Judaism, Christianity and the modern social ideals

BM 729 .S6 F6 1919
Fox, Gresham George, 1883-
Judaism, Christianity and
the modern social ideals

JUDAISM j^

CHRISTIANITY

AND THE

MODERN SOCIAL
IDEALS

by y
G. GEORGE FOX

TEMPLE BETH EL

1919

MONITOR PUBLISHING COMPANY

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

COPYRIGHT 1918

THE MONITOR PRESS

FORT WORTH

TEXAS

DEDICATED
TO MY PARENTS WHOSE SACRIFICES, AND
TO MY WIFE WHOSE DEVOTION, EXEM-
PLIFY SOME OF THE IDEALS SET
FORTH IN THIS WORK

PREFACE

Within the last quarter of a century a
large number of books has been written
dealing with the life of Jesus, his ethics and
their relation to our social ideals. Here in
America, works of which the "Social Teach-
ings of Jesus," and "Christianity and the
Changing Order," by Prof. Shailer Mathews ;
" Christianity and the Social Crisis, "
by Prof. Rauschenbusch, and "Jesus Christ
and the Moral Question," by Prof. Peabody,
are the best types, have rightly shifted the
emphasis of Christianity from the dogmatic
to the social and ethical side. In his "Social
Teachings," Prof. Mathews has sounded the
proper note, for in these days, religion must
be socialized to be vital.

But from a perusal of this literature, one
is made to feel that Christianity alone is to
be credited with the best of our social ideals.
One cannot find fault with Christian scholars
for their magnificent allegiance to what they
believe to be the ideals of their Master. But
one looks in vain for an adequate evaluation
of the tremendous influence of Judaism upon
both the ancient and the modern life. Surely
the Jewishness of Jesus himself played some
part in the growth and development of our
present day social ideals !

8 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

The following pages have been written be-
cause the writer believes that Judaism has
been overlooked in the consideration of those
forces which influence and refine modern life.
He believes that most of the teachings of
Jesus are as Jewish as those of any well-
known teacher of the post-biblical writings.
He believes that our present day social ideals
are Jewish, and that many would agree with
him if the information to substantiate this
were at hand.

No one can deny that there is need for an
exposition of the Jewish teachings and their
relation to those of Jesus. Men are desirous
to learn and a spirit of fair-mindedness is
abroad. Works of this sort abound in Europe,
in America they are extremely scarce. The
ideals of Jesus, however, have found exposi-
tion in many volumes ; to compare the Jewish
ideals with these, and to answer too, the ques-
tion of the attitude of liberal Jews towards
their ancient co-religionist — a question asked
many times of the writer — is the task of this
work.

That these pages may to some extent clear
up the misunderstanding with regard to an-
cient Judaism and its influence on modern
life, is the fervent hope of the writer.

I desire to express my thanks here to the
late Prof. George Burman Foster of the Uni-
versity of Chicago, and to Dr. Louis Gross-
man of the Hebrew Union Teachers' College,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 9

Cincinnati, for reading the manuscript of this
work, and for the encouragement which they
gave me; to my friend and colleague, Rabbi
David Rosenbaum of the Austin Temple and
the University of Texas, for his painstaking
assistance and for his suggestions; and to
Miss Ethel Fox for assistance in preparing
the manuscript for the press.

G. G. F.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Preface 7

Chapter I The New Testament Sources 13

Chapter II Post-Biblical Jewish Ideals 47

Chapter III Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphic

Ideals 79

Chapter IV The Jewish Ideals and the New

Testament 118

The Fatherhood of God 122

The Brotherhood of Man

and Brotherly Love 138

Social Justice 157

Individual Righteousness 179

Charity 204

Peace 211

Chapter V The Attitude of Liberal Jews To-
wards Jesus 226

Abbreviations 265

Notes 267

Index 281

JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY

AND

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS

CHAPTER I.

The New Testament Sources

The works mentioned in the introductory
remarks, and their kind, are the results of
the studies of some who believe that the pres-
ent day social ideals have their source almost
wholly in the New Testament, and in the
teachings of the Man of Nazareth. These
books deal in the main with the social teach-
ings of this leader whom their authors regard
as the greatest teacher of mankind. They see
him as the ideal, divine man, and by project-
ing his life into our own times, they hold it up
as a standard so perfect that if imitated by
all, there could be no room for the social in-
equalities which spring up through human
shortcomings and human wickedness. Their
knowledge of the life and deeds of Jesus they
obtain Wholly from the New Testament writ-
ings or from sources even later. The gospels

14 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

in particular form the sources upon which
the life of Jesus is constructed.

In the following chapters we shall not at-
tempt to deny to Christianity any influence
that rightly came from it. But we are not
ready to admit that the modern social ideals
are the fruits of the New Testament, and are
the sole and original contributions of Jesus.
Nor will we agree that the New Testament
writings form an historical source reliable
and authoritative enough to create either for
Jesus or against Judaism certain assumptions
which many non-Jewish scholars are in the
habit of making. We believe that the modern
social ideals are the fruitage of other and
stronger forces of Which Jesus was only a
part, and we shall endeavor to show that the
ethics of this teacher were part and parcel of
Jewish thought and life previous to, contem-
porary with, and subsequent to, his days, be-
cause there was a continuity in Judaism after
the early Biblical and post-Biblical contribu-
tions, which was not influenced at all by early
Christianity. There was from the days of
Israel's earliest teachers a continuous stream
of ethical thought and teaching, and of this
Jesus drank deep. He was a child of his day,1
a Jew of his time,2 and a preacher of a com-
mon type of Judaism of his time. To confirm
this statement, we shall bring forth evidence
not only from the Biblical sources, but from

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 15

the teachings and the traditions which were
common before and after the advent of the
daughter religion, and which now form that
important literature known as the Apocry-
pha, Pseudepigrapha, Misnah, Midrash, and
Talmud. And we shall in the closing chap-
ter attempt to sum up the reasons why Jews,
acquainted with their history, their litera-
ture and their religion, cannot accept Jesus
either as Messiah, Redeemer and Savior, or
as the Perfect and Sinless Man of history.

In citing the teachings of Jesus as histori-
cal and authoritative one ought to be careful
not to overlook a very important factor. If,
for instance, we want to know what Wash-
ington said in his farewell address, or what
Lincoln said in his Gettysburg speech, we
need not ask any one or put any faith in
hearsay evidence. We need only to refer to
an authentic edition of their works. These
have been carefully and authoritatively edit-
ed and therefore are reliably historical
sources of what these leaders said and did.
The rules of conduct of George Washington
have their value as a character-building
agency at a certain period in a child's life.
If men desire to verify these, reference to
his written works will set them aright.
The same is true of Abraham Lincoln.
Many a legend has been spun by his former
neighbors and fellow-citizens. Stories of
what he believed and how he practiced Law,

16 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

have had their rounds. Some of the thing*
heard about him seemed altogether true
until reference to his biography and writ
ings proved them mythical. But the matte:
to consider here is that when a controversy
arises as to what Lincoln did say and wha
he did do, a study of any of the excellent bi
ographies will give us ample and certaii
data. This is true of other men who have lef
their impress upon the world. Not all the]
said and did is published. But the importan
contributions of their lives — those which in
fluenced generations and times, can be f ounc
by those who look for them, and they are re
corded in indisputable records. Sometimei
partisan bitterness and sectional prejudice:
blind writers to the virtues and magnify th<
vices of those about whom they write. Bu
time corrects such injustices and after th<
heat of partisan struggles cools down an<
dispassionate judgment obtains, the truth i;
seen and thus recorded. The great princi
pies of America's early leaders are thui
known because of authoritative transmis
sion; but it is just the lack of authoritative
transmission that makes the alleged produc
tions of the world's early teachers historical
ly questionable. Much that we have ma:
have been the instruction of great teachers
but much that we have under their names
was given in their names. And this distinc
tion is a very important one.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 17

In considering the precepts and teachings
of Jesus, we must not forget that he himself
did3 not* write5 one word or syllable of that
Which now we call the New Testament. We
can go much further and say that there are
many great Biblical scholars who deny that
even the apostles wrote what is purported
in the New Testament books and their con-
temporary writings to have come either from
his mouth or theirs. The greatest of all of
Jesus' followers, Paul, not only did not know
him, but did not become a follower of the
Jesus cult until after the death of Jesus. As
it was then not the custom to write down the
teachings and discourses, except in the cases
of a few rabbinical teachers, Jesus himself
never wrote down, nor did his immediate dis-
ciples write, what he said and taught. This
was transmitted orally to his followers. The
different ways in which 'his words could
have been understood and in which they af-
fected his hearers, men and women of vari-
ous shades of thought and education, and
from various surroundings, can be in a large
measure judged from the varying opinions
expressed by a crowd which hears a lecture
or sermon and yet has a number of different
interpretations. It has been the lot of many
a preacher to have to refer to his written
manuscript in order to correct a false im-
pression upon an auditor. One who has his
eyes open to the experience of everyday life

18 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

need not be told how oral statements are
kneaded, molded and changed by individual
experience, until they are hardly recognized
by him who originally uttered them. The
thoughts thrown out to us by others are af-
fected by our personal experience in the same
manner that white light seen through col-
ored lenses is affected by the coloring of the
glass. Just as the light colored by the lens
is no longer the white light, but the colored,
so someone else's idea heard by us may no
longer be his, but our idea of his idea. This
process of change through transmission is a
very important element in the evaluation of
the teachings of Jesus, especially so since
there are so many contradictions and incon-
sistencies in the records that we have of
them. Indeed many have thought that the
New Testament points to at least two per-
sonalities by that name.

One would have to give an exposition of
the content of the New Testament in order
to bring out fully what is said above. It is
hardly the province of these pages to do
that; yet a short sketch of the writings
themselves giving briefly their content, au-
thorship and date are necessary to bring out
our contention. We believe that a very short
summary will not be amiss.

It will not be out of place to repeat that
neither Jesus7 nor any of the apostles8 ever
wrote any of the works treasured by the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 19

church. This is the verdict of the greatest
New Testament scholars, and While it is
known within the student circles, it is not
known among the world at large, nor will it
be so easily believed.

Jesus died in the year 30 of the present
era, and the early New Testament records
did not assume a canonical or privileged
form until the second half of the second cen-
tury. This ought not to be lost sight of. The
writings now included in what is called the
New Testament, ta term by the way, which
did not come into use until long after the
writings had been collected, were the works
of early Jewish-Christian teachers, and were
certainly never intended to be unique in
character or inspired. They were written
for the purpose of instruction, encourage-
ment, historical knowledge and help in the
ecclesiastical controversies, and were gradu-
ally collected as the church grew in numbers
and influence, and began to feel the need of
a historical basis and an authoritative tradi-
tion. The influence of the Old Testament at
that time must not be overlooked. As long as
there were differences between the Jews and
the Christians; as long as Judaism had an
authoritative source to which to refer ; as long
as the question of the Messiahship was in
dispute, and as long as the earlier Christians
based the Messianic pretensions of Jesus
upon the Old Testament prophesies, so long

20 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

was there necessity for a collection of au-
thoritative writings; and when such a col-
lection once was vested with authority, the
church traditions continued and enhanced it,
although the writers of these documents,
just like the writers of some of the Old
Testament books, never knew what the fate
of their productions would be. And as the
church developed, the collection grew in im-
portance until at the time of the first church
councils, it included a number of books, and
was decisively stamped as the Revealed
Word of God to the Church.

If one judged the New Testament by the
attitude displayed towards it by the greater
part of Christendom, one would expect to
find a work of unity of purpose, unity of tra-
dition, and agreement of historical incidents.
We expect a revelation to be absolute; and
we should have a right to expect that a work
which 'has been held up as the Revealed
Word, would not contain contradictions, an-
tagonistic points of view, and unauthenticat-
ed superscriptions. The Christian world can
easily believe that the authority of the Old
Testament and its claim to Revelation were
undermined when the higher criticism point-
ed out the utter lack of its unity, the imposs-
ibility of much of its alleged authorship, and
its overwhelming diversity of thought, lan-
guage, style and points of view. But when the
higher criticism found exactly the same de-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 21

\ ...

fects in the New Testament by applying the
same canons of criticism, the point of view
with regard to it did not change materially,
and in the minds of those who easily and sat ■
isfiedly accept the results of the Old Testa-
ment criticism, those of the New, find no
lodgment.

10It will perhaps shock the average reader
to know that there are seven different ar-
rangements of the New Testament Canon
known to criticism. There are even seven
different arrangements of the gospels them-
selves. John is first in many versions. No
one has yet succeeded in discovering just
why the gospels are arranged in their pres-
ent order, though many reasons have been
advanced. Here a sentence may be quoted
from the foremost English New Testament
scholar: "The division and arrangement of
the gospels thus appear to have been deter-
mined partly on chronological grounds, part-
ly from considerations of internal value and
even size, partly from ecclesiastical ideas of
the author's rank and partly from arbitrary
fancies, or, at any rate, from what seem ar-
bitrary and unintelligible to a modern."11 It
is not a salutary commentary on some mod-
erns who accept as divine and absolute that
which to the best trained minds in that par-
ticular field appears "arbitrary and unintelli-
gible."

The amazing credulity which character-

22 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

izes the modern preacher who walks up and
down his pulpit and shouts in a fit of ecstatic
devotion, "I believe this Holy Book from
cover to cover," can be judged only by those
who know something of the diversity of the
sources and the accounts of the New Testa-
ment. That faith must indeed be deep which
will put implicit trust into a work of some
twenty-seven parts, not one of which is def-
initely known to be historical and authorita-
tive. The very earliest fragments have not
even come down whole, and there are repre-
sented in the writings of the New Testament
something like twenty other works or
sources. This is the verdict not of Jewish
scholarship, but of Christian research.12
Would the logic of the matter not demand
that every source from which a sentence in
the New Testament is taken should likewise
be a revelation from the Most High? And
would this not then be true also of the works
like the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Ben
Sirach, The Testaments of the Twelve Patri-
archs, the Book of Enoch, or others which
not only contain ideas and teachings no less
beautiful and no less exalted than many of
those of the New Testament, but which are
among its very sources? Is it generally
known that the writers of different parts of
the newer canon knew and used expressions,
thoughts and teachings not only from the
books just mentioned, but also from the As-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 23

cension of Isaiah, Book of Jubilees, Apoc-
alypse of Baruch, Assumption of Moses,
Book of Eldad and Medad, Testament of Job,
Tobit, Judith, Second Maccabees, the sup-
posed Apocalypse of Jeremiah, the Ahikar
traditions, the works of Philo, Josephus, and
another work that has been identified as the
Flakes of Ecclesiasticus? The content of the
New Testament does not lose in value be-
cause it is a collection of ideas, some of which
are original and some of which had already
found expression elsewhere; but the theory
of their divine inspiraton does, and the time
has come when every thoughtful person
ought to know and consider the Bible in the
light of its historical and literary develop-
ment. In these days, they who presume te
lead ought not to be satisfied with knowing
merely the contents of the Book ; they ought
to know the contents in their relation to their
sources, growth, and contemporary litera-
ture. We ought to know something of the
manner in which these writings were com-
posed and evolved ; we ought to know the cir-
cumstances under which they were written,
and the objects which brought them forth.
We ought to know that the early Christians
and the Jews, too, had no hesitancy in alter-
ing Biblical texts, especially those from the
Septuagint, to suit their purposes, and that
often the Hebrew was peculiarly collocated
and changed in order to fit the point in contro-

24 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

versy. There is abundant evidence that the
copyists did not hesitate not only to add la-
ter details which they thought important for
their purposes, but also to delete such matter
as they deemed harmful to their cause. Tra-
ditions were reworked and re-edited and in-
terpolations and expansions were common.
13Tracts and letters were written in the
names of apostles to give them authority,
and as early as the second half of the second
century the authenticity of the then New
Testament writings was so much in doubt
that Marcion, a Christian of that day, was
accused of falsifying the gospel. A number
of copies of the gospels existed, but there
was widespread diversity among them.

In view of this looseness and lack of uni-
formity, it would perhaps not be out of place
to run hastily over the books of the New Tes-
tament and see what results their study have
brought forth with regard to the time of their
probable composition, their content, and
their purpose. There is no unanimity of opin-
ion among scholars, and there is little likeli-
hood that there ever will be. The results
that follow will be bitterly disappointing to
those who have been accustomed to regard
the canon as something of a finished product
given by the Almighty to the founders and
early expositors of the newer faith.

Although the letters of Paul are in reality
the earlier and more authoritative of the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 25

fragments of that literature which later be-
came the New Testament, the gospels, or the
writings based on the sayings and tradi-
tional doings of Jesus occupy the first place
in the canon. The reason for this is, of
course, the importance of Jesus. We will
here take the books in their present canon-
ical order and show briefly what modern re-
search has to tell us about their develop-
ment, time of composition, and their authen-
ticity.

A few words of general character ought to
be said about the Synoptic Gospels, or those
which give a similar synopsis of the life of
Jesus, that is, the first three gospels of the
New Testament. These are all works com-
piled from other sources. Not one is an orig-
inal document which records or transcribes
the words or teachings of Jesus or the apos-
tles. Matthew and Luke are believed to have
had Mark as a basis, though this has not yet
been accepted by all scholars. Some scholars
say that there was an original oral gospel
that became the basis for the later gospels,
but this is opposed on the grounds of the va-
riations in the gospels which cannot be ac-
counted for.

There is a difference of opinion as to
whether the first gospel was written in He-
brew or Aramaic. Some think that Mark
wrote his gospel from an Aramaic source and
that Luke then used both the source and

26 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Mark. Matthew, they believe, was then later
written, combining Luke and Mark as a gos-
pel for the Jews, while the earlier ones circu-
lated among the non-Jewish Christians.
There are some who say that there was an
original Hebrew Matthew even before Mark,
and that the present gospel of that name was
based upon the gospel of Mark, which had
earlier been based upon this original Hebrew
Matthew. The uncertainty of the succession
of these traditions is due largely to the fact
that the early Christian sources were dealt
with in a careless manner by later writers, —
careless from our historical point of view;
there was not that reverence for authorship
that we have, and tampering had become a
literary habit. Says Dr. Moffat: "The
earliest traditions extant upon the origin of
the gospels, i. e., the fragmentary remarks
of John the Presbyter quoted from Papias,"
the Bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia, who
lived in the first half of the second century,
by Eusebius, the first great church histor-
ian, who was born about 260, "show that no
stereotyped official gospel was known to the
memory of the sub-apostolic age. The first
shapes which loom out of the mist are two
documents roughly corresponding to the gos-
pels of Mark and Matthew." Perhaps a quo-
tation from Papias regarding the account of
Mark, may be interesting: 14"Mark, who
was Peter's interpreter, wrote down accur-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 27

ately, though not in order, all that he REC-
OLLECTED of what Christ had said or done.
For he was not a hearer of his Lord nor a
follower of his ; he followed Peter, as I have
said, at a later date and Peter adapted his
instructions to practical needs without any
attempt to give the Lord's words systematic-
ally. So that Mark was not wrong in writ-
ing down some things in this way from mem-
ory, for his one concern was neither to omit
nor to falsify anything he had heard."
About Matthew, Papias says : "So then Mat-
thew composed the Logia in the Hebrew lan-
guage, and every one interpreted them as he
was able." It seems to us that it would be
straining a good deal to ask people to believe
in a document, the author of which we would
be told was, say, Lincoln, but which was not
written until thirty-five to fifty years after
his death, and written by one who was not a
follower of his, nor a hearer, but who heard
what he wrote from another who followed
Lincoln at an earlier date. Hard to believe as
this would be of a recent work, how much
more difficult is it to put faith in the authen-
ticity of documents written nearly 1800
years ago, and based on hearsay. If the
ancients did not use any historical sense, it
was because they did not have it; but we
have it ; it hardly becomes us not to use it.

Modern criticism has reached the conclu-
sion that the synoptic gospels are based upon

28 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

two probable original sources, the Ur-Mar-
cus, or the source upon" which the gospel of
Mark is thought to have been based, and the
1EQ, or the source which was the work of a
Jewish Christian who based his record not
only upon that of Mark but also upon what is
known as the Matthean Logia. Luke, on the
other hand, uses not only the Ur-Marcus and
the Q, but also other sources Which he
thought were for his purpose as authoritative
and as important as these two. Both Luke
and Matthew omit material which Mark
contains, and this leads many critics to be-
lieve that the Mark of the present canon is
a smaller book than was the original after
which the other gospels were planned. Is it
not strange that after the conflicting testi-
mony of the greatest biblical scholars and
critics; after the dearth of literature which
could throw some light and thus enable us
to reach certain conclusions about these
books ; after the utter inability to prove with
a moderate degree of historical evidence the
authenticity of the various books of the
canon, millions still believe, and other mil-
lions are asked to believe, in the absolute
truth and historicity of the Book and the
characters in it? Is it not just a bit pre-
sumptious to ask men of the twentieth cen-
tury to believe this, when contemporary acts
and records or those within recent centuries
are subject to the closest historical scrutiny?

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 29

16The Gospel of Matthew, the first in the
present canon, is so called, not from the fact
that the apostle by that name wrote it, for
he did not ; the book probably takes its name
from the fact that it contains more of the
original Mathean sayings. This gospel, in
spite of its anti-Pharisaic outbursts, is more
Jewish than any of the others and shows
every evidence of having been written by a
Jewish-Christian. Whether or not the present
work is a translation from a Hebrew or an
Aramaic document, is not known; but its
tone is much more sympathetic and its atti-
tude much more friendly than any of the
other gospels. The earliest date for the com-
position of Matthew is given as about forty
years after the death of Jesus ; in its present
form the date has been placed between 75
and 90, but many place it later, and some as
late as 140. There is no agreement as to the
date. Is it likely that the teachings of Jesus
remained intact, and that they have not
been changed, especially when we realize that
the present gospel is the work of editors who
rewrote the supposed original Mathean Logia
several times after years of transmission by
word of mouth?

It will perhaps be of interest to know that
at least two layers of tradition, and probably
three, can be found in this gospel, viz: The
Jewish, the Jewish-Christian, and the anti-
Jewish. The earliest passages, i. e., the Jew-

30 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ish, are doubtless the ones which are nearest
to the sentiments uttered by Jesus ; the Jew-
ish-Christian passages are those which form-
ed the bulk of the Q source, while the dis-
tinctively anti-Jewish passages are the work
of the later or latest editors, who, influenced
against Jews and Judaism, gave vent to his
or their feelings in the final edition which
has come down to us; certainly Jesus him-
self has never given any evidence of antag-
onism to Jews; for the "lost sheep of the
House of Israel" must have been dear to him ;
it was for them that he came to "fulfill the
law, not to destroy it." It was only in the
years of the strife between Judaism and
growing Christianity that that bitterness
crept in which is at the same time anti-Jew-
ish and unlike Jesus. For while he might
have shared the well-known rabbinical dis-
like for the several classes of hypocritical
Pharisees, he could never have judged all the
Pharisees or all the Jews by the actions of
these. It must be a more than difficult
problem for a diligent, thoughtful and sin-
cere student of the Bible to be able to decide
which elements are revelations of God, and
which are fulminations of angry and unjust
partisans.

The Gospel of Mark, which is the oldest of
the synoptics, is thought by scholars to be
based largely on the original Marcan or Ur-
Marcus source. It is a worked-over document,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 31

edited by an anti-Jewish Paulinist redactor.
Mark says nothing of the ancestry, birth and
childhood of Jesus. His interest seems to be
fixed on the actual life and death of the
teacher. The supernatural healing powers
of Jesus are strongly depicted, and while Mat-
thew knows Jesus primarily as a preacher
and teacher, he is to Mark a preacher, teach-
er and the powerful exorciser of evil spirits ;
it is this last power which gives him a special
claim to the Messiahship.

The present Mark is also based upon
Mark's draft of the Peter reminiscences,
though it represents now both a later edition
of an earlier work or works, and traces of
two or three different sources. It contains
Pauline elements which it could not have
contained had it been the product solely of
Mark's version of the Petrlne material.
Some critics detect in this gospel an Ara-
maic original or originals, the former of
which was later translated into Greek, and
in which the supernatural powers of Jesus
as Messiah are brought out. Then a later
redactor brings this work down to its pres-
ent canonical form, embodying in it certain
dogmatic elements which had become char-
acteristic of the growing church.

The date of Mark is as unsettled as that of
the other synoptics. The best critics of the
day place it at between 70 and 130 of the

32 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

present era. The most likely date seems to
be between 70 and 90.

