled with the rule of God?
The problem of human suffering is treated dramatically
in the Book of Job. Job suffers a series of misfortunes,
culminating in a terrible physical disease. And he complains
bitterly: Why do I suffer? 'There was a belief at one time
that suffering and misfortune resulted from sin; so the
friends who come to console Job suggest that he must have
sinned to suffer so much. Job, however, protests that he
did not sin; and he adds that even if he did sin, he should
not have been made to endure such terrible affliction.
The author of the main part of the book offers no answer
to Job’s question. He makes Job hold on to his faith in God
in spite of his suffering. He seems to suggest that Job needs
that faith all the more because he suffers. Someone who
added the Elihu speeches (chapters 32 to 37) goes further
and even suggests that the suffering, far from being the
result of sin, shows the opposite. “ Whom the Lord loves

42 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

he chastises.” He may have meant, what is often true in
individual cases, that suffering purifies the character or
personality of the sufferer, generating strength in the spirit
and driving it to high attainment. He who can endure
suffering courageously comes out of the ordeal, like gold
which passes through the fire, more pure.
The author of the closing chapters of the drama—it may
have been the author of the main part of the book, or an-
other writer—puts speeches (chapters 38—41) into the mouth
of God which answer Job’s question simply by saying that
there are many things in the universe which we cannot
understand. We do not understand the reasons for all the
natural phenomena, we do not comprehend the way natural
forces work. In magnificent poetry he describes some
ordinary facts in the universe which present a mystery.

Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
And as for darkness, where is the place thereof? [Job 38:19.]

By what way is the light parted,
Or the east wind scattered upon the earthp
Who hath cleft a channel for the water-flood,
Or a way for the lightning of the thunder;
To cause it to rain on a land where no man is;
On the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
To satisfy the waste and desolate ground;
And to cause the tender grass to spring forth?
Hath the rain a father?
-Or who hath begotten the drops of dew? [Job 38:24-28.]

And here is the description of the battle-horse among the
mysteries of nature:

Hast thou given the horse his might?
Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane ?
Hast thou made him to leap as a locust?
The glory of his snorting is terrible.
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength;
He goeth out to meet the armed men.
He mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed;

FTHE PROBLEM OF EVIL 43

Neither turneth he back from the sword.
The quiver rattleth against him,
The flashing spear and the javelin.
He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
Neither believeth he that it is the voice of the trumpet.
As oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith, Aha!
And he smelleth the battle afar off,
The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
[Job 39: 19-25.]

The author of this part of the Book of Job answers Job’s
question, Why do I suffer? with ‘“There is no knowing,
suffering is part of the mystery in a mysterious universe.”
Men must trust that whatever God does is good and right.
This may be the only possible conclusion for us. On the
other hand, for some of the sufferings in human life we can
see a partial explanation. Sin and wrong-doing frequently
cause it. No act and no thought can be separated from its
effect. An act or thought may have two kinds of effects. ‘A
wrong act may bring physical suffering on the doer. Plea-
sures that are wrong, or excessive indulgence in any kind of
pleasure, may ruin the health of the body. But even when
there are no visible physical or material evil consequences to
the doer of an evil deed, there are certainly evil consequences
of another kind. 'To cheat engenders the quality of dis-
honesty in the cheater, which grows by every act of cheating.
The character of a man is vitiated, if his words, thoughts or
actions are evil. An act or thought always has an inner effect,
it does something to the inner life of the doer or thinker. The
result of a bad deed or bad thought is badness. A good deed
or good thought increases inner goodness; it makes one better.
This helps us to understand the truth in the answer sug-
gested in the Elihu speeches, “ Whom the Lord loves, He
chastises.” Suffering helps men to become stronger in their
moral natures, and to develop their good qualities. The
Rabbis likened the people of Israel to an olive. The harder
the olive is pressed, the more pure is the oil it produces.

44 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

So, said they, with the Jews, the harder they were persecuted
and oppressed the more faithful were they to God; they were
made better by their sufferings. Similarly, all men can be
purified, made better and finer, by suffering. It can help
them to look deeper into the meaning of human life, and to
see more clearly the right way to live. Men can make them-
selves better when they take to heart the misfortunes that
befall them. But they must, in their hearts, have trust in
God; faith that He is good.
An act or thought may also do good or ill to others. The
sin of one man may hurt others. Very often the suffering
which follows wrong-doing falls apparently not on the
wrong-doer but on others. The nation which causes a war
suffers itself, it is true, but it also brings much suffering on
the peaceful nations whom it attacks. The same happens
in the lives of individuals. The deeper consequence of sin
falls upon the wrong-doer, but the physical harm may fall
on others. The tyrant who oppresses his people vitiates his
own moral nature but he causes much suffering to his people.
That seems at first sight unfair, unjust, but if we look at it
in relation to the whole scheme of human life we can, I think,
understand it.
Men are related to one another by a number of bonds;
they are not just isolated individuals, but members of a
society. Nations, too, are not just isolated groups but parts
of humanity. Therefore, what affects one part must neces-
sarily affect also other parts. Just as in the human body,
damage to one limb produces an effect on the whole system,
so in the society of men or of nations, what happens to one
member affects the others. There is what we might call a
law of solidarity. Solidarity means the relation between a
number of individuals which constitutes them into a unity
so that they are affected by one another.
Through that relation we derive individually a number of
benefits. One member of a group can, by his goodness,

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 45

wisdom or skill, benefit its other members. That, we think,
is right, fair and just. But if we are to have relations with
one another through which we can pass benefits to one
another, obviously one who does wrong can use those
relations to hurt others. If we are to have, and we must
have, governments in order that men may live together in
peace and strive together for righteousness, then it becomes
possible for a wicked ruler to use the power of government
for evil ends. It would be a pleasanter world if men could
do good to one another but not harm. But such a world is
impossible. To do good to one another, men must be related
to one another. That relation gives a wrong-doer the
possibility to hurt others.
It happens not infrequently that the good may suffer
most from the wrongs committed by others. That is the
idea which underlies the famous poems about the Suffering
Servant in Isaiah (42: 1—4, 49: 1-6; 50: 4-9 and 52: 13 to
53: 12). They describe one who 1s pure and righteous,
suffering quietly and patiently under insult and persecution,
because he is the Servant of God; one who, because he was
a prophet, suffered martyrdom. The result, however, of
his teaching and suffering will be that many will be brought
to God. He suffers in the service of God.
The poems may refer (1) to some individual whom the
writer knew, possibly Jeremiah, whose experiences fit the
description; or (2) to the pious, or prophetic, section among
the Jews; or (3) to the whole of Israel, who were at the time
suffering the shame and hardship of exile in Babylonia.
Most scholars adopt the third explanation. Some say the
poems refer to the actual Israel; others say that the poet
had in his mind the ideal Israel.
In our present context the poems interest us for what
they say about suffering. It sometimes attends the service
of God. Jeremiah had learnt that fact from his experience
(Jeremiah 12), and the author of the Servant poems elaborates

Nt

46 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

the idea that suffering may, often does, accompany the
service of God. 'The history of the Jews supplies an out-
standing example of suffering in the service of God. It was
given to the Jews to bring to the world a knowledge of God
and His law. To do that they had to maintain their religious
distinctiveness, they had to be different from other people
in religion. Because of their distinctiveness, they were
made to suffer.
They who would serve God must be prepared to suffer, and
often do suffer. Thatisafact of experience. The good often
suffer at the hands of wrong-doers because of their good-
ness. But goodness is a service to God, so that the suffering
helps their service; not because, as some think, the suffering
of one can atone for the sins of others, but because the
suffering of God’s servants shows their firm loyalty to Him,
setting it off like a dark background to a light. By suffering
for their faith, the Jews have collectively shown how much
their faith means to them, and how powerful that faith is
in them. :
Jews individually have, under the guidance of their
religion, faced personal afflictions with the simple faith that
if God allows them to suffer, it must be right. Moreover,
there is the belief often expressed in Jewish writings that
what seems evil would show itself to be good, if we knew all.
Pious Jews used to accept personal misfortunes with the
prayer: May this, too, be for good.
Spiritual and moral evil is the most difficult part of the
problem of evil. Why do men sin, and do wrong? That
question will have to be discussed when we consider the
relation between God and man. The answer I shall suggest
will be that human sin 1s a concomitant of human freedom.
Man is free. He is not perhaps completely free to choose
his conduct and direct his thoughts and feelings; but he is
very largely free. In giving man freedom, God has limited
His own power. He is ready to inspire and guide men, but

THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 47
freedom means that they may also rebel against God, with-
out God interfering. 'The evil which sinful men cause in
the world i1s, therefore, the price we pay for man’s moral
freedom. 'To fight against evil and for the good is to use
the freedom God has given men in His service.
It 1s, however, necessary to recall, in order to keep the
right balance of thought, what I pointed out in a previous
chapter.” It is not only the evil in the world that calls for
explanation; goodness, too, must be explained. The fact
that we ask why is there wrong in the world shows that we
take the good for granted; we expect goodness in the world.
Why? The fact that we are disturbed by the existence of
destructive forces shows that we expect the universe to be
full of beneficial forces, forces that create and enrich life.
Why? When we ask: Why are men allowed to do wrong?
we imply that we expect them to be good and do good. Why?
'Have we the right to expect it? Only if we believe in God.
The expectation of goodness in the universe implies faith
in God.

CHAPTER VI
GOD AND MAN

FroM the belief in God there emerges the Jewish conception
of man. Itisinvolved in the relation between God and man.
It is closer, and goes deeper, than the relation between God
and the physical universe. God, the creator of the universe
is the creator of man, for man is a part of the universe.
Man’s life, man’s power and man’s faculties, all come from
God. But when we speak of the creation of man by God
we mean something more than the formation or development
of his body. For, although man’s life has a physical form,
1t is not all physical, it is more than a body; he has a spirit
which thinks, feels, wills, believes, trusts and aspires. It is
- the most personal part of us; it is the innermost part of our
life. Defined negatively, it is that aspect of man’s life which
is incorporeal (z.e. has no body), though it uses the body and
its powers. Defined positively, however, it is that part of
man which includes his thoughts, his hopes, his resolutions,
his goodness, his ideals and his faith. These constitute his
personality. 'They show themselves in actions, but they are
our selves.
The spiritual life as we know it is closely associated with
the physical life. The two together constitute the life of a
man; both come from God, and in both we perceive the
existence of that which is divine. Both are sacred. The
soul is holy, so is the body; for both contain the life which
God gives us. But it is the spirit of man, the essence of him
which we call personality, which gives him his special re-
lation to God, the relation described in the assertion that

48

GOD AND MAN " 49

“ man was created in the image of God,” and in the declara-
tion “Ye are children of the Lord your God” (Deuter-
onomy 14: I).
The spirit of man is the most nearly divine part of him, it is
the aspect of his life nearest to God. It represents God,
expresses His being, more nearly than the rest of the uni-
verse. God is in the universe, manifesting Himself by His
activity. In man, however, He manifests Himself. An old
Jewish prayer begins: ‘‘ The soul which thou hast given
me.” ‘“ The spirit of man,” says Proverbs, ‘“‘is the lamp of the
Lord, searching out his innermost parts”’ (Proverbs 20: 27).
What the prayer meant by * soul”” and the author of Proverbs
by “spirit” we express most often by the word ° personahty
it means the essence of a man’s being, that which he is in
himself. The spirit in man makes him kin with God.
Several important consequences for man follow from his
~ relation to God. In the first place it gives him a high value.
The spirit of man makes him great, that is, valuable in the
sight of God. At the same time, it makes him humble.
““When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy hands, the
moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man,
that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou
visitest him? For thou hast made him but little lower than
the angels, and crownest him with glory and honour >’ (Psalm
8:3°5
The) spirit of man probably distinguishes him from the
other creatures upon earth. The desires, sensibilities and
feelings which belong to his body, he shares with the
animals. An animal has the same desire for food, and feels
pain when it is hurt. But the spiritual life is most highly
developed in man. It is that which makes him the chief
creature of God. Whatever of greatness or superiority there
is in him, he possesses because of his spiritual endowment.
There are creatures which are more mighty than he, like the
lion; swifter than he, like the eagle; bigger than he, like

50 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

the elephant. There is perhaps no physical quality in which
he is not excelled by one or another animal. But he is higher
than the animals because he can think, he can hope, he can
know God. Here, too, lies his power, which oftentimes
gives him dominion over creatures and forces that are
physically more mighty than he. Because of the spirit in
man and the power it gives him, we may say of him, with the
Psalmist, that he is ““ but little lower than the angels.”
Yet we must not forget that great as man may be when
compared with other creatures, he yet falls far, far below his
Creator, and he is far below what God would have him be.
Though his spirit makes him the highest creature we know,
he is far from that perfection to which God would have him
attain. He is sinful; he is weak; he often does wrong; he
does not always do what is right. Judaism calls attention to
the sin, weakness, and smallness of man. It is realistic, it
looks at life as it is. The frailty and the sin of man are facts.
It is necessary for men to realise their personal faults and
sinfulness, and the general weakness and sinfulness of man,
in order that they may be impelied to strive for a closer
relation with God. But at the same time Judaism stresses
the greatness of man derived from his relation to God. He
has the spirit of God in him.

IMMORTALITY

The high valuation of man derived from his relation to
God is expressed also in another way. He shares in eternal
life, he has an eternal quality. If we should argue in the form
of logic, we should say: God is eternal life; man is related
to God; therefore, man has within him something of eternal
life. Eternal life, as I tried to explain in Chapter I1I, means
iife which is outside space and time, life in a form which
cannot be measured or described by standards of space and
time. ‘“ God is eternal Life ”’ means that no terms of space

GOD AND MAN 51

or time can be applied to Him. He is all being; and being
includes space and time, so that it is greater than all space
and time. Of God we cannot say He is here or there, now
or then; we can only say He is.
So by eternal life in man, we mean that phase of his life
which 1s not measured by the passing of time or the limits
of space. There is a part of our life which is measured by
time and limited by space. I can measure my work by
time and locate it in space. I can say that I work so many
hours at such and such a place. I can say of my body that
it is so many feet high, that it lives in a definite place, and
that it lives for so many years. But we have seen that there
is something more to human life than the body and that
which is associated with it. Now, is there not something
within every one of us, which, if it sought to express itself in
words, would just say, “I live” ? We could not say that it
lives in one particular place and not in another, that it
measures so many inches or feet, or that it has any particular
length of time. It just lives. Because we cannot say of
this phase of our life, as we can say of our body, that it
is confined to a specific place, and lasts a definite length of
time, we recognise in it the quality of eternal life.
Take thought, for example. Where is the place of a
thought? What are its dimensions? What is its length in
inches or in minutes? These questions seem irrelevant.
While I am in this place where I am now writing, my thought
can be in China or Timbuctoo. And in a space of time which
the clock would measure by seconds, I can think of a month
or a year, and in the present I can think of the past or future.
Thought is, however, only one manifestation of the spirit
of man. Faith is perhaps the activity in which it comes
nearest to showing its full character. And faith cannot be
measured by a clock or foot-rule. Itisabove space and time.
Moreover, the spirit has in itself a kind of consciousness
of eternity. It knows that it is not physical, it knows that

52 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

though it seems to live in the body, it is more than the body.
It transcends, rises above, physical limitations. Out of this
consciousness arises the hope of immortality. It is the hope
that death is not the end of human life, that a man lives on,
in some way, after his bodily existence has ended. It springs
from the belief that, because of our relation to God, we
‘share in eternal life. For death is a physical phenomenon,
it cannot apply to that aspect of our life which is not phys1cal
but spiritual.
The hope of immortality does not mean that we live two
separate lives, one before death, and one after. There is
not a life after death separated from the life on earth. The
life after death continues the earthly life, so that we are even
now and here living the eternal life. Man’s life on earth
shares 1n eternal life, it has an eternal quality.
Some people believe that it is possible for the living to
communicate with the dead. That belief is called spiritual-
ism. If, indeed, there was clear evidence of this communica-
tion, it would prove that the dead were still living. But
there has been no such evidence. Even if there were, it
would have but a limited value. The important thing is not
that men may live after death, but that their life has
an eternal quality. The hope of immortality rests ulti-
mately on the belief that men are so related to God that
human personality partakes of His eternal life.
The hope of immortality can be, and has been, a source of
consolation and encouragement. In a play called The Blue
Bird, the author, M. Maeterlinck, leads two children, who
are in search of happiness, to the entrance of a cemetery.
Though at first afraid to enter, they finally manage to pluck
up enough courage to do so. When they step inside the
gate, lo and behold, there are no tombs, no graves and no
monuments. There is a large garden of beautiful flowers,
so that the children are made to exclaim: “ There is no
death.” 'That puts the belief in immortality in its simplest

GOD AND MAN 53

form. But its full meaning lies in the eternal quality which
it ascribes to man. It belongs to the high valuation which
religion puts on man as a consequence of the belief in God.
It is not certain whether the belief in immortality occurs
in the Bible. In the earlier parts of the Bible there is the
belief in a shadowy, and seemingly empty kind of life after
death in Sheol (which, like the Greek ““ Hades,” just means
a world under the earth). In one or two places in the
later parts of the Bible, there are references to the
resurrection of the dead. In Daniel 12: 2 the reference is
clear. In Isaiah 26: 19 it is not clear whether the writer
intends what he says to be taken literally or figuratively.
“Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise.” He
may just mean that the people will revive after a time of
physical or spiritual depression. The belief in the resurrec-
tion means the belief that the bodies of the dead will come
to life again. It came to be associated with the coming of
the Messiah. And it is still a belief of Orthodox Judaism
that when the Messiah comes, all the dead will come to life
again on earth. (Orthodox Christianity has a similar belief.)
The belief in immortality, however, means that life con-
tinues after death. In Orthodox Judaism (and orthodox
Christianity), it is added to the belief in the resurrection of
the body; but Liberal Judaism holds only the belief in
immortality. Some Biblical scholars think that Psalms 49
and 73 refer to it. But its first clear statement in Jewish
literature occurs in a book in the Apocrypha written about
150 B.C.E.,, The Wisdom of Solomon, which contains the
famous passage: '

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God.
And no torment shall touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;
and their departure was accounted to be their hurt,
and their journeying away from us to be their ruin;
But they are in peace.

N

54 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

For even if in the sight of men they be punished,
Their hope is full of immortality;
And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good;
Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of
himself.
Life becomes rich with meaning and full of significance
when once we realise that it is eternal. 'That part of our
existence which consists of actions and thoughts, which
come and go, must be judged by their relation to the eternal
life in us. Truth and falsehood are no longer merely
momentary incidents, right and wrong are not merely acts
done and over for all time. We cannot say of anything, ““ It
is done, gone and forgotten.” 'To put it in other words,
the hope of immortality possesses ethical significance. If
the life, the personality, of man persists (endures untouched
by death), we must all the more zealously aim that that life,
or personality, attain to its highest possible excellence.

THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF MAN

From the Jewish valuation of man, derived from his rela-
tion to God, issues the principle of respect for human
personality. All human beings have inalienable rights,
rights to which they are entitled as human beings, regardless
of position or wealth, and, in some matters such as adequate
food, regardless even of ability. It is the principle which
is the ground of political democracy and requires social
justice. Men have human rights because they are children
of God.
A further consequence of man’s relation to God is in his
responsibilities; it imposes duties on men. Just as man’s
relation to God gives all men individually inalienable rights,
so it lays on them inescapable obligations. Being the children
of God, they must strive to be like the Father. “ Holy shall
ye be, for I the Lord your God am holy ” (Leviticus 19: 2).

GOD AND MAN 55

Thus Judaism has made ‘‘ imitatio dei ” (imitation of God)
the ideal for human conduct. The spiritual and moral
duties of men emanate from the nature of God. God is
righteous, therefore men must practise righteousness. And
when we ask what is righteousness, the answer is: the kind
of actions which can be ascribed to God. Thatis right which,
with sincere conviction and earnest thought, we believe fits
God’s nature or is in accordance with His will. It is true
that we cannot know for certain about His nature, nor can
we know for certain what accords with His will; but we must
try our best to find out by the exercise of our reason and
conscience; and what we find out must be for us the guide
to the good life. We are not, however, left only to our own
resources. The lives of the best men and the instruction of
great teachers, embodied in literature and tradition, especially
for us Jews in Jewish literature and in the moral tradition of
Judaism, help us to see what is the right and best way of
living, so as to make our lives accord as much as possible
~ with the will of God. ’
The reason for the obligations of men may be put in
another way. They belong to God’s rule over the universe,
which naturally involves man; but in his case it imposes not
only physical laws to which he inevitably conforms, but also
spiritual and ethical laws which he should obey because of
his higher, or spiritual, nature. God rules the physical uni-
verse in ways which are called laws of nature. In God’s
rule over man, there are laws of another kind, which He has
ordained, and which man must obey. They are the laws of
truth and righteousness. They, too, belong to God’s rule
over the universe.
But man has been left free to obey or disobey these laws.
In the case of physical laws there is no choice. Everything
in the universe just follows them. Men cannot choose
whether they would obey the law of gravity or not. They
just do in the same way that the stone obeys it. In fact,

56 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

natural laws are in a sense not laws at all. They do not call
for conscious obedience. They do not say what ought to
be done, but they describe what happens. Moral laws are
different. They tell what ought to be done; they call for
conscious obedience. A man should obey them. But he
can disobey them. ‘ Thou shalt not kill ” is a command-
ment, a law for human life, which men should obey, but
they can violate it. God’s rule over man differs, then, in an
important respect from His rule over the physical universe.
The law of gravity is an example of His rule over the phy-
sical universe, the Ten Commandments belong to His rule
over man. If, then, we ask “ Why should we do that which
is right and avoid that which is wrong? ’ the answer is: ““ It
is our duty, imposed upon us by the rule of God.” Heis a
righteous God; He is a God of right, Himself doing that
which is perfectly right, and commanding men to strive to
do that which is right.
There is a further point about man’s spiritual and moral
obligations entailed by his relation to God. By fulfilling
them, men realise that relation in their personal lives. We
come nearer to God by obeying His law, by ‘‘ imitating
Him, by living in accordance with His rule and nature. By
doing right we put ourselves in line with Him. Ethical
conduct leads to Him. It is a way of atonement. By our
personal spiritual and moral striving we identify ourselves
with God. The law of God expresses His nature, it em-
bodies His will. It is, therefore, the link between Him and
us. If we follow it, we get to Him. 'To strive for holiness,
righteousness and truth brings men individually nearer to
God. At the same time, it brings out the best that is in
them. By living in accordance with the rule of God, they
realise themselves, attaining the best kind of life, and
developing the potentialities with which man is endowed
through his kinship with God.

CHAPTER VII

kY

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY

IT is a teaching of Judaism that God guides men. That
means that humanity as a whole has in the course of its life,
in its history, been guided by God; that groups of people,
like nations, may in their collective lives be guided by Him;
and that individual human beings can be guided by Him in
their thought and actions.
In human history, in the life of mankind, from its begin-
nings to the present time, the guidance of God is evidenced
in the general advance from crude to more civilised ways of
living, from primitive to higher ideas and standards of con-
duct, from the original to the developed state of man. The
progress has not been steady, there have been ‘ back-
slidings,”” outbreaks of savagery in civilised times, reversions
to lower standards even after higher ones had been learnt.
Sometimes a later age has appeared worse than a preceding
one. Some people would say that of our time. Such periods,
or events, break, but neither stop nor alter, the general
movement of human history in a way which shows progress.
In some fields the progress has been steady. Men now
know more about the universe, more not only than was
known by cave-men, but more even than was known by the
philosophers of ancient Greece. That does not mean that
we are wiser than those philosophers, wiser in the sense that
we have a greater capacity for thought, that we can think
“better than they. It means only that the amount of human
knowledge has grown. Many of the things taught to chil-
dren in the science lessons at school were unknown to Plato,
but he remains one of the greatest thinkers of all time.

¢ 57

58 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The development of machinery may be included in the
growth of knowledge, being the result of new facts discovered
about the physical universe. "The development of wireless,
for example, began with the discovery of air-waves. Inven-
tions come from knowledge. A good many people take the
inventions themselves as evidence of progress. "Their
judgment may be justified, i£ not completely, yet in large
measure. New inventions may signify an advance in human
life. It is, however, difficult to decide whether they do or
not because it is difficult to fix a test of progress. Mere
movement, like that of a cat running round in circles, is
obviously not progress.
Progress means movement towards a goal. So we are
brought up against the question: What is the goal of human-
ity, what is the right aim for human life ? Philosophers have
argued much about the question without reaching any con-
clusions on which all, or any large number of them, agree.
Religions, too, give diverse answers. '"The answer which
Judaism gives consists of two parts. '"The first is that men
should attain to the full development of the spiritual and
moral possibilities which inhere in human nature because of
its divine quality. In other words, it might be said, daringly
but reverently, that the goal for human beings individually is
to be as much like God as is humanly possible. '"That is
the first part of the goal for human life afırmed by Judaism.
The second part applies to human beings collectively, to
humanity; it is expressed in the idea of the Messianic age.
It is the hope that a time will come when all men and nations
will serve God, and when human societies will, by their
Justice, righteousness, and, in general, their respect for human
rights and fulfilment of human duties, conform fully to the
will of God, obey His rule and attain to ‘““the Kingdom of
God.”
To decide, then, whether humanity has progressed, we
have to decide whether men and human society are spiritually

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY 59

and morally better than they were in the past. The un-
doubted increase in knowledge clearly shows progress of
one kind. It is progress in the acquisition of truth; the
spirit of man has grown. But has it made him any better or
any happier?
Whether men to-day are happier than men in the past
has, however, nothing to do with the question of progress.
Primitive man was probably, in a sense, happier than
ctvilised man, but in that sense the cow is happier still. It
has few desires and it can feel only actual physical pain.
Mechanical inventions do not necessarily increase happiness.
On the contrary some of them have been used to bring
greater woe. Nor can it be said of knowledge that it
necessarily brings happiness. If happiness were the aim
of human life, then it would be more than doubtful whether
civilisation means progress. But it does mean a greater and
finer capacity for joy—the joy of knowledge, art, literature.
That entails, however, a greater possibility of pain. The
finest love gives the highest joy, but it can cause the deepest
pain. Civilisation means a keener sensitivity. Civilised
man is more sensitive than primitive man. He has a finer
spiritual and moral constitution. He has a greater potential
of happiness, but that involves a greater sensitivity to pain,
an enlarged danger of suffering.
In some fields of human endeavour, there is no evidence
of progress over long stretches of history; at times there
may even have been degeneration or retrogression. In
painting, for example, the works of Titian, Michelangelo,
or Raphael, remain supreme. There have been very few,
if any, since their time, and there are none in our time, to
equal them. The significance of that fact in its bearing on
the belief in progress is reduced, however, when we remem-
ber that genius is an individual endowment, a phenomenon,
therefore, which may be unrelated to ages or periods,
cropping up, as it were, at any time.