Here we are again moved to ask which of
the strata or sources of this gospel are to
bear the seal of divine revelation? Is it to
be the Ur-Marcus; the Aramaic sources, the
work of the Paulinist anti-Jewish Redactor,
or the whole gospel as edited by a final editor
at the end of the first century or in the be-
ginning of the second, and containing at the
very end an apocryphal quotation to give a
literary ending to the book?

The Third Gospel, written in scholarly
Greek, starts out as a compilation of several
traditions and narratives concerning the life
of Jesus. The author, Luke, says he was not
an eye-witness of the events he is about to
narrate; he seems to have prepared himself
by consulting the narratives and oral tradi-
tions known in his day. He says nothing of
revelation or divine guidance. He lays no
claim to any supernatural influence. He sim-
ply writes to his friend, Theophilus, what he
thinks is an historical account of the new
sect and tries in this account to harmonize
as well as he can the oft conflicting contents
of the different traditions and sources at his
command. The author uses Mark exten-
sively, as also Matthew, and very probably
other gospels now lost. Luke contains sev-
eral events not mentioned in the other syn-
optic accounts. Among these are the an-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 33

nouncement of the birth of John the Baptist,
the prediction of the birth of Jesus, the visit
of Mary to Elizabeth, and the boyhood of
Jesus, which of course has no historically
authenticated basis, and is similar to the
story of Samuel and to that of many other
mythical and historical religious founders.

In this non-Jewish gospel Jesus is repre-
sented more than in the others as a friend
of the sinners, the poor, and the downfallen.
Contrary to the other synoptics, Luke em-
phasizes Jerusalem as the center of the ac-
tivity of Jesus and his disciples.

The date of this gospel, like that of the
others, is a matter of dispute. It is probably
the latest of the synoptic gospels, yet there
is no definite date assigned to it, the date
varying from 54 to 130 after Jesus. Conser-
vative scholarship places it at about 100.

The Fourth Gospel, an attempt to harmon-
ize the dogmas of growing Christianity with
Alexandrian Jewish philosophy, was written
for the purpose of showing the life of Jesus
to have been "an episode in the external ex-
istence of the Logos." He was in fact the
Logos. The gospel contains several definite
strata of thought, viz: Old Testament, Pau-
linist, Philonic, Gnostic and Stoic. It differs
from the other gospels decisively in so far
as in it Jesus loses a great deal of that hu-
manness which characterizes him in the syn-
optics. As the Logos, he is above human-

34 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

kind ; in fact, according to St. John, Jesus be-
comes transcendental and his mysteriousness
becomes marked. The author maintains a
certain consistency in this work and in ac-
cordance with his conception of Jesus, this
teacher is made to know his own life, his mis-
sion and his death. He is made to act inde-
pendently of human relationships, and to the
end he remains what he was at the begin-
ning of the gospel, a superhuman creature —
an incarnation of the author's philosophical
abstraction — God incarnate.

The writer of this gospel loses no oppor-
tunity to impress the reader with the divine
messiahship of Jesus and his relation to God
as His son. This appears from the earliest
acts of Jesus recorded here, and In this re-
spect, John differs from the other gospels.
He does not make Jesus feel himself grow-
ing; there is no development of the messi-
anic consciousness within him; he comes as
the Logos or the manifestation of the Logos,
and demonstrates this by his marvelous acts.
The author of the gospel uses the story of
the raising of Lazarus to show the divine
power of Jesus. Here the dead is raised four
days after death, when he had already been
committed to the grave. In the case of the
restoration to life, viz., that of the widow's
son at Nain,17 death must have occurred only
a few hours before the procession was seen
by Jesus and the disciples, as it was the cus-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 35

torn among the early Jews to bury as soon as
possible after dissolution. In the case of the
daughter of Jairus also, the child was at the
point of death, or, as according to Matthew,
had just died. In both of these cases life
had been restored almost immediately after
death. But in the story of Lazarus, the su-
preme power of Jesus is brought out under
the circumstances already stated. And this
is in keeping with that gospel conception of
Jesus.

The author of the Fourth Gospel probably
knew the synoptics. That he was acquainted
with the gospel of Mark is certain. For he
follows this except where it suits his pur-
pose to depart from it, or where he has a
tradition which seems more adapted to his
conception of Jesus. That there are con-
tradictions between this gospel and the oth-
ers, is accounted for by the fact that its au-
thor was acquainted with gospel traditions
then known but now lost, which he incorpor-
ated into his text.

Who the author of this piece of ancient
mysticism was, criticism has not yet been
able to determine. John the Presbyter is
not the only one to whom its authorship has
been assigned; it is pretty well agreed that
he has even less claim than the others Who
have been proposed. Whoever did edit it, used
the name "John" for reasons already men-
tioned. The author was probably a Jewish

36 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Christian who was neither an eye-witness of
the events which he described nor an inhab-
itant of the places where the acts he speaks
of took place. The discrepancies between
this gospel and the others point to this con-
clusion. But whoever the writer was, he had
come under the spiritualizing influence of
Alexandrian Jewish philosophy, Gnosticism,
and Pauline theology, and these he incorpor-
ated into Christian traditions so skillfully
that modern criticism has been unable to un-
ravel his work. Chapter XXI is a Galilean
addition which was appended by some one
long after the original had been completed
and finally edited. The date of the gospel is
placed somewhere between 110 and 130 and
by some as late as 170, while the additional
chapter is dated between 150 and 185.

We know little about the Acts of the Apos-
tles that can be called authentic. Luke may
have written them, but what their basis was
we do not know. They seem to contain ele-
ments from documents which have been lost,
and the authenticity of which can only be
assumed. There are some who believe that
Acts is based upon an original which was the
sequel to the Ur-Marcus, while some main-
tain that the original source was a Jewish-
Christian document. This, it is believed,
was worked over by Luke, and into it were
incorporated supernatural events and anec-
dotes which he drew from popular Christian

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 37

traditions. These he might have colored
and exaggerated to some extent. Critics dis-
cern in this work parts of a larger one, but
its identification has not yet been establish-
ed. All that we can say is that Luke prob-
ably wrote Acts as we have it; and that the
book is based upon lost sources which con-
tained popular traditions and even Mid-
rashic elements. The purpose of this docu-
ment seems to have been the bringing about
of a reconciliation between the Jewish Chris-
tians and the Gentile Christians, who were
being divided because of the rivalry between
the followers of Peter and those of Paul. The
date of the Acts is given as between 100 and
125 years after Jesus.

We have given a very short summary of
the principal literature of the New Testa-
ment, and that which bears directly on the
life and doings of Jesus. For the sake of
completion, however, we deem it wise to cite
in as short form as possible, the latest results
of criticism with regard to the authorship
and date of the other books of the New Tes-
tament. They too, are important for our
purpose, as their unauthoritativeness and
historical uncertainty will strengthen our
contention with regard to the inherent
weakness of the newer covenant.

The "correspondence of Paul is the most
historical of all New Testament literature.
The epistles which are supposedly genuinely

38 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Pauline date from the latter part of the ac-
tivity of Paul, but they have been worked
over and re-edited, and their autographs had
disappeared as early as the first quarter of
the second century. The Epistles to the Cor-
inthians are dated about 60. The letters to
the Thessalonians, Galatians and Romans,
are dated about the same time. Doubt cen-
ters about the first fifteen chapters of Ro-
mans, some maintaining that they were the
original of Paul's letter. Concerning the
editorial changes in this epistle, there is a
question as to whether they were made by
Paul himself or by a later Pauline writer.
The first Thessalonians is by some regarded
even as a pseudonymous epistle of a post-
Pauline origin. It is mentioned by the
church fathers who wrote during the early
part of the second century, and this would
indicate that this espistle did not originate
much later than the first century. Second
Thessalonians is believed to be a Paulinist's
work based on the First Thessalonians, and
is placed between 70 and 110. Others regard
it as a second century product, but the work
of a Paulinist who worked over a pre-Chris-
tian Jewish apocalypse.

The present Ephesians is believed to be a
revised and re-edited form of an original let-
ter of the apostle. But both this epistle and
Colossians could have been written by the
same hand, that of some later Paulinist who

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 39

used Paul's name just as did Luke in com-
posing the Pauline speeches in Acts. The
epistle seems to have been a tract pleading
for union among dissenting Christians. Its
date ranges from about 62 to 85 of the pres-
ent era, but it has been placed by some
scholars as late as the second century.

About the date of Colossians, too, there is
uncertainty. The conservative scholars say
Paul wrote the epistle in or about 62, while
advanced critics assign it also to the second
century.

Timothy I and II, and Titus are grouped
together and are supposedly Pauline pamph-
lets or tracts to those who were skeptical of
Paul's authority. If these contain Pauline
sources they have been so worked over that
it is difficult to find them. The writer of
these wrote in Paul's name, as did so many
others, and sank his individuality into that
of Paul's. These epistles are dated between
90 and 120 of the present era.

Philemon is a letter written by Paul while
he was a prisoner, at about 62. It contains
nothing of originality and is a personal let-
ter from the apostle to a Christian friend.
This date is also disputed by the critics.

According to the latest research, "Paul
neither wrote nor had anything to do with
the Epistle to the Hebrews. Nor was it writ-
ten to the Hebrews at all ; it was sent to gen-
tile Christians and its authorship is un-

40 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

known. As early as the third century its
authorship was disputed, some maintaining
that Paul wrote it, others that Luke was the
author. Scholars maintain that the former
did not write it because of the religious con-
tents and character of the document. Clem-
ent of Rome, and Barnabas were anciently
proposed as authors, and not until the fourth
century did it become known as Pauline.
Modern critics are also divided as to author-
ship, this being claimed for Apollos, Silas or
Silvanus — both companions of Paul, Peter,
Philip of Caesarea, Aristion, who is the alleg-
ed author of a portion of Mark (16:9-20);
and even others. The author cannot be iden-
tified definitely with any figure of tradition.
The epistle was not directed to Jewish Chris-
tians alone, but to all Christians, and its title
is erroneous and 20Uwas probably added to
the epistle during the earlier part of the sec-
ond century, as a reflection of the impression
made upon the mind of a generation which
had lost all direct knowledge of the writing's
origin and standpoint." The date of the
epistle is placed at between 63 and 118 after
Jesus.

James is probably based upon an address
delivered in Jerusalem. It is somewhat con-
tradictory to the theology of Paul, approach-
ing very closely the rabbinical idea that deed
rather than faith, is the more important ele-
ment in religion. It is one of the latest of the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 41

New Testament books to become canonical,
this taking place near the end of the fourth
century. The epistle was not written by
James, the brother of Jesus and the head of
the church in Jerusalem; it was written by
a Jewish Christian who sought to impress
upon the Christian brethren the importance
of right living, a matter Which must have
fallen rather into the background after the
thorough establishment of the Pauline idea
of salvation by faith. No date has been
agreed on, and its composition is placed at
between 62 and 150, with an inclination on
the part of a greater number of writers to
place it at about 100.

The authorship of the first of the Epistles
of Peter has not by any means been deter-
mined as that of Peter himself. It is argued
that had Simon Peter written this, a great
deal more about Jesus would have been given
us than appears here now. Silvanus is
thought to be the author, at least of the form
in which we have it. Others maintain that
an anonymous writer wrote this epistle using
the name of Peter. The dates assigned to
this letter are as varied as the alleged auth-
orship, and 54-140 are given; the greater
number of critics place it no later than 117.

The second Epistle of Peter is the work of
a later anonymous writer who used the name
of the apostle. It is unlike the first epistle
of the same name, and shows marked Phil-

42 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

onic and Jewish midrashic influences. The
author probably used the first Peter, but he
did not write it. He desired authority for
his document and he attached to it a name
honored in the church. Authorities are
agreed upon the lateness of this epistle, and
its date is placed between 150 and 170.

The First John seems to be an anonymous
homily bearing a close relationship to the
fourth gospel. It was, of course, not writ-
ten by John, the son of Zebedee, and its date
is generally regarded as about the same as
that of the gospel of the same name. The
second and third John are the products of
John the Presbyter — not John the apostle —
or a disciple of John. The letters contain no
illuminating truths, and are placed by those
who ascribe them to John the Presbyter, at
between 110 and 155.

Jude is a second century product of an
author who attempted to correct certain
moral evils. It was not written by Judas, the
brother of Jesus. The date of this epistle
is as hazy as that of the others, and the best
critics now place the authorship of this let-
ter in the first quarter of the second century.

The Apocalypse of John or the Revelation
of John is according to some, a re-written
document based upon Jewish sources, and
written about 70. Others maintain that it
is an original apocalypse by John Mark based
on Christian sources, while still others main-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 43

tain that it is the work of John the Presby-
ter, who also based it on Jewish apocalyptic
originals. The first three verses of the first
chapter were added by a late writer. The
work has the form of an Old Testament
apocalypse, and some believe it is even mod-
eled after Ezekiel and Zechariah. The book
was used in the early church and a great
many glosses have crept in, among which
are the last few verses, 22:18-21. At an
early date a sentiment against the canonicity
of this book developed on account of its use
by the Gnostics. The work is a fanatic ex-
position of dogmatic growths, written in the
form of a revelation, and designed to encour-
age and strengthen the Christians in their
repulsion of the Roman heresies of the Em-
peror Domitian, just as the Jews when Dan-
iel was written, had repelled those of Antio-
chus Epiphanes under the valiant Macca-
beans. The rites of the Caesar-cultus were
to be the last death-throb of the Roman em-
pire, after the destruction of which the reign
of the present order would cease, and the
messiah would re-appear. The date ranges
from 65-100, with preference for about 90.

Our purpose in giving this cursory review
of the New Testament writings, is not mere-
ly to gather the results of the modern
scientific investigators. We started out by
saying that under the conditions of modern
training, we should expect authenticated

44 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

documents to be the sources of what we are
asked to believe historical characters said or
did. We have learned that hearsay is not
authority, and we have learned too, that the
farther we are removed from a historical
personage in time, the less authentic are the
hearsay reports concerning him. This is
eminently true of an age in which one's say-
ings and acts were not recorded either with
exactness or with faithfulness to fact.

If there are those who would have us be-
lieve that Jesus said or did certain things,
we have a right to ask for more historical
records than those we have. It is hardly fair
to expect men to believe that Jesus said that
or did this in the face of the unhistorical
character of the gospels, and the difference
of opinion among the scholars concerning
them. It is nothing less than remarkable
that there is so little agreement concerning
the date and the authorship of the New Tes-
tament writings among Christian scholars;
and it is no mean indication of their weak-
ness so far as their historicity is concerned.
There is plenty of room for skepticism when
one realizes that almost half a century pass-
ed, and in many cases a longer time, before
the records of the chief character of the New
Testament were committed to writing, and
that this was done neither by himself nor
by those who worked immediately with him.
What a marvelous assumption do they make,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 45

who tell us in the face of all this indefinite-
ness, that Jesus would do this or that under
this set of circumstances or that set. And
how deep must be the faith of those who can
believe everything they so haphazardly read
in the biblical records ! After a study of the
books of the newer canon ; after a thorough
realization that neither Paul, the apostles,
nor the later writers ever expected their
products to be vested with holiness or inspir-
ation, one feels that the structure of early
Christianity has been built upon a sandy
foundation, and that the ancient church dig-
nitaries were the real master-builders of the
faith rather than Jesus and his apostles. And
this feeling is borne out by history, for the
life of the church thus far has consisted not
of the vitalization of the ethics of Jesus the
Jew, but of the ethics of the church fathers,
who in most cases were the sons of Roman
and Greek heathens. Who can deny that the
best in the writings of the New Testament is
that which is closely related to the mother-
faith, while that which has discolored the
pages of secular history, is the pernicious
outgrowth of the admixture of the non-
Jesus and heathen elements? However, our
purpose is not to castigate the church. It
would come with indifferent grace from one
who realizes that early Judaism too, had its
weaknesses. It is rather to show how utterly
unreliable the ancient records are; how they

46 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

had been tampered with for one purpose or
another and how it is really impossible to
credit to Jesus with certainty those funda-
mental ethical principles to which the modern
Christian sociologists point as the salvation
of mankind, that this is written. Even the
brightest gem in the whole collection — the
Sermon on the Mount — does not stand out as
"'original in the clear light of research. It is
only by a sort of Christian gratuity that this
is assigned to the Teacher himself! It is a
great pity that he did not leave a written rec-
ord of his sayings and teachings, for had he
done so, Jewish literature might have been
enriched by many jewels from one who
breathed a Jewish atmosphere, lived and
died a Jew, and as far <as tradition can be be-
lieved, was turned against his people only af-
ter his death, when he was transformed into
a god by those who understood neither him,
his teachings, nor his people.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 47

CHAPTER II.
Post-Biblical Jewish Ideals.

It is on this New Testament evidence that
the whole structure of the contributions of
Jesus is built. There is more than a grain
of truth in the viewpoint of those who main-
tain that most of the New Testament con-
tributions are only historical probabilities,
whose weaknesses are by no means hidden.
Books on the order of the "Life of Jesus," by
Strauss, and the works of Drews and W. B.
Smith are not to be despised; they are at
least more logical than such works as the
life of Jesus by Renan, who evolves a Jesus
out of his own mind and then makes it fit the
New Testament writings. Yet Renan is not
by any means the only one guilty of such ro-
manticism; the words of Ecclesiastes can
well apply here, "of making many books
there is no end."

There is a pronounced tendency to accept as
historical much of the alleged material of
Jesus. Indeed it has too strong a hold on the
western world to be dismissed as unimport-
ant, and this even they must admit, who find
in his purported contributions only a mini-
mum of historicity. But there is a middle
ground between either accepting or reject-

48 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ing what is ascribed to Jesus. And this mid-
dle ground is obtained by placing his alleged
contributions on an equal historical footing
with those of the apocryphal, apocalyptic,
and rabbinical sources of that early Chris-
tian period. We can judge the New Testa-
ment writings on the same historical basis
as that of the Book of Jubilees, the Testa-
ments of the Patriarchs or the stories of
Hillel; and this too gives us a common basis
for a comparison. And indeed there is much
to compare.

When one reads the modern books on the
life of Jesus, one is apt to conclude that what-
ever is held up as the best in the gospels is
the absolute, new, and distinct contribution
of the man from Gallilee. How often for in-
stance have we been regaled with his "new"
enunciation of love! What Christian minis-
ter has tired of hurling at Jews as the con-
tribution of Jesus, that inimitable word
Which spells the tenderest sentiments of the
holiest relations on earth. How often have
we been left in breathless astonishment by
the insistence that the New Testament law
of "love" is a new law, different and distinct
from that of 'Leviticus: "Thou shalt not
avenge nor bear any grudge against the chil-
dren of thy people but thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself." Or that other equally
well known verse: 2"But the stranger that
dwelleth with you shall be as one born among

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 49

you, and thou shalt love him as thyself for
ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." This
context will hardly permit us to say that the
word "neighbor" means fellow-Jew. There
have been those who have tried to construe
this, and we are in error if we tio not admit
that the references in Matthew, Mark, Luke,
Romans, Galatians and James, "thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself," all are a re-
statement of the Levitical commandments
which have become part of the stock of Ju-
daism; and it seems very possible too, from
the wording of the last two, that the sayings
of Akiba, who lived before the final redaction
of these documents, was not unknown to
their authors : 3"Thou shalt love thy neigh-
bor as thyself," he said, "this is the greatest
principle in the Torah." It is hardly possible
that Akiba, who was born about 50 after
Jesus, and had studied and taught all of his
life — !he was martyred in 132 — took his cue
from Galatians or Romans or the Gospels.
To those who would quote Matthew, "ye
have heard that it hath been said thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but
I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for those that spitefully use
you and persecute you," we would suggest
that the words "hate thine enemies" is not in
the Old Testament ; while the last part of the
following verse reads like an excellent com-

50 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

mentary and an improvement on the verses
in Proverbs: G"Say not I will do so to him
who hath done so to me; but if thine enemy
be hungry give him bread to eat; if he be
thirsty, give him water to drink for thou
shalt be heaping coals of fire upon his head,
and God will requite thee." And if the words
of the gospels occasionally improve upon a
thought of the Old Testament, one may re-
joice to see one Jewish teacher improve upon
another. The Jewish sages very often com-
mented upon and even restated teachings of
the Bible. Jesus but did the same. But
Akiba could hardly have known the New
Testament writings.

We have been accustomed to hear so much
of the Scribes and the Pharisees — the good
they did is never mentioned—their great vir-
tues never spoken of — that they have come
to be associated in many minds with bigotry,
hypocrisy, and religious narrowness. It is
the unspeakable misfortune of Judaism that
its sources of knowledge and evidence are
not generally tapped by non-Jews, for if they
were, non-Jews would soon find out that not
all Scribes were bad; that there were many
very excellent Pharisees, and that there were
sages and teachers who spoke with an au-
thority and an originality no less inspired
and subjective than that of Jesus. When
Hillel said, ""love peace and pursue it, love
your fellow-creatures and bring them near

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 51

to God's law," he said something which in
this particular form had never before been
expressed; just as when Jesus said, 7"the
Sabbath, it was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath," he expressed a well known
thought of the rabbis in slightly different
form. Their way of saying it was: 8"You
were not delivered unto the Sabbath, but the
Sabbath was delivered to you." The fact
that the rabbis tried to give in their serious
legal disputations precedents for their decis-
ions just as our courts do today, never deter-
red an individual sage or teacher from giv-
ing expression to his own opinion or inspira-
tion, and this is the noticeable feature that
the editors found in the teaching of Jesus
and expressed in °Mark and Luke. The giv-
ing of a decision on one's authority might
have astonished those who did not know the
freedom allowed teachers in Israel at all
times, or it might have appeared unusual to
those who were not acquainted with Jewish
methods and Jewish wisdom; but Jesus nev-
er seemed to be excited about it ; nor did the
apostles express any astonishment. That the
statements were inserted to impress those
who did not know Jewish life, cannot be
doubted seriously. One might be led to be-
lieve that in the days of Jesus, a Jewish
teacher dared not to utter a sentiment, un-
less he could trace it to or derive it from some
"authority." This indeed was generally true

52 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

so far as the legal decisions were concerned-
true for that day, and true for our day ; but
how many jewels are there in the rabbinical
crown of thought which are subjective, spon-
taneous, self-authoritated and inspired? One
ought to read over, even if only hastily, that
unsurpassable treatise known as the ""Ethics
of the Fathers" put into critical form by
"Prof. Taylor, so as to understand the shal-
lowness of the statements referred to in
Mark and Luke. Can anyone really think
that a people like the Jews, throbbing and
pulsating with life, could have had all of
their vast knowledge and all of their thought
contained only in the scrolls, laws and decis-
ions of the teachers ? Is it possible to imag-
ine that in that growing and thriving city of
Jerusalem, or in the life-preserving schools
of Sura, Jamnia or Pumbaditha, or in the
other academies, the men who taught were
scribblers or imitators of their fathers ; that
they spent their time in "rehashing" old de-
cisions, and put on the index anything that
was new, clever or brilliant because it may
not have been handed down in the name of
somebody or other? And is just this not the
impression one gets of these ancient sages,
when one reads the many manuals treating
of the teachings of Jesus?

Another false impression that the world
has, and which may here be corrected, is that
Judaism practically ceased with the close of

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 53

the Old Testament or very soon after it. It
seems to forget that this great work is the
budding of the religious development of the
Jew, while the next centuries brought forth
the flowering. We must not forget that the
real life of the Jew, though it may have its
sources in Biblical prescriptions, takes its
thought, not alone from the Bible. There are
as magnificent religious lessons outside of the
Bible as within it; there are some master-
pieces outside of the canon which are much
superior to some writings in it. And that
the rabbis recognized differences in the Bib-
lical writings is shown by the discussions
relative to the inclusion of certain books like
Ecclesiastes, 12the Song of Songs, Job, and
even Ezekiel, in the canon. There was a vig-
orous national life, and its ramifications were
as numerous as the number of individuals
who possessed any originality. There were
men in the days following upon the close of
the canon who did not observe the Sabbath
nor the ceremonial laws of the Pentateuch.
There were men who even thought that the
Bible was not adequate enough to contain all
the rules and concepts for every-day life. And
these men formed a party, later called the
Pharisees, 13so large and influential that the
whole of Judaism took on its attitude and its
interpretation of both the oral and written
Law from it. And there was another party
called the Sadducees, 14"who opposed these,

54 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

and believed that the Biblical Law did suf-
fice. That Judaism was a progressive, liv-
ing, and vital religion is shown by the
fact that the party that believed in the all-
sufficiency of the Bible practically died out;
though there is a remnant of a similar sect
at present in the Crimea in South Russia,
called Karaites, who disregard the rabbini-
cal traditions. And there was still another
party in Israel, that of the Essenes,15 a dis-
tinctively ascetic sect, whose definite mission
was to clothe the naked, relieve the poor, at-
tend the sick and perform those rites, which
custom had sanctified for the dying and the
dead; they segregated themselves from the
pleasures of the world, lived in brotherhoods
or communities, renounced their wealth, and
even left their families after the latter had
been properly taken care of, to consecrate
themselves to this work. It wa3 an order of
the ascetic kind, but differed from Christian
asceticism in so far as its devotees were
principally men who had already reared fam-
ilies and thus acquitted themselves of the re-
ligious injunction to be "fruitful, to multi-
ply and fill the earth."10 And between these
definite parties there were all sorts of grada-
tions. Not all 17Pharisees believed alike ; not
all thought alike ; and he who wants to know
the truth, may get it not from the New Tes-
tament, but from a little quotation from the
Talmud, which, citing popular opinion criti-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 55

rising certain kinds of Pharisees, says:
'There is the 'shoulder Pharisee/ who
wears as it were, his good actions ostenta-
tiously upon his shoulder; 'the wait-a-little'
Pharisee, who always says 'wait a little until
I perform the good act awaiting me;' the
'bruised Pharisee' who in order to avoid
looking at a woman, runs against the wall so
as to bruise himself and bleed; 'the pestle
Pharisee,' who walks with his heels down
like the pestle in the mortar ; 'the ever-
reckoning Pharisee,' who says, 'let me
know what good I may do, to counteract my
neglect ;' then there is the 'God-fearing Phar-
isee' after the manner of Job, and the 'God-
loving Pharisee,' after the manner of Abra-
ham." ' In this connection it may also be ad-
ded that the hypocritical Pharisee received
no more bitter denunciation from Jesus, than
from the rabbis themselves by whom they
were called not only "Pharisaic plagues," but
"destroyers of the world." But, and the "but"
should be repeated, these condemnations ap-
plied to the eccentric and hypocritical of the
party; and in this greatest, most Influential,
and the most deeply religious and progressive
of ail Jewish parties, not all were cranks and
""hypocrites, serpents and offspring of vi-
pers." The men of the type of Hillel and
Shammai, Akiba ben Mahalel, Gamaliel the
Elder, Jochanan ben Zakkai, Simon ben Gam-

56 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

aliel, and the Hasidic martyrs of the Macca-
bean struggles, the century and a half be-
fore, are assuredly not the men to whom
Jesus applied — if indeed the words of the
gospels are his — "hypocrites, blind guides
and vipers." That there were such, we be-
lieve, but the impression that the untutored
Christian world has of the Pharisee — an
impression gained solely from the gospels —
bears impressively characteristic evidence of
the historical untruthfulness of at least those
portions of the newer canon which belittle a
great deal; and it seems to us that the men
who listened to the preachings of the Bap-
tist or of Jesus or the apostles, did not differ
a great deal in kind from the motley crowds
that now listen to the ebullitions of the curb-
stone preacher. And can one dare say that the
best, most conservative citizens of a city, will
be found on the street corners or in
church-vestibules arguing questions of dogma
and religious law, especially with those
preachers who come from the corners and
crannies of the country districts, with their
simplicity and inexperience, to teach refined
and educated inhabitants of centers of cul-
ture and learning, what to do and how to
live. If the crowds that listened to, and dis-
puted with Jesus, and to which the gospels
in all probability refer, are at all like the
the crowds that do similar things today, there
may have been some justification for the in-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 57

dignant outbreaks of the sometimes impa-
tient teacher, who perhaps on these occas-
ions, more than on any other, so far forgot
his own alleged ideals as to set himself
squarely against them. But the injustice of
the matter is that Christianity judges the
gentle, religious, inoffensive, progressive,
albeit unmentioned thousands of Pharisees,
by these untoward specimens of the street
and the crowd, with whom Jesus lost pa-
tience; and like him, too, those who come in
his name fail to apply to the Jewish teachers
and their descendants, those teachings of
love and consideration which place Jesus in
the estimation of Christians, above human-
kind. But this is another one of the many
instances of the irony of history. And yet
we do not wonder. Has it not always been
the fate of the Jewish people to be judged
off-handedly by its worst sons? And how
should the Pharisees among whom were
many of its noblest sons, escape this injus-
tice?

In passing, we may touch upon a related
matter. Much has been written about
Jesus' method of teaching. 19"It was so nat-
ural, so elemental and so sympathetic, that
everyone could understand him ;" that of the
scribes and sages was "highly formal and
scholastic," while his was easy, informal, and
illustrated by parables. One is prone to ask
where the judgment of those is, who cannot

58 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

see that the life of the ancient teachers can-
not be correctly estimated from the inimical
passages in the New Testament — passages
inserted by redactors who were not familiar
with Jewish life! Were the methods of the
rabbis formal to those who heard them, and
has anyone ever counted the hundreds of
parables in the rabbinical writings? Is it
really true that the whole of the learning of
the Jews in the days of Jesus, and their life
too, centered around 20"phylacteries, wash-
ing of cups and tithing of mint?" What an
historical mis judgment for grave scholars
to cite these passages, unfriendly as they
are, instead of going to the tremendous Jew-
ish literature — the Apocrypha, Pseudepi-
grapha, the Midrash, the Talmud and the
other sources — to be sure not as easily got-
ten at as the New Testament. What excell-
ent application the words of 21Abtalyon have
here: "Ye sages, be heedful of your words
lest ye incur the penalty of exile and be ex-
iled to a place of evil waters, and the dis-
ciples who come after you drink thereof and
die, and the Heavenly Name be profaned."
Or, the words of "Simon ben Shetach might
be used here with advantage: "Be ye very
searching in the examining of testimony,
and be heedful of your words, less through
them men learn to falsify." And these
teachers, too, taught "as one who had au-
thority."

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 59

Let it not surprise our friends who get
their knowledge of Judaism from non-Jew-
ish and Greek sources, that the parable was
a highly developed pedagogical method in
use among the Jews of the biblical and post-
biblical days. Parables are found not only
in the Old and New Testaments but on al-
most every page of the different Midrash-
im, and no one has ever yet found time
enough to count those in the Talmud.23 I am
aware that the closing of the Talmud fol-
lows that of the New Testament by about
three centuries, but it must not be forgot-
ten that the contents of the Talmud ante-
date its closing by several centuries, and
that some of this content is very old, dating
from times much earlier than those of the
Maccabeans. No one can maintain definite-
ly how old the "Mashel," the parable, is, but
there is more than ample historical proof of
the fact that by the first century it had be-
come a fixed method of instruction among
the Jews. In looking over just at random
one chapter of some five and one-half pages
in the "Midrash Rabba" on Deuteronomy,
eight stories or parables were found. It is
well known that there is in the Talmud a
parable relating to a king24 who invited his
servants to the wedding of his son; another
parable very similar to the one of the rich
householder28 is found in the Palestinian Tal-
mud and concerns the son of Rabbi Hiyya.

60 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

The parable had become a popular method of
illustration and instruction in rabbinical
times, and still continues so in certain Euro-
pean Jewish circles.

Not only the parable, but every rhetorical
form which Jesus used was known and em-
ployed by his contemporaries; and just as he
was a child of his day in almost everything
else, so was he in his methods of teaching
and preaching. Perhaps this is known to
everybody, but if it is, then they who write
on his methods ought to be more careful in
the wording used in their books; for they
come so very dangerously near to attributing
originality to him in these matters, as to be
almost guilty of falsification. It is not our
desire here to detract from the merits of the
Messiah of the Christians. All we desire is
that justice be done to Jewish teachers and
Judaism, «a matter about which many schol-
ars show a lamentable lack of consideration.
True, he taught those whom others did not
teach; he doubtless expressed himself dif-
ferently at times; he even might have told
new parables and new stories ; his particulars
were without a doubt different from those
of others. But what of this? Did Hillel
speak exactly like Shammai? Were the say-
ings of Jochanan ben Zakkai, just like those
of his teachers? When one day he walked
about the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem,
""and one of his disciples mourned over its

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 61

destruction, saying, "now that the Temple
and the altar of sacrifice are gone, the means
of repentance are also gone," Jochanan an-
swered: "Let it not appear evil unto you;
there is still means of atonement—kind deeds
and charity will make atonement for our
sins." And he is quoted in the Talmud27 also
as saying that "just as the sin offering
atones for Israel, so the kindness of the na-
tions atones for their sins." Perhaps exact-
ly such combinations of ideas had not been
uttered before in Israel; yet one who is ac-
quainted with rabbinical thought and teach-
ings need not have been told that these were
rabbinic. Jochanan's way of putting them
together might have been original; the
thought was the result of his Jewish inspir-
ation and education.

One could write volumes — as indeed vol-
umes have been written — showing the
breadth of rabbinical thought and life; one
could select from the writings of the rabbis
enough material to fill many shelves of only
that which is of an ethical and moral charac-
ter. There is no phase of life which they did
not touch; there is no aspect of the holiness
of life which they did not consider; they
learned and taught to live, and they lived to
learn and serve; but their learning was not
only of the theoretical kind ; they were true
to the motto of Simon, son of Gamaliel, who
taught : 28"Not learning, but doing is the chief

62 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

thing." And their lives, indeed, expressed
themselves in kindness and brotherliness to
their neighbors. They studied the "Law;
they fulfilled the requirements of the Tem-
ple service as long as it lasted, and they exe-
cuted the commands of their God toward
fellowmen, thus realizing the words of Si-
mon, the Just, who used to say that "the
"world was established upon three things;
upon the Law, the ritual or Temple Service,
and upon the doing of good deeds." They ex-
ercised those ideals toward the poor which
the religion of Moses and the prophets had
taught them, and they laid stress on the
words of Jose, son of Jochanan*1 of Jerusa-
lem, who used to say, "let the poor be as
members of your own household." They
tried to be just, and though they did not
clothe their thought in the same words as
did another — 32" judge not that ye be not
judged, — they still were slow to judge, for
their motto was, 38 judge all men in the scale
of merit, yet "judge not thy neighbor until
thou art come into his place ;'* and they be-
lieved too 35"that with whatever measure man
judges, — with that measure is he judged."

It was among men who thought thus that
Jesus was reared — if any credence can be
placed in the gospel story. With these he
came in < ontact and their teachings he heard
and learned. If he opposed sacrifice, and it

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 63

is not at all certain that he did, he must have
thought with many others, that unless sacri-
fice is sincere, it is corrupting. "There 36is no
atonement for him who repeats his sin," is
not new to those who know what the rabbis
taught, and this applied as well to sacrifices
in the Temple as to prayers on Atonement
Day. The words of ben Zakkai quoted above
bear witness to the fact that the idea that
"mercy and not sacrifice is important," was
not new ; indeed Isaiah, Amos and Hosea had
so taught centuries before, and the word of
the prophets37 was by no means a dead let-
ter. When Jesus says,38 "therefore if thou
bring a gift to the altar, and there remberest
that thy brother hath aught against thee,
leave there thy gift before the altar and go
thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother
and then come and offer thy gift;" he but
stated in different words the thought that
many of his contemporaries had uttered:39
"The Day of Atonement will pardon the sins
that man has committed against the most
High ; but it will not pardon those which man
has committed against his neighbor unless
the wrongdoer first seek the pardon of him
who has been wronged." Perhaps it is a
strange coincidence that this sentiment ap-
pears on the same page of the Talmud as
does the Jewish saying concerning the Sab-
bath, "for the Sabbath is Holy unto you; it

64 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

was delivered into your bands, not you into
its hands;" to which the quotation of Jesus,
10the Sabbath was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath," is a parallel, as has already
been pointed out.

It is stating the facts incorrectly to say:
41"The religious ideals of the age in which
Jesus lived were represented by sacrifice,
fasting1, tithes and almsgiving, while his were
judgment, mercy and love of God; and after
surveying the painstaking piety of his con-
temporaries and their zeal in legal obedience,
he said plainly to his disciples, 'except your
righteousness shall exceed that of the
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise en-
ter the Kingdom of Heaven.' " Who the Phar-
isees were, we have already had occasion to
say ; but to characterize the times by setting
the second set of qualifications over against
the first, and attributing one set to Jesus, and
the other to his contemporaries, is unhistori-
ical and unjust. Is the dictum of the Men of
the Great Synagogue, 42"Be ye deliberate in
judgment," not "judgment?" Is the follow-
ing not judgment: 43"Upon three things,"
said Simon ben Gamaliel, "the world is es-
tablished: Upon truth, judgment and peace,
as it is said, truth and the judgment of peace,
shall ye judge in your gates."44 We have al-
ready mentioned the saying of Hillel, "judge
not thy neighbor until thou art come into his
place;" the words of Rabbi Ishmael, the son

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 65

of Jose, have a ring of practical truth as well
as religious judgment: 45"He who keeps
himself away from the judicial office keeps
from himself hatred, robbery and vain oaths ;
but he who lays decisions down presump-
tuously, is wicked, foolish and arrogant of
spirit." He used to say also, ""'judge not
alone, for there is none who may judge alone,
save One." In a passage in a Midrash, we
find the following qualifications set forth for
one who desires to be a judge: 17aHe must be
an able man, God-fearing, a man of truth,
free from covetousness, a wise man, one of
understanding, and known among his peo-
ple." This, of course, applies to an official;
but the qualifications are characteristic
enough to show how much stress there was
laid on judgment. These are only specimens
of rabbinical thought about " judgment."
Many more could be cited, and the field is
rich for him who would search for them. Our
purpose here is to show that if the best relig-
ious thinkers of the days of Jesus, and
those immediately preceding and succeed-
ing him, believed stoutly in sacrifice, fast-
ing, tithes and almsgiving, they believed no
less — and we maintain even more — in judg-
ment, mercy and the love of God.48 We ought
not to forget, too, that aside from the rab-
binical thought, the tremendous force of the
Biblical writings was still effective, and
teachings like the following were well known :

66 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

*0<<Blessed are they that keep judgment, and
they who do righteousness all the time;" or
the words of Amos, 5C"let justice run down
as water and righteousness as a mighty
stream;" or the thought of Hosea, 51"I be-
troth thee unto me in righteousness, in judg-
ment in loving kindness and in mercy ;" or of
Isaiah, 52"cease to do evil; learn to do well,
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge
the fatherless and plead for the widow;" or
the command of Jeremiah : B3"Thus saith the
Lord: 'Execute ye judgment and righteous-
ness;'" or the great teachings of Ezekiel: e4
"He that hath not given forth upon usury;
neither hath taken any increase, that hath
withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath exe-
cuted true judgment between man and man,
hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept in
my judgments to deal truly, he is just and
shall surely live, said the Lord." It is Zech-
ariah who said: B5"Thus speaketh the Lord
of Hosts, 'execute true judgment and show
mercy and compasion, every man to his
brother ;' " and it was Micah who uttered the
eternal religious truth: 50"It hath been told
thee 0 man, what is good and what the Lord
requireth of Thee, but to do justly, to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."
These passages, as will be seen by the order
in which they were given, were not selected
with any system. They were picked out at
random from the Bible. The Psalms them-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 67

selves contain almost as many references to
" judgment" as the whole New Testament,
and the reader would tire many times if all
of the biblical utterances on this noble
virtue were stated here. We have given
enough to show that the ideal of judgment
of which Jesus speaks, was ever a thoroughly
Jewish one, whether in the age of the Bible
or in the age of the rabbis. And it is
Jewish today, though like many other splen-
did teachings, its force and its influence are
not always permitted to direct our social re-
lations.

The oft-repeated accusation that to the
Pharisees "virtue, like religion, was primari-
ly a technical affair," is emphatically not so.
That the Jew of rabbinic times knew no vir-
tue aside from the doing of the Laws of God,
that is true; but did not just this conception
of the Torah cause him to live a life of fine
social and ethical largeness? Is it a fact
that there was religious satisfaction only in
the sacrificial rites? When the Lawgiver
said that ethical laws and commandments
were given to Israel which if they do them,
they shall live; the rabbis added, 5T"they
shall live by them and not die by them." For
to the rabbis the non-fulfilling of the laws of
righteousness and judgment was the same as
spiritual death. Man was made in the image
of God, and the laws were given to him, that
he may by his ethical life preserve in him

68 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

self this divine image. We are told that
when Moses said to the people, 5S"after the
Lord, your God shall ye walk"; they took
alarm at the impossible task laid before them
and asked: "How is it possible for man to
walk after God!" And Moses explained to
them, 50that "to walk after God means to imi-
tate humbly His mercy and compassion, by
clothing the naked, visiting the sick, burying
the dead, and comforting the mourners."
Listen to this sublime though rabbinically
commonplace thought from the mouths of
teachers who lived in a day when it is alleg-
ed that legalism had strangled the sensibili-
ties to mercy and righteousness: 60"In the
world to come, the righteous will stand high-
er than the angels !"

One who knows something of the life and
the teachings of the rabbis cannot fail to re-
gard with much pain the broad misstate-
ments that are made by those who know
little or nothing of the rabbinical ideals. It
is true that these ideals cannot be placed
within the limits of one or two centuries.
They were in fact the accumulated religious
culture of several centuries, covering not only
the period preceding and following the close
of the Testaments, but extending down to
the closing of the Talmud in the end of the
fifth century and even to our day.

Here are some of the "legalistic" thoughts
in which justice, mercy, love and kindness

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 69

are supposed to have "found no place:" Rab-
bi Simlai said that the ""beginning and the
end of the Torah" — that is the religion of Is-
rael— "is the doing of deeds of loving kind-
ness." Others said : """He who refuses to do a
kind deed is like one who denies a principle
of religion." G3"The doing of good deeds is
greater even than pure justice. 64Love man-
kind and honor it and bend your will with re-
spect to your neighbors for the social good."
Commenting on the verse, 6B"He is my God
and I will prepare Him a habitation," Abba
Shaul said: "The meaning of this last word
according to its Hebrew thought, is, 'be
like Him ;' G6as He is merciful and compas-
sionate, so be ye merciful and compassion-
ate." Simon ben Lachish said: 0T"Whosoever
exercises mercy in a place of wickedness, will
find in the end that that place itself will ex-
ercise mercy." The rabbis teach us that if
we 68"shower mercy upon each other, God
will shower mercy upon us." Do these
thoughts sound as if they come from men
whose only concern was the execution of the
ceremonial Law in all its "labyrinthic" detail ?
The following teachings will seem strange
and perhaps unaccountable to those who are
in the habit of accepting as truthful, many
of the current descriptions of Pharisaical
and rabbinical life and religion. For it has
become an obsession with not a few, that
charity and mercy were brought into social

70 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

life only with the coming of the teacher of
Nazareth. It is true that the greater num-
ber of these teachings have no definite date;
they do not need it to authenticate them, for
they have become part and parcel of Jewish
life. This one is characteristic: 69"Charity,
alone," says Rav Assi, "is equivalent to all
the commandments." 70Rabbi Eliezer said:
"Greater is the doing of a deed of charity
than all the sacrifices." "The poor man who
receives charity does more for the giver than
the giver does for the receiver." This is the
idea of Rabbi Joshua ben Korcho who said:
'"'Whoever turns away from charity, is like
one who worpships idols;" and those who
know with what deep contempt the rabbis
looked upon the idolaters, can understand
well the meaning of these words. 72Rabbi
Yitschak said that "he who gives a little
money to the poor is blessed with six bless-
ings; but he who gives encouragement by
kind words, is blessed with eleven." 73"And
it was the irascible Resh Lakesh who taught :
"If you haven't any money to give to the poor,
comfort him with words, and say to him,
'my heart is with you, though I have nothing
to give you/ " Many anecdotes are told of
the tenderness with which the poor were
treated, and the following anecdote must
appeal strongly to those who have achieved
refinement of heart. 7,Rabbi Jannai once saw
a man give a beggar a coin in public. He re-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 71

buked the giver mildly for giving in public
'and thus causing embarrassment, saying, "it
would have been better if you had not given
him anything, rather than help him publicly,
and thus put him to shame." It was 7ERabbi
Eliezer of whom we have already learned
something, who had the courage to say that
"he who gives charity is greater than
Moses." And Moses was the greatest of all
Israel. And this same sage taught that
'""everyone who acts justly and charitably,
acts as if he fills the whole world with mer-
cy." This idea reminds one of another well-
known thought, namely: ""Every man can
make himself a partner with God in Creation
by judging in accordance with His ethical
Laws." One of the finest of rabbinical utter-
ances which bears eloquent testimony to the
breadth of the rabbinical conception of life is
this: 7s"Our rabbis taught that we should
help the non-Jewish poor with the Jewish
poor; that we should visit the non-Jewish
sick with the Jewish sick ; and that we should
bury the non-Jewish dead with the Jewish
dead, so that the ends of peace may be pre-
served." Wihen one speaks of the narrow
nationalism of the ancient Jew, or even the
modern Jew, it is well to recall a sentiment
like this, to remind us that there were ideals
which stood higher than "Jewish national-
ism," and that one of these was peace. But
peace was not the only concept that was to

72 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

unite all mankind. Righteousness no less than
peace, was one of the libers in the cord of
universaiism. Here is a well defined and al-
most universally accepted principle among
the ancient and modern Jews: ""The right-
eous of all nations will have a portion in the
world to come." What a wonderful concep-
tion this is when contrasted with the narrow
dogmatism of today, which requires not only
adhesion to, or confession of some particular
creed, but demands even the death rites, be-
fore the hope of a future life can be extend-
ed. Truly in this remarkable rabbinical dic-
tum there is a breadth of sentiment and a
largeness of human feeling which are over-
whelming when compared with the sectarian
bigotry and inhuman narrowness of relig-
ious parties and some religious "self-authen-
ticated truths." In all sincerity, should
many of us not blush before the beauty of
some of these religious gems of the old Jew-
ish teachers?

It is somewhat tiring, perhaps very much
so, to read thought after thought from minds
that flourished centuries ago. But this would
not be necessary were it not for the continu-
al exposition of the ideas and sayings of
another who lived just as far back, who
drank at the fountain of the knowledge
whence our quotations emanate, but whose
followers fail to do justice to the teachers of
the teacher. We should perhaps have been

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 73

content to let the gems of the rabbinical
writings lay hidden in the unexplored tomes ;
we should have been content to let the pearls
lie buried in the sea of the Talmud; but ar-
rogance awakens in us opposition; and acad-
emic injustice, especially to his faith and to
his teachers, is a challenge to the Jew. We
were long ago aware of our treasures; now
that others claim or deny them, we ought
to assert our ownership before those who do
not know of it. It is a sting to be told that
Jesus was the first to preach a "higher right-
eousness," in the face of all the teachings of
the sages and the rabbis. Like other teach-
ers, there were certain elements of conduct
that he stressed, but what teacher had not
his individuality? In one respect perhaps
there was a decisive difference between the
righteousness that Jesus preached and that
which was current both before and after him.
The rabbinical righteousness was a "this
world righteousness" par excellence, though
they too, had an "other world." The right-
eousness of Jesus stressed the preparation of
the individual for the coming of the "other
world." Both are Jewish, pre-eminently; both
serve their purpose. But it is neither the
"righteousness" of this world nor that of the
world to come, that will undervalue the one,
to enhance the worth of the other; and this
is being done by the Christian scholars. In
this connection we may quote a saying which,

74 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

though a little severe, does yet apply.
S0Ben Zoma asks, "Who is the real hero?"
And he answers that "he is the hero, who
conquers his evil nature; but there are oth-
ers who say that he is the real hero who
turns hatred into love."

There is a great temptation to continue
the citation of references, showing that Jesus
was not the only one who gave his81 message
boldly, and looked at the world with a fresh
and a clear eye for the life, great and small,
which surrounded him. There were many
who taught: s""Hate no man, and reject no
thing for there is no man without his hour,
and there is no thing without its use." There
were some who believed that the most im-
portant sentence in the Bible is the verse:
""This is the generation of man, in the
image of God, made He him." One teacher
said that this is the great principle in the
Torah, in the Law, because it refers to all
mankind which was made in the image of
God, rather than one part of it. The sages,
too, loved life, though they would eagerly
qualify it by the word "righteous." And
they taught H,"that every human being is
commanded to believe that the world was
created for his sake." What a responsibility
such a thought throws upon us! What a
world this would be if every man acted so
that he indeed felt that the very existence of
this earth depends on him! What a tribute

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 75

to human worth and human dignity! What
a lesson in the valuations of life we could
learn from this thought, — we who live in an
age of irreverence, carelessness, and disre-
gard for the most sacred thing in the uni-
verse— human life! Let it be known that
the rabbinical writings breathe a tender love
for God and His creation ; that the rabbis re-
garded the doer of charity as higher even
than Moses, and that to them, mercy sustain-
ed life and righteousness pillared the earth.
No wonder that the Jew who knows his lit-
erature, speaks of the sages and rabbis with
touching reverence and religious deference.
If 8r'the world exists for the sake of even a
single righteous man, as the rabbis were
wont to say, how much the more should it
have existed for the sake of hundreds of
righteous teachers who lived, taught and
died that mankind may prove itself worthy
of having been made in the image of the Al-
mighty !