60 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

In philosophy, art and literature, the human race does not
seem to have progressed in many centuries. The Bible as
literature, Plato in philosophy, Greek sculpture, the paintings
of the Italian masters, the plays of Shakespeare, remain
unsurpassed in their several kinds. But let us take a longer
view and compare the art of Europe from the Greeks on-
ward with the scratchings of the first cave-men on the walls
of their caves. Their attempts to draw forms are interesting,
but in beauty they fall far below the pictures of Raphael and
Rembrandt. Compared with primitive man, civilised man
has a higher developed sense of beauty. There is still a
further fact to consider. Though some of the highest works
of art and literature were produced many centuries ago, an
increasing number of people have in the course of time
learned to appreciate them; and that, too, is progress. In
human knowledge the progress is even clearer. Not only
has it grown, but it is also more diffused, more men share
in it. 'That is spiritual progress. For knowledge means
the possession of truth. . When we know more, we have
more truth in our minds. That makes knowledge very
important in itself. And that is why increase in knowledge
means spiritual progress.
The development of religion shows another aspect of
spiritual progress. It is a long story and it does not by any
means show a steady line of advance. But again the religion
of civilised men is vastly higher than the religion of primi-
tive men. The fact that many people in our time seem to
have no religion might be used for an argument that the
world is less religious than it was. It is impossible to say
whether that is actually so or not. It is true that religious
services are not so well attended as they used to be. But
that may be because some people who believe in religion do
not think it necessary to attend services. That is an unfor-
tunate mistake; a mistake because worship is important for
religion; unfortunate, because it weakens religion. But

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY 61

people who do not attend public worship may yet adhere to
religion in their personal lives.
The fact remains, however, that the 1deas and institutions
of religion have developed in a way which may rightly be
called progressive. The ideas of Judaism and Christianity
to-day about God, about the way to worship Him, about
the nature of man and his destiny, are the result of a long
development, a development from crude rites and primitive
beliefs to rites that accord with civilised life and ideas that
fit in with developed knowledge. So we have in the changes
which have come in religion during the whole course of
human history another example of spiritual progress.
Human history presents a clear record of moral and social
progress. A few specific examples must suffice to support
this statement. Slavery is one. Until the nineteenth cen-
tury, slavery was generally approved. The ancient Jews, as
is shown in some Biblical laws and in some of the utterances
of the Prophets, were uneasy about it, but they tolerated it
while restricting it in various ways. The Greeks, on the
other hand, looked on it as a normal, valuable and good
institution of human society. Plato prescribes it for his
ideal State. Now the general judgment of the human race
condemns 1t. At first, a few religious and moral leaders
urged its abolition. Wilberforce persuaded Parliament in
1833 to forbid the slave-trade in the West Indies. In the
United States the negro slaves were freed by Abraham
Lincoln in 1863. Now everybody recognises that slavery is
morally wrong. In that respect human morality shows a
decided advance.
Take another example. In the early part of the nine-
teenth century, young children, sometimes only nine years
old, worked in factories and mines, as long as twelve or
even fourteen hours a day, for a few shillings a week. Now
the law forbids employing children under fourteen or making
those who may be employed work too many hours a day.

62 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The change shows a moral development. What was once
thought right is now condemned as wrong. 'That implies
a more sensitive conscience, a finer moral sense.
These illustrations, and others like them, prove that
humanity has advanced morally in the course of its history
and even in recent centuries. 'The progress has been clear
| though not steady. But what about the social and moral
evils in the present life of humanity—wars, slums, cruelty
and poverty? In the first place, let us remember we are not
asking whether the world is perfect; of course it isn’t, it has
a long way to go to get anywhere near being perfect; but we
are asking whether it is better than it was. The evils in the
world are not new, they have always existed. Furthermore—
and this, I think, is most important—our attitude to them has
‘changed; they are not now accepted as inevitable. On the
contrary, it is generally agreed that we must work to eliminate
them. That was not always so.
War used to be accepted as a normal element in the life
of mankind. It is true the Jewish Prophets looked forward
to a time when the nations * shall beat their swords into
plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more.”” 'They recognised the evil of war, but not only
before, and in, their time, but long, long after them, men
generally continued to recognise war as a normal function
of nations. Plato includes in his ideal State a permanent
class of warriors with the function not only to defend their
country when attacked but to attack other countries for the
sake of gain. Down to comparatively recent centuries wars
of aggression were a common feature of European life; the
nations guilty of them were not condemned as immoral.
Now they are condemned, and attempts are being made to
stop them by an international organisation. That does not
necessarily mean that all wars will be prevented. The police
- do not prevent all burglaries and murders. So it may never

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY 63

be possible to prevent war completely, but the efforts to
prevent it show a change in the moral judgment on it.
The two terrible wars in our time have perhaps more than
any other cause made many people doubt whether the human
race has progressed morally. The evil of war has even been
magnified in our time by the advance of science which has
put into the hands of men weapons with a terrible power of
destruction. The atomic bomb has made war an im-
measurably greater evil than it was; but at the same time we
must attend to the fact that the moral judgment on war has
changed. 'The idea of the Jewish Prophets has prevailed.
Most people now want to stop wars. In the same way most
people want to eliminate poverty and its evil consequences.
All this shows moral progress.
The examples of great cruelty which we have witnessed in
our time do not refute that conclusion. In the first place,
when we say that the world is morally better than it was, we
do not necessarily mean that every human being rises to the
highest moral level. It would be unfair, and unscientific,
to judge all humanity by those who behave like savages,
just as it is unfair to judge a nation by its criminals. More-
over, the horrible cruelty of the Nazis evoked not only
condemnation but also heroic resistance. The world as a
whole follows higher ideas and ways.
Many more examples could be adduced of progress in
morality, progress both in thought and practice. Have there
been any changes for the worse to counterbalance them ?
I doubt it. Of course, people who like the old caste system
in this and other countries think, because it has been, or is
being, broken up, that the world is * going to the dogs.”
They considered it a part of God’s scheme for the universe.
At one time members of *‘ the lower classes ”’ thanked Him
“ for the station in which He had put them.” Now they
refuse to accept the position of “ class inferiority,” inferior-
ity by birth. Those who benefited by the old class-system

&

: g 4

64. THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

regret the change; and others may, without any selfish con-
siderations, feel that much good has been lost by its going;
but I think that most of us would agree that the moral gain
is much greater than the loss.
The wrong and evil in the world stick out in such a way.
as to make people forget the righteousness and goodness in
it. Taking a long and wide view of humanity and human
history, we are amply justified in concluding from all the
facts that there has been progress in human morality. The
conclusion is supported by the fact that many people are, on
moral, including social, grounds, not satisfied with the world
asitis. They say that itis not good enough and that we ought
to make it better. It is a desire for, and shows an impulse to,
moral progress. It may reasonably be taken as evidence of
the progressive moral tendency, or urge, in human life.
There is still much in the life of the human race which is
wrong but the wrongs which remain should not make us
forget the wrongs that have been eliminated. There is still
much that is good and right which has to be established,
but the good we lack must not be allowed to obscure the
good which has been achieved.
Let me recapitulate to this point. We are looking for the
guidance, or influence, of God in human life; and we looked
for it first in the whole history of the human race. In that
history we found clear evidence of changes, or developments,
in several respects. Knowledge has grown greatly; moral
ideas have so changed that some things, like slavery, which
once were accepted as normal, came to be condemned as
morally wrong; ideas of beauty have developed; and the
ideas of religion have been freed from the crudities, and
worse, of its primitive origins. We call all these changes
and developments progress because they mark steps towards
the goal which religion assigns to human life, the attainment of
the spiritual and moral best. They spell progress only if we
use the alphabet of religion. If we accept religious standards,

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY 65
with the goal which religion sets for human life, then the
development of the moral judgments of humanity and the
attainment of spiritual growth in man signify progress.
Even, howerver, if all the facts which I have adduced as
evidence of human progress, be rejected, the rejection could
apply only to the recorded history of the human race; there
would still remain all the differences between civilised man
and primitive man to prove that the human race has pro-
gressed, spiritually, morally, intellectually, and in the manner
of living. And when we try to appraise the course of human
life in relation to the scheme of the universe, we must not
only compare this year with the last, this century with the
last, but this millenium with the millenium before it, and
this age with the ages that have preceded it. When we want
to find the direction in which humanity is moving we must
compare where it is now with where it was not only in the
times of the Borgias and Alexander the Great, but also with
where it was in the time of the cave-man. '"T'he shorter
comparisons may not always present clear evidence of
progress, the longer comparisons leave no doubt about it.
But are we justified in saying that this progress shows the
guidance of God? Logically, it follows from the belief that
God is the ruler of the universe that the processes in
it show His activity. But there are also other reasons.
Why should humanity progress spiritually, morally, and
intellectually? We accept it as the right thing; we expect it.
But what sense is there in it, why does it happen, what
impels it, to what purpose or end is it directed? It is, of
course, possible to answer all these questions with: ‘ We
don’t know.’” But that answer won’t do. Because we have
to know how to live. It may be good enough for a philoso-
pher in his study to come to the conclusion that he can’t
find the answers to all questions, but when he leaves his
study and goes out into the world, there are some questions
he must answer. He can’t just say ‘‘ I don’t know whether

c*

66 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

I am going in the right direction.” We are all individually
involved in the question about the reason for human pro-
gress and its goal. We must have a conviction about the
answer, in order that we may fit our individual lives and
aims into the scheme of human life. In other words we
must know how to live.
God is the answer to all the questions about the cause
and aims of human progress. That is the best, if not the
only, way to explain it. How could it be explained other-
wise? Let us look at just one other explanation; it is, I
think, the best of those that leave out God. It is derived
from the general idea that what is called morality is simply
the actions that have been found best for men to live together
in society ; that, for example, murder is wrong simply because
men found that it just wouldn’t do for them to go about
killing one another. A number of moral prohibitions might
be plausibly explained in that way. But could that explain
the moral objection to slavery? On the contrary, it worked
~ very well; so well, in fact, that the slave-owners always
opposed the abolition of slavery, and so well in ancient
Greece that Plato included it in his ideal State.
‘'Take another example. The Spartans used to kill children
born crippled or weaklings. As civilisation has advanced
we have provided more and more institutions to care for
the weak, the sick, and the aged. 'That accords with the
ideal in many laws in the Bible, which prescribe care for
the weak and help for the needy. The reason the Bible gives
for these laws is that God in His love for all his children
demands that the strong should help the weak. He cares for
man, and it is His will that men should care for one another.
That can be the only ground for providing hospitals not only
for the sick who can be cured but also for those who cannot be
cured. It cannot be said that as human society developed,
men found that they could live together better if they took
special care of those who were too weak to be of any use.

THE GUIDANCE OF GOD IN HUMAN HISTORY 67

Moreover, there is something in the spirit of the ordinary
civilised person that impels him to help the weak. Just
think how we feel if we see anybody maltreating a cripple.
Because it is unfair? Yes. But why bother about fairness?
T’here is something in the spirit of man that makes him feel
that fairness is right. How did it get there? Inherited?
Yes. But to be inherited it had to begin somewhere, some-
how. When a fortune is inherited, somebody in the past
has accumulated it. If there is in the spirit of man a quality
inherited from the past, how and why did it originate?
Of all the possible explanations of the spiritual and moral
possessions of the human race, and of its spiritual and
moral progress, the most probable is that they issue from
the universe, that there is a Power in the universe so inter-
ested in what is right, good, true, and beautiful, that man,
being part of the universe, and made responsive to it by
his spirit, feels the pressure to pursue what is right, good,
true, and beautiful. And that Power we call God.
In the spiritual and moral progress, therefore, of the
human race, we see the influence and guidance of God.
If we leave Hiım out, we should have to ascribe to matter,
to lumps of clay, the power to change for the better. We
should have to believe that matter is progressive in its own
nature, that the spiritual, ethical and intellectual progress of
man comes from his body, its physical needs and desires.
'That appears to me a most unlikely explanation. Literature,
art and music cannot be explained in that way. Man’s
sense of right and wrong cannot be explained in that way.
It is infinitely more probable that a Power from whom the
life of the universe comes is interested in literature, art and
music because there is Beauty in Him, interested in science
and philosophy and religion because there is T'ruth in Him,
and interested in Righteousness and Goodness because He
is righteous and good. And He impels men to strive for
Beauty, Truth and Righteousness.

CHAPTER VIIIl

GODS8 GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF
INDIVIDUALS

Ir I were attempting a complete account of the guidance of
God in human life, I should have to discuss here His
relation to groups of men, like nations. It would obviously
entail the examination of the histories of the several nations.
I do not possess the equipment for such a task. 'The
Prophets insisted that all nations are under God’s guidance
in their national lives. Assyria, said Isaiah, was an instru-
ment in His hand. He, said Amos, gave the several peoples
their lands. The Medes under Cyrus, said Deutero-Isaiah,
were God’s agent. But most of all, all the Prophets said,
the history of the Jews moved under the guidance of God.
When we consider that history from its beginning to the
present time, with all the difficulties and trials it has passed
through and the glories it has achieved, we can see the
grounds for the Prophets’ grand affirmation; God is the
guide of Israel. |
The guidance of God, which is so evident in the develop-
ment of the human race, is also present in the lives of indi-
viduals. Here, however, we may not see it so clearly. God
is the guide of every man, and though that guidance is
often obscured it is none the less real, none the less the
great force in the lives of men. For within every man there
is something which causes him to develop and grow, some-
thing which drives him toward goodness, something which
makes him ever desire to know the truth and to do the
right. He may use his freedom in such a way as to work
against his better impulses; but they are there just the same.
68

GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS 69

Men’s ideals, the high standards by which they would
live, and the goals to which they would direct their lives,
show God’s guidance of men individually. They show us
something better and higher than what we are, that which
we would strive to be. Whence do they come, and whence
comes the force which drives men towards the practice of
goodness, the search for truth? Judaism answers: From
God. We say of the Prophets and of many of the authors of
the Bible that they were inspired; we mean that they were
influenced, in their thought and feeling, by God, that they
were instructed by Him, that they derived their 1deas,
somehow, from Him. Looking at them from this distance
in history, we recognise their inspiration, partly because we
feel it in what they said and wrote, and largely because they
proclaimed new ideas which are true. Think of the first
man who proclaimed that there was only one God over the
whole universe. It was a startlingly new idea. It is now the
basis of all the higher religions, but there was a time when
all religions believed in many, or several, gods. The belief
in one God was a tremendous leap forward in spiritual
truth. How did the Prophets discover that truth. How did
they get to know it?
Take another great idea proclaimed by the Prophets, the
idea that God does not want worship by animal sacrifices.
Again, it was a startlingly new idea. Nearly the whole
world believed that He did, some religions still believe it,
and it took a long time for any large section of the human
race to learn that the belief was wrong. How did Micah or
Isaiah learn that God did not want worship by animal
sacrifices but worship by conduct that is righteous? How
did they obtain the first knowledge of a truth which is now
accepted by all the higher religions?
Examples could be multiplied, but the two that I have
given are enough to show one of the grounds for the belief
that the Prophets were inspired by God. They claimed

F

70 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

divine inspiration from God. History has proved their claim.
They had original ideas; their teachings were new in their
time. 'Their teachings have become commonplace, that
means that they have been proved true.
The combination of originality and truth in the Prophets’
teachings supports the belief that they were inspired, that
they were guided by God in their ideas and work. That
might also be said of all great men who in the name of God
taught new ideas which have been proved true, or which
showed men the ways of righteousness and goodness. It
‘“may apply also to great artists, great composers of music,
great writers, great poets, great scientists and great philoso-
phers; but it applies especially to the great men who dis-
covered spiritual and moral truths. They supply the out-
standing evidence for the guidance of God in the lives of
individual men. From them we learn that the guidance of
God i1s available for all men.

INSPIRATION

Ultimately, the guidance of God in human life, whether
in the life of humanity or in the lives of men, belongs to,
and issues from, the relation between God and man, which
establishes the possibility of communion between God and
men. 'This means that there is understanding between
them, so that God can “speak” to men and men can
“speak ”’ to Him. God influences men, and men can feel
His presence; God fills men and men can feel God in them-
selves. God’s influence on men is called inspiration; men’s
realisation of God, or the effort to realise Him, is called
prayer. What comes from God to men is inspiration, what
men direct towards God is prayer.
Can we define inspiration? I think that we can do it
only up to a point. It means that God fills the hearts and
‘minds of men with His spirit. Can we carry the definition

GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS 71

further? That depends on what we know of the spirit of
God. The human intellect must fall very far short of
comprehending fully the nature of God. It is impossible
for our eyes to see the whole universe. A tiny window can
receive a tiny ray of sunshine, but it cannot admit all the
sunshine; so the human mind can receive some knowledge
of God, but it is very, very far from a full knowledge of Him.
But we believe, we feel it to be true, that God is Goodness
and that He is the Power that makes for the establishment
of goodness in the universe; that He is Truth, and that He
is the Power that makes for the knowledge of truth among
men ; that He is Beauty and the Power that makes for the
creation and appreciation by men of what is beautiful.
Whatever, then, of the spirit of goodness and beauty there
is in men must come from God. When, therefore, we say
that God’s spirit fills the hearts and minds of men, that He
inspires men, we mean that a spirit of goodness, truth,
justice, beauty, or love takes hold of them. They are stirred
by it to seek to know that which is good, true or beautiful.
He has implanted in them the urge to goodness, the desire
for truth, the love of beauty. But the inspiration doesn’t
stop with the urge. When men strive for goodness, truth
and beauty, God helps them towards their goal. He answers
their striving with His instruction. He teaches them. He
is the teacher of mankind and men. And inspiration i1s
His method of teaching.
It can be illustrated from human experience, with the
proviso, however, that human analogies can only inade-
quately explain the ways of God. It is the aim of a teacher
to rouse in the pupils under his care a desire for knowledge.
The good teacher first communicates to the pupils a love
of knowledge, he makes them feel that they want to know.
~ This love of knowledge then expresses itself in the efforts
which the pupils make to learn things, in the questions they
ask, in the lessons they study. The teacher then answers

72 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

the questions, explains the lessons, and so conveys to his
pupils as much knowledge as they are able to receive. God
inspires men with a love of truth, with a love of goodness,
with a love of beauty. In answer to the strivings which
result from this inspiration, God teaches them as much as
they are able to understand.
It is the spirit of God working in men that makes them
strive for great ends. God impels them to make the effort
and He is ready to help them. Prayer is part of the effort;
it is the act of the heart and mind reaching out to God for
enlightenment. Study, too, is a part of it; it is the act of the
mind seeking to find truth or a knowledge of the right.
Meditation is another part; it is quiet waiting on God. In
response to their efforts, men receive God’s instruction. He
opens men’s eyes that He may show them the light.
It must follow from God’s relation to all men that in-
spiration is granted to all who make the effort for it, though
in varying degrees. Some are more deeply, more greatly,
or more fully inspired than others. Our ignorance of God’s
ways prevents us from answering altogether the question why
this is so. It may be that some are more richly inspired
because they are more worthy, more worthy because of the
way they live. Or they may receive a larger measure of
inspiration because they make a greater effort for truth and
goodness. And some seem to have been born with a larger
spiritual endowment, with a greater capacity to receive the
inspiration of God.
The measure of inspiration given to the great religious
teachers must have been related to their capacity for it, and
to the efforts they made to receive it. The sunshine and
the rain come down to the earth in equal measure for all,
but some plants can take in more of them than others. It
is even so with the instruction that comes from God, some
receive more than others because they have a greater spiritual
capacity. But with the capacity must go effort, Instruction

GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS 73

from God comes to men through study, through deep think-
ing, through meditation, and through prayer; in other
words men receive inspiration according as they seek it and
strive for it, with their mind, heart and whole being.
It should be possible to learn from the Prophets something
about the way inspiration works. Unfortunately, they do
not say much about themselves in their books. They varied
much in their temperaments; that is clear from their manner
of teaching. And those who do give some information about
their lives varied in their occupations. Amos was a shepherd,
Micah a farmer, Isaiah a member of the royal court, Jeremiah
a priest. But whatever their occupations, they must have
used the opportunities given them to think about God and
His law. Amos while tending his sheep must have been
impressed deeply by the forces in nature. Isaiah at the court
must have pondered much on the relation between the
critical political events of his time and God’s rule of the
world. Micah, seeing the hardships of the farmers, must
have been stirred to a realisation of the vast discrepancy
between men’s deeds and the love and justice of God.
Jeremiahwhile learning to be a priest must have been roused to
wonder what the T'emple and its sacrifices could mean to God.
Only Jeremiah gives some indication of what went on
~ inside him, how inspiration works. ‘‘ There was,” he says,
‘““in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I
was weary with forbearing. I could not contain ” (z.e. I had
to speak out). He felt overmastered. Something within him
made him say what he said. That probably applies to all the
Prophets. It is fair to assume that they had in various ways
and by various experiences been prepared to receive from God
the messages within them that clamoured for utterance. The
assumption is supported by the accounts some of the Pro-
phets give of their calls, of the first time they felt the urge
to prophesy, that is, to speak in the name of God. Com-
munion with God must have been at the centre of their

74 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

preparation for the call. They had put themselves under
God’s influence, so that when a message arose within them
pushing for utterance, they felt that it came from Him, so
that they could preface their exhortations with “ Thus saith
the Lord.” They opened themselves to God, as a flower to
the sun, and God filled them. They listened to Him and
He taught them. They put themselves in His hands and
He used them.
But after we have studied all that the Prophets tell us
about inspiration, it still remains a mystery. In their per-
sonalities we feel a divine exaltation, in their words we feel
a divine fire, so that when they exclaim ‘‘ Thus saith the
Lord,” we are compelled to listen and to respond: ““ It is
true.” But inspiration has a mystery at its heart and it works
mysteriously. We see only its results; it creates genius.
The men inspired by God help others to know something
more of truth and something more of goodness than they
knew before. Through them God teaches humanity.
Imagine a number of men climbing up a mountain. Those
in front would be the first to see something new, or perhaps
to discover a turn in the path leading to the summit, or to
see a light coming over the top. They would then
report what they had discovered to those behind them. So
all mankind may be pictured as struggling up a mountain
to the summit upon which would be found complete good-
ness and perfect truth. The leaders would be the first to
find the turns in the path leading to the top or to catch a
glimpse of the summit, and they would tell what they learned
to the others.
So, the Jewish Prophets discovered the true God, they
came to know Him before others did. And through them
God taught first the Jews, then a large part of mankind, to
know about Him and His commandments.
The results of inspiration may be imperfect or partial.
It must be so, because man is imperfect; and he must express

GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS 75

himself in his own thoughts and in his own words. Even
those who are richly filled with the spirit of truth and
righteousness may fall short of perfection when they seek to
express it, for while they receive their inspiration from God,
they are, being men, bound in a measure to their age.
Though they rise above the ideas of their times, they must
yet be in a measure influenced by them. They are better
and wiser than those among whom they live, but not perfect.
The world has not yet seen a perfect human being. The
imperfection of man blurs the revelation from God.
That 1s why we cannot accept any document or set of
teachings as a perfect revelation from God. The authors of
the Bible, or some of them, were inspired ; with their height-
ened spiritual insight they attained visions of a higher truth
than had been known before them. God revealed to them
much of His truth, but we cannot say that He revealed to
them all of His truth. Because of the revelation which
came through them, later generations could go further into
the revelation from God. Revelation is a progressive process.
The Bible shows it. Some ideas and laws in it belong to
early times, they *‘ date.”” Others reach the supreme heights
of spiritual and moral knowledge. They are eternal.
Though the early ideas are crude, they do not detract from
the high spiritual and moral value and power of the Bible,
when it is rightly understood. It remains inspired, a book
of revelation, because it shows throughout a developing
knowledge of God and His law.
Great men show most clearly the guidance of God in the
lives of individuals. The question, however, whether the
lives of ordinary human beings show the guidance of God
cannot, I think, be answered categorically. It applies not
only to their actions but also to what happens to them;
and that involves the belief in Providence. It is the general
teaching of Judaism that God, in His love, cares for all
individuals. But if we ask for details to show that care,

76 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM
we cannot be sure to find them in particular circumstances
or events. In that respect we can go no further than to
believe in God’s Jove and to trust in Him. We cannot say
of any particular event in the life of any individual: This
shows the special Providence of God. But with the actions
of individuals the position is different. I think we can say
of the spiritual and moral lives of individuals that they show
the guidance of God insofar as men seek that guidance and
~ strive to follow it. So, we may say that God guides men in
their actions, if they choose to follow Him.
But why does God allow men to do wrong? Obviously
we cannot know the answer completely. It must suffice to
recognise the fact that men are free, in the sense that they
can decide what to do and what not to do, that they can
choose between courses of action which are open to them,
that they can follow the right way or turn to the wrong way.
Because of that freedom men, and groups of men, can act
in a way that is wrong, a way which falls below the highest
and best. Since God has left men free, there must be a
good purpose in their freedom. We cannot know God’s
designs.
But we can, from our human experience, see the value
and significance of freedom. It is a condition of responsi-
bility; it is also a condition of growth. If men are to grow
in knowledge they must be allowed to make mistakes. A
good teacher will not do the work for his pupils. They
must do it themselves, even if, in doing it themselves, they
will make many mistakes. So, God leaves it to men to do
their own work even though they sometimes make mistakes
and do wrong. It may be said that God wants men to
develop themselves by their own efforts, and they can do
it only by realising their responsibility. Therefore, God has
left men free to act as they think best, though what they
think best is not always best, or even right.
‘Moreover, because of their freedom, the worship which

GOD’S GUIDANCE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS %7

men give to God 1s the obedience of free men, not the enforced
obedience of slaves. And only worship given freely can be
true worship. So, morality involves freedom. Only actions
which are chosen freely for the sake of righteousness can
be called moral. The actions of a puppet have no moral
significance. But God has not left men unaided in their
freedom. He has endowed them with a sense of right and
wrong, a conscience, by which they can try to obey His
will, receive His guidance, and have His help. He shows
them the goal for which they must aim. He shows them the
way in which they should go. And He is ready to help them
in making the journey. But He does not force them to
pursue the good and right. He guides them and leads them,
if they are willing to follow. God has made man ‘ sufficient
to stand though free to fall.” In the knowledge of goodness,
and in the power to pursue goodness, which all men have,
we can see God’s guidance.
It may also be possible for all men to receive inspiration
from God. There is a story in the Bible that Moses said:
““Would that all men were God’s prophets.” That suggests
that all men can receive inspiration from God. Jeremiah
looks forward to a time when all men shall have in them-
selves the knowledge of God. ‘ This is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord; I will put my law in their inward parts, and in
their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people; and they shall teach no more every man
his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord; for they shall all know me, {rom the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive
their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more ”’
(Jeremiah 31: 33-34).
And Joel, in his description of a golden age to come,
said: “ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour
out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters

=8 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your
young men shall see visions; and also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my
spirit ”’ (Joel 2: 28-29). All this implies the belief that all
men have, through their relation with God, the capacity to
recetve His inspiration. »
And that brings our discussion back to the Jewish valua-
tion of man, the high opinion which Judaism has of human
nature in spite of its sin and frailty. It is expressed in a
passage in Ecclesiasticus. I quote it in full because it can
serve as a summary of the teaching of Judaism about man,
though I do not mean to suggest that I accept every state-
ment in it:

The Lord created man of the earth, and turned him back
unto it again. He gave them days by number, and a set time, and
gave them authority over the things that are thereon. He en-
dued them with strength proper to them; and made them ac-
cording to his own image. He put the fear of man upon all flesh,
and gave him to have dominion over beasts and fowls. Counsel,
and tongue, and eyes, ears, and heart, gave he them to under-
stand withal. He filled them with the knowledge of wisdom,
and shewed them good and evil. He set his eye upon their
hearts, to shew them the majesty of his works. And they shall
praise the name of his holiness, that they may declare the majesty
of his works. He added unto them knowledge, and gave them a
law of life for a heritage. He made an everlasting covenant with
them, and shewed them his judgments. Their eyes saw the
majesty of his glory; and their ear heard the glory of his voice.
And he said unto them, Beware of all unrighteousness; and he
gave them commandment, each man concerning his neighbour.
Their ways are ever before him; and they shall not be hid from
his eyes. (Ecclesiasticus 17: 1-15).

CHAPTER IX
PRAYER

THE relation between God and man makes prayer possible.
It is the distinctive act of religion. It belongs to religion
and fits in only with religion. Without faith in God, it
would be nonsense. On the other hand, faith in God makes
it a necessity, impels it. For prayer is the effort of man to
commune with God. When we pray, we speak to Him,
pouring out our feelings, whether they be feelings of need
or feelings of joy and thanksgiving; above all, our feeling for
Him and the eager desire to come nearer to Him, to feel
more strongly His presence.
The most common conception of prayer gives it the mean-
ing of petition; to pray is to ask God for something. But
this is not the essential character of prayer. It is true that
many prayers do ask for something. Not all of them, how-
ever, ask for things, many ask for help, for strength, for
forgiveness. Because we are so weak and imperfect, we
naturally want to be stronger and better; and we ask Him
who is all-strong and all-perfect, and all-good, to help us.
Such prayers are fully justified by our faith in God, our con-
ception of Him and our sense of relation to Him. But
prayers in which we ask for material things or physical bene-
fits, raise some questions which cannot be easily answered.
Whatever effect, however, prayer can have must issue from
its essential character, from communion with God. Com-
munion with God may use diverse channels and impulses;
so prayers vary in their content. Some are petitions, others
give thanks, and still others, prayers of praise, proclaim the
majesty and glory of God.

79

8o THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Prayers of thanksgiving go together with prayers of peti-
tion at one end and prayers of praise at the other. They
range all the way from joy in some personal good to joy in
the beauty and order in the universe. 'The thanks may
express happiness in a friend’s recovery from a serious ill-
ness or appreciation of a beautiful sunset. Some prayers of
thanksgiving give thanks to Him who is the source of all
that 1s good, for the physical and material blessings we
enjoy. Others thank Him for the succession of day and
night, or the majesty of the heavens; and like prayers of
praise, express and foster the realisation of God’s infinite
greatness and goodness.
The services in Jewish prayer-books contain a good many
prayers which praise God. (Similar prayers are found in
other prayer-books, too, but possibly less, comparatively,
than prayers of petition.) 'The large place which Judaism
gives to prayers of praise results from the fundamental
Jewish conception of God. He is the God of the universe.
It is man’s chief religious duty to worship Him. The book
of Psalms, therefore, has many prayers of praise to God.
There is a saying in the Talmud that prayers of praise are
the highest form of prayer. They best express the attitude
of worship. In prayers of petition we think partly of our-
selves, our needs; in prayers of praise we think wholly of God.
It is highly significant that the chief prayer in the Jewish
Services, the Shema, does not ask for anything; it proclaims
the Unity of God and man’s duty to love Him. It accords,
therefore, with an essential quality in the Jewish attitude to
God to give the first place among prayers to prayers of praise.
They ask for nothing, they just express the feeling of adora-
tion in the worshipper ; they are a meditation about God
with the desire to contemplate and realise His greatness.
Such prayers carry their value in themselves. They bring the
worshipper nearer to God. Inthem he communes with God.
Of any prayer it can be said that it is effective when he

PRAYER 81

who utters it feels that he has really communed with God,
of prayers of petition and thanksgiving as well as of prayers
of praise and meditation. The primary value of prayer lies
not in something outside it, but in itself. It is communion
with God. It may therefore, contain anything which is in
the mind or heart of the worshipper.
Let us take an illustration from the relations between
human beings. When something has happened to a man
which makes him happy, he wants to tell his friends about it;
and he feels satisfied when he sees that they are glad because
he is happy. When he is in trouble, he wants to tell the
same friends of his need or sorrow. He does not ask any-
thing from them; he just tells them what is in his heart.
But through their sympathy he receives some encouragement
and help. If he is sorrowing for someone who has died, the
friends cannot remove the cause of his grief but they can
help him to bear it. If this is the case with human friends,
it 1s much more so when we sincerely address ourselves
to the great Friend. The very communion with Him is
effective. No sincere prayer, therefore, is ever unanswered.
“'The Lord is nigh unto all who call upon him, who call
upon him in truth ”’ (Psalm 145: 18). Every prayer carries
its answer in itself. For it brings him who prays into God’s
presence. That in itself is a joy; and it gives strength and
enlightenment.
Can prayer, however, produce specific physical effects? It
is hard, practically impossible, for many of us to believe that
it can in any way affect the course of physical nature outside
man. Can prayer bring rain? Some people believe it can;
but our conception of God and the universe precludes such
a belief. God works in the physical universe in ways des-
cribed by the “ natural laws ”’ of science. That means that
every physical event results from preceding causes. No one
can say definitely that prayer cannot be among the causes.
We don’t know all about the universe; and it must always

82 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

€<

remain true that “ there are more things in heaven and
earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy ” or discovered
by our science. On the other hand, human experience does
not give any assured grounds for the belief that prayer can
produce an effect on physical nature, such as to cause rain.
That does not, I think, necessarily mean that it is wrong to
pray for rain. When prayer is taken to mean speaking to
God, then the farmer who is anxious about rain will mention
his anxiety in his prayer.
There is, however, some ground for the belief that prayer
may produce a physical effect on man himself. The mind,
we know, can affect the body. Shame, which is a thought,
makes us blush; fear makes us pale. Prayer must have some
influence on the mind or spirit. It produces a feeling of
joy, or of strength, or of courage, or of confidence; and these
in turn affect the body. But how far prayer can thus produce
an effect on the body is another question. Its power in this
direction must obviously be limited; it cannot mend a broken
leg. But it would seem impossible to say exactly where the
power of prayer stops in its effect on the body; we know very
little about the power of the human mind over the body.
And the 1nner life of man—mind and heart—is the channel
through which the effect of prayer can reach his outer or
physical life. -
The value of prayer is, however, not to be judged by its
physical effects; these are incidental to prayer, not its aim,
nor its primary significance. It is not to be judged by what
it gives but by what it is. 'The question to ask about prayer
is not: What do we get out of it, but What do we feel in it?
It is valuable not for what benefits we can derive from
prayers but for the exaltation we find in them. It is some-
thing like looking at a picture, or listening to a symphony,
or contemplating the beauties and wonders of nature. Prayer
‘1s contemplating God and being with Him. That is its
greatness. Its best analogy is in the ways of human friendship.

PRAYER 83

When in prayer we feel ourselves in the presence of God,
that is its efficacy. That makes prayer an experience of joy.
It applies both to private and public prayer, to the times
when we pray alone and to the times when we pray, as we
do in the Services at the Synagogue, together with others.
But just as the light of the sun which is within the sun
itself produces an effect outside it, so the act of praying,
which has its significance within itself, can also produce
spiritual, mental, moral and physical effects. If, when we
pray, we truly feel that we are communing with God, then
we shall emerge from that prayer stronger and better.
Being in the presence of Him who is all-strong makes us
stronger than we are. Being in the presence of Him who is
all-good and loving, His goodness and love help us to bear
our troubles; at all times the knowledge of God’s presence
brings joy, comfort, strength and guidance. Prayer, there-
fore, can enlighten the minds and strengthen the hearts of
men.
God is ever near men, and ready to help them. Though
He is great beyond our understanding, though He is infinite
and eternal, though neither the earth nor the heavens can
contain Him, He is our Father. And, because man is the
child of God, men can through prayer, meditation and study,
seek and find His help and guidance. A man need only
open himself towards God, as a flower turns to the sun, to
feel the presence of God. And that is prayer.

CHAPTER X
SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT

THE doctrine of man in Judaism issues from its emphasis on
his relation to God. Because of it, human personality has
an ultimate, or fundamental, value. Man has a touch of the
divine in him, he is somewhat akin to God. That is his
greatness. Because of their kinship with God, men can
speak to Him, pray to Him, and they can * hear ”’ His voice,
receive inspiration from Him. But the relation calls for
realisation on the part of men. It is true that they are by
nature children of God, but they have got to know it. They
are truly His children if they are aware of their relation to
Him. It is possible for men to ignore God, to be unaware
of Him, to live and to act without reference to His law, and
so separate themselves from Him, put up a barrier between
Him and them. The element in human nature which
produces such an attitude to God is called sin.
It is necessary to distinguish between two uses of the
word sin. In one sense, it is an abstract noun, defining a
condition of the spirit. When, however, it has an article,
like ‘“a sin” or ‘the sin,” then it is a concrete noun
referring to a thought, act, or the like, which is considered
wrong. Sin, in the abstract, is a condition of a man’s inner
life which turns him away from God. A wrong action is
‘““a sin ”’ because it is contrary to the law of God. The
facts described by the two senses of ‘‘ sin’’ interact. The
condition of sin produces wrong actions—sins; and wrong
actions both cause and aggravate the condition of sin. The
sense of relation to God belongs to our inner lives. But it

84

SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT 85

is indissolubly bound up with outer facts, with actions;
and that in two connected ways. It shows itself in conduct,
and 1t is developed, helped, maintained, and strengthened
by conduct; it leads to right actions, and right actions help
us to realise our relation to God. ‘
It 1s, further, necessary to distinguish between sin and
guilt. A sense of sin and a sense of guilt are not the same
thing. When the conscience condemns an action as wrong,
it rouses a feeling of guilt. But sin involves a feeling of
separation from God. The difference is important. A
sense of guilt may have a corrosive effect on the mind, like
that of rust on iron. A sense of sin, on the other hand, can
be a spiritual and moral stimulant. The idea of sin belongs
to the framework of religion, it arises out of, and attaches to,
man’s relation to God. A sense of guilt may have diverse
origins. A guilty conscience, therefore, 1s not the same
thing as a sense of sin; it can be taken up into a sense of sin,
brought into the framework of our relation to God, but
when it is, both its nature and effects are changed. The act
which caused it is then recognised as something which
proceeded out of a weakness in our spiritual and moral
make-up. That is nothing to be ashamed of but something
to fight against.
The Jewish belief in God and the conception of man
imply that it must be the chief concern of men to maintain,
each one in himself, the right relation to God. That means
to be aware of His presence, to feel close to Him, to direct
our thoughts and feelings, minds and hearts, towards Him,
and to feel in our spirit the fullness of His love and the
guidance of His spirit.
Sin means a break in our relation with God, a sense of
separation from Him. It may be produced by wrong
actions, actions which are contrary to the law of God,
actions, therefore, of which it might be said that they show
disobedience to God. But sin exists also apart from outer

86 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

causes. It is the name for a feeling inside us, it describes an
inner or spiritual condition; it means that there is something
wrong with the spirit, which prevents it from attaining fully
and feeling constantly its relation with God. In that sense it
attaches to all human nature. It belongs to man’s imperfec-
tion. That is why ‘‘ there is no man that sinneth not”
(I Kings 8: 46).
It is not true, as some critics of religion say, that it de-
preciates man by the doctrine of sin. It does so only if it
exaggerates his sinfulness, or makes him out to be altogether
‘““ a miserable sinner.” Given the right emphasis, the doc-
trine of sin points to the greatness of man. It belongs to the
conception of man as the child of God. Itimplies faith in man.
Judaism does not teach that every human being comes into
the world with a load of sin; or—and this is the meaning of
original sin—burdened with guilt for a sin committed by a
primal ancestor. But Judaism does recognise the fact that
human nature is spiritually and morally imperfect, that there
are in all men instincts and impulses which may produce sin,
inner corruption, spiritual disease. But at the same time it
teaches with constant emphasis that by nature man is good
and endowed by impulses to goodness. He is so constituted
‘that he can do what is right and good. Righteousness, good-
ness and truth are not too hard for men, they can obey God’s
law. ‘ For this commandment which I command you this
day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not
in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us
to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that
we may do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that you
should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring
it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? But
the word is very nigh unto you, in your mouth, and in your
heart, that you may do it” (Deuteronomy 30: 11-14).
We may interpret that to mean that there is in every man an
impulse to goodness.

e e O i e s e i o ;4

SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT 87

Judaism recognises that fact and emphasises it. But it
does not ignore the sinfulness of men; it recognises that man
is spiritually imperfect. And our human imperfection stands,
so to speak, between us and God, preventing us from being
constantly aware of His presence, hindering our efforts to
get to Him, or even, sometimes, making us forget or ignore
Him altogether. To know God means to think of Him, to
seek truth and goodness in His name, to feel His presence.
There is an element in human nature which hinders us from
doing that all the time. It, and the actions and thoughts
which it produces, tend to separate us from God.
But what does it mean to separate oneself from God?
Surely that is impossible. God does not forsake any of His
children. ‘‘ Even if we sin,” runs a passage in the Wisdom
of Solomon, * we are thine.”” And another passage in the
same book says: ‘ Thou hast mercy on all men, because
thou hast power to do all things, and thou overlookest the
sins of men to the end they may repent. For thou lovest all
things that are, and abhorrest none of the things which thou
didst make; for never wouldst thou have formed anything
if thou didst hate it. And how would anything have endured,
except thou hadst willed it, or that which was not called by
thee, how would it have been preserved? But thou sparest
all things, because they are thine, O Sovereign Lord, thou
lover of men’s lives.” Or as a mediaeval Jewish poet said,
“Thou lovest not only the good but also the wicked.”
Judaism teaches that God is near all men with His love.
Moreover, God fills the universe; how can anyone separate
himself from God?
The answer is that separation from God describes a human
attitude; it can never apply to God’s attitude to men. When
a man shuts his eyes, he shuts out the light. When a man
shuts his mind so that he does not think about God, or his
heart so that he does not feel God’s loving presence, or his
conscience so that he does not feel God’s impulsion to

88 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

righteousness, he shuts out God. God does not separate
Himself from men, but men can separate themselves from
Him, by not believing in Him, by not thinking about Him,
by not feeling love for Him, or by not trying to do the things
He wants us to do and to avoid the things that are wrong in
His sight. It is as if He were constantly holding out-
stretched arms towards us, beckoning us to come to Him,
but we turn away from Him. Though God is always near us,
we have to think of Him, to worship Him, to obey His law, in
order to realise His presence. If we do not think of Him,
worship Him, and obey His law, then we have forgotten Him,
so that though He is still near us, we are far from Him.
The question arises: Why 1s there sin in men and why does
God allow men to sin? Could man not have been constituted
without sin and be prevented from committing sins? In
answer to the question ‘“ Why does God allow men to do
wrong? >’ 1 suggested that freedom was a condition of
morality. If man was compelled to do right, he would have
not been a moral being but just a puppet. Freedom means
that he can choose between right and wrong. It means, too,
that he can choose between loving God and forgetting Him.
Evidently, God preferred to let men choose to love Him
rather than to compel them to love Him. Moreover, if man
is to have moral freedom, the freedom to choose to do the
right rather than the wrong, he must be so constituted as to
have the possibility to choose the wrong. Morality means to
choose doing the right though it 1s possible to do the wrong.
It implies a sinful tendency in human nature. If manisto be
free, his nature must be such as to allow him freedom. He
is, therefore, so constituted that he has the possibility to sin.
The Rabbis express that idea by saying that man has two
inclinations, ‘‘ a good inclination *’ and *‘ an evil inclination.”
It is conceivable that he might have been made without the
evil inclination. But, then, he would not have had the
freedom of a moral being. Sin attaches to the freedom with

SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT 89

which man is endowed by his human nature. That explains
the paradox in the Rabbinic saying that men can serve God
with both “‘ the evil inclination *’ and ‘‘ the good inclination”;
they can serve God, in other words, with the whole of their
human nature.
Butsinis not final. When a man falls away from God,
God is ever ready to help him to come back to Him; and
when a man loses the way to goodness, God is ready to lead
him back to it. If men become weak and are unable to do
what God would have them do, He is ever present to help
them to regain their strength, if they will show that they
want to return to Him. They can show it by their efforts
and by prayer. Judaism teaches that man has been given
in himself the power to overcome sin, with God’s help.
Repentance is the way.
Repentance means to realise the wrong we have done, to
be sincerely sorry for it, and to resolve truly to strive with
all our might to do what is right and to refrain from doing
what is wrong. It means also the return to God in our
spirit, in our thoughts and feelings. It means fighting
against the element in our human make-up which hinders or
weakens our attachment to God. Our weakness, ignorance,
spiritual inadequacy, all that makes up sinfulness, interferes
with our sense of relation with God. But, knowing that
we are related to Him, we will be stirred and impelled by
that knowledge to fight against sin. The sense of sin has,
therefore, a dynamic quality. It makes us look beyond
ourselves to God. It compels repentance. 'That dis-
tinguishes it further from mere guilt. Moreover, repentance
carries the promise of God’s forgiveness. The sense of sin,
therefore, leads through repentance to a deeper realisation of
God’s love. That is why a feeling of guilt loses its bitterness
when it is taken up into a sense of sin before God. It is
overcome by His forgiving love which receives the penitent
““ with outstretched arms.”

D

Q0 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Judaism, as we saw in the Jewish conception of God, lays
great stress on God’s forgiveness of sin. It is one of the
ways in which He manifests His love for men. It 1s His
answer to their repentance. But the repentance must be
sincere and effective. When it refers to wrong actions, then
repentance means pain that they have been committed and
determination not to repeat them. It will not do, says the
Mishnah (Yoma 8: 9) for a man to say : I will sin and repent,
and sin again and repent. If a wrong was committed against
another, repentance involves restitution. The same passage
in the Mishnah says: For transgressions that are between
man and God the Day of Atonement effects atonement;
but for transgressions between one man and another, pardon
must first be obtained from the one who has been wronged.
And the author of the Book of Ecclesiasticus (about 200
B.C.E.) says that he who has been wronged must forgive the
wrong done him. ° Forgive thy neighbour the hurt that
he has done you; and then your sins shall be pardoned
when you pray "’ (Ecclesiasticus 28: 2). Maimonides gives a
test for effective repentance. ‘‘ What constitutes perfect
repentance? If an occasion in which a man has once trans-
gressed occurs again, so that he has it in his power to commit
the same offence again, and yet he refrains from it and does
not commit it, not out of fear or impotence, but solely
from repentance.” 'The Liberal Jewish Prayer Book adds
after this quotation from Maimonides: ‘ As sin is more than
transgression in action, so repentance is more than amend-
ment in conduct, but, being a return to God, it must produce
a fuller obedience to his law.”
Men’s repentance and God’s forgiveness produce atone-
ment. It is a living, deep feeling of relation with God. We
may almost define it as complete identification with Him, in
thought, feeling and conduct. In its deepest meaning it is
the full realisation of God, the feeling of being filled with
Him. At that level only mystics know it, and only poets

SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT 91

can describe it. Possibly it is described by the Psalmist who
wrote: I am continually with thee . . . God is the strength
of my heart and my portion forever (Psalm 73: 23a and 26b),
and also by another Psalmist in the statement: O my soul,
thou hast said unto God, Thou art my Lord, I have no good
beyond thee (Psalm 16: 2).
Men can strive for atonement by fighting against every
thought and feeling that interferes with their sense of rela-
tion with God, by resisting all temptations to do wrong, by
repentance and prayer. They will not, however, be able
to attain it altogether by their own efforts. They need
God’s help. And according to the teaching of Judaism,
God’s help is there waiting for them. God saves men from
sin, if they themselves repent. Everyone has the assurance
of Judaism that if he truly strives to overcome sin, God will
fulfil his efforts with the gift of atonement. ‘‘ His arms are
mercifully outstretched to receive the penitent.” In the
Talmud it is said: God says to men, Make, by repentance, a
way, for me to come to you, which is as big as the eye of
a needle, and I will make it so big that horses and chariots
can pass through it. If only men try to come to God, He
will gladly come to them. If only men try to take God
into their lives, He will fill them with the sense of His
presence. He is ready to go nearly all the way to meet
them, if they but start to come to Him.

A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY

Deliverance, or redemption, from sin has been called
salvation. There is a fundamental difference between the
teachings of Judaism and Christianity about the way of
salvation. According to Judaism, it comes directly from
God to man, and every man must himself strive for it by
addressing himself and his prayers directly to God. Accord-
ing to Christianity there is a go-between through whom

- 02 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

God sends salvation, and in whose name men must pray
for it. Christian prayers, therefore, often end with the
formula, “ Through Jesus Christ our Lord,” or * For the
love of thy only son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.” Jewish
prayers, on the other hand, most often have no corre-
sponding formula. They are prayers to God, that is
enough. Sometimes, however, a prayer may say, “ We
ask this for Thy Name’s sake (i.e. for Thine own sake)
O God.” An ancient prayer in our Services begins: “ Not
because of any merit of our own, but because of thine
infinite mercies do we lay our supplications before thee.”
In Christianity there is an intermediary between God and
man; in Judaism, there is none. In Christianity, men
approach God, so to speak, through an agent; in Judaism
a man can, and should, approach God, himself and directly.
According to Christianity, Jesus, by His life and death, has
saved, or will save, the world. In Judaism, God’s goodness,
helping all men who seek Him, will save the world. God
alone is the Saviour.
There is, however, another kind of intermediary, the one
that brings God’s instruction to men. In teaching and
guiding humanity God uses special agents. It is true that
He speaks directly to everyone, but He also speaks to them
through others. To the Jews of old He spoke through the
prophets, lawgivers, poets, wise men, and other teachers,
~who were especially inspired. Through them the Jews
received their knowledge about God, and the knowledge of
the way to worship Him. By them the Jews were taught
to recognise the existence of the one God and the duty to
worship Him with love and righteousness. They were
the channel of God’s revelation to men. ;
It is also a belief of Judaism that the Jews as a people have
been and will be used by God as agents for the salvation
of humanity. The world’s history shows that He has in
the past used Israel as His special agent to teach the

SIN, REPENTANCE AND ATONEMENT 93

fundamental principles of religion and righteousness to
others. 'The religious and moral life of the Western world
is based on the teachings derived from Judaism. Other
religions which teach the belief in one God (though they
sometimes think of God differently from the way Jews think
of Him) got it from the Jews. The idea that the worship
of God requires the practise of love and justice towards
men, which has become the foundation of all morality,
comes from the great Jews who have given us the Bible.
Thus the Jews were special agents in the hands of God for
the instruction of all mankind in the knowledge of Him and
His commandments, and, therefore, in the way of salvation.
All this, however, is quite different from the belief that
salvation can come to individual men and to the human race
only through a mediator. Salvation, Judaism teaches,
comes from God; and no one need stand between Him and
the individual human being. He will lead the human race
tosalvation. He helps individual men to come nearer to Him.
And at some future time He will save the world and humanity.
He, and He alone, can and will do it; for He alone is our
Saviour. That idea is embodied in an old Jewish prayer:
“ Trusting in thee, O Lord our God, we hope speedily to
behold the glory of thy might, when false gods shall cease to
take thy place in the hearts of men, and all mankind will call
upon thy name; when thou wilt turn unto thyself all the
children of men, and the world will be perfected under thy
rule. Let all the inhabitants of the world know that unto
thee every knee must bow, every tongue swear loyalty.
Before thee, O Lord our God, let them humble themselves;
and unto thy glorious name let them give honour; let all
accept the yoke of thy kingdom, and do thou reign over
them speedily and for ever and ever. For the kingdom is
thine, and to all eternity thou wilt reign in glory; as it is
written: And the Lord shall be king over all the earth.”
(Paraphrase in the Liberal Jewish Prayer Book.)

CHAPTER XI
THE WORSHIP OF GOD

THE worship of God begins with an attitude of mind and
heart which springs from faith in God. Faith in God means,
in the first place, to recognise that He exists and that He is
the ruler of the universe. Worship expresses that faith; for
whatever form it takes it expresses what we feel in the
presence of God. It is the feeling of awe and reverence
before Him. * The beginning of wisdom,” it is said in the
Bible, “is the fear of the Lord.” We might paraphrase
““ the beginning of wisdom ’ into ‘ the right understanding
of life,” or ‘‘ the foundation of the good life.” “ The fear
of the Lord >’ does not mean being afraid of Him. In this
context, the Hebrew word which is translated ‘‘ fear ”’ means
~ deep reverence, or awe. It is not only compatible with love,
but goes with it.
The chief commandment of Judaism is ‘ Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and might.”
But love excludes fear in the sense of being afraid. We are
not afraid of those whom we love. Love can, however, be
combined with reverence and a sense of awe. We combine
love and reverence in our attitude to our parents. When we
are in the presence of great men we have a feeling of awe
before them, but we may, at the same time, feel love for
them. So, too, when we witness a grand scene in nature,
like a beautiful sunset or a magnificent mountain towering
into the sky, we feel overawed, but at the same time we feel
the joy of beauty which is akin to love. So the feeling of
reverence and awe towards God goes with love for Him.