We have endeavored thus far to give the
reader an idea of the religious thought of the
teachers of Israel, expressed in the Talmud
and Midrashim.80 It may be urged that this
literature can be no criterion of the religious
ideals of the Jews of the time of Jesus, as it
is not contemporaneous with his time. This
objection is only partly true. For it must
not be forgotten that the New Testament it-
self covers a period of almost two centuries.

76 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Both the Talmud and the Midrashim, while
collected late, contain portions earlier by
several centuries than the writings of the
New Testament, and in many are contempor-
aneous and later. It is not necessary here to
go into a lengthy study of the sages who liv-
ed immediately after Jesus. One can find
this in any 'Introduction to the Talmud. But
we may indicate here only this : The Talmud
and Midrash contain the best thoughts of
those of Israel's sages who lived in the first
century before and in the immediate centur-
ies following the rise of the New Testament
— in that very period which non-Jewish
scholars are accustomed to look upon as be-
ing the most barren of truly religious teach-
ings and practice. What these sages taught
is generally given in their names in these
two great sources, so that we can very easily
place their teachings and their contributions
where they belong in the history of Judaism
and Jewish life. While the teachers and the
thoughts we have just quoted may not be
precisely contemporary with Jesus and the
Apostles, they yet fall within a period that
is contemporaneous with the rise of the New
Testament traditions.

But there is also another literature
which dates back from about the time of
Jesus, and which gives us a very definite idea
of the ideals and thoughts which surged
through the minds of the Jewish thinkers of

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 77

those days. Most of this literature was
written during the period which extends
from just before the closing of the Old Tes-
tament to the rise of the New ; and from this
literature too, — the apocryphal and the apo-
calyptic or pseudepigraphic — the newer
canon received a decisive influence. It is
impossible to go into details here, and the
major v/orks will hardly be more than
named, though it shall be our purpose to
quote enough from the better known ones,
to show that not only was a higher righteous-
ness known and taught two centuries before
Jesus, but in his very day he breathed in the
self-same teachings which some credit to
him alone at the expense of Judaism in gen-
eral. The scope of this v/ork precludes a
study of the religious thought of such works
as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Ecclesias-
ticus, the Wisdom of Solomon, The Testa-
ment of the Twelve Patriarchs. The Book of
Jubilees, and those of lesser importance, like
the Assumption of Moses, the Ascension of
Isaiah, the Apocalypse of Baruch, the Book
of Judith, Tobit, Testament of Job, and
many others, all of which had a strong influ-
ence on the various books of the New Testa-
ment, as stated in an earlier chapter. That
the reader may judge for himself whether
or not righteousness and mercy played a
great part in Jewish life before the rise of
the teachings of Jesus, we will submit some

78 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

evidence.

"The influence of the Book of Enoch on
the New Testament has been greater than
all the apocryphal and pseudepigraphical
books taken together." This is the remark
of a scholar88 who stands without a superior
in the world of scholarship pertaining to that
particular period. There are over a hundred
references in the New Testament which
either repeat or are directly dependent on
passages in Enoch, and in these references
are included some of the most important
ethical teachings of the New Testament as
well as the idea and names of the Messiah,
the conception of Sheol and the resurrection,
and that of demonology.

But we are concerned less with dogma
than with the social and ethical aspect of
these ancient works. And it is these that we
want to emphasize in the small space that
we are able to give to this important litera-
ture.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 79

CHAPTER III.

Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphic Ideals.

The 'Book of Enoch is what we have left
of a literature which was gathered together
under the name of this son of Jared. It is
apocalyptic in character and deals with the
problems of suffering, reward and punish-
ment. The content of the book, — it is com-
posite, and not at all the work of the same
author, — consists of the story of the visions
and the translation of Enoch into the abode
of God and the angels, and the knowledge
gained during these visits. The collection
belongs to the second and first centuries be-
fore the Christian era and represents the re-
ligious thought of the Chasidic or Pharisaic
sect. It deals in the main with the contra-
diction between the promise that the right-
ous will be rewarded, and the actuality in
life — the repeated prosperity and the appar-
rent success of the wicked. Throughout the
whole book, with the exception of one section
which is a sort of astronomical treatise, —
constant stress is laid upon righteousness;
and prayers and appeals for righteousness
are made by the author. It is true that a re-
ward to the righteous is promised, but it is
the same reward that is promised in the New
Testament — that of the inheritance of the

80 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

messianic era or the Kingdom of Heaven.
They who want to inherit final glory must
make themselves worthy of it by living
righteously, even though they be the Gen-
tiles, who in the end are to be converted. It
was because the fallen angels taught man-
kind wickedness that they were to be pun-
ished with an everlasting punishment, and
in this will they too, be included, who will
follow in their unrighteous ways.

The book is thus introduced: 2"The words
of the blessing of Enoch wherewith he
blessed the elect and the righteous, who will
be living in the day of tribulation when all
the wicked and godless are to be removed."
"Enoch tells of the vision in which he sees
the Holy and Great One come forth from his
dwelling with His hosts; how every one will
be smitten with fear, how the angels and the
earth will tremble, and how the mountains
will shake and the hills will melt like wax;
how the earth will be rent, and everything
on it destroyed; and how everything will be
judged; but to the righteous, "He will give
peace, and He will protect the elect, and
grace will be upon them, and ihey will all
belong to God, and it will be well with them,
and they will be blessed, and the light of
God will shine upon them." * * * 4"But as for
you, ye have not continued steadfast, and the
Law of the Lord have ye not fulfilled but
have transgressed it, and have slanderously

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 81

spoken proud and hard words with your im-
pure mouth against His greatness — 0 ye
hard-hearted ye will find no peace. But for
the elect there will be light and joy and
peace, and they will inherit the earth; but
upon you, ye ungodly, there will be execra-
tion.,,

In the next section God is represented as
telling His angels to remove the forces of
wickedness. To one of these He says: 5"And
destroy all the lustful souls, and the children
of the watchers, because they have oppress-
ed mankind. Destroy all oppression from
the face of the earth and let every evil work
come to an end; and the plant of righteous-
ness and uprightness will be established in
joy forever more. And in those days will
the whole earth be tilled in righteousness,
and will all be planted with trees, and be full
of blessings. And cleanse thou the earth
from all oppression, and from all unright-
eousness and from all sin, and from all god-
lessness, and from all uncleanliness which is
wrought upon the earth ; "and all the children
of men shall become righteous. * * * And the
earth will be cleansed from all corruption and
from all sin, and from all punishment and
torment, and I will never again send them
upon it, from generation to generation, for-
ever. Teace and justice will be wedded
throughout all the days of the world and
throughout all the generations of the world."

82 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Then follows: "And now my son, "Methuse-
lah, call to me all thy brothers, and gather
together to me all the sons of thy mother *
* * and he conversed with all the children of
righteousness and spake: 'Hear ye sons of
Enoch, all the words of your father and
hearken befittingly; * * * for I exhort and
say unto you, beloved, love uprightness and
walk therein and draw not nigh to upright-
ness with a double heart; walk In righteous-
ness my sons, and it shall guide you on good
paths, and righteousness will be your com-
panion." '

9"0, that mine eyes were a cloud of water
that I might weep over you and shed my
tears as a cloud of water * * * Who has per-
mitted you to practice hate and wickedness?
May judgment light upon you, sinners * * *
10Woe to you who fulminate irreversible ana-
themas : Healing shall therefore be far from
you on account of your sins. Woe to you
who requite your neighbor with evil, for you
will be requited according to your works.
Woe to you, lying witnesses, and to those who
weigh out injustice, for suddenly will you
perish. Woe to you sinners, for ye persecute
the righteous; for ye will be delivered up
and persecuted, ye people of injustice, heavy
will their yoke be upon you."

lx"Woe to you obstinate of heart, who work
wickedness and eat blood; * * * ye indeed
shall have no peace. Woe to you who love
the deeds of unrighteousness; wherefore do

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 83

ye hope for good hap unto yourselves? * * *
Woe to you who write down lying and god-
less words; for they write down their lies
that men may hear them and transgress
against their neighbor. Therefore, they will
have no peace but will die a sudden death.
Woe to them who act godlessly and glory in
lying words and extol them; * * * woe to
them who pervert the words of uprightness
and transgress the eternal Law, and trans-
form themselves into what they were not,
that is, sinners."

""But in those days blessed are all they
who accept the words of wisdom and under-
stand them, and follow out the paths of the
Most High, and walk in the paths of His
righteousness, and become not godless with
the godless ; for they will be saved. Woe to
you who hope for misfortune to your neigh-
bor ; for you will be slain in Sheol. Woe to you
who make deceitful and false measures, and
who tempt others on the earth ; for they will
thereby be utterly consumed. Woe to you
who build your houses through the grievous
toil of others, and their building material is
nothing save bricks and stones of sin; I tell
you ye will have no peace * * * Woe to them
who work unrighteousness and aid oppression
and slay their neighbors until the day of the
great judgment. For He will cast down your
glory and bring affliction on your hearts,
and will arouse the spirit of indignation to
delstroy you all with the swo>rd, and the

84 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

righteous and holy will remember your sins."
13"And now I say unto you my sons, love
righteousness and walk therein; for the
paths of righteousness are worthy of accep-
tation but the paths of unrighteousness are
suddenly destroyed and vanish. And now I
say unto you, the righteous, walk not in the
path of wickedness, nor on the paths of death,
and draw not nigh unto them lest you be
destroyed. But seek and choose for your-
selves righteousness and a holy life, and walk
in the path of peace that you may live and
prosper."

Many other passages could be cited to show
that the aim of the authors of this collection
was to instill into the lives of those who
might read them a desire for righteousness.
"To lead a righteous life is the burden of the
whole literature, and its message covered all
the social relations. It included justice,
mercy, love, honesty and kindness; and
strange to say, there is a marked absence of
reference to sacrifice. For the authors of
Enoch placed mercy, justice and kindness
above this, just as did most of the best and
the greatest of Israel's sons.

"Another Jewish work which had decisive
influence upon the teachings of the New
Testament, though an earlier work than
Enoch, is the Book of Ecclesiasticus, or the
Wisdom of Jesus, ieSon of Sirach, and known
by the shorter name of Ben Sirach. This
book was held in great esteem by both Jews

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 85

and Christians and was even looked upon
as canonical. Its date is set at about 170-190
before the Christian era, and the work is a
collection of maxims and precepts reflecting
to a large degree the Jewish thought of that
period. It is very similar to the canonical
book of Proverbs, and not at all inferior to it
in depth of thought and largeness of human
experience. The author of this remarkable
production does not condemn sacrifice, but
he does condemn very strongly that kind of
religion which is hypocritical, oppressive of
the poor, and devoid of charity. He insists
that a good heart is a necessary element in
religion, and throughout the book there is an
insistence on rigftrt-heartedness. He com-
mands reverence for the priests, fear of God.
and 'honor for His ministers, but these can-
not be had except in righteousness, sincerity
and goodness ; indeed if we desire the 17com-
plete blessings of God, one's hands must be
stretched out unto the poor.

One can find in these fifty-one chapters
much material of a surprisingly fine charac-
ter, considering the early date of the work,
and what is generally said about the Juda-
ism of that day. Its parallels to both the Old
and the New Testaments are numerous, and
many of its details are of so high a charac-
ter that one wonders why the book was ex-
cluded from the Bible. It is one of the most
fruitful sources of the New Testament. The
passages which follow deal with the funda-

86 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

mental precepts of social life, and are abund-
ant evidence that what we today regard as
the essence of religion and social conduct,
did not have its birth in the New Canon.

Here are some precepts from this work :

""Do no evil, so shall no harm come to thee.
Depart from the unjust, and iniquity shall
turn away from thee.

"In no wise speak against the truth, but
be abashed of the error of ignorance.

20Strive for the truth unto death, and the
Lord will strive for thee. Be not violent with
the tongue. Be not as a lion in thy house,
nor frantic among thy servants.

21Let not thy hand be stretched out to re-
ceive, and shut when thou shouldst repay.

"Seek not to be judged, being not able to
take away iniquity ; lest at any time thou fear
the person of the mighty, and lay a stumb-
ling block in the way of thy righteousness.

Be not faint-hearted when thou makest
thy prayer, and neglect not to give alms.
Laugh no man to scorn in the bitterness of
his soul, for there is One which humbleth
and exalteth. Devise not a lie against thy
brother; neither do the like to thy friend.
Be unwilling to speak any lie at all. And
stretch thine hand out to the poor that thy
blessings may be perfected.

"Tail not to be with them that weep, and
mourn with them that mourn. Be not slow
to visit the sick for that shall make thee to
be beloved.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 87

24Envy not the glory of a sinner, for thou
knowest not what shall be the end. Delight
not in the thing that the ungodly have a
pleasure in, but remember they shall not go
unpunished into their graves.

~5And he said unto them, 'men beware of
all unrighteousness ;' and he gave every com-
mandment regarding his neighbor.

"°Return unto the Lord and forsake thy
sins; make thy prayer before His face, and
offend less. Turn again to the most High
and turn away from iniquity for He will lead
thee out of darkness into the light of health ;
and hate thou abomination vehemently. How
great is the loving kindness of the Lord, and
His compassion to such as turn to Him.

2TA man that breaketh wedlock, saying
thus in his heart, 'who seeth me? I am com-
passed about with darkness, the walls cover
me. What need I fear. The Most High
will not remember my sins/ This man shall
be punished in the streets of the city, and
where he suspecteth not, he shall be taken.
Thus shall it go with the wife that leaveth
her husband, and bringeth in an heir by
another."

We nave often heard the statement that
with the advent of the newer dispensation,
only, was man taught to forgive his enemies ;
and what preacher has not delighted to quote
the words of Matthew, 2S"ye have heard it
said that thou shalt love thy neighbor and
hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love

88 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for
them which despitefully use you and perse-
cute you." Without detracting from these
words but only to show that they were com-
monly Jewish thoughts and not original in the
gospels, I quote the few following verses :

28"He that revengeth shall find vengeance
from the Lord.

And he will surely keep his sin in remem-
brance.

Forgive to thy neighbor an injustice,
And then thy sins also shall be forgiven,
when thou prayest.

30One beareth hatred against another,
And cloth he seek pardon from the Lord?
He hath not mercy on a man like himself,
And doth he ask forgiveness for his own
sins?

If he that is but flesh nourisheth hatred,
Who will entreat for pardon for his sins?
Remember thy end, and let enmity cease,
Remember the commandments, and cher-
ish not resentment against thy neighbor,

Remember corruption and death, and
abide in the commandments.

Remember the covenant of the Highest,
and overlook a fault."

One could cite many similar quotations
showing what high ideals the Jews of those
centuries had. The writer of these sayings
seems to have been a representative of a
large class which believed and taught as he

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 89

did ; >he was not an isolated teacher. But quo-
tations are tedious, no matter how effective
they would be in disillusioning so many, of
the alleged faults which are attributed to the
Jews of pre-New Testament days. Yet at the
risk of this tediousness, we present a few
more thoughts of this work concerning con-
duct towards each other.

""Yet have thou patience with a man in
poor estate,

And delay not to show him mercy.

Help the poor for the commandment's
sake,

And turn him not away because of his
poverty.

Lose thy money for the sake of thy
brother and thy friend * * *

And let it not rust under the stone to be
lost.

Shut up alms for benevolent purposes in
thy storehouses,

And it shall deliver thee from all ill-for-
tune.

It shall fight for thee against thine ene-
mies,

Better than a mighty sword and a strong
spear.

'"Sacrificing what is wrongfully gotten is
an offering of mockery,

And the mockeries of unjust men are not
accepted.

The most High is not pleased with the of-
ferings of the wicked,

90 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Neither is He propitiated for sin by the
multitude of sacrifices.

Whoso bringeth an offering of the goods
of the poor,

Doeth as one who killeth the son before
the father's eyes.

The bread of the needy is their life,

He that defraudeth him of it, is a man of
blood.

He that taketh away his neighbor's liv-
ing slayeth him,

And he that defraudeth the laborer of
his hire, is a blood-shedder.

3!Do not think to corrupt (God) with gifts,
for such He will not receive ;

And trust not unrighteous sacrifices,

For the Lord is judge,

And with Him is no respect of persons.

He will not accept any person against a
poor man,

And He will hear the prayer of him that
is wronged,

He will not overlook the supplication of
an orphan,

Nor the fatherless nor the widow when
she pours out her complaint."

A piece of literature which is closely con-
nected with Ben Sirach in its Influence on
the New Testament, is that known as the
Wisdom of Solomon. Of course Solomon did
not write it. It is generally dated about the
first century before the present era, and is

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 91

considered to be the work of an Alexandrian
Jew.

The book34 is an exaltation of wisdom
which is pure and comes from God. But he
who would have wisdom must have right-
eouness, for both wisdom and righteousness
are godly, and the ungodly cannot have wis-
dom. In the sense in which the writer uses
his term, it included the elements of all
knowledge that we possess, and all precepts
and principles connected with our social re-
lations. It is in this connection that we can
get a view of what ideas were current about
the time this work was written. We shall
cite as few illustrations as possible, yet
enough to show that righteousness, mercy
and judgment, were principles which the Jews
observed religiously, wherever they were,
here in Egypt as well as in Palestine and
Persia. The opening verses give perhaps the
very best clue to the motive of the book, and
set forth the purpose of the whole work :

SG"Love righteousness, ye that be judges
of the earth ; think of the Lord with a good
heart * * * for He will be found of them that
tempt Him not, and He sheweth himself unto
such as do not distrust Him. For the Holy
spirit of the Lord filleth the world, and that
which containeth all things hath knowledge
of the voice. Therefore he that speaketh un-
righteous things cannot be hid, neither shall
justice, when it punisheth, pass him by. For
inquisition shall be made into the counsels

92 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

of the ungodly, and the knowledge of his
words shall come unto the Lord for the pun-
ishment of his wicked deeds. For the ear of
jealousy heareth all things, and the noise of
murmuring is not hid. Therefore beware of
any unprofitable murmuring, and refrain
your tongue from back-biting; for secret
speech shall not go unpunished, and the
mouth that belieth, slayeth the soul."

In dealing with the fate of the wicked and
the ungodly on the one hand and the just
and righteous on the other, we meet with a
very strong condemnation of the former.
The idea expressed here has not yet reached
that theological development which consigns
the wicked to a place of punishment, but the
belief that the righteous will live forever is
already strongly intrenched.

The verses which are quoted below are pre-
ceded by a criticism of the kind of life that
had been led. Some people were steeped in
transgression, in pride and in madness for
riches and wealth. In this they revelled, but
in their wickedness they were consumed.

•"Tor," says the writer, "the hope of the
ungodly is like dust, that is blown away by
the wind, and like a thin froth that is driven
away by the wind; like the smoke which is
dispersed here and there with the tempest
* * * * But the righteous live forever more,
their reward is with the Lord and the care
of them is with the Most High. Therefore
shall they receive the kingdom of glory and

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 93

a crown of beauty from the Lord's hand. For
with His right hand He shall cover them, and
with His arm shall He protect them.

37"Hear therefore, 0 ye kings, and under-
stand; learn, judges of the ends of the earth.
For the rulership is given you from the Lord,
and the power from the Highest, who shall
try your works, and search out your coun-
sels. Because being ministers of His king-
dom, you have not judged right, nor kept the
law, nor walked after the counsel of God;
fearfully and speedily will He come upon you,
for a sharp judgment is taken upon them
that be in high places. For the lowest is par-
donable through mercy, but the mighty shall
be mightily chastised. For He who is Lord
over all, will fear no man's person, neither
will He stand in awe of any man's greatness ;
for He hath made small and great, and car-
eth for all alike."

There is need for an extended study of the
religious content of the several books from
which quotations are here given. Such stud-
ies have been made, but not by men who
could without bias show their value as com-
pared with that of the New Testament. It
it not enough to say that Paul knew the con-
tents of the Wisdom of Solomon. To show
citations from Enoch by Jude is not enough.
It is not enough to show by mere references
that the writers of Matthew and other New
Testament documents knew the Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs or some of the

94 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

thoughts that this collection expressed. What
we need is a critical study of the religious de-
velopment of this whole literature from a
point of view, which if not friendly to Juda-
ism, should at least be just to it. An exhaus-
tive study like this together with a similar
work on the Mishnah, would establish au-
thoritatively for the Christian world, that
which the Jewish world has known all along,
namely, that there were judgment, right-
eousness, even the "higher righteousness"
and mercy, every place where the Jewish re-
ligion or "Law" was studied ; and at all times
did these have a place in the Jewish heart;
we would find that although here and there
dialecticism or legal dispensation seemed to
claim the greater attention, that at bottom it
was the ethical implication of the whole Torah
which at all times, formed the basis and con-
tent of Jewish life ; for Judaism is a life rath-
er than a creed ; and we would find too, that
aside from the one dogmatic teaching con-
cerning the unity of God, the whole fabric of
Judaism was and is what we would call an
ethical and sociological one rather than a the-
ological one. There was a super-imposed strat-
um of speculation; just as Paul later super-
imposed his. theological speculation upon the
ethical teachings handed down in the name
of Jesus ; but the difference between Judaism
and Christianity is this: Judaism retained
and stressed as important the ethical or social
elements, while Christianity after Paul, prac-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 95

tically became a flowering of Pauline specu-
lation.

Before closing this very incomplete chap-
ter on the extra-biblical literature, we ought
to look into two books which give us a re-
markable exposition of the thought of the
schools of the authors of these works. The
first of these, the Book of Jubilees38 or Little
Genesis, is an account of creation from its
beginning to the Exodus. It is written from
the Pharisaic and nationalist points of view,
and teems with the protests against the de-
teriorating influences brought on by the hel-
lenistic invasion of the Greek-Maccabean
period. It defends the Pentateuchal laws and
imposes purity and righteousness upon Israel
and (his priests. The book does not agree
with Genesis in all particulars, but it is an
excellent exposition of the ideas and ideals of
that party to which this author belonged.
The work is intensely nationalistic, and we
cite references from it, to show that within
that Jewish nationalism which this book rep-
resents, the channels of righteousness, mer-
cy and judgment had never run low.

Jubilees takes for granted the Old Testa-
ment thought that God is a God of righteous-
ness, and they who leave off righteousness,
thereby are separated from God. The book
opens with a conversation between God and
Moses, in which Moses is commanded to
write down as God dictates, the history of
Israel. "I shall hide My face from them"—

96 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

as a penalty, — "and I shall deliver them into
the hands of the Gentiles for captivity, and
for a prey and for a devouring, * * * And
they will forget all My laws and all My com-
mandments, and all My judgments, and will
go astray as to new moons, and Sabbaths,
and festivals, and jubilees and ordinances.
And after this they will turn to Me * * * and
I shall disclose to them abounding peace with
righteousness, and I shall re-establish them
as the plant of uprightness with all My soul,
and they will be for a blessing and not for a
curse, and they will be the head and not the
tail. And I shall build my sanctuary in their
midst, and I shall dwell with ihem, and I
shall be their God, and they will be My peo-
ple in truth and righteousness." * * * 3Then
Moses fell on his face and said: "Let Thy
mercy O Lord, be lifted up upon Thy people,
and create in them an upright spirit, and let
not the spirit of Beliar rule over them, to ac-
cuse them before Thee and to ensnare them
from all the paths of righteousness, so that
they may perish from before Thy face."

We turn from the ideal here laid down for
Israel to that which Noah enjoined upon his
descendants. 40And * * * Noah began to en-
join upon his sons' sons the ordinances and
the commandments and all the judgments
* * * and he exhorted his sons to observe
righteousness, and to cover the shame of
their flesh, and to bless their Creator, and
honor their father 'and mother, and love their

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 97

neighbor, and guard their souls from forni-
cation and uncleanliness and all iniquity.
'And now my children, hearken: Work judg-
ment and righteousness that you may be
planted in righteousness over the face of the
whole earth, and your glory lifted up before
God, who saved me from the waters of the
flood/ "

"Abraham likewise called his children be-
fore him to give them instruction in the
paths which they should follow. "And he
commanded them that they should observe
the way of the Lord ; that they should work
righteousness, and love each his neighbor,
and act in this manner amongst all men ; that
they should each so walk with regard to
them as to do judgment and righteousness on
the earth; that they should circumcise their
sons according to the covenant which He had
made with them, and not deviate to the right
hand or the left from all the paths which the
Lord had commanded us ; and that we should
keep ourselves from all fornication and un-
cleanliness."

""But serve ye the Most High God and
worship Him continually.

And hope for His countenance always.

And work uprightness and righteousness
before Him.

And ye will be for a blessing on the earth,

And all the nations of the earth will de-
sire you,

And bless your sons in my name,

98 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

That they may be blessed as I am."

When Abraham became old and felt him-
self going the way of all flesh, he called his
son Isaac to his side, and concluded his last
bit of advice.

""I see my son,

That all the works of the children of men
are sin and wickedness,

And all their deeds are uncleanliness and
an abomination and a pollution,

And there is no righteousness with them.

Beware lest thou shouldst walk in their
ways,

And tread in their paths,

And sin a sin unto the death before the
Most High God.

Turn away from all their deeds and all
their uncleanliness,

And observe the ordinance of the Most
High God.

And do His will and be upright in all
things.

And He will bless thee in all thy deeds,

And will raise up from thee the plant of
righteousness throughout all the earth,
throughout all generations of the earth.

And My name and thy name will not be
forgotten under heaven forever."

Just as Noah and Abraham had departed,
but not before instructing their children, so
too, did Isaac do, when he felt that the end of
his days was appro'aehing : And he called his
two sons together, and among other things

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 99

he said: ""And this I command you, my
sons, that ye practice righteousness and up-
rightness on earth, so that the Lord may
bring upon you all that the Lord said that
He would do to Abraham and to his seed;
and love one another, my sons, your brothers,
as a man who loves his own soul, and let each
seek in what he may benefit his brother and
act together on the earth ; and let them "love
each other as their own souls. May the Most
High God bless the man that worketh right-
eousness, him and his seed forever."

These by no means exhaust the number of
references that could be cited from this
work, to prove our contention. Though the
patriarchal characters are used, this work
like the one to be considered next, was writ-
ten during the reign of John Hyrcanus, be-
tween 135 and 105 before Jesus. Holding in
mind the fact that we are in that period of
Jewish history which in order to justify the
coming of their Messiah at that particular
time, Christians consider the very worst, it
must seem that these sentiments 'are lofty
indeed ; and in the face of this great and sub-
lime literature whose fringes only we have so
lightly touched, this period — the first cen-
turies before the present era — could not have
been nearly as bad as apologetes desire to
make them.

The book which we have reserved for the
last part of this section is one of the most
fertile of the post-biblical contributions. "It

100 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

is the work of a Pharisee who lived contem-
poraneously with John Hyrcanus; and the
work has been dated between 109 and 106 be-
fore the Christian era. It represents the
best Jewish thought of the day, dignifying
in splendid manner those virtues which com-
bine to make the very best in human char-
acter. This book has been of striking influ-
ence on the New Testament, and this is
shown particularly in the so-called "Sayings
of Jesus;" and no less than ninety-one pas-
sages are either taken from, or are directly
influenced by the Book of the Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs. It is in this book
that we find the original of the famous com-
mand concerning God and man, later found
in the New Testament, namely, ''"Master,
which is the great commandment in the
Law?" Jesus said unto him, "Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself." And if the
book had nothing to commend it but this, it
would still be one of the most important
pieces of apocryphal literature, showing as it
does so clearly, what the Jew knows, but
what the Christian denies, namely, that in
the mind of the author and his whole sect,
religion was as much a duty and an attention
to man, as it was to God. It is indeed a mat-
ter of much more than passing importance
that earlier by 140 years at least, and prob-
ably by 180, a Jewish scribe published that
precept, which the Christians have been giv-
ing later in the name of their founder, as the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 101

very corner stone of Christian teachings and
life. As one reads these monuments of the
Jewish past, and sees more and more how
utterly Jewish the best ethical ideals of the
New Testament are, this question bounds
back in spite of one's self: When will that
credit and glory that belong to the Jews be
given them by the unknowing world?

The form of this work is that of a series of
testaments or wills, presumably written by
the twelve sons of Jacob, and containing their
instruction and advice to their children. The
main events of the Bible which appertained
to the lives of these men are given in the
testaments, and from them religious lessons
are drawn, and taught to those who are sup-
posed to be listening. 48The work contains
not only the general teachings regarding the
love of God and fellowman, but goes rather
deeply into the ideas of forgiveness, hatred,
deceit, jealousy and envy, righteousness,
truthfulness, and all of those social relations
which make for a religious life in the very
highest sense, or unmake it. I believe that
this work as a whole represents the highest
type of Palestinian religious thought, and
the word "Palestinian" is used here in the
sense which also includes the New Testa-
ment writings.

Reuben, the first born of Jacob and Leah,
called about him his children and after relat-
ing those experiences in his life which he
deemed the most important, he closes with a

102 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

few verses of admonition: ""Beware of for-
nication ; 'and if you wish to be pure in mind,
guard your senses from every woman. Com-
mand the women likewise not to associate
with men, that they also may be pure in
mind. For constant meetings even though
the ungodly deed be not wrought, are to them
an irremediable disease and to us a destruc-
tion of Beliar 'and an eternal reproach. 50I
adjure you by the God of heaven to do truth
each one unto his neighbor and to entertain
love each for his brother. And draw ye near
to Levi, (the priest) in humbleness of heart
that ye may receive a blessing from his
mouth."

When Simeon became sick, his sons came
to visit him, and while they were around his
bedside, he took occasion to review -his life,
'and to point out his mistakes. E1He spoke of
the part he played in the selling of Joseph,
and he told how deeply he had grieved over
his cruelty. 52He told of his repentance and
commanded his children to "beware of the
spirit of deceit and envy. For envy ruleth
over the whole mind of a man, and suffereth
him not to do any good thing. But it sug-
gesteth to destroy him that he envieth. 63Do
ye also, my children love each one his
brother with a good heart, and the spirit of
envy will withdraw from you. For this mak-
eth savage the soul and destroyeth the body
— it causeth anger and war in mind and stir-
reth up into deeds of blood. "And now my

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 103

children, make your hearts good before the
Lord and your ways straight before men,
and ye shall find grace before the Lord and
men."

Though sound in body and mind, "Levi
had received a revelation that the end of his
days was approaching, and in order not to
leave his descendants without proper. coun-
sel he called them together. He related how
he, together with Simeon had taken ven-
geance on CGHamor for the outrage upon
Dinah; how the matter had distressed their
father and how it caused the war between
Hamor and Jacob. 57He told of the vision in
which he was appointed the priest of his peo-
ple— a vision which came upon him after he
had thought long and intently upon the "men
corrupting their ways" and upon the fact that
"unrighteousness had built for itself walls,
and lawlessness sat upon towers." He told
them how he grieved for the race of the sons
of men, and how he prayed to the Lord that
he might be saved. He described that vision
in which he was commanded to B8"put on the
robes of priesthood, and the crown of right-
eousness and the breastplate of understand-
ing, and the garment of truth and the plate
of faith, and the turban of the head, and the
ephod of prophecy;" and then he relates his
annointing. And now prepared ito stand as the
teacher and priest of Israel and to set before
them these ideals, he commands them to

104 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

"'Tear the Lord your God with your whole
heart,

And walk in simplicity according to all
His laws.

60Work righteousness, my children upon
the earth,

That ye may have it as a treasure in
heaven.

And sow good things in your souls,

That ye may find them in your life.

"Whosoever teaches noble things and does
them,

Shall be enthroned with kings,

As was also Joseph, thy brother."

fl2"For as the heaven is purer in the Lord's
sight than the earth, so also be ye, the light
of Israel, purer than all the Gentiles." Other
versions have it : "My children, be ye pure as
the heaven is purer than the earth; and ye
who are the lights of Israel shall be as the
sun and moon." 63<<But if ye be darkened
through transgressions, what therefore wilt
all the Gentiles do living in blindness? Yea,
ye shall bring a curse upon our race because
of the light of the law which was given for
to light every man, this ye desire to destroy
by teaching commandments contrary to the
ordinances of God."

The Testament of Levi is extremely inter-
esting. It pictures Israel's backsliding and en-
umerates the penalties. It gives a vivid des-
cription of Israel's sins during the period of
the writer, and at the end it closes with an

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 105

exhortation to choose either 64"the light or
the darkness, the law of the Lord or the
works of Beliar."

The Testament of Judah is one of the long-
est in the book, on account of the importance
of the tribe of that name, in Israel's history.
Judah, too, calls together his sons, tells them
of his youth, his achievements and the bless-
ings that were bestowed upon him, even to
the kingship of Israel. He relates some
things not found in the Bible, and describes
vividly some of the experiences in which he
and his brothers were the heroes. From
these and the deed with Tamar, he draws the
moral lessons which he desires to teach his
children. ""Walk not after your lusts, nor in
the imaginations of your thoughts in haugh-
tiness of heart; and glory not in the deeds
and strength of your youth, for this also is
evil in the eyes of the Lord."

66"Beware, therefore, my children of forni-
cation and the love of money and hearken to
Judah, your father.

For these things withdraw you from the
Law of God,

And teach arrogance,

And suffer not a man to have compassion
upon his neighbor.

They rob his soul of all goodness,

And oppress him with toils and troubles.

And drive away sleep with him,

And devour his flesh."

By way of interest we quote from this tes-

106 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

tament its description of the king of Israel,
who is to occupy the throne after Israel's re-
demption when the messianic ruler will have
come to establish Israel's kingdom, and when
97"the Lord will visit you (the Jews) when
with perfect heart you repent and walk in all
his commandments, and he will bring you
up from captivity among the Gentiles * * *
68And after these things shall a star arise to
you from Jacob in peace.

And a man shall arise like the sun of
righteousness,

And no sin shall be found on him.

And the heavens shall be opened to him

To pour out the spirit, the blessings of the
Holy Father;

And he shall pour out the spirit of grace
upon you,

And ye shall be unto him sons in truth,

And ye shall walk in His commandments
first and last.

Then shall the sceptre of my kingdom
shine forth,

And from your root shall arise a stem ;

And from it shall grow a rod of righteous-
ness to the Gentiles,

To judge and to save all that call upon the
Lord.

89And after these things shall Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob arise unto life, and I, my
brethren, shall be chief of the tribes.

And ye shall be people of the Lord and
have one tongue,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 107

And there shall be no spirit of deceit of
Beliar,

For he shall be cast into the fire forever.

And they who have died in grief shall arise
in joy,

70And they who were poor for the Lord's
sake shall be made rich,

And they who were put to death for the
Lord's sake shall awake to life,

And the harts of Israel shall run in joy-
fulness,

And the eagles of Israel shall fly in glad-
ness,

And all the people shall glorify the Lord
forever.

"Observe therefore my children, all the
Law of the Lord, for there is hope to all of
them who hold fast to His ways."

The words of counsel in the Testament of
Issachar sound like those of Ben Sirach or
Wisdom, though they breathe a somewhat
more refined religious spirit. After relating
how he aided the poor, Issachar speaks thus :

72"And now hearken to me, my children,

And walk in singleness of heart,

For I have seen it in all that is well pleas-
ing to the Lord,

The single-minded man coveteth not gold,

He overreacheth not his neighbor,

But only waiteth for the will of God.

And the spirits of deceit have no power
against him,

There is no envy in his thoughts,

108 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Malice maketh not his soul to pass away,
Nor worry with insatiable desire in his
mind.

For he walketh in singleness of soul,

And beholdeth all things in uprightness
of heart,

Shunning eyes made evil through the error
of the world,

Lest he should see the perversion of any of
the commandments of the Lord.

Keep therefore my children, the Law of
God, * * *

73Not playing the busybody with the busi-
ness of your neighbor ;

But love the Lord and your neighbor,

Have compassion on the poor and the
weak."

After laying down these general principles,
he tells them how he lived, and commands
them to live likewise:

74"Except my wife, I have not known any
woman. I never committed fornication by
the lifting up of my eyes.

I drank not wine to be led astray thereby,

I coveted not any desirable thing that was
my neighbor's.

Guile rose not in my heart,

A lie passed not through my lips.

If any man were in distress, I joined my
sighs with his,

And I shared my bread with the poor.

I wrought godliness, all my days I kept the
truth.

I loved the Lord,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 109

Likewise also every man with all my heart.
So do ye also these things, my children,
Since you have with you the God of heav-
en and earth,

And walk with men in singleness of heart."
The Testament of Zebulun contains re-
peated admonitions to be merciful. He is the
one of all of Joseph's older brothers who shed
tears of compassion when the brothers so
harshly mistreated him. This is one of the
tenderest bits of sentiment not only in this
book but in the whole intertestamental liter-
ature, and some of its contents compare most
favorably with the best in the Old Testa-
ment. Like the others, Zebulun refers to his
past life, and lays especial stress on the sin
against Joseph, for which he, too, has long
since repented. An interesting fact not bear-
ing on our subject, is the claim of Zebulun
that he "was the first to make a boat to sail
upon the sea."

Zebulun's testament is one of the few an-
cient works that advises kindness to animals.
He bids his children to keep the commands
of the Lord, and to show mercy to their
neighbors, 75"and to have compassion towards
all, not towards men only but also towards
beasts." He then tells how he shared his
"catch with every stranger," and how he had
compassion upon every one. He relates how
he once helped a man in '"distress in winter
and stole a garment from his father's house
to give to him who was in trouble. "Do you

110 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

therefore," says he, "my children, from that
which God bestoweth upon you, show com-
passion and mercy without hesitation to all
men, and give to every man with a good
heart. And if ye have not the wherewithal to
give to him that needeth, have compassion on
him in bowels of mercy. I know that my
hand found not the wherewithal to give to
him that needed, and I walked with him
weeping for seven furlongs, and my bowels
yearned towards him in compassion. "Have
ye therefore, yourselves also my children,
compassion towards every man, with mercy,
that the Lord also may have compassion and
mercy upon you."

There remain yet six Testaments, and each
one contains precept after precept of that
"judgment, righteousness and mercy" which
Israel is supposed by many not to have had.
To quote them all will be irksome, if, indeed
those that have already been quoted are not
so. And yet justice to the matter requires
that some of these thoughts be here inserted.
A few only have been selected and these are
placed under the names of the testaments
which contain them.

The Testament of Dan: 78"I have proved
in my heart, and in my whole life that the
truth with just dealings is good and well
pleasing to God, and that lying and anger
are evil, because they teach man all wicked-
ness. 7uAnd I tell you of a truth, that unless
ye keep yourselves from the spirit of lying

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 111

and anger, and love truth and long-suffering,
ye shall perish, for anger is blindness, and
does not suffer one to see the face of any
man with truth. 80Observe the command-
ments of God,

And hate lying, that the Lord may dwell
among you,

And Beliar may flee from you.

Speak the truth each one with his neigh-
bor,

So shall ye not fall into wrath and confu-
sion,

But ye shall be in peace, having the God
of peace,

So shall no war prevail among you.

Love the Lord through all your life,

And one another with a true heart.

"Depart therefore from all unrighteous-
ness and cleave unto the righteousness of
God and your race will be saved forever."

The Testament of Napthali: 82Be ye
therefore not eager to corrupt your doings
through covetousness or with vain words to
beguile your souls ; * * *

83 And if ye work that which is good, my
children,

Both men and angels shall bless you ;

And God shall be glorified among the Gen-
tiles through you,

And the devil shall flee from you.

But him who doeth not what is good,

Both angels and men shall curse,

And God shall be dishonored among the
Gentiles through him."

112 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

' Testament of Gad: ""And now my chil-
dren, hearken to the words of truth to work
righteousness, and all the law of the Most
High, and go not astray through the spirit
of hatred, for it is evil in all the doings of
men. Whatsoever a man doeth, the hater
abominates him * * * though man feareth
the Lord, and taketh pleasure in that which
is righteous, he loves Him not. He disprais-
eth the truth, he envieth him that prospers,
he welcometh evil speaking, he loveth arro-
gance, for hatred blindeth the soul. 8GBeware
therefore, my children, of 'hatred; for it
worketh lawlessness even against the Lord
himself. For he will not hear the words of
His commandments concerning the loving of
one's neighbors, and it sinneth against God.
"For as love would quicken even the dead, and
would call back them that are condemned to
die, so hatred would slay the living, and those
that had sinned venially, it would not suffer
to live. For the spirit of hatred worketh
together with Satan through hastiness of
spirit in all things unto men's death ; but the
spirit of love worketh together with the law
of God in long-suffering unto the salvation
of men. Hatred therefore is evil, for it con-
stantly mateth with lying, speaking against
the truth; and it maketh small things to be
great, and causeth the light to be darkness,
and calleth the sweet bitter, and teacheth
slander and kindleth wrath and stirreth up
war, and violence and all covetousness ; it fill-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 113

eth the heart with evils and devilish poison.
These things therefore, I say to you from ex-
perience, my children, that ye may drive
forth hatred, which is of the devil, and cleave
to the love of God. Righteousness casteth
out hatred, humility destroyeth envy. For
he that is just and humble is ashamed to do
what is unjust, being reproved not of another
but of his own heart, because the Lord look-
eth upon his inclination. 87And now my chil-
dren, I exhort you, love ye each one his broth-
er, and put away hatred from your hearts,
love one another in deed and in word and in
inclination of soul. 88Love ye one another
from the heart, and if a man sin against thee,
speak peaceably to him, and in thy soul hold
no guile ; and if he repent and confess, forgive
him. But if he deny it, do not get into a
passion with him, lest catdhing the poison
from thee, he taketh to swearing and thou
sin doubly. 8aBut if he be shameless and per-
sisteth in his wrongdoing, even so forgive
him from the heart, and leave to God the
avenging."

Who can read these remarkable words and
those which follow — without feeling the
greait injustice that is done Judaism by
those who deny it the possession of some of
religion's purest teachings.

Testament of Asher: "He who defraud-
eth his neighbor provoketh God, and swear-
eth falsely against the Most High, and yet
pitieth the poor; * * * "'another commiteth

114 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

adultery and fornication, and abstaineth
from meats, and when he fasteth he does evil
and by the power of his wealth overwhelm-
ed many ; and notwithstanding his excessive
wickedness he doeth the commandments;
this too, hath a two-fold aspect, but the whole
is evil. 91But do not ye my children, wear
faces like unto them, of goodness and of
wickedness, but cleave unto goodness only,
for God has his habitation therein, and men
desire it. But from wickedness flee away
destroying the evil inclination by your good
works; for they that are double-faced serve
not God but their own lusts, so that they may
please Beliar and men like themselves. 82Take
heed therefore, ye also my children, to the
commandments of the Lord, following the
truth with singleness of face. For they that
are double-faced are guilty of a double sin;
for they both do the evil thing and they have
pleasure in them that do it, following the ex-
amples of the spirits of deceit and striving
against mankind. Do ye keep the Law of the
Lord, and give not heed unto evil as unto
good; but look unto the thing that is really
good, and keep it in all commandments of the
Lord, having your conversation therein, and
resting therein."

Testament of Joseph: 93<<Do ye also there-
fore, my children, have the fear of God in all
your works before your eyes, and honor your
brethren; for everyone who doeth the Law
of the Lord shall be loved by Him. 0i Ye see,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 115

therefore, what great things I endured that
I should not put my brethren to shame. Do
ye also, love one another, and with long-suf-
fering hide ye one another's faults. For God
delighteth in the unity of brethren, and in
the purpose of a heart that taketh pleasure
in love. eBIf ye also, therefore, walk in the
commandments of the Lord, my children, He
will exalt you there and will bless you with
good things forever and ever. And if any-
one seeketh to do evil unto you, do well unto
him and pray for him, and ye shall be re-
deemed of the Lord, from all evil."

What a remarkable revelation these words
must be to those who constantly reproach the
Jews with their harshness, and quote so con-
tinually the purported words of Jesus. 86"Ye
have heard that it hath been said, 'thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but
I say unto you, love your enemies and pray
for them that persecute you/ " Was Jesus
or the editor of Matthew acquainted with the
Testaments of Joseph or Naphtali?

Testament of Benjamin: 97"Do ye also my
children, love the Lord God of Heaven and
Earth, and keep His commandments. And
let your mind be unto good, even as ye know
me ; for he who hath his mind right, seeth all
things rightly. Fear ye the Lord, and love
your neighbor. 98See ye therefore my children
the end of a good man? Be followers of his
compassion, therefore, with a good mind,
that ye also may wear crowns of glory. For

116 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

the good man hath not a dark eye; for he
showeth mercy to all men, even though
they be sinners. And though they devise
with evil intent concerning him, by doing
good he overcometh evil, being shielded by
God ; and he loveth the righteous as 'his own
soul. 80If anyone does violence to a holy man,
he repenteth; for the holy man is merciful
to his reviler, and holdetih his peace. 100The
good mind hath not two tongues, of blessing
and of cursing, of contumely and of honor,
of sorrow and joy, of quietness and of con-
fusion, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty
and of wealth; but it hath one disposition,
uncorrupt and pure concerning all men. It
hath no double sight, nor double hearing ; for
in every thing which he doeth or speaketh
or seeth, he knows that the Lord looketh on
his soul. And he cleanseth his mind that
he be not condemned by men as well as by
God. 101And do ye my children, flee evil do-
ing, envy and hatred of brethren, and cleave
to goodness and love. lu2Do ye truth, each one
to his neighbor, and keep the Law of the
Lord and his commandments."

It is a pity that this great literature out
of w'hich there can be extracted some of the
noblest ideals of conduct that have ever been
written, should be closed to the ordinary read-
er of the sacred writings. If it is a fact that
the canon contains many of the best thoughts
that have ever been uttered, it is difficult to
understand wherein much of the apocryphal

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 117

liteiiafture falls below it. Perhaps as it be-
comes the more generally known, it too will
become the more valued.

118 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

CHAPTER IV.

The Jewish Ideals and the New
Testament.

In evaluating the contributions of the old-
er and newer covenants, it is hardly just to
compare the ethics of Jesus and the New
Testament with those of the Old. It is easy
to say that some of the teachings of Jesus
are higher than those of the older Jewish
sages of the older canon, and it is just as
easy to say that many of the teachings of the
Jewish teachers who lived a century or two
after the close of the Old Testament were
also higher than those of the older sages of
the Bible. But we must not overlook the fact
that upon both Jesus and the other post-Bib-
lical Jewish teachers the best portions of the
Bible had already exerted an untold influ-
ence. So far as religious depth and height of
spiritual essence are concerned, there is much
of this outside of the Bible superior to a great
deal in the Bible. Men grow with years, es-
pecially after they have a spiritual treasure
and a religious guide by which to live. It is
therefore not just to say that the New Tes-
tament teaches this and that, while the Old
Testament teachers <had only given hint of
this or that. We ought rather to judge the
teachings of the Old Testament in the light of

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 119 .

the civilization about them ; and compare the
New Testament, or more explicitly the alleg-
ed teachings of Jesus, with the contemporary
Jewish literature: That is, the works cited
in the preceding chapter, the Mislmah, the
early Talmudic and Midrashic sources, and
the Prayer book. In this vast literature we
may gain some idea of the ideals, the
thoughts and the deeds which constituted the
religious life of the people ; there we may find
what the Jews of those days regarded as the
means of their salvation ; there shall we find
the principles — high and ennobling, which
underlay a truly Jewish life; and there will
we find too, that the utterances of Jesus fit-
ted, and could have been spoken by almost
any of the well-known sages, rabbis and
teachers of the Law. But these sources are
difficult to get at ; few non-Jews are at home
in them, and fewer still think them import-
ant enough. For justice to Judaism seems
to occupy little of their concern. A new
'light, however, has dawned, and for the
first time in our days there has appeared one
who feels that Jewish life and belief have
long enough been distorted, and that it is
time that those wTio misunderstand unwill-
ingly shall be given an opportunity to judge
dispassionately. To quote the writer of this
new and excellent volume: 2"I have not
sought to write a panegyric on them (the
Pharisees), but so far as may be possible for
one who is not a Jew, to present their case

120 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

from their own standpoint, and not, as is so
often done, as a mere foil to the Christian
religion. This is one reason why I have not
referred to the writings of other scholars,
except in the one case of Weber. He is typi-
cal of them all in their attitude towards rab-
binical Judaism." And further: "Pharisa-
ism is usually judged from the outside, as
seen by not very friendly eyes; and, even of
those Christians who have studied the Phar-
isaic literature and who thus know it to some
extent from the inside, there are few who
seem able to imagine what it must have been
to those whose real religion it was. * * * The
knowledge will be chiefly valuable if it helps
the reader to realize that the Pharisees were
'men of like passions with us,' men with souls
to be saved, who cared a great deal for things
of the higher life, men who feared God and
worked righteousness, and who pondered
deeply upon spiritual questions, though they
did not solve them upon Christian lines, nor
state the answers in Christian terms. " * * *
"And I hope that when I have done, I shall
have left with the reader some clear idea of
who the Pharisees were and what they stood
for, and a more just appreciation of them
than is indicated by the word 'hypocrites. ' "
And in the last chapter of the book, we find
these emphatic words: 3"He (Weber) must
have been perplexed by the want of the
agreement amongst his authorities, but he
got over that by regarding the more promin-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 121

ent doctrine as the rule, and the other as the
exception ; the former was a part of the sys-
tem, the latter was aberration. Christian
scholars are pathetically grateful to Weber
for having given them an orderly and meth-
odical arrangement of the medley of Phar-
isaic doctrines ; certainly he has done so ; but
with as much success and as much truth as
if he had described a tropical jungle, believ-
ing it to be a nursery-garden."