94

THE WORSHIP OF GOD : 95

The phrase “ the fear of the Lord ”’ means, therefore, the
attitude towards God which we describe by the word
“worship.” *The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom,” means: The right understanding of life begins
with the right attitude to God. ‘
The worship of God is, in the first place, an inner
feeling. There is a saying in the Talmud: God wants
the heart. This expresses the same idea as the command-
ment: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
soul and might. The attitude of worship springs spon-
taneously from faith in God.
It expresses itself in various concrete ways. The most
obvious way is prayer. In prayers of praise we express the
feeling of awe inspired by God’s greatness. In prayers of
communion we express our love of God by directing the
heart and mind towards Him, by rejoicing in His nearness,
by thinking of Him with gladness. In prayers of supplication
we express our trust in Him. So, in all prayers we express
our recognition of God’s greatness and of His rule; we
worship Him, whether we extol His greatness, thank Him
for His gifts, or ask Him for His help.
Prayer is communion with God. When we pray we hold
converse with Him. It is not always necessary that we use
words, for we can pray without words. The feelings of our
hearts, the efforts of our souls to come nearer to God, are
prayers, whether we express them in words or not; but words
are not prayers unless they express sincere feelings in our
hearts. In communing with God, in longing to feel His
presence, we give evidence of our reverence for Him, our
love for Him, our recognition of His infinite greatness, and
our trust in Him.
The expression ‘‘ worship of God ”” has been especially
applied to the Services in Synagogues, Churches, and the
like, which include besides prayers, forms and actions by
which men have sought to show their recognition of God’s

4

96 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

being, their trust in Him, and their acceptance of His
sovereignty. In ancient days, sacrifices in a Temple were
considered the chief element in the worship of God; and
in the Temple that stood at Jerusalem, as in all other
ancient temples animals and cereals were offered on an altar
as sacrifices in the worship of God. But with increased
knowledge of God, men learnt that God did not desire this
form of worship, as the Prophet Hosea said in God’s name:
““1 desire love and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God
rather than burnt-offerings.”
The Services in Synagogues consist, therefore, chiefly of
prayers accompanied occasionally by ceremonies or rites.
That is public worship. It has an importance and value of
its own apart from the importance and value of prayer
generally. We can pray anywhere and at any time. When-
ever or wherever the heart turns to God and conveys its
feelings of longing for, or thanks to, Him, whether in words or
silence, we have prayer. Public worship, however, the
Services in the Synagogue, have a special function; they
serve purposes which cannot be served as well, if at all by
private prayer.
By their surroundings and atmosphere, places of worship
help to induce the mood for prayer. A man who may
not feel impelled to pray anywhere else, may yet be moved
to pray in the Synagogue. Furthermore, public worship,
praying with others, may help the individual to realise the
presence of God, when perhaps, if he worshipped alone, the
realisation might not come to him. Many of us can do
together what perhaps none of us could do, or would do,
alone. In the same way, we can oftentimes more easily
realise the presence of God, and commune with Him, when
others join with us in worship.
The fact that a number of people are praying together
emphasises the bond which unites them. Public worship
generally emphasises the brotherhood of man and the ideal

b LS TR R

THE WORSHIP OF COD 97

unity of mankind. When many together worship one God
as their Father, it should help them to realise that they are
all brothers. Jews, moreover, are united by a special bond.
All ]ews constitute one religious fellowship; they show this
unity in faith and religion by worshipping together. The
Synagogue is, therefore, the central and chief institution of
the Jewish community. It can make us better Jews and
Jewesses. It demands that we share in its Services. There
are Jews who do not regularly attend Services in a Synagogue.
They may in other ways be good Jews. But they are
certainly not doing their full duty to the Jewish religion and
the Jewish community. The Synagogue and its Services main-
tain the strength of the Jewish religion in the life of the Jews.
Prayer is, however, only one element in the worship of
God. The worship of God covers the whole of life. That
was indicated in Judaism by the benedictions prescribed for
almost every occasion in life. There were benedictions over
food, benedictions for outstanding natural phenomena like
thunder or a tree in blossom, benedictions for outstanding
experiences such as meeting great and learned men. A
benediction (in Hebrew, berachah) is a prayer which begins,
ends, or begins and ends, with ““ Blessed art thou, O Lord
our God.” An example is the short prayer over bread:
““ Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe,
who causest bread to come out of the earth.” 'These
benedictions served to relate the whole of life to the worship
of God.
Ceremonies have a place in the worship of God. They can
serve religion, if they are the right kind, and if they are
observed significantly, that is, observed not mechanically
but with feeling. They can rouse a sense of holiness, and
so help men to lead better and holier lives. Then, like
public prayer, they can help to emphasise the bond of
fellowship uniting a number of men. The Holy Days,
which all Jews observe, remind them of the bond which

D¥

98 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

makes them all into a unity. They can help us at the same
time to feel effectively the connection with Israel’s past.
Ceremonies can supply the element of beauty in religion;
and religion ought to value beauty. The arts originated in
religious rites. Poetry, music, painting and sculpture came
into being to express religious ideas, and they remained for
a long time closely associated with religion. Judaism has
used, and uses, only poetry, music, and, incidentally,
architecture. It has in the past rejected the pictorial arts.
But it put beauty in its ceremonies. It has had many—some
observed in the Synagogue, others in the home, and others
which have a personal character. Whatever their original
meanings were, some of them can be used to bring the
element of beauty into the worship of God, in accordance
with the exhortation: Worship the Lord in the beauty of
holiness. That imposes the condition on ceremonies that
they must be beautiful. Some of the Jewish ceremonies that
have come down from the past do not satisfy that condition;
so Liberal Judaism either abolishes them, or does not
insist on their observance.
Ceremonies must, however, possess not only beauty but
also meaning. And the meaning must be such that those
who are asked, or urged, to observe them can accept. Not
all ceremonies that have come down from the past can
have meaning for Jews in the present. The ]ew1sh Holy
Days satlsfy both condltlons-——-they have beauty in them-
serves and in ceremonies which accompany them; and
each one has, both in its historic associations and in itself, a
meaning and message for to-day and for all time. They
hold, therefore, an important and effective place in the
Jewish worship of God.
The elements in worship which I have mentioned have
primarily a spiritual significance. They issue from, and
react on, the spirit. Prayer illustrates their character most
clearly, the others resemble it both in their origin and effect.

THE WORSHIP OF GOD 99

Ceremonies and holy days express a feeling for God and
strengthen it. In that way they feed and enlarge the spirit.
For that reason they are spiritual duties. They belong to
men’s efforts to create in themselves the right kind of
character, the highest development of personality that is
possible for them, and a spiritual outlook on life.
Study, too, belongs to this category of duties. It is a duty
to seek knowledge; for in knowledge men possess truth.
Sometimes knowledge is valuable because it is useful. It
is useful to know how to make a machine or sail a ship. It
is useful to know medicine or engineering. But, from the
religious point of view, knowledge is also valuable even if it
has no practical application; that is, if it is important
knowledge. Galileo, it is said, was ready to suffer martyrdom
because he insisted that the earth goes around the sun. He
~ did not consider the practical consequences of the truth;
he thought truth itself so important that he was ready to
sacrifice his life for an idea. Much of the work of scientists
and philosophers ends in knowledge which seems to have
no practical value. But it is important and valuable because
it increases man’s knowledge of truth. Truth is in God. To
seek truth is, therefore, to seek Him, to know truth is to be
a little like Him. The search for truth, efforts to obtain
knowledge, study, serve the growth of personality, they
increase and exalt the life of the spirit. That entitles study
and all pursuits which enrich the spirit, like music and
art, to a place in the worship of God and among the spiritual
duties which it lays on men. |
We worship God not only by what we do, but by what we
are, not only in conduct but also in spirit, in personality.
Our actions indicate qualities of character. But character
itself is important for our relation to God. As the fruit-
bearing tree shows its life in the fruit it produces, so man
expresses his qualities in his deeds. But even as the essence
of the tree is in its life, so the essence of man is in his

100 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

character. And God is interested in what we are. I,
therefore, follows that whatever brings life to the spirit of
men has value in His sight. It is a duty which He lays on
men to fill themselves with interests, feelings, ideas, hopes,
aspirations, faith and vision which will extend their
personality to the utmost bounds of its endowment, and to
establish in themselves the qualities of character which are
appropriate to the divine heritage and high destiny of man.
The duties of men in matters affecting themselves need
special emphasis because some people seem to think that
““ 1t doesn’t matter what you do so long as you don’t hurt
anybody else.” Of course, it is a primary duty of men not
to hurt, but to benefit, one another. But it 1s also their
primary duty not to hurt themselves spiritually and morally,
but to seek what will help their spiritual and moral selves.
This aspect of human duty involves the most intimate part
of our lives. It includes purity in thought, in feeling and in
most personal acts. It belongs to our worship of God
because it has to do with our character and personality. An
evil thought is wrong; though it hurts no one else, it
degrades the one who harbours it. Men have duties to
themselves as well as to others. Chastity is one of them.
God requires moral purity in men, and men should require
‘it of themselves because of their divine heritage.
In the development of personality we are allowed freedom.
It is true that each one of us comes into the world with
certain inherited tendencies, yet our lives are not unalterably
fixed by these tendencies. In other words, though our
freedom may not be absolute, it is yet enough to allow us to
fill our souls, hearts and minds with faith in God, with holy
feelings, with pure thoughts, and with the power to live
rightly.
We have a choice between good and evil. We can pursue
what is good and strengthen ourselves in goodness. We can
resist evil, and by resisting it become stronger in goodness

THE WORSHIP OF COB 101

and strengthen our hold on virtue. As in physical exercise
we push against a weight to strengthen our muscles,
so in character, by resisting evil, by shunning that which is
bad and wrong and fighting against it, we strengthen our-
selves for the good. On the other hand, by yielding to evil, we
weaken ourselves. Therefore, the Talmudic Rabbis taught
that one good deed brings on another, and one evil deed
brings on another, of its own kind. Yielding to temptation
once makes it more difficult to resist temptation the next
time. The resistance to temptation makes it steadily easier
to avoid evil. So the pursuit of good makes it easier to grasp
every opportunity for doing a good deed. And if we look
for reward and punishment—reward for good and punish-
ment for evil—we should find them here. The reward for
good is goodness, greater strength and purity in character,
and greater power to do good. The punishment for evil is
evil, weakness of character and the inability to resist
temptation. In doing evil we degrade our personality. By
efforts to do good we develop it. And personality holds
eternal values. Though the decision lies with us, God i1s
‘ready to help us when we strive for the good.
Judaism insists on the duty to sanctify life and all human
powers, and to develop the whole of life in purity, holiness
and strength. It, therefore, calls for self-control, which, of
course, includes occasional self-denial. It does not say that
any of the instincts of the body are evil in themselves so
that they should be completeiy suppressed, but it says that
all the physical instincts must be controlled so that they
may fit in with the sanctity of life and the divine dignity
of man. .
The duties involved in the worship of God are summed up
in the commandment: Holy shall you be, for I the Lord
your God am holy. To worship God means to follow Him.
The ““imitation of God” is the Jewish ideal for human life
and conduct. Though men being imperfect cannot attain

102 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

it, they must yet take it for their guide. Their kinship with
God both imposes it on them, and enables them to pursue it.
A series of rather primitive laws in Deuteronomy 14 are
introduced by “ Ye are children of the Lord your God.”
The laws themselves have no value or meaning for us; but the
reason for them has. It is the reason for all spiritual striving
and for all morality. ‘‘ Ye are the children of the Lord your
God,” therefore, ‘“ Holy shall ye be.” The spiritual duties
which Judaism lays on its adherents, prayer, study, obser-
vance, participation in Synagogue Services, are derived from
this commandment. They foster the ideal of holiness in
character.
Being flows into doing. The spiritual and moral
qualities which constitute character or personality, attach
to our inner being, our feelings, thoughts, hopes, ideals
and faith. The outward life, our deeds and utterances,
express them. Just as a painter uses a canvas to express the
picture in his mind, so man uses life and its activities to
express his character, his personality. The personality itself
is the essence of his being. Our personal relations to God
are centred in it. 'That is why we worship God by what we
are. But personality entails activity. The ideal of holiness
involves both character and conduct. The commandment
“ Holy shall ye be ” is followed by a number of command-
ments, including some of the highest ideals to which human
morality has attained.
Morality is man’s effort to fulfil in conduct his kinship
with God. The spiritual, moral and ethical duties which
men must obey are implied in it. Because we are His
children we must show it in ourselves and in our actions;
what we are and what we do must be in accordance with His
will. Man, the child of God, must strive to be like the Father,
by striving for truth, righteousness and beauty; for God is
Truth, Righteousness and Beauty. By pursuing them we
““ imitate ”’ Him. By taking them into our lives we attach

THE WORSHIP OF GOD 103

ourselves to Him and show our devotion to Him. Though
there have been some men who have lived, and there are
some who live, moral lives, seemingly without believing in
God, they do not refute the fundamental Jewish teaching
that the true basis for the moral life, the surest foundation
for virtue, is the love of God; the influences which created
their moral outlook undoubtedly originated in religion.
Many generations of their ancestors, including often their
parents, had the belief in God and followed in their lives the
spiritual and moral instruction of religion. They left their
descendants a legacy of moral idealism, so that some who
themselves have no belief in God are yet guided by moral
standards which originated in it and are based on it. But
whether, or not, morality requires the belief in God, the
belief in God certainly requires morality.
The worship of God must engage the whole of man’s life,
including what he is and what he does, character and actions,
personality and conduct. It calls for social and moral
conduct, personal purity, and special acts of devotion to God.
It uses prayer and study. It exercises and exalts the
personality. It infuses a man and his life with a spirit of
holiness. Holiness includes all the ethical and spiritual
ideals of Judaism. It is the quality of the life that pursues
truth, practises righteousness, maintains purity, prays and
works in devotion to God.

CHAPTER XII
JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER

Jupaism has always laid great emphasis on ethical conduct.
It requires obedience to the Law. And the Law contains
instructions in the way to live. Liberal Judaism does not
believe that all the commandments and prescriptions in the
Bible have permanent value. Some of them belonged to an
earlier stage in the development of our religion and have been
left behind by its later development. But the law represents
the duties which God lays on men to pursue righteousness,
exercise love, seek truth and strive for holiness.
The Jewish emphasis on ethical conduct has two con-
nections with the fundamental Jewish conception that man
is related to God. In the first place, that relation lays
moral obligations on men. A man has duties towards his
neighbours because he is the child of God. Secondly, he
has duties towards his neighbours because they are the
- children of God. Man’s kinship with God entitles every
human being to respect for his personality, and it confers
on all men human rights which other men and society as a
whole must respect. In a famous passage in the Talmud,
the question is asked: What commandment in the Bible
sums up all the commandments? A number of answers are
given, including, of course, the commandment: Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself. But the Rabbi who speaks
last answers that all the commandments are summed up in
the statement: Man was created in the image of God
(Genesis 5:1). But that 1s not a commandment. It is,
however, the principle that underlies all the commandments;

104

JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER I05

they all grow out of it. It demands right conduct towards
others. |
Right conduct towards others is summed up in righteous-
ness. It includes both justice and love. ‘It has been told
you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require
of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with your God”” (Micah 6: 8). Thus does the Prophet Micah
define our duties to God and the way we should worship
Him. Justice and lovingkindness, or love, we may call
ethical duties. Humility before God may be taken to
include all the spiritual duties.
Ethical duties may be divided into two kinds: first, our
duties to other individuals, and secondly, our duties to
society. These divisions are not absolutely distinct, for they
naturally overlap. If I do wrong to an individual, I am
doing wrong to society; and if I do wrong to society, I am
doing wrong to an individual or a number of individuals.
Similarly, if I do right. But for practical purposes it may
be useful to look at them separately.
The principle of righteousness is fundamental to both
classes of ethical duties. The Jewish prophets constantly
insisted on it. God is a God of righteousness and justice;
men must be righteous and just, is the theme which runs
through all their exhortations. So they sternly denounce all
actions that are unjust. The principle of righteousness
underlies all the moral and civil laws enunciated by Jewish
lawgivers. They sought by these laws to make men just
and to establish a just society.
The application of the principle of justice in our relations
with our fellow men requires us to treat them in a spirit of
brotherhood. As one prophet asks, “ Have we not all one
father, has not the one God created us, why do we deal
treacherously every man against his brother?” (Malachi
2: 10). From our belief in the fatherhood of God must
follow our recognition of the brotherhood of man. If, then,

106 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

we are guided by this principle in our relations with others,
we shall treat them fairly and kindly; negatively, by not
hurting them, and positively, by helping them. Hillel, the
great Rabbi and sage, said “ What is hateful to thyself, thou
shalt not do unto another.” Add to this the positive version
of the same rule, ¢ Do unto others what in similar circum-
stances you would have them do to you,” and we have a
good guide for our relations with our fellow men. The two
directions together interpret the commandment: ‘ Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ” (Leviticus 19 : 18).
It is our duty to help others when they need help, to share
with them as far as possible what we have, to do all we can
to further the well-being of others, in short, to treat them as
brothers. It is an exalted ideal, too difficult for most of us,
I fear, but the effort to live by it is a duty Judaism commands.
The Bible gives specific directions for ethical conduct.
The Ten Commandments lay down the beginnings and
foundation of morality. They illustrate the moral standards
which we must observe in our personal conduct, and in
our conduct towards others; but these standards entail
much more than the Ten Commandments explicitly state.
They lay down by implication all that is meant by morality,
by justice and love.
Justice obviously means that we should practise the strict-
est honesty in all dealings with others and live up to the
highest sense of honour. ‘‘ You shall not steal, neither shall
you deal falsely, nor lie one to another’’ (Leviticus 19: 11).
““ You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard,
in weight, or in measure’’ (Leviticus 19: 35). “‘Just balances,
just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall you have; I
am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt.” (Leviticus 19: 36). ‘ You shall not have in
your bag divers weights, a great and a small ” (Deuteronomy
25: 13). ‘“ You shall not have in your house divers mea-
sures, a great and a small”’ (Deuteronomy 25: 14). But

JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER 107

““ A perfect and just weight shall you have; a perfect and
just measure shall you have; that your days may be long
upon the land which the Lord your God gives you”
(Deuteronomy 25: 15). “ These are the things that you shall
do: Speak you every man the truth with his neighbour;
execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and
let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neigh-
bour; and love no false oath; for all these are things that I
hate, saith the Lord ”’ (Zechariah 8: 16 and 17).
The principle of justice requires also that we should, in all
actions which affect others, consider their human rights and
their feelings. 'The Bible contains many commandments
which apply this principle to action. There are, for example,
commandments which prescribe the treatment that employ-
ers should give to their employees. One is: ““ You shall not
keep the wages of a hired servant overnight” (Leviticus
19: 13, Deuteronomy 24: 15). The idea of the lawgiver
was that the worker might need his wages to buy his food
for the next day; it would, therefore, inflict hardship on him
if his wages were delayed. Here is another example of a
law dealing with the treatment which an employer should
give to his employees. If your brother hire himself out to
you as a servant (it might mean a slave) “ you shall not rule
over him with rigour” (Leviticus 25: 43). Naturally, an
employer has considerable power over those whom he
employs. That is so to-day; it was still more so in ancient
times. The commandment, therefore, lays upon the em-
ployer the obligation to treat those who work for him in a
way which shows respect for their human personality and
consideration for their human feelings and needs.
A law in the Bible which shows delicacy of feeling towards
others is in Leviticus 19: 14: ‘ You shall not curse the
deaf nor put a stumbling block before the blind.” The
reason is obvious : you must not take advantage of others’
weakness to say or do anything against them.

.’:"—,‘ 5

108 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Even enemies had to be treated with due consideration.
Some people have the mistaken idea that the Hebrew Bible
not only commends, but even commands, taking revenge.
They got the idea from the verse in Exodus 21: 23. 1t says
that if one man does physical harm to another * Then you
shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” and so on.
It is called the ““lex talionis”’ (law of retaliation). It is
found in the part of the Bible which contains one of the
oldest codes of law in the world. But the law does not refer
to private revenge. On the contrary, it was intended to
prevent private revenge. In very early times, if a man was
hurt it was considered his right, and, in some cases, the
duty of his relatives, to see that the hurt was avenged by
inflicting a similar one on him who caused it. 'That was the
law of private revenge. In Exodus 21, the lawgiver aims to
stop it by laying upon judges the duty to punish, by due
process of law, anyone who does harm to another. * Eye
for an eye, and tooth for a tooth’’ was, therefore, not a moral
law but a civil law. Later it was interpreted to mean
that he who does personal injury to another must pay
damages. And that is, of course, the law now in all civilised
countries. But the important thing I want to point out is
that it is completely wrong to suggest that the original law
meant that individuals should hate their enemies or take
revenge on them.
On the contrary, the same code of laws commands that
you must do your enemy a good turn if the chance presents
itself. ‘‘ If you meet your enemy’s ox or his ass going
astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you
see the ass of him that hates you lying under his burden,
and would forbear to help him, you shall surely help
with him ”’ (Exodus 23: 4-5). And a later code of laws
included in the Pentateuch commands: ‘ You shall not
hate your brother in your heart; you shall surely rebuke your
neighbour, and not bear sin because of him. You shall

JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER 100

not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children
of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
I am the Lord ” (Leviticus 19: 17-18).
The moral laws in the Bible show throughout particular
consideration for the poor. In more than one place it is
forbidden to take interest. ‘‘ You shall take no interest ””
(Exodus 22: 25. Leviticus 25: 36, Deuteronomy 23: 19).
The objection to interest is also referred to in Psalm ı5,
which has been called the gentleman’s psalm, because it
describes the qualities of a good man. Among these
qualities it includes the refusal to take interest. T’he Author-
ised Version of the English Bible puts in all these places
‘“ usury ”” instead of ““ interest,”” but the original Hebrew
clearly means interest.
Why was interest forbidden? "T'his was the social situation
to which the prohibition refers: When a farmer’s crop
failed so that he had nothing to live on, he would ask a rich
man for a loan to enable him to buy food for himself and
his family until the next year’s harvest. He needed the loan
to buy the necessities of life, and the lawgiver thought it
wrong that in such circumstances the rich man should ask
for interest. It was the lawgiver’s idea that Judaism re-
quired the rich man to make the loan without interest ın
order to help a fellow human being in his need. (Compare
Deuteronomy 15: 7-11.) Loans nowadays are, however, of
a somewhat different character. A business man will borrow
money from his bank for the purposes of his business; he
wants to use it to make a profit for himself. I do not think
that the ‘Biblical law applies to such cases; but I do think
it applies to cases where the lender takes advantage of the
great need which a borrower may feel in order to charge him
a high and unfair rate of interest. It, therefore, translates
correctly the spirit of the ancient commandment to put
“ usury ”” for ““ interest.”” For usury means the kind of
interest which takes an unfair advantage of another man’s

II0 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

need. Judaism has always forbidden it. It requires the
stronger members of society to help those who are weaker.
It requires the rich to help the poor. The Jewish principle
is expressed in Leviticus 25: 35-36. ‘“ And if your brother be
waxen poor, and his hand fail with you; then you shall
uphold him; as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with
you. Take you no usury of him or increase but fear your
God; that your brother may live with you.”
The principle ‘ that your brother may live with you” pro-
duced commandments about specific ways to help the poor.
Again and again it is commanded that the owner of a field
shall not gather the gleanings of the harvest, the ears of corn
which happen to fall to the ground while the sheaves are
bound. He also had to leave the corners of every field uncut.
Furthermore, if, in collecting the sheaves of corn, he forgot
any, he might not go back for them. These things, the glean-
ings, the corners of the field, the forgotten sheaves, belonged
to the poor, the widow, and the stranger; that is, to people
who had no land and, therefore, no harvest of their own.
There was a similar law about vineyards and orchards. The
fallen fruit, and the fruit that was overlooked in the picking,
belonged not to the owner, but to the poor, the widow, and
the stranger. In addition, there was a law that a tithe—a
tenth of the harvest—had to be given to the poor.
All these laws show the social teaching of Judaism.
Though they refer to an ancient form of society, when there
were no factories and farming was the prevalent occupation,
they express and embody a principle which is valid for all
time, the principle that the weaker members of society have
needs and rights which constitute a claim on the stronger
members of society and on society as a whole.
Out of that principle issued the great stress which Judaism
has laid on charity. Charity means, in the most common
sense, giving alms to the poor. But its real meaning is much
larger. There are two expressions for it in Hebrew. One is

JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER I1X

gemillut chasadim, which means doing loving kindness; it is
the name for acts of service done for others. The other is
tsedakah, which literally means justice; it is used for alms-
giving. It is unnecessary for my present purpose to show
how it happened that a word which means justice came to
mean charity. But it is significant that the same word has
both meanings, suggesting that charity is an act of justice and
that justice requires charity.
The obligations towards others which Judaism lays upon
its adherents are not, however, fulfilled by acts or gifts of
charity. They include also the duty to work for a better
social order, that is, a social order which shall be characterised
by justice. That obligation calls for thought about the kind
of social order justice requires, and for work to establish it.
In the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus there is an interest-
ing attempt in this direction, related naturally to the economic
and social conditions of the time when it was written. It
contains the law of the Jubilee Year. Every fiftieth year, it
says, all land shall be returned to its original owners. 'The
writer had the idea that when the Hebrews settled in Palestine
the land was divided among them in family estates; each
family had a piece of land which it cultivated and from which
it obtained the means of livelihood. He therefore thought
that permanent, or long-term, poverty could be prevented by
maintaining these family estates; so he made, or suggested,
a law that if 2 member of a family became so poor that he
had to sell his bit of land, then he could not sell it permanently,
but only lease it until the jubilee year, when it would auto-
matically return to him or to his descendants. It is doubt-
ful whether the law was ever put into practice. But, whether
it was or not, it has this significance: it laid down the duty
to work for, and to establish, a social order which will
eliminate, or minimise, poverty.
The Prophets constantly emphasised that obligation.
They condemn again and again the rich people and the

112 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM
powerful people who oppress the poor or take no account of
their needs. Jeremiah, for example, says to King Jehoiakim,
“Thus saith the Lord: Execute judgment and righteous-
ness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor
and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the father-
less nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
Did not your father. . ..do judgment and justice, then it was
well with him. He judged the cause of the poor and needy
(Jeremiah 22:3 and 15). In those days the King was the
government, he made the laws; so Jeremiah tells King
Jehoiakim that it is his duty to make such laws as will protect
and uphold the weaker members of society, in other words,
such laws as will make for social justice.
The need for some changes in the social order is shown by
the fact that some people are poor through no fault in them-
selves, but through general causes which must be ascribed
to the imperfect organisation of our society. There are con-
ditions causing poverty for which no individual, or
individuals, are responsible. For example, some years ago a
new machine was invented for printing—the linotype. All
type used to be set by hand. By means of this machine,
however, the work to print a book or newspaper can be done
more quickly and by less men. When the machine was
introduced, a number of compositors were, therefore, thrown
- out of work. Ultimately, more people came to be employed
in the printing industry than ever before. The machine
reduced the cost of books and papers so that the demand for
them increased ; but at first it put some men out of their jobs.
If they were young men, they could learn another trade.
But there were older men who had spent their lives working
at this trade and could not learn another one; what were
they to do? They had lost their means of earning a liveli-
hood. They became poor. The cause of their poverty was
not in any fault of theirs, nor was any other individual
responsible for it. If society were perfectly organised, we

JUDAISM AND THE SOCIAL ORDER I13

might conceive some way in which such a hardship would
be avoided. We want inventions; they mean progress.
Society gains something through them. In the long run
they increase work; but at first a newly-invented machine is
liable to throw a number of people out of work. Is it right
that society’s gains should be got at their expense? Society
owes them a chance to earn their living.
In the 1930’s, many people in England, and in almost
every other country, were out of work. There were various
causes for this unemployment. But the unemployed were
not themselves responsible for the fact that they had no jobs,
that they did not have a chance to earn their livelihood. It
was the fault of conditions. Should we not aim for a social
organisation which will give every man an opportunity to
work, so that all may have food, clothing, shelter, and
education?
Again, there is inequality of opportunities. Not all have
the same chances to obtain an education or to learn a trade,
or even to develop a strong and healthy body. The children
of poor parents have not the same opportunities as the child-
ren of rich parents. If without these opportunities they can-
not make very much of their lives, is it altogether their fault?
1In the poor districts of any large city there are families who
live in a few dingy rooms where they have very little light or
air. 'They cannot afford to live in healthier places. So the
lives of the children may be spoilt. These facts show how
imperfect our society 1s and how often many have to suffer
misery and poverty through no fault of their own, nor can
any other individual be blamed for these conditions. But it
is the duty of society as a whole to remedy them.
It is the duty, therefore, of every member of society—that
means all of us—to work for a better society. We must seek
out the causes which produce bad social conditions, and we
must strive to eradicate them. Some men, in seeking for
these causes, may find that they are themselves responsible

114 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

for some poverty and misery. One who employs men to
work for him may find that he is not paying them enough to
support themselves and their families. Everyone who
employs others to work for him should see to it that the con-
ditions in the factory or shop should be wholesome and
healthy, that the work required of the employees should not
be so much as to destroy their health, that the wages they
receive should be fair and should allow them to live decently.
But a lot of social troubles are not due to individuals, and
cannot be remedied by individuals; they can be remedied
only by society. We must all work together to find solutions
for social problems. They cannot, and will not, be solved
very easily or very quickly. They are very, very difficult;
but something can be done, something must be done, toward
removing the causes of misery and poverty in order that we
may have a better society, a society ordered in accordance
with the principle of justice. It is a fundamental demand
of Judaism. And every individual must share in this task.
That applies especially to the citizens of the democratic
countries, who, by their votes which elect the governments,
share in the responsibilities of government.
Liberal Judaism, following the Prophets, attaches supreme
importance to moral and social conduct in the worship of
God. Rabbinic Judaism had a similar attitude, though it
~ generally attached considerable importance, much more than
most of the Prophets, to ritual and ceremonial observances.
Like the Prophets, Liberal Judaism gives ceremonial
observances only a subsidiary place in the worship of God,
and the chief place to right conduct, actions which by their
justice and love conform to the will of God. Righteousness
in conduct binds men to God; it is a way to Him. Similarly,
human society can by a just organisation establish itself in
relation with God, it can put itself under His rule and
promote His kingdom.