How different these words are from those
which we find in the classic masters of Chris-
tian theology! The very unfair attitude has
become so classic that it is almost beating
against a stone-wall to cry for a change. In
reading the various standard works of some
of the best known Christian scholars, one gets
the opinion that they not only do not know the
Jewish sources, but they do not want to know
them. For a study of the originals is not out
of the question; they are accessible, if one
really wants to study them.

However, one is not forced to consult the
originals, for there are a number of excel-
lent translations of the most important por-
tions of the rabbinical literature. It is the
fine sense of justice that seems to be lacking
— that sense of justice, which because of its
absence in Christian scholars, caused the late
Prof. Schechter to speak of a certain kind of
scholarship as the "higher anti-Semitism."

122 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

The Fatherhood of Gotf.

There is a very definite relation between
one's conception of God, and one's relation
to society. He who thinks of God as Creator
and Father will probably regard himself as
a brother to his fellow-men. This point of
view becomes an exceedingly important one
in the strivings of modern society, since the
basic idea of brotherhood is one of the great-
est motives we have in the solution of our
social problems. The steps of humankind
upward can be well measured by the progress
of this ideal, and where it fails to influence
men, there civilization >has lagged. The strife,
struggles, warfare and murders among civil-
ized mankind indicate how much this teach-
ing is needed.

Among the Jews of old as well as among
those of our days, God was and Is the Crea-
tor and Maker, Shaper and Father of man-
kind. This thought is elemental and univer-
sal. But after reading religious works bear-
ing on the contributions of the Bible to life,
we are invariably led to believe that the lofty
sentiment which regards God not only as
Creator and Maker, but also as Father, is
of late origin and use." It was Jesus they say
who read into the word "Father" as applied
to God, a meaning hitherto unknown and un-
thought of. One might not object to state-
ments of this sort were they made in a man-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 123

ner which did not belittle the f aith of the Old
Testament, and take from those who lived ac-
cording to it, that credit which is theirs by
right of thought and deed. That one Jew said
something original and lasting — this is neith-
er new nor alarming. But that this same
one, later made into a deity, eclipsed all
others, simply because they who say this
do not know or care what the others did —
that is a different matter. Certainly the
facts in the case will warrant an examina-
tion.

No one would take away from the teacher
in the gospels, the fact that he felt himself
near to his God, and that he conceived a re-
lationship of fatherhood on the side of God
and sonship on his own side. Nor can any
one deny that a deep tenderness and a fer-
vent piety characterize his alleged utterances
to 'his Father. But did not the psalmists —
those who looked to their Father with meek-
ness and longing ; did not the rabbis who felt
themselves at all times in the very bosom of
their Father — did not all of these look to
their God as the Father "and God of all man-
kind, equally merciful, equally kind, equally
just to all? With Israel there was a special
covenant which the other nations had 'refus-
ed. But this made no difference in the rela-
tion between the other nations and God.
"sHave we not all one Father, hath not one
God created us all," though first spoken to
Israel, was later extended to include all man-

124 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

kind. And this universal idea was further
carried out by the rabbinical dictum : "The
righteous of all nations liave a portion in the
world to come."

The writers of the gospels, in their desire
to show the strong filial relationship between
Jesus and God, attribute to him, a number of
passages whidh because of the occurence of
the word "my" before Father, become ex-
ceedingly narrow. It is true that in a number
of other passages Jesus put the word "thy"
or "your" before Father. But it is strange
that in all the gospels the word "our" — which
is the common rabbinic word used before
Father, occurs only once, and that in the
Lord's Prayer, which is a distinctively rab-
binical supplication. Some examples of pas-
sages of this kind, are the following: ""Who-
soever will confess me before men, him also
will I confess before MY Father, which is in
heaven ; but whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I also deny before MY Father
which is in heaven." ""Not everyone that
sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the
kingdom of heaven; but 'he that doeth the
will of MY Father which is in heaven."
t2"All these things are delivered to me of MY
Father, and no man knoweth the son but the
Father; and neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the son ; and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him." 1S" Again I say unto
you, that if two of you shall agree on the
earth as touching anything that they shall

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 125

ask, it shall be done for them of MY Father
who is in heaven. For where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in
the midst of them." 14"So likewise shall MY
Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from
your hearts forgive not everyone his broth-
er." ""And I appoint unto you a kingdom,
even as My Father appointed unto me."
""For whosoever s'hall do the will of My
Father which is in heaven, he is my brother,
and sister, and mother." 17"In MY Father's
house are many mansions, if it were not so,
I would have told you, for I go to prepare a
place for you." ""Blessed art t'hou, Simon
bar Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not re-
vealed it unto thee, but MY Father who is in
heaven." ""And behold, I send forth the
promise of MY Father upon you."

Against these highly particularistic pas-
sages ascribed to Jesus, are a number of oth-
ers by him which are broad, universal, and
much more like those one would believe
Jesus uttered. They utilized the rabbinic
conception of the universality of the Father-
hood of God, and they occur often enough to
warrant the statement that he felt this re-
lationship very deeply, and sought by its fre-
quent use to impress it upon others. What
he read into it that was not known in his
days, one fails to ascertain. The following
passages which universalize God, and which
occur especially in the Sermon, are emphatic,
but they have parallels in the Old Testament,

126 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND

in the intertestamental and in the rabbinic
literature: 20"Be ye therefore perfect even as
YOUR Father in heaven is perfect;" "But I
say unto you, love * * * that ye may be the
children of YOUR Father which is in heaven ;
for he maketh His sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and
the unjust. 22Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing ? And one of them shall not fall to
the ground without YOUR Father. And call
no man YOUR Father upon earth ; for one is
YOUR Father, which is in heaven. 2SEven so,
it is not the will of YOUR Father which is in
heaven that one of these little ones should
perish. 24If ye then being evil know how to
give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall YOUR Father which is in heaven
give good things to them that ask Him. "Let
your light so shine before men, that they
may see your good works, and glorify YOUR
Father which is in heaven. 28And when ye
stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought
against anyone, that YOUR Father also which
is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses ;
but if you do not forgive neither will YOUR
Father which is in heaven forgive your tres-
passes. 27But love your enemies, and do good
and lend, and never despairing, and your
reward shall be great and ye shall be the chil-
dren of the Highest ; for He is kind unto the
unthankful and the evil. Be ye therefore mer-
ciful as YOUR Father also is merciful." The
verse preceding is peculiar. For according

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 127

to other utterances of Jesus, it is the evil and
ungrateful who are to be excluded from the
Kingdom.

The use of the word "my" and "your" in
these passages land others, is very noticeable.
One would expect the word "our;" as it is,
one feels that these words are intended to im-
press the fact that Jesus and the people to
whom he speaks, are not on a par in their re-
lationship to God, buit that Jesus stands
nearer, as the son of the Most High.

The Jewish view, of course, Is different.
According to Jewish teachings, all are the
children of God ; He is their Creator, and the
thought that God is the Father of not only
one son, but many — though indeed Israelites
— is common in the Old Testament. We shall
not exhaust the list of references — and like
in the cases above, we will qudte just enough
to substantiate tlhe assertion. 28"Ye are the
children of the Lord your God" was siaid by
a writer in Deuteronomy. 29<Ts not He thy
Father that hath gotten thee? Hath He not
made thee and established thee?" 80Thus
hath said the Lord : "My son, my first-born is
Israel." 31"Look down from heaven, and be-
hold from the habitation of Thy 'holiness and
Thy glory * * * for thou art our Father, our
Redeemer from everlasting is thy name."
,2"But now, 0 Lord, our Father art Thou ; we
are clay and thou art our fashioner, and the
work of thy hand are we all." ""Can a woman
forget her suckling child, not to have mercy

128 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

on the son of her body! Yea, should those
even forget, yet would I not forget thee, * * *
saith the Lord." 34"Wilt thou not call unto me
from this time, my Father, the guide of my
youth art Thou?" 35"When Israel was young
yet, then I loved him, and out of Egypt did
I call my son." 3G"Return, O backsliding chil-
dren, saith the Lord * * * I thought my Fatti-
er thou wouldst call me, and that from me
thou wouldst not turn away." 3T"He will call
unto me, 'thou art my Father,' and the rock
of my salvation." 3h"For I am become a Fath-
er to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born."
""Have we not all One Father, hath not One
God created us all?" There are a number
of psalms, notably 103, 106, 107, 108, and 136,
whidh breathe a tender and passionate mes-
sage of affection, consideration and love ; and
with these can be classed chapters of Job
especially the thirty-eighth and dhirty-ninth.
While the word Father is not mentioned, God
is described in such intimate and fatherly
terms that one feels his nearness just as
much as if he were called "Father."

Like the Old Testament, the later litera-
ture (has a well defined conception of God as
Faither. 40"O Lord, Father and Governor of
the world, leave me not to their counsels and
let me not fall by them. 41Be as a father unto
the fatherless, and instead of a husband unto
the mother, so shal't thou be as a son of the
Most High, and He shall love thee more than
any mother doth. "0 Lord, Father and God

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 129

of my life, give not a proud look, but turn
away from thy servants, alwiays, a haughty
mind. 43But ithy providence, O Father, gov-
erneth it, for thou hast made a way in the
sea, and a safe path in the waves, showing
that thou canst save from all danger, yea
though a man went to sea without art. "He
(the righteous )professeth to have the knowl-
edge of God and he calleth himself the son of
the Lord. "There declare his greatness, extol
him before all the living ; for He Is our Lord,
and He is the God our Father forever. 46The
(heavens shall be opened, and from the temple
of glory shall come upon him (the priest)
sanctification, with the Father's voice as
from Abraham to Isaac. 47And after these
things shall a star arise urito you from Jacob
in peace, * * * and the (heavens shall be open-
ed unto him, to pour out the spirit even the
blessings of the Holy Father, and he shall
pour out the spirit of grace upon you, and ye
shall be unto him sons in trutih, and we shall
walk in his commandments first and last.
48For he shall take knowledge of them that
they be all the sons of their God, and shall
divide them upon the earth according to their
tribes."

One cannot appreciate the injustice of the
writers who misrepresent Jewish traditions
until one glances over some of the Talmudic
passages on the divine Fatherhood of God.
Only a few will be cited. We shall not con-
sider the phrase, "Our Father, Our King,"

130 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

which is so plentfuil in the prayers and the
prayer-book, and which has been treated at
length most capably.'9 We will content our-
selves with a few bits of evidence that the
rabbinic idea of the Fatherhood was as lofty
and inspiring as the finest uttered in the gos-
pels and (that too, these were not influenced
by Christian thought. 50"The ancient pious,"
we are told, "used to spend an hour in medi-
tation so that when they prayed to their
Father in heaven they could direct their
proper attention to him." B1"The Day of
Atonement does not atone for one unless he
first acts favorably towards him whom he
has offended ;" Rabbi Akiba said, "happy are
you, 0 Israel, on account of Him before
whom you may be purified — your Father in
heaven." ^""Israelites lift up their eyes to
their Father in heaven." B3"As long as Israel
will direct himself to God, and serve with
their hearts their Father in heaven, so long
will they prevail." ""Blessed be the God of Is-
rael for this son of Abraham, who has pene-
trated into the glories of our Father." "In the
first century Jochanan ben Zakkai referred to
the altar as "establishing peace between Is-
rael and his Father in heaven."

In speaking of the death of various teach-
ers and what departed with them, the Mish-
nah says: B0"Upon whom then, shall we lean?
Upon our Father in Heaven" (or upon our
Father who is in Heaven.") 57"To Honi, a
very pious and saintly rabbi, the children

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 131

came during a great drouth saying, 'Father
give us rain/ " Whereupon the saint prayed :
"0 Ruler of the world, for the sake of these
little ones who cannot discriminate between
the Father who giveth rain and the father
who can only pray for but cannot give rain,
hear my prayers." ""Sampson judged Israel
as did their Father in heaven." 50"One who is
blind or cannot determine his direction, shall
direct his heart in prayer to his Father in
heaven." 00Judah ben Temah said: "Be as
strong as a tiger ; have the voice of an eagle ;
run like a deer and be as powerful as a lion to
do the will of your Father in heaven." "Josh-
ua ben Levi said: "Even a wall of iron could
not separate Israel from his Father in heav-
en." 62Rabbi Jochanan said in the name of
Rabbi Jochai: "What does Scripture mean
when it says, "for I am the Lord, loving judg-
ment and hating robbery with burnt offer-
ings." It is like a parable of a "king of flesh
and blood" — the rabbinical way of saying a
human king as contrasted with the divine
King — "who goes to the custom house and
says to his servants: 'Give me some tax
money for the tax gatherers/ They say to
him: 'Our Lord, does not all the tax that is
gathered belong to you?' Then he answers
them: 'Certainly, but I want all travelers to
learn from me, that ithey may not try to
shirk the payment of their tax.' Thus is it
with the Holy One, blessed be He. 'For I, the
Lord * * * hate robbery with sacrifice. From

w

132 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

me let my children learn that fthey must shun
robbery/ "

The particularistic passages ascribed to
Jesus show a relation between the Father
and his creatures, which is decidedly inferior
to the one in the Old Testament and the rab-
binical references cited. If the God as "Fath-
er" idea had any value, it lay in this, that it
was the primary basis upon which was built
the idea of the complete brotherhood of man-
kind. To feel God as a Father Is not enough ;
the idea must be complemented by the feeling
of kinship of humankind, and the particular-
istic passages certainly do not bring this out.
They rather put mankind alt a lower level by
putting one particular person between it and
God. The Creatorship expressed in terms of
the Fatherhood of God in the Old Testament,
Jhd in fact, in the other Jewish traditions
made all men kin in a manner not conditioned
by the acceptance or the rejection of any one
personal mediator. Its value lay just in this
broad conception of an all-including Father-
hood. It is true that the universal passages
in the Old Testament at first applied only to
the community of Israel. But even this is
broader than the narrow sense of the particu-
laristic passages credited to Jesus. It must
be said, however, that even the conception of
Israel's sonship was later broadened out to
include all mankind, just as later Christiani-
ty broadened out the more general passages
of the gospels. There are more than fifty

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEAJLS 183

passages in the gospels in which the term
"Father" is applied to God. Of these about
twenty apply this relationship only with re-
gard to Jesus. The rest have it, as in the other
writings, as a relation between God and those
to whom or of whom the writer or the utterer
of the passagess, is speaking. But a decided
broadening of the term, that is to say, a uni-
versalization of it, was very well known to Ju-
daism long before the teacher of Nazareth, as
anyone who knows the Jewish sources, can
testify. The following words of Harnack can
very well be applied not only to Jesus, but to
many others who taught before, contempora-
ily with, and after him: e3"The very apostro-
phe, 'Our Father,' exhibits the steady faith of
the man who knows that he is safe in God, and
it tells us that he is certain of being heard/'
It is perhaps asking scholars too much to reaid
the Old Jewish liturgy. But it, and the rab-
binical writings are full of tender apostro-
phes of this character. It is not true that to
the Jew, God was a far away transcendental,
infinitely distant Lord. It is just the opposite.
"He was indeed the great, Almighty King,
Creator and Father; but He was also the
just, merciful, long-suffering and compas-
sionate One; "He was the Goodness of the
world, the Life of the world, and the Father of
the world." The old Jews were indeed near to
Him and He was their "Strength, their Shep-
herd, their Hope, their Salvation and their
Safety." He was "near to them in every kind

134 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

of nearness. " 6BWhile the sages so fondly pic-
tured Israel as His people, and as His first-
born son and treasure, there were other sons.
66<Tn brief," says Sohechter, "there is not a
single endearing epithet in the language such
as brother, sister, bride, mother, lamb or eye,
which is not, according to the rabbis, applied
by the Scriptures to express this intimate re-
lation between God and His people." We have
been told that all this was later, and that it
came about through the influence of the New
Testament upon Jewish traditions and Jew-
ish belief. eThey who know what the rela-
tions were between the Jews and the early
Christians; they who know of ithe inner
struggles of the early church itself, and they
who know how little the Jews and the
early Christians had to do with each other at
first, and how the Jews were persecuted by
the Christians later — they will realize how
little Christianity could have influenced
Jewish thought and Jewish life. The mat-
ter does not need discussion here.

The conception of the Fatherhood of God
had become very common during the rise of
rabbinical literature, and Jesus used the idea
— used it much, and used it well. If he ut-
tered the particularistic passages and felt
that he lived more righteously than others,
— nearer to God and His commandments —
and therefore was justified in singling him-
self out, he did what they at all times did,
ORwho felt that spiritual refinement and ferv-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 135

ent piety brought them nearer to their Crea-
tor. In fact it was for this that the Jew lived,
but he did not deny that same privilege to
others. This indeed was his mission, and for
this was he created. Recall the words of Joch-
anan ben Zakkai: 0B'Tf thou hast learnt much
Torah, ascribe not any merit to thyself, for
for that purpose wast thou created." One dis-
likes to believe that Jesus really uttered the
particularistic passages ascribed to him.
They seem rather the words of non-Jewish
followers who had as little knowledge of
Jesus' Jewish idea of the Fatherhood of God,
as some who deny it have today. Like the
prophets, like the psalmists, like the sages
of his own day, he seems to have felt that
God was the Father of those to whom he
spoke ; that their prayers were to be directed
to Him, that he was the All Good, All Merci-
ful, Fatherly God. His idea, at any rate in the
general passages, like that of the Jewish
teachers was a broad one, and he doubtless
believed as they did, 70that there is an Al-
mighty Father who looks after the wants of
His children ; whose love is abounding, whose
mercy is exceedingly great; who is gracious
and ever compassionate, and who teaches his
children how to live, how to understand and
how to fulfill the words of His Law.

It is generally forgotten, or not known, by
those who seek to read into the sayings of
Jesus an originality of meaning, that a uni-
versal tenderness had already been attached

136 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

to God's Fatherhood before the rise of the
New Testament. They say that the Jewish
idea was "national and narrow." But who
has yet found decisive evidence that the idea
of Jesus was broader? I speak of evidence
within the New Testament, not of the exter-
nal evidence of professors of theology. Not
in one instance have we any clue that non-
Jews were included by Jesus in his Father-
erhood conception. He spoke to Jews; the
apostles were Jews; and those who heard
him were almost exclusively Jews. The ex-
pression "my Father" was a particularistic
one, and he certainly does not apply it to Gen-
tiles ; and when he speaks to his followers and
uses the term "your Father," or when he has
them gathered about him, 71to send them out,
he assuredly does not send them to Gentiles.
Moreover, did Jesus use the Greek, Latin or
Aramaic language when he spoke? It is easy
for us to overlook nineteen centuries and be-
lieve that he spoke in Greek and to Greeks, or
to overlook five centuries and believe that he
spoke English as we do. It is easy to read
the term, "my father" or "your father" and
interpret it as "our father." But let us not
forget that Jesus spoke in Aramaic, and that
the terms he used were Jewish terms whose
meaning Jews knew, and which were the ve-
hicles of their mode of thinking. It was Paul
who really universalized the term "Our Fath-
er" as far as Christianity was concerned,
though for some hundred and fifty years, this

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 131

process had been carried on by Israel, while
scattered, when many who had not known
God became Jewish converts. Nay, so much
had already been done toward universalizing
God's Name and His Fatherhood, that Paul
found easy material for his conversion among
those who had become Judaized, and had ac-
cepted the Jewish faith. The incident of the
centurion whom Jesus commended above
some of the seed of Abraham is not unparal-
leled in Judaism. We have already referred
to the liberal-mindedness of the sages and
rabbis who regarded worthily all who lived
righteous lives. Numerous stories are told
of the very high esteem in which righteous
non-Jews were held, even to the extent of
inheriting the world to come, In which un-
righteous Jews were not to share. There is
this to be said about the teacher in the gos-
pels: The sayings which are attributed to
him exhibit a deeply religious soul, fervent in
its closeness to God, and conscious of this re-
lation to Him. But who that Is acquainted
with Jewish literature will say that Jesus is
the only Jew whose soul was linked to the
Almighty, and whose every heart-beat re-
sponded to the holy will of the Divine?

The hope expressed by thinking men today
that a time might come when the world will
unite itself in the Fatherhood of God finds
this expression in the modern "Jewish pray-
er: "May the time not be distant, 0 God,
when thy name shall be worshipped over all

138 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

the earth, when unbelief shall disappear, and
error be no more * * * May all created in thine
image, recognize they are brethren, so that
they, one in spirit and one in fellowship may
be forever united before thee. Then shall thy
Kingdow be established on earth, and the
word of thine ancient seer be fulfilled. The
Eternal shall rule forever and aye. 730n that
day, the Lord will be One, and His name will
be One."

Throughout all these ages, this world-hope
has come down to mankind and has now be-
come an ideaL and a uniting, cementing con-
ception. Thoroughly, originally and vitally
Jewish, it appeals to us through all of our
religious inspiration, urging us onward, to es-
tablish between ourselves and our fellowmen
a kinship founded on God's Fatherhood.
What a profound social effect a sincere ap-
plication of this conception would have upon
our rivalries, our struggles, our injustices,
and our selfishness !

The Brotherhood of Man and
Brotherly Love.

In the discussion of brotherhood and love,
or as some prefer to say, brotherly love, we
start where Christianity ought to start,
namely, with the Levitical injunction,
""Thou shalt love thy brother as thyself."

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 139

The Jew who uses this, however, uses what
is his own, while the Christian borrows this
from the Pentateuch. The idea of brotherly
love is perhaps the richest ethical possession
of Christianity; perhaps this is the reason
why Christians so often overlook the orig-
inal source.

The accusation has often been made that
the injunction as originally given never was
intended to be universal, and that the term
"neighbor" in it referred only to fellow-He-
brews. Aside from the fact that this is not so,
the application in the gospels must then also
be so, for both times was it spoken to Israel-
ites. The universality of this injunction and
another almost exactly like it, can be proved
from another context, in which almost the
same words are used, and in which the mean-
ing is identical. 75"And if a stranger sojourn
with thee in any land, ye shall not vex him;
as one born in the land among you, shall be
the stranger that sojourns with you, and thou
shalt love him as thyself. For ye were stran-
gers in the land of Egypt." The word "neigh-
bor" does not occur here; but the term
"stranger" is even stronger, and most decis-
ively refutes the accusation that the love
commanded was intended only for a fellow-
Hebrew. Even in those days, the Hebrews
had seen enough to open their eyes to heart-
less hatred born of national narrowness, and
they, not a later one who sprang from their
loins, first gave forth the word which may,

140 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

when we shall have taken it to heart suffici-
ently, help to make away with groundless
prejudices. Yet even before this, if the re-
sults of the higher cricisim be adopted in
judging the chronology of the Biblical books
— Israel had already been commanded 76"not
to abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother"
and "not to abhor and Egyptian," because he
was a "stranger in his land."