CHAPTER XIII
THE MESSIANIC IDEA

THE ideals and aims laid down in Jewish teaching for the
future of humanity are expressed in the Messianic hope. It
has a long history. In its best-known form it envisaged the
coming of a supernatural person who would deliver the Jews
from oppression, restore them to Palestine and win the
peoples of the world to the ]ewish religion. To understand
this belief and how it arose it is necessary to trace the meaning
of the word ‘‘ Messiah.”
It was originally used to describe the king or the high
priest. It means, literally, anointed. The king and the high
priest were anointed when they were inducted into office.
The anointing symbolised appointment by God. ‘“Messiah,”’
therefore, came to mean one appointed by God for a special
service, a specially important and exalted service.
In this sense it was applied by the Deutero-Isaiah to
Cyrus. He held the view that Cyrus was appointed by God
to deliver the Jews from Babylonian exile. He had good
historic grounds for it. It was the policy of Cyrus—which
was just the opposite of the policy previously followed by the
Babylonian and Assyrian kings—to win the favour of con-
~ quered peoples by letting them remain in their lands rather
than to embitter them by exile. He had followed it in his
early conquests over the Medes and Persians. His success
gave Deutero-Isaiah the idea that he would also conquer
Babylonia; and the policy he followed with conquered
peoples roused in the Prophet the confident hope that he
would allow the Jewish exiles to return to Palestine.

115

L V

116 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Incidentally, it should be pointed out that the Prophet read
the position correctly. What he foresaw did happen. "I'he
important point, however, in our present context is that the
_ title Messiah is deliberately given to Cyrus because, though
he was not a Jew, the Prophet conceived him to be appointed
by God to fulfil a divine purpose———the restoration of the
; Jews to their land.
The passages in the Bible which are usually described as
Messianic do not use the word Messiah. '"I’he most famous
is, perhaps, Isaiah ı1. Here a poet describes a king, who
will rule justly and benevolently, fulfilling his royal function
by his moral influence, and bringing happiness to the people
under his rule. "T’he king will be a ‘“ shoot from the stock
of Jesse.” "Ihat just means a descendant of David. All the
kings that ruled over Judah from the time of David to the
conquest of the country by Nebuchadnezzar were members
of the Davidic dynasty. "They were all, to use the language
of the Bible, ‘‘ shoots from the stock of Jesse’’; Jesse was
David’s father. '"The poem, then, in Isaiah ı1, describes a
king of Judah whose rule will in every way be perfect, an
earthly ruler who will be an ideal king.
It has been suggested by Biblical scholars that the poem
was written to celebrate the birth of an heir-apparent to the
throne of Judah, perhaps the birth of Hezekiah or Josiah.
It was not an uncommon thing for poets, especially if they
were court poets holding a position something like that of
the English poet laureate, to celebrate in this way the birth
of a prince. But whether this suggestion is correct or not,
it is certain that Isaiah ır refers to a present or future king
_ who would be an ideal, but a human, king.
The suffering-servant poems in the second part of the
book of Isaiah have also been given a Messianic interpre-
tation. "The suffering servant, it has been said in the past
by both Jews and Christians, is the Messiah. '"Ihe difference
between the Jews and the Christians was that while the

THE MESSIANIC IDEA ‘ 117

Christians said that this suffering Messiah had already come,
the Jews said that he was still to come. There is not, how-
ever, the slightest indication in the poems themselves that
the author intended them to refer to a Messiah. The
description of the suffering servant lacks a feature that is
prominent in the later idea of the Messiah, namely, that
he will deliver the Jews from oppression and restore
their national and religious life in Palestine. Nothing
of the sort is mentioned in the poems about the suffering
servant. On the contrary, instead of being a triumphant
king, he 1s a martyred prophet. He is a human being with
ordinary humanity but with spiritual and moral grandeur.
Of the remaining passages that have been interpreted in
a Messianic sense, there is one which, for historic reasons
rather than for what it says, has to be mentioned. It is
Isaiah 7. In the year 735 B.C.E. Judah was threatened with
invasion by the kings of Syria and Ephraim. The king of
Judah, Ahaz, in his alarm, wanted to call in the help of
Assyria, which was at the time the dominating power in Asia
Minor. Isaiah thought that this policy was unwise and
dangerous, so he urged Ahaz not to adopt it but to rely on
the working of God in human history. To assure him that
the issue would be favourable, he gave the king a sign. In
the text of the Authorised Version, the sign was ‘ Behold
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name
Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat when he knoweth
to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child
shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good the land
whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken.”
Now, if it were not for the use made of this passage in the
Gospels 1t would probably not have occurred to anyone to
suggest that it refers to a Messiah. For what the passage
plainly says is, that when a child about to be born reaches
the age of two or three, the age when the child would eat
curds (that, rather than * butter ” is the correct translation

118 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

of the Hebrew word) and honey, all will be well with Judah;
the danger that threatened it would be past, the kings whom
Ahaz feared would be destroyed. There was no need there-
fore for him to call in the help of Assyria.
But why the reference to a virgin? The fact is that the
Hebrew word does not necessarily mean a virgin. Hebrew
has a totally different word for virgin; the word used here
means a young woman who might be married or unmarried.
The prophet probably referred to a young married woman,
who obviously expected the birth of a child. Some scholars
think that he meant his own wife. That child was the
prophet’s sign; by the time he reached the age of two or
three, the prophet’s assurance would be fulfilled. *‘Im-
manuel ”’ means “ God is with us ”’; and the prophet sug-
gested that name for the child to express his faith in the
final outcome of the crisis. 'The passage has, therefore,
nothing to do with the belief in a Messiah; it deals with a
critical situation which arose for Judah in %735 B.C.E.
In the whole of the Hebrew Bible there is only one passage
that may definitely refer to a superhuman Messiah; it is
Daniel 7: 13. But that, too, may refer only to an ideal
human king. The only clear and indubitable references to
a superhuman Messiah occur in post-Biblical Jewish litera-
ture. He became a figure in Jewish apocalyptic, the highly
imaginative descriptions of what would happen “ in the end
of days,” at the end of human history.
The belief in a superhuman Messiah is also found in the
Talmud. Itcame to be a cardinal belief of orthodox Judaism
that at some time in the future a being in the form of a man,
who would, however, be more than human, would come to
deliver the Jews from oppression, to restore their life in
Palestine as it was in ancient times, and to inaugurate an
era of peace and goodness for all humanity. This belief may
have evolved out of Isaiah 11. The king described in that
poem did not appear in history. It was perhaps natural

THE MESSIANIC IDEA 119

therefore to project the hope of his coming into the ultimate
future. Whenever the Jews suffered great oppression, as
they did under the Romans from 63 B.c.E. onwards, they
turned to this hope for encouragement, as if saying to them-
selves Though things are terrible now, a time of deliver-
ance i1s coming when we shall be saved from our present
sufferings and restored to the position which God has as-
signed to us.”” And this time, it was believed, would be
inaugurated by a superhuman Messiah.
Liberal Judaism, on the other hand, does not believe in
the coming of such a person, whether in the past or future.
There is no need for him. God can work his deliverences
in the way in which he works in human history, by inspiring
great teachers who teach nations and humanity how to pro-
gress in righteousness, and by raising great leaders who will
guide nations and mankind to higher achievements in right-
eousness. But Liberal Judaism does hold the belief in a
Messianic age, basing it on the teachings of the Prophets,
who looked forward to a time when there will be lasting
peace between nations and when human society will be
ordered in full accord with the principle of justice.
The Messianic idea comes, therefore, to a belief in human
progress. Its basis is twofold. In the first place it rests
on the belief in God. That is, I think, how the Prophets
came to it. This world is very imperfect. There is in it
much that is wrong, much that is evil. To that extent, it
is out of accord with the rule and nature of God. It cannot
‘therefore always remain like that; for the rule of God must
mean that ultimately the world will be the kind of world that
He wants. That kind of world came to be called ¢ the
Kingdom of God.” It is the translation of a Hebrew phrase.
‘“ Kingdom ” is here an abstract, not a concrete, noun. It
doesn’t mean the place ruled over, but the rule. The King-
dom of God means the rule of God over the whole world.
The time must come when God’s rule will be fully

&

120 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

recognised in the world of which He is the creator and
ruler. : |
The second ground for the Messianic hope is to be
found in human history. It has been a very chequered
history, with dark and light spots, with good and bad times.
We live in an age in which there is much evil, but it cannot
obscure the good achievements in human life. Mankind
has made considerable progress since it first rose to the
human plane; not only in knowledge, in the arts and in
mechanical inventions, but also in goodness. The advance-
ment in the past gives ground for the hope of future advance-
ment. The belief in a Messianic age is the belief that the
human race will, under the guidance of God, progress to the
attainment of righteousness, to an age when human beings
shall all be righteous, when their relations to one another
shall be perfectly righteous, when human society shall be
just in its organisation, and when all nations shall live
together in peace.
The demand that men should strive to create a better
world distinguishes the Jewish religion from some others.
Other religions have, at times, urged a sort of negative atti-
tude to the world. ““ Do not pay more than a minimum of
attention to it, it is essentially a bad world.” Some of their
teachers have said, in so many words, ‘“The best that men can
do in this world is to keep themselves free from sin.” But
Judaism teaches that this world is a part of God’s universe;
it must, therefore, be essentially a good world, though im-
perfect. While striving to keep ourselves free from sin, it
is our duty to strive to make the world better and to promote
goodness, justice and peace in it. In this way we conform to
the Kingdom of God and work for its full realisation in the
life of humanity. God will help men in their efforts for a
better world, which He will use for His salvation of mankind.

CHAPTER XIV
THE MISSION OF ISRAEL .

IT dawned upon the best minds of ancient Israel that since
the God whom Israel worshipped was the God of the
whole world, the time must come when the whole world will
worship Him. Israel, then, must teach all nations to know
Him. This was Israel’s mission. It is the belief that the
Jewish people have the task, put upon it by God, to teach all
mankind the religious truths which constitute the essence of
Judaism. It developed out of the idea of the “ chosen
people.” 'The Hebrews looked upon themselves as the
chosen people of God, in the sense that they had, as a people,
a special relation to Him. It is evident how that idea arose :
it was based on history.
According to tradition, Jewish history began with Abra-
ham, who lived about 1800 or 2000 B.C.E. Behind the Bible
stories about him there seems to lie the historic fact that a
group of people broke away from the Babylonians, or, as
they were then called, Sumerians, who lived in the southern
part of the Mesopotamian Valley. Out of this group there
finally evolved the Jewish people. The name “ Jew ” does
not occur till a much later time. Of Abraham the Bible
says that he was called *“ Hebrew.” But it is also clear from
the Bible that at an early time the Jews were called “ the
Children of Israel.”” It cannot be said with certainty whether
the Hebrews, the Children of Israel, formulated a new
religion from the very beginning of their existence as a
separate people. But certain it is that ultimately they did
produce new religious ideas. The chief one is monotheism.

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N & ‘:;x F

122 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

When all other peoples worshipped diverse gods, the
Hebrews came to look upon their God as the God of the
whole universe. But He still remained in a sense their God
and they His people. That special relation meant, however,
a special responsibility—the responsibility to worship Him
in special and more exacting ways. It was a responsibility
which was a privilege, but it did not mean favours. They
were chosen to work for God among men, so that men
might come to know and worship God.
The idea attained its full and clearest expression in the
author of the second part of the Book of Isaiah. * Ye are
my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have
chosen ” (Isaiah 43: 10). “ Thou art my servant Israel, in
whom I will be glorified ’ (Isaiah 49: 3). The poems about
the “ suffering servant of the Lord ” (in Isaiah 42, 49, 50,
52 and 53) describe the way of the mission, what it entails,
and what it will achieve. By the suffering servant, most
- scholars agree, the prophet-poet meant Israel. *‘ Behold my
servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul
delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring
forth judgment (i.e. religion) to the nations ”’ (Isaiah 42: 1).
‘““ He was despised, and rejected of men; a man of sorrows,
and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide
their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not’
(Isaish £4: 3). By his knowledge shall my rlghteous ser-
vant Just1fy many ’ (Isaiah 53: 11).
It is perhaps significant that the clearest statement of
Israel’s mission comes from a time when the Jews were in
exile. The historical situation may have brought it into
the foreground of Jewish thought. The people probably
asked, ‘“ Why do we suffer? Why should we, the worshippers
of God, be given into the power of others and be subjected
to oppression?”’ And the prophet answered them: ‘ Just
because you are the servants of God you are thus made to
suffer, for you have a mission to fulfil, a task to perform, to

THE MISSION OF ISRAEL 123

teach other nations the knowledge of God. And that task
entails suffering.”
No other people of that time who met with the same fate
as the Jews survived it as the Jews did. For the Edomites,
Moabites, or Ammonites, exile meant the end of everything—
not only the end of nationality, but the end of their religion,
the end of their existence. Even the Jews of Northern
Palestine, when they were conquered and led into exile by
the Assyrians, in 722 B.C.E., disappeared completely. They
are ‘‘ the ten lost tribes.” They were swallowed up, ab-
sorbed, by the peoples among whom they were exiled.
On the other hand, the Jews of Southern Palestine, who
suffered a similar fate 140 years later, maintained their
identity in exile. 'They were saved by the development of
the Jewish religion during the intervening years.
For some centuries before the fall of the Jewish nation
(586 B.C.E.) the teachings of successive prophets had made the
Jews realise that God’s sovereignty was not only over the
Jewish nation, but over the whole universe, that the God
of Israel was the God of the whole world. Though, therefore,
the Jews found themselves, when exiled to Babylonia,
deprived for a time of their land, their faith in God and
loyalty to their religion were unimpaired. They had learnt
that they could worship God and follow their religion any-
where. Perhaps their exile taught them to understand even
better than before the teachings which they had received from
the Prophets about God’s universal sovereignty. Other people
still clung to the older belief that each nation had its own
god; the conquest of a nation, therefore, meant the conquest
of its god. For the Jews, however, there was only one God
and He ruled all nations; He could be worshipped in all
lands. When, therefore, the Jews of Judah were exiled to
Babylonia they did not give up their religion. And by
loyalty to it they maintained their identity. The Jews of
Northern Palestine were lost in exile because their religion

124 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

had not developed fully the distinctive ideas of Judaism;
the Jews of Southern Palestine maintained themselves in
exile by the distinctiveness of their religion; it had developed
the strength of Jewish monotheism.
It may well be that the dispersal of the Jews strengthened
in them the sense of a religious mission. But the mission
‘idea was inherent in monotheism. Judaism was the first
missionary religion, because it was the first monotheistic
religion. It is the nature of truth that it fills those who
possess it with the desire to impart it to others. One who
knows a truth, or believes he knows a truth, wants others,
too, to have it. Philosophers, scientists and historians write
books, chiefly because they want others to share their know-
ledge. In monotheistic religion this urge is even stronger.
They who believe in One God must want the whole world
to acknowledge and Worship Him. The religion of the
Jews, therefore, generated in them a sense of mission.
History supports it.
The Jewish religion has, in one form or another, become
fundamental to our western civilisation. It was not the
religion of the Assyrians or Egyptians or Greeks or Romans,
but the religion of the Jews, which has contributed most of
the spiritual and moral ideas of the western world, and of a
great part of the rest of the world.
Christianity and Mchammedanism issued out of Judaism,
though they have introduced many and important changes.
The world accepted from Judaism the ideas which originally
differentiated it from all other religions. The religion of
the Jews was monotheism, opposed to the polytheism of
other peoples. The religion of the Jews was the belief in a
God with universal sovereignty, opposed to the belief in
national gods. The religion of the Jews condemned
the use of idols, while others maintained them. The
religion of the Jews taught that God required for His
worship justice, love and humility ; not magical or

THE MISSION OF ISRAEL 125§

mysterious rites. And a large part of the world has adopted
the Jewish ideas.
- Is it not a reasonable inference from history that the Jews
will contribute in the future, as they have contributed in
the past, to the religious development of the world the ideas
which distinguish their religion from others? Israel’s
mission is not yet completed. The conception of God in
Judaism is different from that in Christianity, the concep-
tions of God’s relation to the universe and man’s relation to
God are different, the attitude towards this world and life
is in a way different. Judaism has distinctive ideas about
God, man and the universe. Israel has a religious contribu-
tion to make to the life of humanity.
We hope for a time when there will be a universal religion,
that 1s, a religion to which all men shall adhere, which all
men shall recognise as true, and which they shall follow.
That does not mean that all religious differences will disap-
pear. The diversity of religions means richness, corres-
ponding to the rich diversity in human nature. By a
universal religion I mean a religious brotherhood including
all men, based on a common belief about essentials and
~ fundamentals, with variations in less important matters. We
believe that this universal religion will be a development of
Judaism, that it will be based upon the essential ideas
of Judaism. I do not think it will be exactly the Judaism we
know now; I should be sorry to think that there is no room
for further growth and development in our religion. But as
we believe the essentials of our religion to be true, so do we
believe that they will have an important place in the future
religion of the world.
The belief in the mission of Israel has been, and is, a
source of great strength to the Jew. Jews have been forced
to endure great suffering and hardship. And all because of
their religion. If they had consented to give it up—to play
the traitor—they would have avoided persecution and they

126 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

would have had the same rights and privileges as others;
but they clung to it firmly. They wanted Judaism, not only
for themselves, but also for the world. They saw in it the
bond which bound them to God and the force which could
lead mankind to Him. What though they suffer, what
though others persecute them, are they not * the suffering
servant of God who shall make many righteous?”
Every Jew is a missionary of Judaism. His missionary
work is his life. By the way he lives he shows what Judaism
is. 'The specifically missionary work of Judaism attaches
directly, however, to the Synagogue. Every Synagogue
should, by its services and other activities, be a place where
all who wish to know what Judaism is can come to learn.
The Jews live among people who are mostly non-Jews.
That fact gives them an opportunity to spread a knowledge
of Judaism, of the Jewish conception of God, and of all He
means for human life, thought and conduct.
Liberal Judaism puts considerable emphasis on the mis-
sionary idea in Judaism. Judaism is a universal religion,
not only the religion of those who happen to be born Jews.
Liberal Judaism, therefore, welcomes sincere proselytes
gladly. With some other Liberal Jews I think that Judaism
should also seek proselytes. Not necessarily from the adher-
ents of other theistic religions which, like Judaism, have
attained a high stage of development; but from the adherents
of lower religions in other parts of the world, and particularly
from among those in our part of the world who have no
religion. There are, therefore, two ways for Jews to carry
out their mission. One is for the Jews collectively and
individually to show the beauty, truth and power of Judaism
and so bring its influence into the life of humanity; the
other is to win proselytes to Judaism.
"Two quotations will sum up the missionary hope of
Judaism. The first is from the Bible: ‘‘ It shall come to pass
in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall

THE MISSION OF ISRAEL 127

be established in the top of the mountains, and shail be
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many nations shall go and say, Come ye and let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob; 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 ” (Isaiah 2: 2-3, or Micah
4: 1-2).
The other is a mediaeval poem, included in the Synagogue
services for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in a translation
by the late Israel Zangwill:

All the world shall come to serve thee
And bless thy glorious name.
And thy righteousness triumphant
The islands shall acclaim.
Yea, the peoples shall go seeking
Who knew thee not before,
And the ends of earth shall praise thee
And tell thy greatness o’er.

They shall build for thee their altars,
Their idols overthrown,
And their graven gods shall shame them
As they turn to thee alone.
They shall worship thee at sunrise
And feel thy kingdom’s might,
And impart thy understanding
To those astray in night.

With the coming of thy kingdom
The hills shall shout with song,
And the islands laugh exultant
That they to God belong.
And through all their congregations,
So loud thy praise shall ring,
That the utmost peoples hearing,
Shall hail thee crownéd king.

CHAPTER XV
LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM

To clarify the distinctive element in Liberal Judaism, it is
necessary to point out wherein it differs from Orthodox
Judaism. Differences of belief generally are important
because truth is important; but they need not cause conflict
among men. All civilised religions have a common aim,
the knowledge and worship of God. That common aim can
unite them in spite of the differences. That, of course,
applies in a special degree to Liberal Judaism and Orthodox
Judaism. The differences between them are much less than
their common ground.
All Jews have a common possession in the history of the
Jewish people and in the Jewish tradition, and all Jews are
united by their faith in God, their attention to His law, and
their belief that the Jews have a religious contribution to
make to the life of humanity. The sense of Jewish unity
need not be disturbed by the differences. And it violates
Jewish teaching to treat them intolerantly.
A hint of even more than respect for religious differences
is given in the Rabbinic saying : every controversy that is in
the name of Heaven [7.e. religious controversy] shall in the
end lead to a permanent good result (Ethics of the Fathers,
5: 20). A similar idea is contained in a saying of asecond-
century Rabbi, Jochanan the Sandalmaker : every assembly
which is in the name of Heaven [i.e. for a religious purpose]
will in the end be established (Ethics of the Fathers, 4: 14).
The fundamental difference between Orthodox and
Liberal Judaism is to be found in their divergent conceptions

128

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 12§
of revelation. Orthodox Judaism believes that at some time
in the past God revealed His truth and His laws for all time.
The ideas which are true and the commandments which
have to be obeyed are therefore contained in the writings
which embody that revelation. These writings constitute
the Law. To put it in a way that may seem crude, yet not,
I think, untrue, the belief of Orthodox Judaism is, that on
Mount Sinai God dictated to Moses the Pentateuch, which
he was commanded to write down so that it was called * the
written Law.” In addition, He also gave Moses a number
of laws which were to be transmitted by word of mouth.
The Talmud which contains them is, therefore, called the
Oral Law, (though it was, after a time, written down).
For Orthodox Judaism, therefore, what the Bible and Tal-
mud teach are divinely true, and all their laws are divine
commandments. ‘
On the other hand, Liberal Judaism holds the belief in
~ a progressive revelation, which means that God did not
reveal all His laws at once, but He revealed, and reveals,
them by development. Man did not learn what was right
by one flash of revelation, but his knowledge of right grew,
and grew slowly, under the guidance of, and impulsion from,
God. This view of revelation is substantiated by, and
largely based on, the account of the Bible given by modern
Biblical scholarship. :
Though the Bible, as we have it, is usually printed in one
volume, it is not one book written either by one author or
by a number of authors living at the same time and working
together. It cannot be called a book in this sense, any more
than we could call one book a volume in which a play by
Shakespeare, essays by Bacon and Matthew Arnold, poems
by Milton and Shelley, and stories by Fielding and Scott,
_were bound together. The Bible contains all that is left of
the writings and sayings of Hebrew writers and religious
teachers who lived before 100 B.C.E. These writings vary

E*

130 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM
in kind, and treat of various subjects. They include ancient
science, philosophy, history, law, poetry, songs, €ven ro-
mance and drama, and many addresses of religious teachers.
The authors of the many parts lived at different times, some
as far back as the tenth century B.C.E.; and they sometimes
drew on older, even much older, sources. The latest parts
of the Bible come from the second century B.C.E.
Some of the books in the Bible are compilations. The
Book of Isaiah for example in its present form contains the
writings of three different Prophets, living at different times.
The first part of the book, chapters 1 to 39, comes from
Isaiah, who lived in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.E.;
the second part, chapters 40 to 55, comes from another
prophet—we do not know his name—who lived in the
second half of the sixth century B.C.E., probably in Babylonia;
the third part, chapters 56 to 66, comes from a prophet who
lived at a still later time. Many of the books in the Bible
contain additions put in by writers who lived after their
original authors. In the traditional view, however, a book
that bears the name of a particular person is taken to have
been written completely by him.
‘The difference, between the traditional view of the Bible
and the view of modern Biblical scholars, which has the
most important religious significance, concerns the first five
books of the Bible: the Pentateuch. It is the chief part of
the Law. ¢ The Law ”’ (in Hebrew *“ Torah,” which means
literally “ instruction” and corresponds to “ revelation”)
has been the centre of Judaism, and—though the figure
changes, the idea presents no incongruity—its basis. The
term is sometimes applied to the whole Bible, but essentially
it belongs, as it was originally applied, to the Pentateuch,
which was considered the heart of the revelation comprised
in the Jewish religion, with the laws of the Talmud its com-
pletion. The traditional view is that it was written by Moses.
The view of modern Biblical scholars is that the books from

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 1I3I

Genesis to Joshua resulted from a combination of a number
of *“ documents,” the earliest dating probably from the
tenth century B.C.E. though it includes stories that are much
older, and the latest dating from the fifth century B.C.E.;
with others in between. All these ‘ documents” were
woven together, probably in the fourth century B.c.E., and
constituted into one book, which was later divided into the
first six books of our present Bible.
The composite character of the Bible explains the differ-
ences and even contradictions in its contents. The Prophets
did not all hold the same ideas; and they did not always
agree with the lawgivers. Isaiah condemns ceremonialism,
while Ezekiel and the Pentateuch have a good deal to say
about the Temple and its rites. The “ documents ”’ woven
into the Pentateuch do not always agree. 'The result of the
interweaving is that stories and laws are sometimes repeated,
but not always in the same form. There are, for example,
two different creation stories, one in the first chapter of
Genesis and another in the second. The Feast of Taber-
nacles is given seven days in Deuteronomy; Leviticus adds
an eighth day.
The whole Bible covers a millennium. The fact that some
parts of it are very, very old also explains why some of the
ideas in it are strange, crude, or even objectionable. God
teaches mankind gradually; it is only natural that the ideas in
the oldest part of the Bible would sometimes be different from
ideas held now and also from ideas in later parts of the Bible.
Take, for example, the many laws about sacrifices. In
ancient times men believed that the way to worship God was
by sacrificing animals on an altar. But a Jewish prophet,
living more than twenty-six centuries ago—Hosea—de-
clared that God desires ‘ love and not sacrifice, and the
knowledge of God rather than burnt oﬁ'erlngs Take
another example—the Book of Judges. Its stories contain
crude and primitive, sometimes even savage, details. They

132 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

come from a very early time in the history of the Hebrews.
It emerges from the modern view of the Bible that it
reveals a development of religious thought and practice, a
development that ranges from primitive religious beliefs and
rites to the highest spiritual and moral truths to which
human knowledge and aspiration have attained. It contains
the record of the development of Judaism from its beginning
to the second century before the Common Era.
The Talmud continued that development. Its laws are
not found in the Bible, but many of them were in one way
or another referred back to it. Some of them may be very
old practices which were observed during Biblical times, but
for some reason were not included among the Biblical laws.
Others originated in post-Biblical times. The Pentateuch,
which contains the Biblical laws, was completed probably
about the year 300 B.C.E.; the Mishnah which contains the
Talmudic laws was compiled in the third century c.e. In
the intervening five hundred years there probably arose a
number of new practices, which came to be looked upon as
authoritative.
A few illustrations will indicate the relation between the
laws in the Bible and those in the Talmud. There are in
the Mishnah laws prescribing the way in which animals
should be killed for food. Nothing of the kind is found in
the Bible. It may be that the method prescribed was already
used in Biblical times, but nothing is said about it in the
Pentateuch. On the other hand, some of the laws in the
Mishnah clearly came into existence after the time of the
Bible. It is, for example, prescribed that at the beginning
of the Sabbath lights should be lighted. There is nothing
about that in the Bible. In fact, there is evidence to support
the conclusion that in Biblical times it was considered wrong
to have any light on the Sabbath; but the Rabbis, inter-
preting the Sabbath as a joyous day, prescribed lights on
Friday evening as a symbol of joy. The law about the

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 133
Sabbath lights resulted from a developed conception of the
Sabbath.
'The laws about Sabbath observance show in another way
the development of the Talmudic beyond the Biblical law.
The Rabbis forbade a number of actions on the Sabbath
about which nothing is said in the Bible. They wanted to
make what they called a * fence around the law,” so they
laid down prohibitions against actions which, though harm-
less in themselves, might lead to a violation of the Sabbath.
It was forbidden, for example, to touch a tool on the Sabbath,
to prevent its inadvertent use in work. Similarly, prohibi-
tions were introduced in other connections to prevent an
inadvertent violation of a Biblical law.
Of these laws it is specifically stated that they were made
by the Rabbis. Other Talmudic laws, however, though not
found in the Bible, were given the status of Biblical laws.
The claim was made for them that they were given to Moses
on Mount Sinai at the same time with the laws in the Bible.
To substantiate that claim they were connected with the
Bible in ways which to us appear artificial. The pro-
hibition, for example, in Rabbinic law against the com-
bination of meat and milk was related to the fact that the
commandment “ Thou shalt not seethe a kid in the milk of
its mother ”’ occurs three times in the Pentateuch. The
repetition was due to the fact that the Pentateuch is a com-
posite of several codes dealing in part, or largely, with the
same matters. But the Rabbis of the Talmud had the belief
that the Pentateuch was dictated by God to Moses, that it
was, therefore, a unity. If, then, a law was repeated several
times, the repetition required, in their view, some explana-
tion, and the explanation they gave was that it meant some-
thing more than just what it said. Sometimes a non-
Biblical law is attached to—the Talmud says * derived
from ”’—a superfluous word, or even a superfluous letter,
in a Biblical law.

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134 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

It comes, therefore, to this: The Talmud contains the
laws and religious practices which developed in Judaism
after Biblical times, or mostly after Biblical times. 'The
claim that they were revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai only
asserts the belief in their authoritative character. Histori-
cally they came into existence after the time of Moses.
That is true of many of the laws in the Bible, it is true of
probably all the laws in the Talmud. The ideas expressed
in the Talmud are not always exactly like the corresponding
ideas in the Bible. Some are even altogether new. The
beliefs in the resurrection and immortality are perhaps the
best examples. The latter is not found in the Bible, at any
rate not clearly. The former is stated clearly in the Bible
only once, but in the Talmud it receives frequent and
insistent emphasis. Both in its laws and its ideas, therefore,
the Talmud goes beyond the Bible.
The Jewish Apocrypha also has its place in the history of
Judaism. Its books show some of the ideas which Jews held
in a period roughly corresponding with the time when the
Mishnah was developing. They do not differ from ideas in
the Talmud, but they are sometimes presented, like the idea
of immortality in the Wisdom of Solomon, with a different
emphasis. ‘
The development of Judaism did not stop with the
Talmud. The chief repository of Jewish ideas is the Jewish
Prayer Book. The oldest prayers in it go back a long time.
The general framework of the traditional Services was fixed
many centuries ago; it was the result of a development; but
new prayers and poems have been added from time to time.
In observances, too, there have been some changes since
the time of the Talmud.
Orthodox Judaism bases itself completely and literally
on the Bible and Talmud; but they themselves embody a
development of Jewish thought and practice and the
development continued after them. And Liberal Judaism

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 135

takes account of the later developments, while giving to the
Bible and Talmud, which together constitute “ the Law,”
the supreme place in its interpretation of Judaism.
Liberal Judaism and Orthodox Judaism thus hold diver-
gent views of “ the Law.” For Orthodox Judaism it contains
a perfect and final revelation from God. For Liberal
Judaism it contains a progressive revelation from God.
And since it shows that revelation is progressive, it cannot
itself be final. Liberal Judaism recognises the value for
Judaism to-day of the Bible and Talmud. It ascribes
absolute authotity, however, to neither, nor to both together;
it holds both valuable for their spirit, for many of their
teachings, for the place they have in the history and develop-
ment of Judaism, and for the guidance they give to the
fundamental ideas of Judaism and its 1mportant practices.
They contain, both in many details and in the process which
they reveal throughout of developing rehglous ideas, a
revelation from God.
Several practical differences between Liberal and Ortho-
dox Judaism follow from their divergent views of revelation.
Bible and Talmud, since they embody for Orthodox Judaism
a complete and perfect divine revelation, are its authority.
They constitute the standards for the knowledge of truth,
contain all the laws which Jews must obey, and prescribe
the practices which they must observe. Those Jews who do
not themselves know what is contained in these books, or
who cannot understand them, must consult those who do
know—authoritative teachers of the Law. Liberal Judaism,
on the other hand, does not recognise any external authority.
Bible and Talmud, valuable as they are, do not contain the
final word about truth, righteousness and the worship of
God. They are not the whole of Judaism. Though they
contain a very large and supremely important part of God’s
revelation to the Jews, they cannot contain the whole of it.
Because Liberal Judaism maintains that revelation is

" A

136 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

progressive, it cannot recognise as final any set of ideas
enunciated in the past, or now. Moreover, each individual
has the duty himself to strive for the instruction and guid-
ance of God. He must, with his own spirit, try to learn
what is required of him in the worship of God. The results
of his own spiritual efforts must be correlated with the results
of the best spiritual efforts of the present and pastages. All
these together should produce the authoritative result, should
reveal to the individual his duties, and teach him the know-
ledge of God. ‘
Let it not, however, be supposed that by its conception
of revelation, Liberal Judaism denies in any way the inspira-
tion, in varying degrees, of our ancient teachers. Quite the
contrary. But it recognises that there is a human element
in revelation, that God’s instruction of man is regulated by
man’s capacity to receive it, that the revelation which came
to each age was restricted by the capacities and limitations
of that age. |
The recognition of the human element in revelation
solves many of the difficult problems connected with the
Bible. Those who accept the Bible as a perfect and complete
revelation, which was given to man without any consideration
for man’s limited capacities, may find it very hard to explain
those things in it which to us seem very crude, the stories
which we cannot believe, and the laws which seem unjust.
With the belief in progressive revelation, the difficulty
disappears. The human element in the Bible explains its
limitations. | '
Because of their different conceptions of revelation, Ortho-
dox and Liberal Judaism also differ in their attitude to ideas
which have come into existence since the Bible and Talmud
were produced. Orthodox Judaism cannot accept them if
they contradict anything in the Bible or Talmud. Liberal
Judaism can. ‘ Truth is God’s seal,” said a Rabbi in the
- Talmud. Whatever is true, therefore, has the quality of

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 137

revelation. Orthodox Judaism, for example, cannot accept
the idea of evolution because it seems to contradict the first
chapter of Genesis. Liberal Judaism, on the other hand,
can accept it as a later revelation, a further development in
man’s knowledge of truth.
In the same way there is a difference in the attitude to
religious ceremonies. Those who accept the authority of
tradition must consider themselves bound to observe all the
practices which it commands, whether or not they have any
particular present significance. On the other hand, those
who do not accept the authority of tradition, even while
recognising its value, judge the religious practices which it
has transmitted by their meaning for, and effect on, the
spiritual and moral life of Jews to-day.
There is a common notion that the difference between
Orthodox Judaism and Liberal Judaism is that Orthodox
Jews observe certain things, and Liberal Jews do not. There
are such differences between them. Liberal Judaism leaves
personal observances, such as the dietary laws, to the religious
conscience and thought of the individual Jew. Their value
depends on their significance for, and effect on, the religious
life of individuals. The same principle is applied by Liberal
Judaism to the minutiae which Orthodox Judaism prescribes
for the observance of holydays.
Some ceremonies, however, which Orthodox Judiasm main-
tains with insistence on their obligatory character, Liberal
Judaism has definitely abolished. One example is the
ceremony called ‘“Chalitzah > which is described in Deutero-
nomy 25: 8-10. Another example is the special attention
given in the Synagogue Services and in some ritual laws to
those who claim to be descended from the priests who
served in the Temple (in Hebrew, Cohanim; singular Cohen).
But all the differences result from the fundamental differ-
ence in their conceptions of revelation.
Orthodox Judaism follows the past. Liberal Judaism bases

138 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

itself on Jewish tradition, but it takes account of modern
thought and considers the circumstances and religious needs
of Jewish life in the present. Ultimately, the authority for the
religious life is to be found in the spiritual experience of the
individual, supported by the experience of his own age, and
influenced by the religious experience of preceding ages.
The Services in all Liberal Synagogues differ from the
Services in Orthodox Synagogues, some slightly, many
widely. The Prayer Books used by Liberal Synagogues vary
considerably among themselves. Some follow very closely
the form of the Services in the traditional Prayer Book with
its main prayers. Others have made changes of diverse
extent and importance both in the structure of the Services
and in the contents of the prayers. The Services, however,
in all Liberal Synagogues diverge in some respects from the
Services in Orthodox Synagogues. Significant changes have
been made in the contents of some of the traditional prayers
to make them conform to the present beliefs of Jews; other
changes affected externals, which in some cases, however,
involved matters of principle. Liberal Synagogues use in
their Services languages other than Hebrew, in each country
its language as well as Hebrew.
The Services in Orthodox Synagogues are all in Hebrew
with a few prayers in Aramaic, which looks like Hebrew.
Liberal Synagogues have prayers in the vernacular to relate
the Synagogue Services to the present life of the Jews and
to make the prayers understood by the worshippers. By
this change, however, Liberal Judaism diverges only from
present and latter-day Orthodox Judaism; Talmudic or Rab-
binic Judaism permitted, and even suggested, that Jews
should pray in a language they understood. That principle
was followed when Aramaic prayers were introduced into
the traditional Prayer Book; it was the language largely used
by Jews at the time of Jesus and for several centuries after-
wards.

LIBERAL JUDAISM AND ORTHODOX JUDAISM 139

The Services in Liberal Synagogues are shorter than those
in Orthodox Synagogues; in some Liberal congregations
men worship with uncovered heads; in most Liberal Syna-
gogues men and women sit together; and there are other
similar variations in detail which bring the Services into
conformity with the ideas and mode of life of the Jews in
the western world.
One other difference calls for mention, not so much be-
cause of its present importance as because of its place in the
history of Judaism. It might almost be said that Liberal
Judaism began in this difference. For many centuries it was
a belief of Judaism and the hope of Jews that a Messiah
would come to lead them back to Palestine, and ultimately
to bring the whole world to the true worship of the true God.
The first Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus of
Nazareth was this Messiah; that was why they called him
““ the Christ,” which is the Greek for the Hebrew “ Messiah.”
Only a few Jews accepted this belief; the great majority
continued to hope for the Messiah and to expect him. And
that expectation has continued to modern times. It is still
maintained in Orthodox Judaism. But it is not part of
Liberal Judaism.
In the early nineteenth century the countries of Central
and Western Europe gave Jews the rights of citizenship.
(Those countries were their native lands, their ancestors had
lived there, in some cases, for centuries; but they had been
looked upon as strangers.) The emancipation of the Jews,
as this is called, made actual what the Jew had previously
felt, that Germany, or France, or England, was his national
home, not Palestine. Many Jews gave up the belief in, and
hope for, a return of the Jews to Palestine, and with it the
belief in the coming of a Messiah. The first prayer books
of Liberal Judaism differed from the Orthodox prayer book
in omitting all prayers for the coming of a Messiah and the
return to Palestine. But Liberal Judaism maintains the

140 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

hope for the coming of a Messianic Age, thatis, an age when
humanity shall be perfected in righteousness. And this hope
is embodied in many of the prayers in the Liberal Jewish
liturgy.
The principle that Judaism is a developing religion entails,
in its application, some departures in thought and practice
from the presentation of Judaism which has prevailed for
many centuries. The departures have individually been
variously justified. But their fundamental justification lies
in that they result from, and express, a development which
is not only justifiable but inevitable; a development, more-
over, which brings enrichment to Judaism. Judaism cannot
for all time be confined in a form given it in the past. It
must develop as life changes and human thought grows. A
religion must maintain a close and firm relation with human
thought and life. If it refuses to develop with them, it is
left behind like a backwater. In the case of Judaism, more-
over, there is a more specific ground for insistence on its
development. It was always a developing religion. Rab-
binic Judaism developed out of Biblical Judaism; the Bible
itself records a development of ]udalsm Liberal Judaism
is its latest development.

CHAÄAPFTER 3VI

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN JUDAISM AND
CHRISTIANITY

FoRr Jews living among Christians the question naturally
arises: How does Judaism differ from Christianity? '"The
various forms of Christianity, however, differ so much
among themselves that they make it difficult to answer
the question with precision. "Ihere is one clear difference;
it is fundamental. Judaism rejects the Christian belief
about Jesus. '"I'hat does not mean that Jews may not be
interested in him, his life and his teachings. On the contrary,
they have a Jewish reason for their interest : he was a Jew.
Very little is known about him with historic certainty.
Some scholars, including some Christian scholars, hold the
view that nothing is known about him historically. He is
not mentioned in any of the books written in his time. We
are, therefore, confined altogether to the Gospels in the New
Testament for a knowledge of him and his life. '
The Gospels are not, however, history-books; they are
books of devotion written to stimulate the faith of the early
Christians. "They were written at different dates, the oldest,
Mark, about fifty years after Jesus, and the latest, John,
about seventy years still later. "I'he first three, often called
the Synoptics because they cover more or less the same
ground, contain the stories about Jesus and the sayings as-
cribed to him which were current in the early Church,
derived, according to some scholars, especially the sayings,
from earlier sources. '"I'he fourth Gospel contains a theo-
logical interpretation of the tradition about Jesus.

141

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142 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

There is no book written by Jesus, like the book of Isaiah
or Amos. '"The part of the Hebrew Bible which is most like
the Gospels are the chapters in the Books of Kings with the
stories about Elijah and Elisha. It is interesting, an dit
may be significant, that some of the stories about Jesus re-
semble closely stories about Elijah and Elisha. Miracles
like those attributed to Jesus were attributed to them long
before the Gospels were written.
'The accounts of Jesus’s life, however, in the Gospels,
disagree in many details, some of them important. '"The
Sermon on the Mount, for example, is found only ın
Matthew. Some of the sayings in it occur in various places in
Mark. Luke puts some—not all—of them in an address on
a different occasıon and in a different place. 'The discrep-
ancies and contradictions in the Gospels entail the necessity
of selection. Anyone writing a life of Jesus must select the
details in the Gospels wıth which to construct his account.
'T'here is, therefore, no life of Jesus about which all students
of the Gospels agree. '"T’he details have to be selected on the
basis of probability. What probably happened? "The
question opens the door to personal feelings and preconcep-
tions. Christians and Jews naturally come to the Gospels
with different feelings and preconceptions. What will appear
probable to the one may appear highly improbable to the
other. What, however, can be said with reasonable prob-
ability from the Jewish point of view about the life of Jesus?
He was born at a time when the Jewish world was in a
state of turmoil. Palestine was a province of the Roman
Empire ruled by a Roman Governor. Some of the Gover-
nors treated the Jews considerately, but some, perhaps the
majority, ruled oppressively. '"I'he kings of the Jews were
at that time mere functionaries of Rome, puppets or figure-
heads. It galled the Jews to be under a foreign rule, and when
that rule was exercised with oppression, the bitterness turned
into the ferment of rebellion. Several times ‘ Messiahs ””

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY 143

arose to deliver the Jews from the oppressive rule of Rome;
they were executed for rebellion. -
The best-known of these ‘“ Messiahs ”’ arose more than
a century after the time of Jesus. He was Bar Cochba.
When he proclaimed himself the Messiah, many Jews,
driven by their bitter suffering under Roman rule, followed
him. The great Rabbi Akiba, who was among the chief
supporters of Bar Cochba’s Messianic claim, was executed
by the Romans. Though all this happened long after Jesus,
it throws some light on the events in his time.
About twenty centuries ago, in the turmoil provoked
among the Jews by the rule of Rome, there appeared one
who proclaimed that the end of the world with the judgment
of God was near and called on the people to repent of their
sins: ‘ Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The
Gospels call him John the Baptist. He probably belonged
to a sect called the Essenes who practised frequent ablutions
for the sake of ritual purity.
Jesus when a young man came under John’s influence.
The Gospel story of his life begins then. 'The place of his
birth is unknown. His father was one Joseph, a carpenter,
his mother’s name was Mary. Jesus lived with them in
Nazareth, presumably first learning and then practising his
father’strade. Thereis noindication in his later utterances that
he had more than the smattering of knowledge which he could
pick up through attending the Services in the Synagogue.
The impact of John’s personality had a tremendous effect
on Jesus. It stirred a sense of calling in him. First as a
disciple of John and later as his successor, he carried
the message: ‘‘ Repent ye for the Kingdom of God is at
hand.” He addressed himself primarily to the am ha-aretz,
the people of the land, the name given by the Rabbis to
those who had not made a study of the Law.
His teaching affected them strongly. The belief that the
world would one day come to an end, which seems to us

e S

144 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

fantastic, was widely held at the time. With it went the
belief that God would pronounce a final judgment on the
inhabitants of the earth resulting in the destruction of the
wicked and the salvation of the good. That gave point to
the call: Repent ye for the Kingdom of God is at hand. And
- Jesus taught that the way of repentance was open to all. Itdid
not require a knowledge of the Law, its ceremonial minutiae
were unimportant. Those who did not know them had as
good a chance of salvation as those who did; and perhaps
better, because they were not in danger of being puffed up
with pride by mere knowledge and meticulous observances.
Jesus’s attitude to ceremonial minutiae brought him into
conflict with the Pharisees. He did not depreciate the Law,
but he did not attach equal importance to everything which
the Pharisees included in it. There was a difference be-
tween him and them in the way they respectively presented,
or interpreted, the requirements of Judaism. Both Jesus
and the Pharisees were passionately loyal to Judaism, but
they differed about some elements in the ceremonial law.
They agreed about the divine character of the Law; they
agreed about the supreme importance of its spiritual and
moral commandments; they agreed, too, in the value they
attached to its chief institutions; but they disagreed about the
importance of some ritual prohibitions and requirements.
That, however, which brought him into conflict with the
Pharisees endeared him to the am ha-aretz, the populace.
His sermons to them took a wider sweep, however, than
questions of ritual observances. He spoke in pithy, and
sometimes paradoxical, sentences, about the fundamental
teachings of Judaism, about the spiritual nature of men,
their value in the sight of God, and the duties they owe to
one another. But perhaps even more than his teaching, his
personality deeply impressed those who heard him, so that
some gave up their occupations to become his disciples and
to share in his religious work.

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY 145

Somehow the idea arose among his followers that he was
the Messiah. Scholars disagree whether or not he himself
ever claimed to be the Messiah. It is conceivable that he
remained neutral to the suggestion, neither accepting nor
rejecting it, but leaving it to God to give the answer. That
would have been in accord with his deep overmastering faith.
The suggestion, however, that he was the Messiah
alarmed the Sadducees. They were the ruling party at the
time. The High Priest and the other priests of the Temple
belonged to it. When they heard that Jesus was acclaimed
by his followers as the Messiah, they feared that the Roman
Governor would take it to mean that the people were rising,
or would rise, in rebellion against Rome. For ¢ Messiah ”’
meant then one who would deliver the Jews from the rule
of Rome. To avoid the danger for the country in provoking
the wrath of Rome, the High Priest and his associates had
Jesus arrested and after an informal hearing—they did not
have the right of trial in capital cases—they handed him over
to the Roman authorities for trial on the charge of fomenting
rebellion. He was found guilty and executed in the Roman
way, by crucifixion, with the crime for which he was con-
demned inscribed on the cross. The letters which now are
frequently put at the top of crucifixes, I.N.R.I. stand for Jesus
Nazareth Rex Judaeorum—]Jesus Nazareth King of the Jews.
Jesus’s influence continued after his death. His followers
—they were all Jews—carried out, like all other Jews, the
Jewish practices of the time; differing from other Jews only
by their belief that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ.
When, however, Saul of Tarsus, better known by his Greek
name, Paul, was converted to this belief, he inaugurated a
movement, both in thought and practice, which led out of
Judaism. It produced a new religion which came to be
called Christianity. He gave Jesus a significance funda-
mentally different from that which was attached to the
Messiah. According to ancient belief, sin required a sacrifice

146 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

to be forgiven. So Paul interpreted the death of Jesus as the
sacrifice which obtained for humanity forgiveness for sin.
He made Jesus into the Redeemer, who by his death,
redeemed the world from the guilt which, Paul said, Adam’s
sin had laid on mankind and in which all men share indivi-
dually. By these teachings, and those related to them, Paul,
it may be said, founded Christianity.
They were foreign to Judaism and could not fit in with its
basic beliefs. Moreover, Paul neglected, in his zeal to win
converts to his faith among the Greeks and Romans, some of
the institutions of Judaism which were considered important.
This neglect involved him in a violent dispute with Jesus’s
brother James, who insisted that the ceremonial laws of
Judaism had to be observed. Paul, on the other hand,
maintained that Jesus had superseded the Law. In this
dispute, Paul was the victor. The beliefs he maintained
about Jesus came to be the beliefs of Christianity.
Christian belief about Jesus did not, however, stop with
the belief that he was the Redeemer or Saviour. It developed
into the belief that he was God Himself, that he incarnated
God, that he was God in the form of a man. That is the
essential belief about Jesus in traditional Christianity. It is
called the doctrine of the Incarnation. The phrase applied
to Jesus in the Gospels, son of God, was interpreted in that
sense. Its original meaning is not quite clear; but that
doesn’t matter, for we are not concerned with the original
ideas about Jesus, but with the position he came to hold in
Christian belief.
When, therefore, the question is asked: “ Why don’t
Jews believe in Christ?”’ we must, before answering, under-
stand clearly what is meant by “ believing in Christ.” It
might mean to believe that Jesus was a great religious
teacher, like the Prophets. Undoubtedly, some Christians
think of him in that way. Some Jews, too, are ready to
recognise that he was a great religious teacher. They are none

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY 147

the less Jewish for that. The teachings attributed to Jesus
are not contrary to Jewish teaching. Some Jewish scholars
have pointed to Jewish parallels to the sayings of Jesus in
the Gospels, which are found in Rabbinic literature,
including the sentences in the prayer which Christians call
““The Lord’s Prayer.” That does not mean that there was
nothing original in Jesus’s teachings, but it does mean that
there was nothing in them which is contrary to Judaism or
which is necessarily un-Jewish.
“To believe in Jesus Christ,” originally meant to believe
that he was the Messiah whom the Jews in the time of Jesus
hoped for and expected. Orthodox Jews, who still believe
in the coming of the Messiah, deny that Jesus was the
Messiah because he did not fulfil the role of the Messiah,
which was to restore Israel and to inaugurate the consum-
mation of human history in the Kingdom of God. For
Liberal Jews the question whether Jesus was the Messiah
does not arise, they do not hold the belief in a personal
Messiah, though their interpretation of Judaism includes the
hope for a Messianic age.
But the epithet * Christ” came to mean in Christian
belief much more than ‘“the Messiah.” = In Christianity
Jesus is the Redeemer and Saviour. For Judaism, God, and
God alone, is the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind and of
men. But, Christianity would answer, Jesus was God.
That 1s what it means ‘‘ to believe in Christ,” to believe in
the doctrine of the Incarnation. That doctrine is not inter-
preted alike by all Christians. But, however it is inter-
preted, it means that Jesus was not just a man, or just a great
man; it means that he was different from all other men who
have lived, or will live, in being more than a man; that he
was a divine man, a man who was all God.
Now, Judaism teaches that human beings have a divine
quality; they have, to put it simply, something of God in
them. The idea originated in such verses in the Jewish

148 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Bible as “ man was created in the image of God ”’ and * ye
are the children of God.” But Judaism has a conception of
God which precludes the belief that any man could, so to
speak, have the whole of God in him. For God is the God
of the universe, and no part of the universe can contain Him.
More than that, the whole universe cannot contain Him. He
is more than the universe. 'The heaven of heavens cannot
contain thee,” says the Bible. And there is a Rabbinic
saying: ‘ The universe is not the place of God, but God is
the place of the universe,” which may be interpreted that the
universe does not contain God, but God contains the
universe. Moreover, Judaism has always emphasised that
there is a difference in essence between God and man.
Though they are related, no one can be both God and man:
they are essentially different. That is the chief and funda-
mental reason why Jews do not “ believe in Christ.”” There
are subsidiary reasons. One is that the stories told about him,
which are in the Gospels, do not give any ground for such a
belief. But the main reason is that to ‘‘ believe in Christ ”’
is contrary to the Jewish belief in God.
Other beliefs followed from the belief in the Incarnation.
Whereas Judaism taught that God is one, indivisible, but
manifesting Himself in an infinite number of ways, Christ-
ianity taught, and teaches, that though God is one, yet He is
a trinity, manifesting himself in the three ways described in
the formula: Father, Son and Holy Ghost (i.e. holy spirit).
I cannot attempt to explain the doctrine of the trinity, for
I cannot claim to understand it fully; but it is evident that
there is a vast difference between the Christian belief in the
trinity of God and the Jewish belief in His unity.
Again, the place given to Jesus in the Christian scheme of
salvation distinguishes it from Judaism. It is the central
teaching of Christianity that Jesus is the Saviour for every
individual and the Saviour for all humanity, that through
his life, his crucifixion, and his present influence, the world

JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY 149

~will be saved, and every individual man can be saved by

believing in him. In this sense, Jesus stands between God
and man, as a go-between, a mediator. The Jew does not
believe that about Jesus, nor about any man. Judaism
teaches that there is a direct and immediate relation between
God and every individual human being. Everyone, no
matter how unworthy he feels, and we are all unworthy, can,
with his prayers, trusting to God’s love, come to Him to
ask for forgiveness for sin, and for help in his endeavours
towards goodness.
Similarly, while Christianity teaches that salvation must
come through Jesus, that he will save humanity from all
that is evil, that through him, or because of him, God will
save humanity, Judaism teaches that God Himself will save
humanity directly because He is good and all-loving, and He
lays on every man the duty to make himself an instrument
for God’s saving power.
There can be, and there is, I believe, no objection from
the Jewish point of view to the view that Jesus was a great
teacher. So were Confucius, Buddha or Mohammed. Jews
must, however, have a greater interest in Jesus than in any
of them because he was a Jew. He was born a Jew and he
died a Jew. If he criticised some of the religious practices
of his time, so did the Prophets before him; and like the
Prophets, he was loyal to the Jewish religion and attached
to the Jewish people. But any conception of Jesus and his
work beyond that of a great religious teacher is outside
Judaism.
There are, however, some Christians who do not believe
in the T'rinity or the Incarnation, so that their conception of
God appears to be like that of Judaism, and their religious
ideas generally appear to be like those held by Liberal Jews.
They differ, however, from Liberal Jews in several ways.
They hold the Christian conception of the relation between
God and man, while Liberal Judaism naturally holds the

\\‘W s e

150 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Jewish conception. Moreover, Jesus is for Christians who
do not believe in the Incarnation still more than a great man,
one who was not only greater than all other great men but
one who was in essence different from all human beings,
that he was unique. However much Jews may admire the
personality and teachings of Jesus given in the Gospels, he
remains for them a man.
There is a further difference between Liberal Judaism and
Liberal Christianity in that they have different traditions.
Liberal Judaism is based on Jewish tradition, Liberal Christ-
ianity follows Christian tradition. 'The spirit of the Jewish
tradition differs from that of the Christian tradition. The
different traditions give them different religious backgrounds
and different guides to thought and conduct. Moreover,
the difference in the histories and essential beliefs of the two
religions begets a difference between their attitudes towards
life. It cannot be defined sharply; itis largely a difference in
emphasis. Both religions, for example, attach value to man’s
life on earth, and both look on it as a preparation for another
life. The Christian tradition has perhaps emphasised the
second part more than the Jewish tradition did, and the
Jewish tradition emphasised the first more. The difference
in emphasis issues from somewhat divergent valuations of
this world. Liberal Jew and Liberal Christian agree in some
beliefs—just as Orthodox Jews and Orthodox Christians
agree in some beliefs—but there are also important differ-
ences between them. If, however, some Christians hold
beliefs like those of Liberal Judaism, they do not make our
position less Jewish, but their position more nearly Jewish;
and as Jews we should be deeply grateful that others are
coming to the Jewish conception of God and His relation
to the universe.
It has been said by some that the difference between
Judaism and Christianity is that Christianity is a religion of
love and Judaism a religion of justice. We need only be

" JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY I5I

reminded that the command : * Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bour as thyself ”’ is to be found in the nineteenth chapter of
Leviticus, that God’s promise: “I will love them freely ”
is in the book of Hosea, and that Jewish belief ascribes to
God the statement: “ I have loved thee with an everlasting
love.” For Judaism, God’s relation to the universe and to
man is described by love and justice, and man’s duty to man
includes both love and justice.
Another difference between Judaism and Christianity,
which is implied by all the differences between them, in-
volves the belief about the mission of the Jews. Christians
say that though the Jews had a mission before the coming
of Jesus, it has been taken over by Christianity. We Jews,
on the other hand, believe that we still have the task—and
it is a divinely appointed task—to maintain the teachings and
ideals which are essentially Jewish. They are different from
the teachings of other religions. We believe that they are
true, and that they are effective guides and spurs to right
living. Their truth and power enforces the duty to maintain
them ardently in our lives and to contribute them effectively
to the life of humanity. The distinctiveness of the Jewish
religion gives the Jews a mission to the world.
It should, however, be emphasised that though there are
important differences between all forms of Judaism on the
one hand, and all forms of Christianity on the other, the
adherents of the two religions have in common the spiritual
and ethical ideals that issue from the belief in God. Both
religions give to faith in God the central and basic place in
human life, both stress the high value of human personality,
and both lay on their adherents a duty to follow the highest
moral standards in conduct and to work for the Kingdom
of God. Each religion has a distinctive contribution to make
to the religious life of humanity, but they can work together,
as well as separately, to promote the influence of religion
among men and nations.

CHAPTER XVII
1HE HOLY DAYS

In addition to its ideas about God, man, and the universe,
and its directions for moral conduct, Judaism includes
observances. In Liberal Judaism they have a secondary
place; but there are some to which it attaches importance.
In general, the value of Jewish ceremonies is that they
can help to sanctify life, serve the bond which unites
all Jews, and symbolise the historical continuity of the
Jewish religion. The holy days fulfil this three-fold
~ function. They remind us that we live constantly in the
presence of God, that it should be our constant aim to make
our lives holy, and by their atmosphere they can help us .
in the effort to achieve it. Again, because they are observed
by Jews all over the world, they emphasise the unity of
Israel. Finally, by observing them, we are brought into
relation with Israel’s past.
The Sabbath.—First among the Jewish holy days is the
Sabbath. Its observance is enjoined in the T'en Command-
ments. There are two forms of the Commandments; one
is in Exodus 20 and the other is in Deuteronomy 5. They
do not both give the same reason for observing the Sabbath.
The one given in Exodus 20 1s that God, having created
the world in six days, rested on the seventh. In Deuter-
onomy 5, however, there is a different, and much more
impressive, reason. “‘ That thy manservant and thy maid-
servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt remember
that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and the Lord
thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and

152

THE HOLY DAYS 153

by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God
commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”
The reason in Exodus cannot be accepted literally. It
suggests, however, that the Sabbath may be conceived as
a reminder of God’s creative power and of His rule over
the universe. The reason given in Deuteronomy is the
more practical one. In ancient days much, if not all,
labour was slave labour, and we know only too well that
‘the slave did not receive too much consideration. The
Sabbath gave him a day of rest; it was, therefore, a most
valuable social institution. The fact that on it master and
slave alike rested, tended further to emphasise that before
God all men were alike, being His children.
Whatever the origin of the Sabbath, it became, among
the Hebrews, a social institution to guarantee the rights
of society’s weaker members. There still is in it some-
thing of this purpose, but it has now an additional meaning;
it is more than a day of rest from work. It remains a social
institution, but it is also a spiritual institution. The joy
and happiness which we should feel in it is not only the
kind that comes with physical rest, but that which comes
from close and intimate communion with God. While
we can commune with God always, the Sabbath day gives
us a special opportunity for it; it stimulates us to raise our
thoughts altogether to the very highest plane.
The spirit of the day is to be the chief guide in deciding
what we should do, and what we should avoid doing, on
the Sabbath. Anything which would make us forget that
it is the Sabbath. day, or destroy the feeling that we should
associate with it, should not be done. Those pleasures,
for example, which would jar the spiritual atmosphere of
the Sabbath, should be avoided. While, on the other
hand, the pleasures which do not violate its spirit are not
in the least objectionable; they might rather form part of
its joyous observance. ’

F

154 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

Unfortunately, however, it is not possible for all Jews
to observe the Jewish Sabbath by refraining from work.
The conditions in which we live make it necessary for
some to work on the Sabbath in order to earn their liveli-
hood. We must recognise and face that fact. What we
do ask of the Jews who have to work on the Sabbath is that
even during their work they keep in mind that it is the
Sabbath day, and that they observe in the true Sabbath
spirit the part of the day when they are free from work.
The first emphasis in Sabbath observance might be laid
on the Friday evening at home. A short service to mark
the beginning of the Sabbath helps us at once to enter into
its spirit. 'The joy we can find in the sanctified atmosphere
of the home fits the Sabbath and expresses its spirit. Con-
versely, the Sabbath observance in the home helps us to
feel the sanctity of the home and to realise the sanctity
of the love which makes a home. The Friday evening
Service in the home, therefore, reveals and fosters the
exalted Jewish conception of family life.
Then there is the public worship which, on the Sabbath,
will help us to feel its sanctity. There may, and as far as
possible there should be, public worship at other times;
but the Synagogue Services on the Sabbath day should be
especially significant; they should help all who join in them
to feel the joy and spiritual stimulus in the Sabbath day.
There is much more that could be said about Sabbath
observance, but it can all be summed up in one sentence.
We must use all means to deepen our joyous feeling of the
sanctity of the Sabbath; in that way it can help us to
‘sanctify our lives, and through it we can receive a deepened
sense of relation with God.
Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.—These days now have
a very strong hold on Jews because of their deep and vital
significance. They are observed perhaps more extensively
than any of the other holy days. The two may well be taken

THE HOLY DAYS 148

together, for they are closely related. Yom Kippur concludes
the T'en Penitential Days which begin with Rosh Hashanah.
Rosh Hashanah means the beginning of the year, and is

the name given to this day in post-Biblical times. The

€<

Bible knows of it in one place as ‘“ a memorial of blowing
trumpets,”’ and in another as *‘ a day of blowing trumpets.”
The references are Leviticus 23 : 24—25 and Numbers 29: 1-6.
We therefore speak of it as the ‘“ Day of Memorial.” It has
nothing to do with a memorial for the dead.
The Jewish year originally began with the month of
Nissan; and in the Bible, Tishri, the month which begins
with the Day of Memorial, is called the seventh month.
For reasons, however, into which it is not necessary to
enter, and about which there is some uncertainty, the
beginning of the seventh month was a particularly important
day. The first of every month was celebrated as the New
Moon, but the first of the seventh month was specially
observed; it was the chief New Moon. In post-Biblical
times, however, Tishri became, under earlier influences,
the first month, so that its first day became the beginning
of a new year. We do not now reckon our dates by the
Jewish calendar; January 1st is New Year’s Day. But Rosh
Hashanah remains for us the religious new year. It also
retains for us its vital significance because of its associ-
ations. It has for many centuries held an important place
in the lives of Jews. Furthermore, it begins the season
of Penitence culminating in Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur means the Day of Atonement. It has a very
long and interesting history which is bound up with the devel-
opment of the ideas of sin and forgiveness. It finally became
the supreme day in the Jewish Year because it deals with the
fundamentals of the religious life according to Judaism.
The theme of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and the
days between them consists of three parts: confession of
sin, repentance and atonement. Sin means separation

156 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

from God. It is brought about in various ways. For one.
- thing, all human beings are imperfect morally and spiritually.
In the second place, we all make moral and spiritual mistakes.
Our imperfections, our weaknesses, our faults, our mistakes,
must make us feel that because of them we are not so near
to God as we ought, and wish, to be. We must recognise
our shortcomings and errors—that is confession. We are
sorry for them; we are pained by them. We want to
remove them and overcome them. That is called repentance.
As a result, however, of sincere repentance, two things
follow. In the first place, when we feel truly sorry for our
faults and weaknesses and mistakes, and we ask God to
help us to overcome them, we come nearer to Him. That
is the beginning of Atonement. In the second place,
confession and repentance generate a greater power to
avoid moral mistakes in the future, to overcome spiritual
weaknesses, and to work harder to make our lives conform
to the will of God. That continues the way of atonement.
Furthermore, sins weaken the human soul. The doing of
wrong is, as it were, a push down-hill, which, unless checked,
may produce more wrong-doing. The observance of Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the right way can help us to re-
gain lost spiritual ground, to develop more spiritual strength,
to attain a higher degree of moral and spiritual vision.
Man is so constituted that something in him interferes
with, and hinders, his full realisation of God. Moral
and spiritual weakness dims our vision of Him. We
cannot see Him so clearly as we should. The soul be-
comes, as it were, clogged with sinfulness. It becomes
hardened by spiritual callousness. That which should
be the greatest possession of life, our knowledge of God,
is always in danger of being lost. These days, though
they cannot completely change our nature, can help us, if we
use them for sincere and devout communion with God, to
free ourselves from the darkness that obscures the vision of

R

THE. HOLY DAYS 157

God and the callousness that stifles the wish for it, and to
bring a clearer knowledge, and rouse a keener awareness, of
God and His presence. They can lead us nearer to God,
they can make us feel close to Him. That is Atonement.
On Rosh Hashanah, the characteristic ceremony is the
sounding of the Shofar, a ram’s horn. It was originally
used on all the New Moon days to announce the beginning
of the new month, to proclaim a fast, announce a holiday, or
summon an assembly. It has been retained in the Synagogue
only on Rosh Hashanah and, in Orthodox Synagogues, on

the days preceding it. Its sound may well mean for us a

call to enter into the spirit of the day, and to undertake
devoutly the self-examination which the penitential days
demand. |
The Day of Atonement is observed by Services in the
Synagogue which last throughout the day. Many Jews
refrain from all food and drink from sunset to sunset;
fasting on it is commanded in the traditional law. The
fasting should be treated as a sort of discipline, a training,
a special effort to attain a better understanding of the deepest
moral and spiritual significance of our lives. Yet, though
we speak of the methods of observance, it must be kept in
mind that, from the Liberal Jewish point of view, the
methods of observance must be such as will help individuals
to understand most fully the meaning of the day, and to
enter most fully into its spirit. Its spiritual value should
be kept uppermost, and all else must serve it; we must
observe it in a way that will give us its inspiration. Mere
formal or mechanical observance, no matter how strict,
will not do. It calls for the heart and mind. But even if
we observe the Day of Atonement rightly, it can only help
us to atonement, to a feeling of close relation with God;
it does not automatically establish that relation. To attain
it needs constant striving, constant praying, constant
spiritual and moral endeavour in our whole life.

158 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The season of penitence calls more urgently than any
other times for a close examination of ourselves. We
are asked to consider well, so far as we can, our deeds
and our hopes, our actions and our thoughts, all that makes
up our life, and by the light which God gives us to judge
- between that which is worthy and unworthy, and by the
strength and help which God gives us to eliminate the
unworthy and to strengthen the worthy. Here, perhaps
more clearly than in any other institution, appears the
real aim of all religious observances, to bring something
to the human spirit which will purify and sanctify its life,
and bring it nearer to God.
The Festivals.—There are three Jewish festivals: Passover,
Pentecost and Tabernacles. Their observance is commanded
in each of the codes which constitute the Pentateuch,
though the commands are not exactly the same in all. The
following table gives the relevant passages in the Bible.

RS o

Feast Exodus Leviticus Numbers | Deuteronomy
Passover . ..| 12:14-20 23: 8.8 h: 214 16: 1-8
I13: 3-10 28: 16—25
23: 1417 33: 3
34: 18
{compare
II Kings
231 81-23) :
Pentecost .. 23: 14419 23: 1521 28: 26 167 g-13
34: 22
Mabernacles. .| 23: 16 23: 34—36 29: 12—40 10117
(compare 34 22 2313044
Nehemiah
8: 14—18)

These feasts were probably, in their origin, nature festivals.
Each in its turn was a time of thanksgiving for some par-
ticular form of the earth’s produce. In the course of their
development they came to be associated with historic events.
Passover.—Passover was celebrated at the time of the
ripening of the grain harvest in Palestine. This harvest
lasted about seven weeks and concluded with the Feast of

THE HOLY DAYS 159

Pentecost. In its original form, Passover was known as
the Feast of Matsot—the feast of unleavened bread. It
was an agricultural spring festival; an older nomadic spring
festival was probably combined with it. The unleavened
bread was significant because it was the grain passing only
through the most necessary processes before being baked.
In the days of sacrifices such cakes were probably offered
in the Temple as a sign of thanksgiving for the harvest.
Passover came to be, very early in Jewish history, associated
with the Exodus from Egypt, as an annual commemoration
of, and thanksgiving for, that deliverance. It celebrates,
- therefore, the ideal of freedom, freedom in its spiritual,
as well as in its social sense, freedom to serve God and
freedom from oppression.
The Biblical command is that the Feast be celebrated
seven days, with the first day and the last day as rest days.
In Rabbinic law that time was extended to eight days.
There was some uncertainty as to the exact day on which
each month began, with a consequent uncertainty about
the exact days on which the feast should be celebrated.
To reduce the danger of any mistake, the Rabbis made it
eight days, with two rest days at each end. For the same
reason the other holy days, except the Day of Atonement,
were extended in the same way. For us, astronomy fixes
the exact times when the new moon appears. We know
when the first of Tishri (Rosh Hashanah) or the fifteenth of
Nissan (Passover) will be. Hence we observe them for
the number of days given in the Bible.
The distinctive features in the observance of Passover
are the home service on the first night when the story of
the Exodus is recounted, and when the whole significance of
the feast is reproduced by a number of symbols. Matsot
or unleavened bread, is used during the Festival. The
name ‘‘ Passover ” is a translation of the Hebrew ‘‘ Pesach,”
which means ‘‘ skipping over.” It did not originate in the

160 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

story about the tenth ‘‘ plague ” but probably in a spring
rite performed in very ancient times by shepherds.
Pentecost.—Pentecost is a Greek word which means
fiftieth. In the Bible the feast is called the Feast of Weeks.
On the second day of Passover, the High Priest brought
an offering in the Temple of an omer (a measure) of barley,
and a similar offering was made on each day for seven weeks.
At the end of this time, on the fiftieth day, Pentecost was
celebrated; hence its name. In some Synagogues the
custom i1s still retained of counting these * days of Omer,”
as they are called, between Passover and Pentecost.
Pentecost originally celebrated the end of the grain har-
vest, which was begun by the Passover. The two, therefore,
are one in celebrating the same agricultural event. Pentecost
is also called in the Bible “the feast of the First Fruits”
because it was the time when the first products of the fruit
harvest were brought as an offering. It is for us a kind of
summer festival. We observe it for one day, as prescribed in
the Bible; the Talmudic Rabbis extended it to two days.
The Rabbis associated this feast with the giving of the
law on Sinai. In Orthodox Judaism that is its paramount
significance. Since, however, we Liberal Jews do not
believe that the law was given all at once, but was taught
to Israel gradually, we associate its giving with the whole
of Israel’s history and with the whole development of
Judaism. But * the giving of the Law ” means revelation;
so Pentecost 1s a festival to thank God for the instruction
which he gave, and gives, to'Israel and to humanity, in
the knowledge of righteousness and truth.
Tabernacles.—The Hebrew name is ‘ Succot,” which
means booths. It is also called the Feast of Ingathering.
In the Bible it 1s sometimes called just ‘the feast.” It
also had its origin in an agricultural festival. It came at
the end of the fruit harvest in Palestine which completed
practically the agricultural labours for the year. It was

THE HOLY DAve 161

called * the feast”” because it was the great pilgrimage of
the year, when perhaps more generally than at the other
two festivals, the Jews from all over Palestine came to
Jerusalem to bring their offerings and to join in the cele-
brations. The Biblical command is that at the three
festivals all the males were to appear in Jerusalem. But
the greatest number came on the Feast of Tabernacles.
Booths are a distinctive feature of this feast. They
are perhaps (we cannot be certain) reminiscent of the booths
that were put up in Jerusalem for the accommodation of
all the pilgrims who came for the Festival. Or they may
be reminiscent of the harvesters’ booths. They have also
been referred back—and this gives the feast its historical
association—to the wanderings of the Israelites in the
wilderness, when it is said, they dwelt in booths.
Another distinctive feature in the celebration of this
Festival is the use of a palm branch and citron during the
morning services on the first seven days. They recall the
Palestinian fruit harvest. Liberal Synagogues are decorated
with fruits and branches which come with the harvests in
the lands where the ]ews live now.
The spiritual meaning of the feast is, therefore, in its
thanksgiving to God for His blessings. Many other thoughts
may be associated with it; it reminds men that they should
be humble, they are but *‘ sojourners on earth ’; it impresses
them with their dependence on God, they live not by their own
powers but by His mercy; and, furthermore, it emphasises the
duty to share our possessions with our fellow men. God has
given them to us to use for others as well as for ourselves.
One code in the Bible commands that the feast be
observed seven days; another code adds an eighth day,
“which is called the Feast of Solemn Assembly. Rabbinic
law extended Tabernacles to nine days, with the first two
and the last two as complete rest days. Liberal Jews,
however, observe the feast for only eight days, with the

F*

162 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

first and last days as complete rest days. In Orthodox
Synagogues, the last day, or the one before it, is known as
Simchat Torah (*‘ Rejoicing in the Law ). On it the
reading of the Scroll (which is read through once every
year, a defined section on each Sabbath of the year) is
completed and begun again.
Chanukkah.—Chanukkah is a minor feast, which com-
memorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians—
a victory which meant religious freedom for the Jews of
that time, and the preservation of the Jewish religion.
Its origin is given in 1 Maccabees 4: 52—59 and 2 Maccabees
10: 6-8. It lasts eight days but none of them are holy
days. 'The significant feature in its celebration is the
lighting of lights every evening beginning with one light
on the first night, and going on with two on the second,
three on the third, and so on, until eight on the eighth.
In some places the reverse custom was followed, beginning
with eight lights and finishing with one.
There is another traditional feast which, though observed
by some Jews, is not observed by all—the Feast of Purim.
'The basis for it is the story of Esther. It is a sort of spring
carnival with, I think, no particular religious significance.
The story upon which it is based is historically doubtful.
And there were some objectionable features in its cele-
bration. For these reasons, but particularly because it
lacks religious significance, many Liberal Synagogues do
not observe it.
Other Institutions.—In the Judaism that has come down
from the past there are other institutions besides the holy days.
Some of them are of a technical nature and it would go beyond
the limited scope of this book to discuss them here. Others,
like the dietary laws, are personal, observed by individuals in
their personal lives. The attitude of Liberal Judaism to
them is that individuals must decide for themselves which
personal observances can help them to live a Jewish life.

CHAPTER XVIII
WHAT IT MEANS 10 BE. & JENW

THE ideas which Liberal Judaism teaches, the way of life
it prescribes and the observances it maintains indicate how
it defines a Jew. To be a Jew, according to Liberal Judaism,
means to hold generally those ideas, to follow that way of
life, and to keep those observances. It means, in other
words and simply, to adhere to the Jewish religion in thought,
feeling and conduct. Adherence to the Jewish religion
implies, however, and involves, a sense of identity with
the Jewish people. To be a Jew also means, therefore, to
feel related to all Jews everywhere.
The nature of that relation is derived from the factors
which bind the Jews of the world into a unity. Why can
we speak of the “ Jewish People ” in spite of the differences
that exist among the Jews of the world? There are differ-
ences in nationality; some Jews are English, others are
French, others are American, and so on. There are also
racial or biological differences. There is a community of
Jews in India who look like the other Indians; they are
called B’nai Israel. In Abyssinia there i1s a community of
Jews, the Falashas, who are black like negroes. 'There
are biological variations even among the Jews of Europe.
But they are all Jews, they all belong to the House of
Israel. In spite of all the differences among them, the
Jews of the world constitute a people; but they are a people
in a different sense from any other people. Their unity
is based on religion and history.
The Jews of the world have a common religion. The
163

g’

164 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

religious differences among them are less than the differ-
ences between them and other religions. The differences
between Orthodox and Liberal Jews are less than the
differences between them on the one hand and Christians
and Mohammedans on the other. All Jews have in common
a fundamental Judaism. The sense, therefore, in the
individual Jew of identification with the Jews of the world,
of belonging to the Jewish people, of being 2 member of the
House of Israel, is rooted in his adherence to the Jewish
religion. A man is not a Jew simply because his parents
were Jews. Obviously his Jewish birth predisposes him
to adhere to the Jewish religion, but it does not by itself
make him a Jew. To be a Jew in more than name, he
must choose to adhere to the Jewish religion.
The Jewish religion is the fundamental basis of Jewish
solidarity; adherence to it engenders in the individual
Jew the feeling of relationship with all other Jews, so that
not only those who are born of Jewish parents but also
‘those who become Jews by conversion can have it. There
are some who call themselves Jews though they do not
adhere to the Jewish religion; that is because they think
that the Jews are a nation. But it is obvious that any one
who claims to be a Jew must be able to say the Shema;
he must be a Jew in the religious sense. That binds him
to all other Jews. Judaism creates the unity of the Jewish
people. . '
The unity 1s re-enforced by history. The Jews of the
world have up to a point a common history. And the
history which they have in common is more important to
every section of Jews than its own particular history. The
history of the Jews of England has in recent centuries
been different from the history of the Jews of America;
but both to the Jews of England and to the Jews of America
that part of Jewish history is most important which pro-
duced the prophets, the lawgivers, the philosophers and

p Ry

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JEW 165

poets. Moses, Isaiah, Hillel, Maimonides, Ibn Gabirol
belong to all Jews. Moreover, the Jews of the European
and the Western world, who constitute about ninety per cent.
of the Jews in the world, have had a common history until
comparatively recent centuries, a history which records
much suffering inflicted on them because they were Jews.
One result of their common hlstory in the past, and of
their unity, is that Jews of the various countries share in one
another’s history in the present. When Jews are given the
full status to which they are humanly entitled in one country,
Jews in all other countries rejoice. Similarly, when Jews are
persecuted in one country, all Jews feel the pain. They
want to help their suffering brethren. Judaism lays on
Jews the humanitarian obligation to help all who need
help, Jews and non-Jews alike. But it is obvious that
Jews who suffer hardship or persecution because they are
Jews have a special claim on the help of all other Jews,
who must, because they are Jews, feel the urge to give the
help. In this way the persecution of any section of Jewry
tends to strengthen the unity of Israel.
But it would be a mistake to think, as some people seem
to think, that persecution has given the Jews their strength
to survive. Fundamentally, the Jews live by their faith
in God, saying with the Psalmist: Whom have I in heaven
but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside
thee.” The Jews have lived by, according as they have
lived for, their religion. This has given them the strength
to resist persecution and to triumph over it. The indi-
vidual Jew who feels that God wants him to be a Jew
maintains his allegiance to Judaism at all costs. The
persecutions, however, which Jews have suffered for their
religion have strengthened the bond which unites all Jews.
But Jewish history has in it more, much more, than perse-
cutions; it has great spiritual achievements. All Jews
share in the historic heritage of Israel.