Nor was the idea of brotherly love confined
only to the Five Books. It had become a part
of the social life of the Israelitish people;
perhaps not of all Israelites, was this true.
Nor could it be expected, if so few among us
even 2000 years after the newer dispensation
practice so little of it. Yet not even from one
generation of teachers was it lost. The pro-
phetic insistence was no less strong than the
Mosaic or Pentateuchal, and the voices of the
prophets found reverberating echoes in the
teachings of the rabbis. The corruption of
the kings and their followers who sought to
engulf the ideals of Judaism in the foreign
cults which they introduced, was overcome
by the power of the prophetic appeal ; and the
smoke of thousands of sacrifices did not
choke the voices of those whom that prophet
represented, who thundereth forth: 77"Love,
I desire, not sacrifice." The vain burn offer-
ings and the empty sacrifices of splendor
found more than a lasting opponent in the
spirit of that mighty Micah whose words will
live long after heathen cults shall have been

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 141

forgotten, and whose conception will endure
as long as man has faith in his Maker. For
him religion has its origin not in externals
and rites,, but in the very heart of humankind
itself; and what he said is not like the sacri-
fice which may be consumed by a short-lived
ritual fire; rather is it eternal like the un-
quenchable fire of the soul itself: ""Where-
with shall I come before the Lord, and bow
myself before the Most High? Shall I come
before Him with burnt offerings, with calves
a year old; will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams or with myriads of
streams of oil; He hath told thee 0 man,
what is good and what the Lord doth require
of thee: But to do justice, to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with thy God." Who
can say that this does not define brotherli-
ness as the very essence of religion? The
more so is this true in the light of the man-
ner in which the rabbis defined, 70<<walking
with God," namely, the being like Him, mer-
ciful, compassionate, tender and just.

To the Biblical teachers, the virtue of
brotherly love was second in importance to
justice, and the number of references is not
as large as one could desire. But neither is
there a multiplicity of such references in the
New Testament, though from pretensions
made by ministers and theologians, we might
think that this ideal occupied a place of no
small importance on every page. As a matter
of fact the New Testament passages on

142 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

brotherly love are so few that one feels that
without the references to the Old Testament,
the New Testament has contributed very lit-
tle to this noble ideal. But possibly the reas-
on that so little appears, is the fact that this
teaching already was a deeply-rooted one in
the minds of Jesus and his immediate follow-
ers and their contemporaries. It was taken
for granted — and it didn't require nearly as
much emphasis then, as it does now. The
Golden Rule and the parable of the Good Sa-
maritan are the best of the near-original con-
tributions on this matter. The "rule" has
its counterpart and prototype in the famous
words of Hillel already quoted. 80<<What is
hateful unto thee, do thou not do to anyone
else." But of all that we find, there is noth-
ing more sublime whether in the Old or the
New dispensation than the words of a writer,
whose name though unknown, shall yet live
on: ""Wherefore have we fasted, and thou
seest us not? Have we afflicted ourselves
and thou regardest us not? * * * Is this the
fast that I have chosen, a day that a man af-
flicteth his soul * * * Is not this rather the
fast that I have chosen — to open the snares
of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke ;
to let the oppressed go free; and to break
asunder every yoke? Is it not to distribute
thy bread to the hungry, and to bring the af-
flicted poor into thy house; when thou seest
the naked that thou shouldst clothe him, and
that thou shouldst not hide thyself from

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 143

thine own flesh? If thou remove from the
midst of thee the yoke, the stretching out of
the finger, and the speaking wickedly; if
thou pour out to the hungry tny soul and
satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light
shine forth in the darkness and thy obscuri-
ty be as a noonday * * * and thou shalt be
called the repairer of the breaches and the
restorer of paths to the dwelling-place."

We have already intimated that we could
wish to find in the Bible much more than we
do on the topic that has now become one of
the world's cherished ideals. The paucity is
the more marked simply because so much has
been made of the idea both by the church and
society. The theological books on the New
Testament which contain so much upon this
theme are elaborations of their own author's
ideas, not the thoughts and sayings of the
Biblical writers, and all that the Bible says on
"brotherly love" can be encompassed in a
very few pages of an octavo size volume.
Much more is found in the later sources, es-
pecially the Talmudic. We should keep in
mind that brotherly love in the broad sense
that we give it, is a comparatively modern
ideal and one that is the outgrowth of the
complexity of modern society. Even in our
days, with all of our education and broad-
mindedness, we look down upon those who
are of another race or color. And prior to
the great war our masses found it very diffi-
cult to apply the principle of brotherly love

144 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

to any but Americans — and then not all
Americans were included in our love. Differ-
ences of faith, sectional strife and racial
characteristics, make decidedly difficult the
application of this ethical teaching, and
among the ancients also, racial distinctions,
tribal differences, and national hatred made
impossible that universal interpretation
which many moderns give to the Bible com-
mandments of love. We must not forget his-
torical impossibilities, and we must see the
whole life of both the Old and New Testa-
ment peoples in their true perspective. In
the Occident we may well say that "love your
neighbor as yourself" could be applied to us in
our relation with any nation anywhere or
anybody anywhere. We here may feel that
now that we know mankind, we may learn to
love anyone whether he be of our faith or not,
or of our nation or not. We know that hu-
man nature is alike all over; that there are
good men and bad men among all people, all
nations and all faiths. But how could so
wide a meaning have been given to these
words by the Law-giver himself in Leviticus,
who spoke only to Hebrews and knew only
their immediate neighbors, or by Jesus who
spoke only to Jews ? The best that can be said
is that these commandments certainly did
apply to non-Hebrews or non-Jews who lived
among the Israelites when these words were
uttered. But the time was not ripe for giv-
ing these words a universal application. Nor

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 145

are they given this today except by so few
that the number is hardly large enough to
be considered. It is an extremely high ideal,
and one not easily realized. Some years ago
it seemed as though civilized mankind was on
the road to a deeper appreciation of the im-
portance of this great teaching. But the hor-
rible violations of every rule of civilized war-
fare by the Central Powers has set this hope
back again, unless, indeed, it be that the hor-
ror of their acts may so affect men that they
will see with quicker understanding the beau-
ty and the worth of brotherly love — both in
war and in peace.

In this connection we may indicate the ut-
ter futility, in matters of practice, of the oft-
quoted precept of Jesus: ""But I say unto
you that hear, love your enemies; do good
to them that hate you ; bless them that curse
you, and pray for them that despitefully use
you; to him that smiteth you on the one
cheek, give him the other also, and from him
that taketh away thy cloak, withhold not thy
coat also ; give to everyone that asketh thee,
and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask
them not again." Nationally, as well as in-
dividually, this precept is impossible of reali-
zation. Just think for a minute where we
would be — where the civilized world would be
— if we had applied this principle in our re-
cent crisis, and permitted ourselves and the
civilzed world to be deprived and robbed of

146 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

every avenue of industry and achievement
which contributes to life!

And yet the murders, the depredations and
the violations of civilized warfare are being
committed by Christian nations — and the
consuming irony — the arch-fiend of the Cen-
tral Powers claims God as his aid! He was
the nominal head of the Church In Germany,
and the Christians whom he governed are also
disciples of Jesus. What a terrible inconsist-
ency, what a travesty on religion, what a vio-
lation of these magnificent words are the acts
of the socalled Christian nations ! The matter
would be one of lighter vein had these coun-
tries not been fighting supposedly in his
name and for his principles. And indeed is
this not but a repetition of what has been go-
ing on for these twenty centuries — the be-
lieving in one thing, the doing of another?
One often wonders what would be the mental
state of the Galilean teacher if he perchance
would return and find his Jewish teachings,
renamed and appropriated by others, but yet
violated in almost every respect by those
very ones who claim him as their own, and
who acknowledge him as their law-giver and
savior. No more beautiful words and no finer
sentiment towards enemies was ever uttered ;
yet quoted and requoted, taught and learned
by all Christendom — it still is only a senti-
ment, whose practice is universally unknown.

To revert again to "brotherly love." While
it is true that the Central Empires violated

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 147

every rule of conduct in their relations
with their enemies, let us not forget the big-
oted prejudices within our own country. The
law of brotherly love preached every Sunday
to millions of people, finds as little realization
among the masses as do many other of the
great commandments. And many of those
very ones who call themselves after the name
of Jesus are the worst offenders. The Chris-
tian ministers have a duty. It is the sacred
duty of teaching their parishioners to ex-
terminate the vile prejudice that exists in
clubs, hotels, fraternities, and sororities,
against the blood and flesh descendants of
their savior. One would not expect anti-Sem-
itic prejudice in America; yet it exists, and
its poisonous influence is given almost free
play. It has been truthfully said that if
Jesus were to return to earth, he would turn
away in wretched despair from those who
presume to be his followers, and seek con-
solation and peace among those lowly co-re-
ligionists of his, into whose faith he was
born, of whose ancestors' flesh and bone he
was a part, but who now are deemed of clay
inferior to that of the modern banner-bearers
of the precepts of this ancient teacher.

There is something more to be said about
the command of Jesus, 83"to him that smit-
eth thee on the one cheek offer also the oth-
er ; and from him that taketh away thy cloak,
withhold not thy coat also." This was not

148 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

a rabbinical principle. The rabbis were stu-
dents of human nature — they knew human
instincts and human habits of mind. If they
did not have a Darwin, a Wallace or a Spen-
cer, they still knew that self-preservation
was the first law of nature and they knew
that a human being will not ordinarily per-
mit himself to be injured and robbed with-
out defense or retaliation. They did, how-
ever, approach the principle here set forth
by Jesus. Indeed there are some author-
ities who say that this is but an extension
of the rabbinical principle, 84"acting with-
in the limits of justice,,, that is to say, act-
ing more than justly. Be this as it may, the
very fundamental idea of self-preservation is
here involved, and men will not do that which
openly and surely means danger to them-
selves. After all, if an ideal is valuable prag-
matically, and therefore only insofar as it
may serve mankind in practice, this principle
which cannot be put into practice must lose a
good deal of its old, especially homiletic,
value. Is it not true that whenever mankind
shall reach a point where each one who is mis-
treated will court more mistreatment, and
each one who has been taken advantage of,
will leave himself willingly open to greater
disadvantage — there will be no need for
ideals, for we will surely have passed the
stage where ideals will be of any use !

One need not spend a long time in the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 149

study of Jewish sources to find that broth-
erly love was a very potent virtue among the
Jews who lived both before and after the
new canon. In the second century before the
common era — and some say even the third,
— the writer of the Book of Tobit makes hirn
tell his son 85"to do that to no man which
thou hatest." A century later the writer or
writers of the Testaments of the Twelve Pa-
triarchs, put into the mouth of Issachar this
counsel to his sons, 86"love the Lord your
God, and your neighbor, and have compassion
on the poor and the weak." He later empha-
sizes this by telling them what he did: 87"If
any man were in distress, I joined my
sighs with his, and I shared my bread with
the poor. I loved the Lord, likewise, every man
with all my heart." Nor is this traditional
patriarch the only one who feels the weight of
the well-known double commandment. Dan,
too, is made to say to his sons, 88"love the
Lord thru all your life and one another with a
true heart." 89Benjamin says also, "fear ye
the Lord, and love your neighbor." Some-
times one feels that it must have been in a
moment of prophetic inspiration that the au-
thors wrote these words. Surely they did not
foresee that later they would be needed as
evidence that these virtues were commanded
even in their day.

The Talmudic and Midrashic references
are plentiful. Contrary to the allegations of

150 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

many whose knowledge ought to be pro-
founder, the rabbis believed that the 90"be-
ginning and the end of the Torah was the
doing of deeds of loving kindness." A bit
of information like this must strike rather
heavily upon those who have the current
opinion of the belittled pharisaic rabbis.

These same teachers believed that 91"mer-
cy and compassion are the great virtues
which bring with them their own rewards,
for they are recompensed with mercy and
compassion from the mercy-seat of God." In
the same section in this source we find the
thought that if people are kind and merci-
ful to each other 92God will be merciful to
them. And further on, Rabbi Samuel bar
Nehemiah cries out: "Woe unto the sinners
who have perverted loving-kindness." There
is a story to the effect that when Moses com-
manded his people to 93"walk after the Lord
your God," they took alarm at this task, and
they asked how it was possible for man to
walk after God 94"who hath His way in the
storm and His path in the whirlwind, the dust
of whose feet are the clouds ; 95whose way is
in the sea and whose path is through the
mighty rivers." And Moses explained as we
have already indicated, 96 that to walk after
God, means to imitate His mercy and loving
kindness by clothing the naked, visiting the
sick, comforting the mourner and burying
the dead.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 151

What have we not heard about the narrow-
ness and the rigidity of the Law? Nothing
has been too opprobrious for the pharisaic
rabbis, who are believed to have twisted and
spoiled what little good there was in Judaism.
We never hear of the gentleness of the rab-
bis ; of their kindliness and their humanitar-
ianism, of the sincerity and truthfulness
which characterized their lives and teachings,
and of their beautiful patience. The stock-in-
trade books have no room for this. Yet when
we turn to Jewish sources, there is nothing
plainer than the finer characteristics of the
Jewish teachers, sages, rabbis, and their dis-
ciples. They loved mankind and believed in
human worth and dignity. The verse in Gene-
sis which says that 97God created man in His
image, "is the greatest in the Torah," said ben
Azzai, "for look how it exalts man." 98It is
true that Akiba disagrees with him. But he
says that the verse, "love your neighbor as
yourself, is the greatest principle in the To-
rah." In another place we are told that God
said unto Israel, ""all that I seek from you
my sons, is that you love and honor each
other." The words of Resh Lakesh remind
us of certain ideas in the New Testament:
100"He who even lifts his hand against his fel-
lowman, though he does not smite him, is
wicked. In commenting on the verse "thou
shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart," the
rabbis say: 101"One might think that one

152 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ought not to smite his brother, or injure him,
or even curse him. But it is more than that.
One must not even hate his brother in his
heart." There might have been some haugh-
tiness, some self-complacency and hard-heart-
edness among the Pharisees and the pharisaic
rabbis. But certainly the few such are so
outnumbered by the many of the higher
type that the accusation ought to be forever
silenced. Was tenderness a characteristic
only of Rabbi Yehuda, who said that he
102who violated the principles of loving kind-
ness, is like one who denies a fundamental
principle of religion? Was there only one
rabbi who commanded his students to be of
the 103"disciples of Aaron, loving peace and
pursuing it, loving mankind and bringing it
near to God's Law?" Could it have been a
bad lot who taught with Rabbi Elozer that
the doing 104of deeds of loving kindness is
greater even than almsgiving; and that he
who 105loves his neighbors, who is near to
his relatives, who marries off his poor sister's
daughter, and who lends to the poor in times
of distress, to him does this passage in Scrip-
ture apply: 106"If thou seest the naked, and
thou clothe him — if thou hidest not thyself
from thine own flesh — then shalt thou call,
and the Lord will answer, thou shalt cry and
He will say, 'here am I.' "

The list of references in which brotherly
love was inculcated is not exhausted. They

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 153

would fill a good sized volume, nor would they
be dry and uninteresting. The sayings, the
parables and the stories are many — no won-
der the Jew has not forgotten them. If re-
ligious precept is to be judged by result, the
charitable endeavors of the Jews in the last
few years alone would bear incontrovertible
evidence of the lasting power of their pre-
cepts of loving-kindness and brotherly love.
There are some things that all Jews do not
know ; not all know the minute details of the
laws regarding a thousand things which make
up the religious life of the strictly observant
Jew; not all are acquainted with the prayer3
and blessings which lit up the path of the
Jew of old, when all about him was thick,
hopeless darkness; not all <the Jews know
their own spiritual truths. But there is one
thing that every Jew knows; there is one
thing that every Jew feels ; there is one thing
that every Jew learns, whether from his par-
ents or from experience, and that is, that the
heart of a Jew feels deeply for anyone that
suffers. He knows that he ought to be char-
itable, and that his people are charitable, that
his faith is charitable, and that the real
essence of Jewish philosophy and Jewish life
is the practice of the social virtues, among
which is not the least important are loving-
kindness and brotherly love. How can he help
knowing this ? Through the successive gener-
ations of all his forbears he has heard and re-

154 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

heard the words of ben Zakkai: io7"Do not
take it to heart that the Temple is in ruins.
There is left a means of atonement as good
as the altar which was destroyed. It is the
doing deeds of loving-kindness — for hath
not God said, 108T desire love more than sac-
rifice.' " What else could that Jew do who
still calls himself by the name of Israel, and
believes in his God, when a thousand teachers
have re-echoed in his ears: 109"Be like God;
as He is gracious so be you gracious ; as He is
merciful so be you merciful." How it hurts
to be tuid that only with the new dispensa-
tion weie the gates of mercy and charity
opened !

We have considered only a few of the New
Testament passages, and a few from the Jew-
ish sources. Our purpose is to throw light
on the idea of brotherly love, previous to and
soon after, the canonization of the New Tes-
tament writings. We hope that we have cited
enough references to show that this ideal was
distinctly Jewish, and that it was as vital in
the life of the Jew of the centuries gone by
as it is in the life of the Jew of today. For a
proof of the latter statement, let some one
tabulate the bequests of Christians and non-
sectarians to Jewish institutions, and those
of Jews to Christian and non-sectarian insti-
tutions. The results will be abundant proof.

110According to the teachings of the rabbis,
the path to salvation in this world and to

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 155

bliss in the next, is open to all men. Religious
observances, the Temple, and sacrificial ser-
vices, are not indispensable conditions to the
attainment of these goals. Moral purity and a
loving heart are the major requirements.
Contrast with what has just been said, the
statement of the Christian theologian Wendt :
11 ^he pharisaic scribes, the recognized teach-
ers and patterns of righteousness set the
worst example to the people of this abuse of
the Law. They expounded the Law with all
manner of casuistical subtleties * * As quib-
bling sophistry trifling with the Law, it is
ludicrous ; but it is revolting when we regard
it as the teaching of a religion which had the
highest pretensions, and as directing men
how to win the Divine favor and eternal life.
And what evil qualities sheltered under the
cloak of zeal for the righteousness of the
Law, ambitious vanity which vaunted its su-
periority in good works; haughty self-com-
placency, arrogantly comparing and contrast-
ing itself with others ; uncharitable and harsh
judgment with which they spurned those of
less righteous repute, and hypocritical zeal,
which under the pretext of reforming others
sought but to enhance their own reputation
for righteousness. The reproofs leveled by
Jesus against the Pharisees show us plainly
what vicious consequences resulted from this
external zeal for the Law." And to prove this
gratuitous outburst, this great theologian

156 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

cites not one passage from the whole Jewish
literature but refers to another German work
112and to the New Testament! Now to cite
a passage, from Lazarus, the great Jewish
theologian : 113"Perhaps no province of human
activity can show such perfect congruity be-
tween idea and life, between moral require-
ments and actual reality, as the Israelitish
race has attained since ancient times, in real-
izing the humanitarian idea in fulfilling the
requirement of charity. The soul of the Jew-
ish people is so impregnated and enthralled
with the duty of love of neighbor that it is
not left wholly unperformed by individuals
of a moderately acute moral sense, even by
positively reprehensible characters. And no
wonder! For how this duty has ever been
urged upon the people, how it has been ex-
pounded and inculcated from every point of
view !"

Do you know the real difference between
the Christian and the Jewish author? It is
one only of knowledge. Lazarus was thor-
oughly at home in Jewish sources in which he
v/as an authority ; Wendt takes his view from
the New Testament, bolsters it up by knowl-
edge gained at second hand, and then violates
all canons of scholarship by totally ignoring
all Jewish sources. If he doesn't know them,
one feels he ought to learn them; if not in
the original, certainly in the translations of
which there are many. What a perversion of

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 157

fact and justice! Can Jews who know even
a little, imagine Hillel uncharitable; Sham-
mai self-complacent; Jochanan ben Zakkai,
arrogant; the great Yehuda Hanassi, self-
righteous, and the rest, the Joshuas, the
Eliezers, the Yehudas — all seeing things with
hypocritical zeal and reforming pretexts!
What a travesty upon the justice of Christian
scholarship, and upon the Christianity of
Christian apologetes! Has the Jew not giv-
en the world enough, and has he not suffered
enough to merit at least at the hands of
specialists, that they know his story before
publishing false and unholy judgments of it?

Social Justice

Ask a laboring man who has been on a
strike or who is dissatisfied ; ask a labor lead-
er or even an agitator, what the cause of
the trouble in the labor world is, and invari-
ably you will hear the reply, "we want just-
ice." The idea of asking for and getting
that which labor calls "justice" has become
a very obsession not only with the wording
masses but with all those who see pointed in-
justices and patent iniquities in social and
industrial life. Men want bread and want
the time which will enable them not only to
eat it, but also to enjoy it. They want

158 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANTY AND

health, strength, leisure and opportunity to
grow. Workers feel that they are justified in
desiring these. We need not encroach upon
any of the economic theories to realize that
when fortunes of fabulous sizes are accumu-
lated on one side, and misery and wretched-
ness indescribable occur on the other, there
is something wrong. We need not be stu-
dents of political economy to understand that
when in one household a part of the family
is overfed, and the other part is underfed,
when there is more than enough for all — a
fact which is evidenced by a large waste,
there is a matter there for correction. Nor
need we be philosophers to understand that
the human family comprises but a larger and
much more complex household, for which
too, there is more than enough, but in which
many are underfed, many overfed, and much
wasted. The child of the worker who barely
ekes out a livelihood is entitled by the right
of having life, to have also those advantages
which develop, strengthen, better and en-
noble life. The end of a life-time spent in
contributing to a community the best of
one's efforts, should not be made miserable
and wretched when these efforts can no lon-
ger be forthcoming. The weak and those
unable to work ought not to be bartered
away and made to make room for the strong-
er workers, merely to increase the fortunes
of individuals, while being made thus more

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 159

dependent themselves. And where this is
done, those deprived through inability, ought
not to have to starve, to degenerate or to
commit suicide, when we are more than rich
enough to provide some kind of fair and hon-
orable means for their subsistence. If we
need and seek a certain kind of foreign pop-
ulation to do work which native Americans
do not do, we ought to provide some means
for taking care of these foreigners until they
are assimilated by the process of Americani-
zation, or until at any rate they earn a live-
lihood, which will keep them from becoming
insane from privation, or deluded by false
theories of economy and labor. In the splen-
did magnificence of our untold resources we
ought not to have want, poverty, and wretch-
edness except in such instances where the
breadwinners through sheer laziness, intem-
perance or unwillingness bring these upon
themselves. But children, child-bearing and
nursing women, sick and decrepit humans,
ought not to be made the more unhappy,
when the exercise of justice could avoid it.
It is not so much the desire for luxuries and
splendor, as the horror of dependence and
indigence or starvation, that causes the ha-
tred and clash in the industrial world. The
knowledge that breadwinners make too little
to insure independence of family in case of
illness or death, makes them almost desper-
ate in the face of constantly growing for-

160 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

tunes, increasing wealth of the country, and
withal a steady increase in the cost of living.

It is the cry for justice that accompanies
the industrial disturbances of labor out-
breaks, and though the cry manifests itself
in various ways, such as strikes, lockouts to
prevent strikes, mob violence, and even bomb
throwing, yet it is the lack of justice which
is the fundamental factor in the dissatisfac-
tion in the rank and file of the workers.