166 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

The common history of the Jews re-enforces their
common religion to maintain the unity which makes them a
people. It is, however, not quite exact or appropriate to
speak separately of the Jewish religion and the history of the
Jews. The two are inseparably interwoven. Each is a
part of the other. The Jews’ religion is at the centre of
their history. The history resulted from the religion.
When Jews suffered they suffered because of their religion.
The religious achievement of the Jews produced the great-
ness of the history and its outstanding importance for
humanity. That is all obvious and needs no elaboration or
argument. 'The converse, that Jewish history is part of
the Jewish religion, is not so obvious but equally true.
What the Jews experienced moulded their religion and the
experience was permanently embedded in the religion.
The Exodus from Egypt was an experience that implanted
in Judaism an insistent emphasis on men’s right to freedom
and a persistent demand for social justice. Many of the
great institutions of Judaism are associated with events in
the history of the Jews. Only Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur among the holy days have no historic associations,
though they are themselves full of historic memories and
sentiment. Other religions celebrate the lives of individuals.
The life of Jesus in Christianity, Mohammed in Islam,
Confucius in Confucianism, Buddha in Buddhism, is in
each case an integral part of the religion. Judaism does
not celebrate the life of any individual but it celebrates
the history of the Jewish people. In this way Judaism
gives to the Jewish people the place which other religions
give to individuals; Jewish history is, thus, an integral part
of the Jewish religion.
The religious importance of Jewish history is established
also in another way. It follows from the religious impor-
tance which Judaism attaches to the Jewish people. They
are the * chosen people,” * the witnesses of God,” ¢ His

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JEW 167

suffering servants,” and “an eternal people.” The idea
behind all these expressions is the same: The Jews as a
people have a special relation to God. They are, in the
language, of Amos, His first born. That means simple that
the Jews were the first to know Him. It is not a theological
but an historic assertion. It is an historic fact that the
Jews were the first monotheists. They discovered the
One God and they were the first to worship Him. It is
also an historic fact that the other monotheistic religions
derived their monotheism from Judaism. It is, therefore,
an historic fact that the Jewish people have stood in a special
relation to God.
It follows that a sense of membership in the Jewish people
can be a spiritual dynamic, it can help the individual to attain
an effective sense of relation with God. A power, therefore,
like that of mediation between God and man can be ascribed
to the Jewish people. The individual Jew can come to God
through his attachment to the Jewish people. It is true
that Judaism does not require an intermediary. It main-
tains that every man is immediately related to God,
that he can by his own efforts and the grace of God place
himself in God’s presence, pray directly to God, and
subject himself without any intervention to God’s influence
and saving power.
But while rejecting the need for an intermediary between
God and men, Judaism offers the individual numerous
helps in his striving to attain a close relation with God.
One of them is membership in the community of Israel.
The Jew is brought nearer to God by belonging to the
Jewish people. His relation to the Jewish people is
established by his adherence to the Jewish religion. His
spiritual life is affected by that relation because of the
religious significance in the collective life of the Jews. They
are a people of religion. So their life becomes a spiritual
force in the lives of the individuals who share in it. From

168 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

this intermediary role of the Jewish people their history
draws religious importance.
The same conclusion could have been reached in another
way. The history of the Jews is their life—stoi%r in which
God has manifested Himself. It contains the revelation of
God on the human plane.
Jewish history and the Jewish religion are, therefore,
interwoven. And this, incidentally, answers the people who
ask why Jewish history is given a large place in the religious
instruction of Jewish children. It is because Jewish history
is a part of the Jewish religion. The study of it can, there-
fore, serve the religious life of the Jew in two ways. In the
first place it can introduce him, so to speak, to God.
Secondly, it can cultivate the Jewish consciousness, that is,
the feeling in the individual Jew of his identity with the
Jewish people. And an effective sense of membership in
the community of Israel can help the individual to estab-
lish his personal relation with God. It brings him nearer
to God and it brings God’s law effectively into his life.
At the same time and for the same reason it can enforce
a high sense of responsibility. The special relation between
God and Israel entails a collective obligation on the Jews;
they have a mission. Every Jew has an individual share in
the obligation, which he can fulfil by living up to the hlghest
spiritual and moral demands of Judaism. Because he is a
Jew, he must, under the instruction of Judaism and in
loyalty to the Jewish people, pursue in the name of God
and Judaism the moral and spiritual ideals which constitute
righteousness.
The sense of identification with the Jewish people has
therefore, for the individual Jew several kinds of importance.
It helps him to establish his relation with God, it brings
him under the influence of the Jewish religion and
strengthens his loyalty to it, it enforces a high sense of
moral and spiritual obligation. But it does all these things

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A JEW 169

because it identifies him with a people which has a special
relation to God. Judaism is a personal religion, and also
the religion of a people. When an individual possesses it
personally it binds him to the Jewish people; and when he
feels his membership in the Jewish people it strengthens
his personal hold on the religion. To be a Jew, therefore,
means adherence to the Jewish religion with an effective
sense of relation to all Jews in the universal community
of Israel. ‘
From the definition of what it means to be a Jew we can
deduce the ideal of the good Jew. It begins with faith.
The good Jew must give to faith in God the commanding
place in his life. The desk at which the leader of the Service
stands in some synagogues has the inscription (in Hebrew):
Know before whom thou standest. For the good Jew the
admonition applies to the whole of life : Know before whom
(in whose presence) thou livest. A great philosopher has
said that we should look at things in the light of eternity.
Similarly the good Jew must strive to live by the light of
faith in God. With it he faces all that life brings him,
thanking God for its blessings, drawing help from Him to
bear its burdens, and resisting its blows with a spiritual
power that turns them into spiritual progress.
Secondly, the good Jew must pursue righteousness. By
his faith in God he is instructed in the knowledge of
righteousness and impelled to live righteously, to exercise
love and justice in all his relations with others, and to work
for a social order based on justice and infused with the spirit
of human brotherhood. |
Thirdly, the good Jew must give time to prayer and
study. In them he expresses, and by them he feeds, his
faith in God, using his spiritual, intellectual and emotional
endowments in His service.
Fourthly, the good Jew feels the solidarity of Israel. He
identifies himself with the life of the Jewish people, realising

S F' A

1’70 THE ESSENTIALS OF LIBERAL JUDAISM

his obligation to help Jews who suffer special hardship
because they are Jews, and, above all, realising the responsi-
bility which the mission of Israel lays on every Jew to show
by his life the power of Judaism and to contribute by his
life to its influence.
Fifthly, the good Jew must conceive life, personality, and
conduct in terms of holiness. Observances can help him
to keep the ideal before him and to give his life and home
that indefinable atmosphere which we call the beauty of
holiness. Though few among men have fully attained to
holiness yet it belongs to the religious conception of life to
strive for it. It distinguishes the religious from the non-
religious way of living. All that holiness means is included
in the third element of Micah’s definition of the good life :
to walk humbly with God. It is the ideal for character and
conduct, unattainable as it is majestic, but Judaism makes it
the guide to the Jewish way of life.

APPENDIX
JEWISH LITERATURE
THE BIBLE

THE Bible, as it has been handed down by Jewish tradition,
consists of three parts. The first part, the Pentateuch (from
the Greek, meaning five books), which contains the books
of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,
is called the TORAH, commonly translated the LAW. This
name was also sometimes applied to the whole of the
Bible, and sometimes to the Bible and Talmud together.
But it belongs primarily to the first five books of the
Bible.
The second part of the Bible, in the traditional arrange-
ment, is called the Prophets. It is sub-divided into two
parts. 'The first part, which consists of the books from
Joshua to II Kings, is called the Earlier Prophets, because
it was believed that they were written by Prophets. The
second sub-division is called the Latter Prophets, and
includes the prophetic books from Isaiah to Malachi. The
first three books in this division, Isaiah, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, are called the major Prophets; the remaining twelve,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi,
are called the minor Prophets. ° Major” does not mean
more important, and ‘‘ minor ”’ less important, but * major ”’
means bigger books and “ minor ”’ smaller books.
The third collection is called the Writings (the Greek
word ¢ Hagiographa ” which means *‘ sacred writings ”’ is

171

1772 APPENDIX

the name frequently applied to it). It includes Psalms,
~ Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah and I and II
Chronicles.
In the English translation of the Bible several books
which the Hebrew Bible includes in the third section are
scattered through the second section. The Book of Ruth is
placed after Judges, because its story is put in the time of
the Judges. The Books of I and II Chronicles, Ezra and
Nehemiah follow the Second Book of Kings because they
deal with history. The Book of Daniel is put after Ezekiel
because the story is put in the time of Ezekiel. Lamenta-
tions is placed after Jeremiah because there was a tradition
that he was its author. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
and the Song of Solomon are put before the books of the
Prophets.

The following gives in tabulated form the traditional
Jewish arrangement of the Bible:

The Torah, Law br Pentateuch:

Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy

The Earlier Prophets:

Joshua
Judges
I and IT Samuel
I and IT Kings

The Latter Prophets:
The Major Prophets—

~ Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel

— JEWISH LITERATURE 173

The Minor Prophets (in Hebrew, often referred .to as
‘“ T'he 'T'welve ”’)—
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
The Hagiographa:
Psalms
_ Proverbs
Job
Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra
Nehemiah
I and II Chronicles

THE TALMUD

The Talmud consists of two distinct parts. '"T'he first is
the Mishnah. "I'he word means instruction or study. It
is the name given to a collection of laws which was compiled
by Judah Hanasi (Judah the Prince) in the third century _
C.E. (Common Era, corresponding to the designation A.D.
used by Christians).
Besides the Mishnah, the Talmud, as it exists now, and
as it has existed since about 500 C.E., contains the discussions
which took place in the Rabbinic academies about the laws

174 APPENDIX

in the Mishnah. These discussions deal largely with the
Biblical grounds to be ascribed to the laws in the Mishnah,
their application to practice, and so on. In the course of
these discussions however, other than legal matters were
brought in, and so this part of the Talmud, which is called
Gemara, contains not only legal discussions but such
things as history, philosophy, folklore, medicine, and so on.
It might perhaps be useful to describe briefly the kind
of academies in which these discussions occurred. As the
knowledge of the Law was considered the supreme pos-
session, its study was looked upon as a paramount religious
duty. Not everyone, however, could devote himself to it.
‘Those who did sought out a Rabbi who had a reputation
for great learning. In this way, academies were established.
The procedure in them consisted, however, not only of
lectures by the teachers, but also of discussions in which
the more advanced students participated while the beginners
listened. The leading Rabbis obtained disciples which were
called schools. The most famous were the Schools of
Hillel and Shammai. Hillel and Shammai were two out-
standing masters of the law, who lived in the first century
before the Common Era. Their Schools continued long
after them. Following their respective masters, the School
of Hillel interpreted the law in a more lenient way, while
the School of Shammai adopted usually a stricter inter-
pretation. It finally, however, became an established
principle in Talmudic law that where the Schools of Hillel
and Shammai differed, the law was, with a few exceptions,
according to the School of Hillel. There are, however, a
number of legal discussions reported in the Talmud which
reached no definite conclusion.
The Gemara (learning, or study), which had been accumu-
lating for about 300 years, was compiled and edited by
Rabbi Ashi in the fifth century c.e. His work was completed
by Rabina towards the end of that century. It is not known

THE TALMUD 178

exactly when it was all written down. At first it existed in
the minds of the compilers who entrusted it to the memory
of their pupils. When finally it was written down, and later
printed with commentaries, it filled a number of bulky
volumes. Each book is called a tractate. Each tractate has
a name taken most often from the subject with which it
mainly deals. One tractate, for example, is entitled ‘“Rosh
Hashanah’’; another is called ‘“Sanhedrin.” The tractates are
grouped according to their subjects into six *“ orders.”” There
is a small tractate in the Mishnah (it has no Gemara) with
the title Pirke Abot (Chapter of the Fathers) which con-
tains a collection of religious and ethical sayings by Rabbis.
There are three kinds of laws in the Talmud:
1. Laws for which some ground is found in the Bible.
2. Laws for which no such ground is found; they are just
called laws given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
3. Rabbinic enactments.
There are various kinds of Rabbinic enactments. Some
are wholly new, others are developments of Biblical laws to
make them stricter. There are, however, also Rabbinic
enactments which change Biblical laws. A famous example
deals with the law of the Sabbatical Year. According to
the Pentateuch, all debts were cancelled in the Sabbatical
Year. The effect of that law was that as the Sabbatical
year approached, people who needed loans found it difficult,
and practically impossible, to obtain them. Hillel, therefore,
prescribed a method by which a debt remained valid during
and after the Sabbatical Year. He practically abrogated a
Biblical law.
. The Talmud, then, consists of an earlier part called the
Mishnah, which contains only laws without any discussions
about them. These laws deal with religious practices and
with matters which are now the subject of civil laws, such
as property rights, relations between partners in business,
marriage and divorce, and so on. The second part, which

176 APPENDIX

is by far the larger part, called the Gemara, consists of the
discussions which took place in academies about the laws
in the Mishnah. There were academies in Babylonia and
in Palestine. The discussions of the Babylonian academies
are in the Babylonian Talmud. The discussions of the
Palestinian academies are in the Jerusalem Talmud. The
former is very much larger than the latter. It is the one
referred to whenever the Talmud is mentioned nowadays.
In the Gemara the contents are very varied. The legal
portions are called Halachah, which means law. The other
parts are called Haggadah, which means narrative.
The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled—but only mentally
—about 400 C.E.; the Babylonian Talmud—also only
mentally—by Rabbi Ashi about a century later. The com-
pilations may have been based on written notes. At any
rate, they were not written down till some time later—it is
not known when.
The Rabbis who are mentioned in the Mishnah and who,
therefore, lived before 300 C.E., are called Tanaim (plural
of Tana, which means teacher). The Rabbis mentioned in
the Gemara, who, therefore, lived between 300 and 500 C.E.,
are called Amoraim (plural of Amora, which means teacher,
or commentator). The method of deducing laws or ideas
from Biblical verses is called Midrash, which means exposi-
tion. It is also the name for the books which contain such
expositions. It is, however, most frequently applied to
books which expounded the Bible in a homiletical way.

THE JEWIsH APOCRYPHA

The Jewish Apocrypha is a collection of books written
by Jews in post-Biblical times, some going back to the
second century B.C.E., which were not included in the
Jewish Scriptures. They are important for the history of
the Jewish religion and its development. The word

THE JEWISH APOCRYPHA 177

“apocrypha” means ‘ hidden away.” It is not certain
why this name was given them. The probable reason is
that they were considered too sacred for general use, but
not sacred enough for reading in the Synagogue. It is also
suggested by scholars that some of them may have belonged
to particular sects with esoteric teachings. Some of these
b ooks were written in Hebrew; others in Greek. A few of
them contain old stories, like “Judith and Holophernes” and
“’The Book of Tobit.”” ‘“The Book of Ecclesiasticus’ contains
the sayings of Jesus (the Greek for the Hebrew Joshua), the
son of Sirach, who lived about 200 B.c.E. Itislike the book
of Proverbs in the Bible. The “Wisdom of Solomon” is a
composite book, the first part of which might be called
religious philosophy. The belief in the immortality of the
soul has an important place in it. It has nothing to do with
Solomon, but the author adopted the literary device of
making a wise king the speaker, and since Solomon was
looked upon as the wise king, the book got the title “Wisdom
of Solomon.” The books of the Maccabees (I and IT) give
versions of the history of the Maccabaen and preceding
periods.
There are no laws in the books of the Apocrypha. That
may partly explain the fact that little attention was paid to
them in later Judaism. On the other hand, they do show
some of the ideas which Jews had in the period which
roughly corresponds with the time in which the Mishnah
was developed. Apart from their intrinsic interest, some
of the books in the Jewish Apocrypha are important for the
history of the development of the Jewish religion.

PosT-TALMUDIC JEWISH LITERATURE

After the Talmud, Jewish religious literature became
more varied. In the first place, some Jewish religious
teachers wrote commentaries on the Bible and Talmud.

178 APPENDIX

Some of these commentaries were just exegetical, they
explained the text. The best-known commentator is
Rashi, a name composed of the initials of his full Hebrew
name and title, which was Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac. He
lived 1040 to 1105. His commentaries cover the whole of
the Bible and Talmud. It has been said that he was the
ideal commentator, because he seemed to know exactly
what passages a student would find difficult and want to
have explained. Some commentaries were, however,
homiletical, that is, they based religious or moral lessons on
Biblical texts. Perhaps Moses ben Nachman, commonly
called Nachmanides (“1des” is a Greek ending which
corresponds to the Hebrew “ben” and Arabic *ibn ”—
all mean ““son of ’), who lived 1194 to 1270, belongs to this
category.
In connection with the study of the Bible there were
Jewish scholars who wrote about Hebrew grammar. The
best-known was perhaps David Kimchi, who lived 1160 to
1235. He also produced a commentary on the Bible.
Another commentator on the Bible was Abraham ibn
Ezra, who lived 1092 to 1167. He also wrote some poetry
for the Services in the Synagogue. Maimonides wrote a
commentary on books of the Bible and on the Talmud.
Bertinoro (Obadiah ben Abraham), who lived in Italy in
the second half of the fifteenth century, wrote a commentary
on the Mishnah.
Some Jewish religious teachers produced compilations of
the laws. The most famous of these are the compilations
by Maimonides (1135-1204) and Joseph Caro (1488-1575).
Maimonides’ codification of the law is called Mishneh
Torah; Caro’s codification is called the Shulchan Aruch,
which means * prepared table,” a name given to it because
Caro wrote it to give children and those who couldn’t
themselves read and study the Talmud a digest of its laws.
The following are among the best-known Jewish philoso-

POST-FALMUDIC JEWISH LITERATUKE 179

phers or theologians: Philo (Judaeus, the Jew), who lived
in Alexandria, in Egypt, from 20 B.C.E. to after 40 c.E. In
his chief work he combines Neoplatonic philosophy with the
Bible. Saadya Gaon, 892—942, who lived first in Egypt.
and the last part of his life in Sura, in Babylonia. ‘ Gaon
was a title given to the heads of the Rabbinic academies
of Babylonia. His best-known book deals with the doctrines
of Judaism. Solomon ibn Gabirol, who lived in Spain,
1021 to 1058. It is said that his philosophy influenced the
Schoolmen, Christian philosophers who lived in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries. Bachya ibn Pakudah, who lived in
Spain, in the eleventh century. His chief work is “The
Duties of the Heart.”” Judah ha Levi, 1086 to 1140, in Spain,
wrote a book called “ The Cusari,” in which he expounds
the i1deas of Judaism and gives philosophic arguments for
them. He uses as a framework for his philosophy the story
of a Turkish people, living in South Russia, who were con-
verted to Judaism. The story, as he tells it, is that the King of
the Chazars called in a Jew, a Christian, and a Mohammedan,
to expound their respective religions, and in the end, being
convinced by the arguments in favour of Judaism, he
became a Jew, and converted the people over whom he ruled
to Judaism. Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) who lived
1135 to 1204, in Spain and Egypt. His most famous book
on Jewish philosophy is called “More Nebuchim” (Guide
to the Perplexed), in which he connected his philosophic
ideas, which were based largely on those of Aristotle, with
the Bible. He is the author of a Creed, consisting of
thirteen articles, usually printed in Orthodox Jewish prayer
books after the weekday morning service. Moses
Mendelssohn, who lived, 1720 to 1786, in Germany. He
wrote on various philosophic subjects. Besides his work on
philosophy he holds an important place in Jewish history,
because with him began the modern period in Jewish
history. He translated the Pentateuch into German; in

180 APPENDIX

that, and in other ways, he opened the way for the com-
bination of Judaism with modern culture.
Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza (1632 to 1677) was the greatest
of the philosophers who were Jews. But it may be questioned
whether he can appropriately be included in a list of Jewish
philosophers. Not because he was excommunicated by the
Orthodox Jewish authorities of Amsterdam—the excom-
munication would not have made him any the less a Jew,
especially as it probably had a political purpose—but
because he did not concern himself primarily with a
philosophy related to the Jewish religion. But it would, I
‘think, be generally agreed by students of his philosophy that
it shows the influence of Jewish thought.
- Some outstanding exponents of Liberal Judaism were: in
Germany, Leopold Zunz (1794 to 1886) and Abraham
Geiger (1810 to 1874); in America, Isaac Mayer Wise
(1844 to 1896) and Kaufman Kohler (1843 to 1926); in
England, Claude G. Montefiore (1858 to 1938) and Israel
Abrahams (1858 to 1925).
There have been a number of Jewish poets who wrote
- religious poetry, much of which is to be found in the
traditional services for the Synagogue. The best-known are
Ibn Ezra, Ibn Gabirol and Judah ha Levi, who have already
been mentioned in other connections. Some of their poetry
has been included, in translations, in our prayer book. A
number of Jewish religious poems, however, are anonymous.
The best example is the “ Adon Olam.” It is a poem about
God. It has been ascribed to Ibn Gabirol, but it is not
certain who composed it. The “ Yigdal ”’ is a poem based
on the thirteen articles of belief formulated by Maimonides.
Josephus (37-after 100 C.E.) was the first Jewish historian.
He took part in the war against the Romans. During the
latter part of his life he lived in Rome. His chief work
is a history of the Jews entitled ¢ The Antiquities of the
Jews.” ' ’

THE TRADITIONAL PRAYER BOOK 181

THE TRADITIONAL PRAYER BooOK

In the Traditional liturgy for the Synagogue there are
three services, Morning (in Hebrew, Shacharit), Afternoon
(in Hebrew, Minchah) and Evening (in Hebrew, Ma’arib) for
every day. 'The Sabbath and holy days have an Additional
Service (in Hebrew, Musaph) after the morning Service.
The Day of Atonement has a Closing Service (in Hebrew,
Ne’ilah) at the end of the day.
Each of the three daily Services consists of an introduction,
the main part, and a conclusion. The centre of each Service
is the Amidah (which means ‘standing ™) recited while
standing, preceded by the Shema with its supplements and
introduction.
Readings from the Scroll are prescribed for the Services
every Sabbath morning and afternoon, all holy day mornings,
the evening of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the
afternoon of the Day of Atonement and the afternoon of
the ninth of Ab (the fast commemorating the destruction of
Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 c.E. by the Romans).
The main structure and contents of the Synagogue
Services seem to have been settled about 300 c.E. after an
obviously long development. Many prayers, however, in
the present Prayer Book of Orthodox Judaism, were added
later. In the Middle Ages many poems (in Hebrew,
piyutim) were introduced in the Services for holy days,
special Sabbaths and fast days. Not all deserved such a
distinction. Some, however, constitute the outstanding
post-Biblical religious poetry of the Jews. Some poems got
into the Service for all days. The Adon Olam and the
Yigdal are the best-known examples. The former has
been ascribed to Solomon ibn Gabirol ; the latter must
have been written after the time of Maimonides, and
could have been given a place in the Prayer Book only

182 | APPENDIX

after his creed, which at first evoked considerable opposition,
came to be generally accepted. This hymn has been some-
what altered in some Liberal Jewish Prayer Books to make
it conform with the teachings of Liberal Judaism.

JEwWIsH SECTS

Not all Jews always agreed in their beliefs and practices,
At the time of Jesus there were two sects, the Sadducees
and the Pharisees. The Sadducees recognised only the
authority of the Bible, rejecting completely the Rabbinic
developments in ceremonial practices and other laws. A
similar difference had existed for some time between the
Jews and the Samaritans, but in that case it was even bigger
because the Samaritans recognised as scripture only the
Pentateuch, and, it would seem, the book of Joshua. There
are still a few of them in Palestine. Among the Pharisees
there was a sect called the Essenes. Jesus, some scholars
think, was one of them. We know very little about them,
but it would seem that they laid great emphasis on what
they conceived to be ritual purity, lived solely by manual
labour in communities without private property, and gave
much of their time to study and devotion.
In the tenth century, a Jewish sect was founded called
the Karaites, who, like the Sadducees, recognised only the
authority of the Biblical law, which they observed with
literal strictness. They are called Karaites (in Hebrew
‘““ Karaim ”’) because of their adherence to the *‘ written
Law,” which in Hebrew is called ‘“ Mikra.” They have
considerable communities in Egypt, Turkey and Southern
Russia.
In the eighteenth century, a sect arose in Poland, under
the leadership of a man known in history as Israel Baal Shem
(Tob), which means * Israel of the good name,” with the
possible, and even probable, mystical suggestion of one who

JEWISH SECTS 183

stands closest to, or has special power with, God. The
sect has the name Chassidim (the pious). It objected to
the amount of attention given to the legalistic aspect of
Judaism by the study of the Talmud and meticulous
ritualism. Its adherents came to be known for their ecstasy
in prayer, sometimes induced by such means as swaying
the body. In essence, however, Chassidism stressed the
worship of God with feeling rather than thought, and
joyous feeling. It had another aspect, too. It gave an
important place to the Zohar, a book (in several volumes)
which contains the Kabbala (which literally means T'radition
and developed the implication of esoteric doctrines), a
mixture of real mysticism with fantasy and even super-
stition. The adherents of this sect are to be found in all
the lands where there are Jews from the old Poland, where it
originated, and from Galicia, Southern Russia and Lithuania,
where it spread soon after its beginning.
Two terms frequently used to distinguish between Jews
might be appropriately explained here, though they do not
name different sects: “‘ Ashkenazim’ and “ Sephardim.” The
former is applied to the German Jews, who, in this context,
include not only the Jews of Germany but the Jews in other
lands such as Russia, Poland, England, America, and so on,
whose ancestors came from Germany, in some cases centuries
ago. The “ Sephardim ” are the Jews descended from the
Jews of Spain and Portugal. There are no important
religious differences between the two groups; their
Synagogue Services vary in some minor respects.
The main forms of Judaism to-day are Orthodox Judaism
and Liberal Judaism. The former, it may be said, dates
back to the Talmud. The authoritative book for its practices
is the ¢ Shulchan Aruch”, written by Joseph Caro in the
sixteenth century to supply a digest of Talmudic laws.
Liberal Judaism originated in Germany early in the nine-
teenth century. The form of Judaism which calls itseif

184 APPENDIX

Conservative can justifiably be classed with Liberal
Judaism, though in America, its chief home, it adheres
more closely to traditional observances than Liberal (or, as
it is often called in America, Reform) Judaism. On the other
hand, Synagogues in America calling themselves Conserva-
tive have gone further from traditional forms than some of
the Liberal Synagogues in Germany. And it can be said
of “Conservative Judaism > generally that, like Liberal
Judaism, it accepts the principle of development, or change,
in Jewish thought and practice.
Though the differences between Liberal Judaism and
Orthodox Judaism are important, they need not interfere
with the unity of Israel. That unity is based on the distinc-
tive Jewish fundamentals, like the belief in the unity of God,
which both maintain; on the attention both give to Jewish
Tradition, though they do not agree in their attitudes to
some individual traditions; and on the heritage of Jewish
history, in which all Jews share.

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THE ESSENTIALS
LIBERAL JUDA

by
ISRAEL 1. MATTUCIK, AM B
Rabbi, Liberal Yewish Synagogue

LONDON

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS
BROADWAY HOUSE, 68-74 CARTER LA ‘;

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