The cry for justice is an old one; it was
heard in Babylonia and Assyria; it resound-
ed through the ranks of those who over-
threw powerful Egyptian dynasties. Greece
and Rome were certainly not strangers to it;
and Western Europe has heard it so often
that it has become a threatening storm cloud ;
while Eastern and Southeastern Europe have
taken up this cry under the guise of Bol-
shevism, and are menacing civilization and
life itself. Perhaps as good an example as
any of national struggles for justice, and one
which is closer to us on account of the part
played by the Bible in our national life, is that
of the early Jewish people. Their social con-
dition in many ways was analogous to our
own, and though of course, theirs was any-
thing but an industrial country, there were
injustices there too, on the part of the greedy,
the corrupt and the rich, which produced con-
ditions similar to those we normally face.
The early simplicity of Israel, the rapid

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 161

growth, the accumulation of wealth, and the
indifference and the injustices of the classes,
were very similar to ours. Israel had passed
from the rough nomadic state to that of the
agricultural. The land apportioned to the
tribes which had entered Canaan, had passed
through different hands, and the new ad-
justment consequent upon a complete change
of social conditions had gone well under way.
With the rise of the kingdom new forces
came into play, and with these new forces,
came new economic conditions. The ideal
ways of the wilderness — ideal now during the
political and economic changes, served to
reawaken in the hearts of many, a desire for
a re-establishment of the old social life. 114
But with the increase in population and
wealth consequent upon the broadening out
of Israel and its larger life, there had come
what always accompanies such a change, — a
new economic and social era. The land that
was formerly parceled out to the different
tribes and clans was gradually being bought
up or taken up for debts by individuals or
noble families. With the increase in re-
sources there came more distinct divisions of
society and a more decisive separation of
the classes. The few became wealthier and
the many poorer. With the establishment of
the monarchy Israel took its place beside the
nations of the Orient ; and in the assumption
of national pretensions, the standards of liv-

162 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ing became more complex than those of the
earlier agricultural period. The splendor of
the Egyptian, the Phoenician and the later
Assyrian and the Damascan courts, could
not be noticed without effects on that of Is-
rael's. Imitation set in, and as this pro-
cess advanced, a gradual displacement of the
stern and homely habits, economic and so-
cial, of early days took place. As the more
luxurious habits of other peoples began to be
noted, those of Israel who had the desire,
ability and wealth to imitate them, began to
do so. 115From the ruddy, healthy, simple
shepherd folk of the period of Judges, there
arose a complex nation, seeking splendor and
elegance and aping the other nations in their
search for wealth and expansion, but find-
ing within itself an almost impassable rift
between the economically dependent and the
other and smaller class which enjoyed to
the full, the recently acquired blessings of in-
creasing wealth and growing magnificence.
A population of Jewish and non-Jewish pau-
pers and slaves sprang up. 116The privileges
of the Jewish slave, though much greater
according to the Law than those of the non-
Jewish, availed little. Both slaves and depend-
ents, Jewish and non-Jewish, were used as
much as possible to serve the purpose of
those who had been favored by the adminis-
tration with offices and posts of influence,
or who had friends who were favorites with

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 163

the powers in control or Who were themselves
in power.

Just as it was true that it was the object
of the rich and the influential to keep the
dependents in their grasp, so was it equally
true that as long as the latter were in this
condition, they could never rise above the
want line. For their masters had the keys
to whatever solutions would solve the prob-
lems involved in their wretchedness. Only
by subversion of the interests of society in
general could the interests of the nobility and
the rich be served, and in this subversion the
so-called leaders of the commonwealth had no
small share. In fact, it was only to the
mighty prophetic mind117 alone, that society
was composed of others besides the nobility
and the priesthood. To the political and
priestly leaders, those whom we designate
by the phrase "the common people" were of
little concern, the more especially after they
had contributed to the wants and power of
their oppressors. Opportunity for redress
there was little. For it seemed that the prin-
cipal duties of the judges and administra-
tors— priests may have been discharging the
duties of both — were the proper taxing and
collecting of money for the maintenance of
the State first, and then for the sustenance of
those very ones who ground down the poor.
Nor could anything else be expected, when
we consider that these officers were minions

164 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

of the king who held their places by virtue
of their "pull" or influence with those at the
Court.

It was under these adverse conditions that
the rich grew richer and the poor poorer.
Overwhelming poverty threw many into the
worst moral condition, sapping the desire for
healthy life and normal growth. Where it
is difficult or impossible to earn a decent liv-
ing, people will very often get an indecent
and immoral one. And on the other hand,
where wealth is acquired without regard to
method, and where it therefore beclouds the
moral and ethical sensibilities, immorality
and vice follow. Thus it was among the Is-
raelites during the days of the prophets. Lack
of justice and righteousness became the ob-
sessing fault. Unrighteousness possessed
alike to a large extent the rich and the poor,
the judges and the judged, and the priests
and the worshippers. The rights of others
were disregarded, and where injustice and
corruption could be of any avail for the en-
richment of those in power, these were re-
sorted to. Promises of luxury and bribes
became means of corruption, and where these
did not suffice, oppression through the tools
of those in power was made use of. 118There
was little hope for righteousness and justice;
for corruption cannot beget social justice, nor
can selfishness be the parent of economic
equality. He who had the courage to speak

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 165

uprightly or dared to utter words of pro-
test, was hated; a judge who gave just de-
cisions was abhorred, while those who profit-
ed from the unjust decisions, from the op-
pression of others, and from vice and brib-
ery, grew fat in the enjoyment of their feasts
and banquets. The wretched condition of
the dependents interested them but little.
Their main desire was to get the most out
of life, no matter at what expense to others.
The value of human life and the regard for
high ideals sank in the general degrada-
tion of the extremely rich and the wretchedly
poor, and a slavish materialism took the place
of the high ethical aims and aspirations evol-
ved and taught by the great teachers.

With slight changes here and there, the
description of ancient Israel's development
could well fit us. In a few leaps and bounds
we have emerged from a small nation in the
extreme West, to a first rate power wielding
a world-wide influence. Our captains of in-
dustry in peace times command empires rich-
er and greater than kingdoms of days gone
by. Our fortunes have swollen into fabulous
figures. Our power has grown so great that
comparison with that of a century ago is al-
together out of question. The ancient land-
marks have long ago been removed, and they
who kept apace with the growth of the land
have reached a commanding position of
wealth and influence. The simple agricul-

166 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

tural life has to a large extent been trans-
formed into a fast, nerve-racking industrial
one; and the standards of living have so
changed that we can hardly believe that they
were as simple and as natural as they really
were. New ideals have loomed up before the
growing generations, and that which was
sought after half a century ago, is now sel-
dom thought of. Our habits of mind and
body have changed, and our desires, pleas-
ures and pastimes have their birth and direc-
tion in new surroundinges and under new con-
ditions and stimuli. The forces which mold-
ed character have been changed and in many
ways corrupted; and the growth of charac-
ter itself has not kept apace with the devel-
opments in the fields of industrial and eco-
nomic achievement. We, too, had set our
eyes upon the luxurious standards of other
countries, and a good deal of our old sim-
plicity has given way to continental extrava-
gance. It is true that we do not have the
nobility and all that foppery which that in-
stitution carries with it. But we are rapidly
developing certain traditions with regard to
wealth and family. Wealth, rather than
character, is more than likely to command
position, and though we have no titled class,
we are unconsciously developing a title stand-
ard, based, if not on the possession of lands
and estates, on the possession of money and
monied interests. The poor have been grow-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 167

ing poorer in the proportion that the rich
have become richer, and the higher does the
standard of living of the rich grow, the lower
does that of the dependent become. Never be-
fore did it cost so much to live ; yet never be-
fore has the earth yielded her products so
bounteously. The cost of living does not seem
to be regulated by the law of supply and
demand, but rather by the ability to pay be-
cause wealth seems plentiful. With all the
increased yield of farm products, the num-
ber of poor seems to diminish but little pro-
portionately. The increased wealth goes some-
where, for year by year our property valua-
tions grow. But it is the large fortunes
which seem to reap the benefits of our in-
creasing production, while the poor remain
poor and the dependents are still among us.
The desire on the part of our government
to regulate, through commissions, the price
of necessities, and its success, tells a tale of
unjust price manipulations, and suits by the
Attorney General of the United States, throw
some strong light upon the arbitrary setting
of prices ; and the law of supply and demand
seems to have played a minor part in the
cost of many commodities. But the result
in general has already been stated : Vast for-
tunes on the one side, an imitating, aping
middle class straining every nerve to accu-
mulate fortunes in the centre, and enervating,
grinding and dehumanizing wretchedness and

168 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

poverty on the other side; a point of view
highly materialistic; a perverted idea of the
purpose of life ; a blunting of high ideals, and
a consequent deadening of those sensibilities
which make for the highest type of char-
acter. Men are willing to sell their labors,
their bodies and their souls for money.

It was for the purpose of displacing a con-
dition like this, and the consequences of its
moral deterioration that the great prophets
119preached in ancient Israel. They lifted their
mighty voices against a confused materialism
and pleaded for that social justice and right-
eousness which we strive for in this twenti-
eth century, and for the establishment of
which we threw ourselves into the great war.
They believed that the evil lay in the will-
ful misunderstanding of the true relation that
should exist between man and man. They
taught that the deepest devotion to God
could be realized only by the fondest service
to mankind; and they decried the constant
violation of this great teaching. Within their
mighty souls they felt that the strength of
the belief in their God lay primarily in the
interpretation and application of the ethical
teachings arising from belief in Him, and
they labored for an active and virile realiza-
tion of their point of view. 120Their philippics
against the besetting sins, — the crushing of
the poor, the taking of bribes and the cor-
ruption and unrighteousness, were but their

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 169

means of destroying the structure which an
unsocial and an unjust viewpoint had erected.
They felt that their nation was being con-
sumed by the wickedness of injustice and un-
holiness; they feared that the soul of their
people was losing its finer aspirations in the
overwhelming chaos of individual and na-
tional demoralization. 121"Run through the
streets of Jerusalem," says Jeremiah, "and
see if you can find one man who deals out
justice and seeks the truth, and if you can,
I will pardon its sins." The indictment is
strong, but this condition seemed real enough
to the overwrought mind of the prophet.

1220ut of the general degradation incident
to the breaking down of the religious concep-
tions, emanated the numerous social evils.
Our common sins in times of peace were
theirs, too — debauchery, intemperance, adult-
ery, murder and the rest. The idle rich had
their orgies and indulged in their misdeeds,
and the city had its lewdness and its shame.
The land of the poor was appropriated, and
they were unable to get juridical satisfaction.
123"They hate him who acts righteously, and
they take from the poor what belongs to him,
robbing him of his lands and his crops." This
is the lament of Amos. Many there were who
enjoyed life and their ill-gotten splendor;
there were those who called the evil 124 good,
and the good, evil, that put darkness for
light, and light for darkness ; that called the

170 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

bitter sweet, and the sweet bitter. But only
by disregarding or blinding themselves to the
lofty teachings of religion and right Jiving,
could these obtain the kind of life which
wealth on the one hand, and moral slothful-
ness on the other, made them crave. ^Un-
righteous laws were made to benefit particu-
lar interests, and with the assistance of cor-
rupt judges, who applied judgment wrongly,
v/idows were made a prey ; orphans were rob-
bed; the poor were put at a terrible dis-
advantage, and were later, when the struggle
became too strong, sold. 126Vanity, luxury,
bribery, corruption, oppression, hopelessness
and violence — these seemed to combine to
swallow up the needy and to make the weaker
more wretched and miserable. 127And many
of those who caused this degradation owned
great vineyards and lived in palaces. They re-
velled in gay parties and at magnificent ban-
quets. 128They indulged themselves in the
choicest drinks, the costliest viands, and in
the grandest amusements. In winter they had
their beautiful winter palaces; in summer
their days were passed in their luxurious
summer homes. In beauteous extravagance
and in gorgeous style were these furnished
while the female occupants strutted about;
they were like the fat, sleek cows of ancient
Bashan; haughty, proud and bedecked with
ornaments, they demanded more and greater
splendor, — urging on their husbands to re-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 171

newed misdealings, oppressive if necessary —
to keep them supplied with the daintiest fads
and costliest fancies copied from the nations
round about. 129But for the poor, for the wid-
ow, for the fatherless, and the needy, there
was little concern, and for the plaintive ap-
peals of the weak and the oppressed they had
neither ear nor heart.

With righteous indignation, stern rebuke,
and towering rage did the prophets set out
to change this social obliquity. They saw
just wherein their people had missed the
mark of religion and righteousness ; they saw
wherein the injustice lay and how it could
be remedied. But they had no definite social
program. All that they could do and endeav-
ored to do, was to reiterate and emphasize
the teachings of their faith and recall wan-
dering Israel to the true worship of God, in
the manner set forth by them. With unex-
celled might and superhuman foresight they
sounded Israel's salvation and the salvation
of mankind: Righteousness and social justice
— based on man's faith in God and service to
man. How truly remarkable was the fore-
vision of these prophets who taught us how
to worship God in truth, and how to realize
this worship in human service!

Upon this thought, Micah based his great
dictum: 130"It hath been told thee 0 man
what is good and what the Lord doth require
of thee, but to do justly, to love kindness, and

172 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

to walk humbly with your God." To the
prophetic mind, the application of justice
and kindness to every day life was the only
remedy for social evils. According to their
belief, regeneration could come about only
through faith in God, and through godliness
to men. The worship of Yahveh had no mean-
ing, if it did not realize itself in ethical deed.
The burden of their message was the doing
of the right on the ground of faith in a right-
eous and holy God. Nor was this righteous-
ness, or as the Hebrew has it generally "jus-
tice," to be exercised at odd times or in the
sanctuary alone. It was to be perennial, mo-
tivizing all the thoughts and activities of life,
and pervading their every social endeavor, as
the air pervades everything above the sur-
face of the earth. It was no small thing; it
was the very life-principle of human exist-
ence. The whole social and economic fabric
was put on an ethical basis, and the solution
of the problems which arose in social inter-
course was to be directed from the ethical
view point. Organized religious institutions
were to be subservient to this idea. Religion
was made eminently ethical, and this point
was most strongly stressed. Men could offer
sacrifices and offerings, and indulge them-
selves in sacred music, but at bottom there
must be the proper ethical spirit. 131"I hate
and despise your feasts, and I will not smell
your offerings (saith the Lord), but let jus-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 173

tice run like water, and righteousness like a
mighty stream." 132Wash from wrong-doing
thy heart, 0 Jerusalem, how long wilt thou
let lodge within thee the thoughts of wicked-
ness? 133Hear, 0 Earth, I will bring evil
upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts ;
because unto my words they have not been
attentive, and as regards my law, they have
despised it." To what purpose serveth me
the frankincense which cometh from Sheba,
and the sweet cane from a far off country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and
your sacrifices are not agreeable to me."
Thus hath said the Lord the God of Israel:
134"Amend your ways, and your deeds, and I
will permit you to dwell in this place. Do
not rely on the words of falsehood saying,
'the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the
Lord,' as they say. But if ye truly amend
your ways and your deeds, if ye thoroughly
execute justice between a man and his neigh-
bor ; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fath-
erless, the widow, and do not shed innocent
blood in this place, and walk not after other
gods to your own hurt, then will I permit
you to dwell in this place, in the land" * * *
135"What are your burnt offerings * * * and
the fatted beasts and the blood of bullocks
and sheep and he-goats; * * * continue no
more to bring an oblation of deceit; incense
of abomination is it unto me * * I cannot bear
misdeed with festive gatherings * * * your

174 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a
burden unto me * * * Wash yourselves, make
yourselves clean, put away the evil of your
deeds from before my eyes ; cease to do evil ;
learn to do well; seek justice, relieve the op-
pressed, do justice to the fatherless and plead
for the widow." These words cannot be mis-
understood. The worship of God was to be
realized in service to fellowman. He who
served his God truthfully could not wilfully
oppress man; he could not wilfully disregard
the demands of justice; he surely could not
wilfully turn a deaf ear to the pleadings of
the weak, the distressed and the dependent.
The truly religious man who reveres God and
loves his fellowman, 136 glories not in his wis-
dom, nor in his might, nor yet in his riches ;
but he glories in that he knows God, and
understands that He is the "Lord who ex-
ercises mercy, justice and righteousness, in
the earth." "For in these things" like God,
does he "take a delight."

With such teachings and ideals did the
prophets attempt to eradicate the unright-
eousness of their times. They believed that
social justice and social love, were funda-
mental to life; and that the proper applica-
tion and observance of these social laws,
would in the end, bring about harmony in
society. Stern justice, alone, could not suf-
fice as the guiding principle. Therefore they
pleaded for mercy and loving-kindness.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 175

They had visions of the day when mankind
would live in accordance with these eternal
verities, and they hoped with an eternal —
if sometimes a wavering hope — that the gov-
ernment of Israel would become the model
and exemplar of such social justice. They be^
lieved as we do today, that the oppression
of the weak, the bribing of the corrupt, and
the depravity and the immorality of the un-
just, could not thrive where there is a definite
and a rigid sense of duty on the part of the
stronger toward the weaker ; nor could it ex-
ist when man would once realize what he owes
to his neighbor. And this belief was born
not merely out of a vague sense of justice and
not out of a shallow or sentimental love for
mankind, but out of the deep realization of
the fundamental fact that the group can sur-
vive only through the dominance of the high-
er social interests, and through the cultiva-
tion of those ideals which teach, inspire and
spread the practices of the high, ethical and
Godly conduct for which these peerless teach-
ers stood.

Against that kind of a civilization in which
the few prospered at the expense of many;
or in which the many suffered to support the
few, Judaism has always protested. But at
no time has the protest been keener, nor has
the cry raised against it been more pene-
trating, than during the days of that period
in which Israel had a land of its own, where

176 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

it could feel the deadening grasp of unsocial
and unjust practices. Time and again those
mighty teachers lifted up their matchless
voices in behalf of those to whom fortune
was unfavorable, and against those whose po-
sition prompted them to take advantage of
this condition. 137And the strength of the pro-
phetic message lay not only in its challenge
to the individual, but also in its call to the
commonwealth. Whether it be Judah or
Israel or a citizen of either land to whom
the castigation applied, the burdens of the
prophet's messages are unmistakable. 138No
land and no citizen of any land can have any
right, human or divine, to arrogate to itself
or to himself the privilege of oppressing or
mistreating those who may come within its
or his power. On the contrary, by divine ex-
ample, and by virtue of the duty of each one
to follow the divine example, 139it is the boun-
den duty to do justly, to act righteously, and
to conduct one's self blamelessly towards his
neighbor. A nation of wrong-doers cannot
form a righteous commonwealth; therefore
must that people which would perform a
righteous mission in the economy of the uni-
verse, become individually righteous; this
was the task of every Israelite, in order that
the kingdom of Israel may become the exem-
plar of that social justice which was first
born in the teachings of their greatest and
grandest leader, Moses. If the nation is to

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 177

be saved, the individuals must be reformed.
Only in the light of such a point of view can
many of the prophets' words be understood.
140"Sow righteousness for yourselves so that
you may reap the fruits of loving-kindness;
cultivate the fallow ground and at the proper
time seek God that He come, and that right-
eousness be taught among you." The pas-
sages in the first chapter of Isaiah quoted
above, appeal too, to individual righteous-
ness, in the hope that the realization of this
will make a righteous nation. 141"Through
justice shall Zion be redeemed, and her in-
habitants through righteousness." When
Jeremiah decries the ways of the king, he
warns him that unless he rules in righteous-
ness, he will drag down with him not only
his own house but the whole nation as well.
It is not a matter of one's own desire or
whim. It is the duty of the people, and the
duty as well of him who rules the people. 142
"Thus saith the Lord," says Jeremiah, "go
down to the house of the King of Judah, and
speak there this word. And thou shalt say,
'hear the word of the Lord, 0 King of Judah,
that sitteth upon the throne of David and
thy servants and thy people that enter in
by these gates. Thus hath said the Lord:
Execute justice and righteousness, and de-
liver him that is robbed out of the hand of
the oppressor; and the stranger, the father-
less and the widow shall ye not oppress ; and

178 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

do them no violence and shed no innocent
blood. For if indeed you will do this, then
shall ye enter in through the gates of this
house, kings sitting upon the throne of
David. * * * But if ye will not hear these
words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord,
that this house shall become a ruin * * * and
I will surely change thee unto a wilderness,
cities which are not inhabited/ "

143It was the salvation of Israel as a people
that stirred the hearts of the prophets. Upon
it they lavished their deepest concern and
undying love, and for it they poured out their
most fervent prayers. It they idealized, and
for it were their most exalted truths to be
lived and fulfilled. Israel was to be the kingly
priesthood among whom social justice was
to be enthroned and righteousness exalted;
with tender mercy and loving kindness were
its sons and daughters, the remnant of God's
chosen, to conduct themselves. They were
neither to 144deceive nor to speak lies ; but in
the land which was to be God's own footstool,
they were to take proper counsel so that the
night might shine forth as the day. 145Their
God was to be the God of Righteousness, and
His people's land the Kingdom of Righteous-
ness ; and the work of this righteousness was
to be peace, and its effect was to be quiet-
ness and assurance forever, for the nation
and for its citizenship.

Like the dying echoes of a distant strain

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 179

which has been taken up by a symphony be-
fore us and made real and present again, seem
the impressive plaints of the ancient seers,
made now the reasons for our entry into the
greatest war since history began. With an
alarming force does their reality impress us
now. We too would have the cry for social
justice answered not only for ourselves, but
for all men and all nations. Our desire is it
too, that this, our land, be one of individual
righteousness and national purity. Our
workers, too, would have justice done to
them, to their offspring, to their strangers
and to their dependents. Not the justice of
one or that of the few; but the justice of
nations do we seek. We too, desire to be a
Democracy of Righteousness; and here too,
would each be a doer of justice and loving-
kindness. We too, are answering the pro-
phetic call, 146"to amend our ways and our
deeds, and execute justice between a man and
his neighbor/' and our answer now is not only
for ourselves and our country, but for civ-
ilized humanity as well.

Individual Righteousness

Side by side with the growth and develop-
ment of the idea of social justice there devel-
oped that of individual righteousness. It
seems only natural that both should grow up
as they did, yet at one time one idea seemed
to be emphasized and at another time, the
other. Let it not seem strange to us that

180 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

these ideas are differentiated. Apparently in-
dividual righteousness ought to inculcate
community rectitude; and community right-
eousness ought to include individual recti-
tude; but it has not always been so. The
time has not even yet passed when men can
violate truths, obligations and duties of an
altruistic or public nature, and after discharg-
ing their individual church obligations, feel
that they are at one with the Creator.

Nor have the days long since passed when
men could be hypocrites, scoundrels, adult-
erers, and even murderers, and yet be as-
sured of salvation through certain theological
processes. With many it is only the outward
requirements that are heeded; as long as
the rules of the church or sect are obeyed, or
apparently obeyed, so long the path to ever-
lasting life is clear. Things are fortunately
changing now. Our conception of religion
is higher, and righteousness is no longer only
a theological term. Its meaning extends out-
side of the church walls, and no matter how
earnest one's profession is or how loyal one's
church affiliations are, one's actions outside
of the church must measure up to a high
standard, before one will be regarded as
righteous. Hypocrisy is no longer condoned
within the church walls, and social turpi-
tude can no longer be wiped out by a mere
confession of one's sins. An unchurched doer
of good is accounted righteous, and even he

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 181

who shuts himself off completely from every
benefit that a churchman hopes for, may be
righteous and religious if he fulfills in sin-
cerity the ethical and moral requirements of
everyday life. We have transferred the
meaning of "righteous" and the requirements
of "righteousness" from the walled church to
the unwalled world, and with this transfer
has come that consequent broadening which
includes all of life instead of just that part
limited by the confines of a particular creed
or sect. Righteousness pertains to every en-
deavor of life ; and they are righteous who by
their actions fulfill the highest demands of
social, moral and religious conduct. If this
definition be accepted, we have but returned
to the old Jewish understanding of the term.
It was not until after the destruction of
the first commonwealth that the idea of indi-
vidual righteousness became dominant in Is-
rael. Community justice no longer received
the attention it had when Israel was in a
land of its own. In exile the bond of solidar-
ity was based upon the national traditions
and the common spiritual possessions, and
the heritage became dearer and holier as
time passed. Here the individual religious
consciousness became stronger, just because
there was no national political life, and the
truths enunciated by the prophets were ap-
plied by men to themselves just as the proph-
ets desired that they be applied to the life

182 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

in Palestine. If the expatriation of Israel was
caused by its sins, then its rehabilitation was
to be brought about by its righteousness ; if in
aforetime it had turned away from the judg-
ments and the precepts of its God, then did
it latterly believe in the words of old : ^"Af-
ter the Lord God shall ye walk, and Him ye
shall fear; His commandments shall ye ob-
serve, unto His voice shall ye hearken; Him
shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave.
For the Lord would repent, since He is 148
merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth; keeping
mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity,
transgression and sin."

To develop the kind of Jewry which it
would please the Lord to take back to the
Promised Land, became the dynamic ideal
of Ezekiel and his contemporary leaders, for
there was an undying hope of a return. The
prophets had been concerned about the na-
tion as a whole; they had believed that it
would be eternal, and that as long as God had
witnesses on earth, so long would Israel en-
dure. But the events of the fall and the de-
struction of Jerusalem, produced a change;
and the stronger emphasis shifted from the
people as a whole, to the individual. Per-
sonal righteousness became the key that
would unlock the gates of national salvation ;
and individual rectitude towards God and
man, based on the carrying out of His com-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 183

mandments, became the most sacred relig-
ious duty. Jeremiah had sowed the seed
when some years before he taught that 149
"in those days they shall say no more the
fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and the
children's teeth are set on edge." Every man
was to be held responsible for his own short-
comings, and he who ate the sour grapes was
himself to suffer the consequences. 150The
fathers were no longer to be put to death on
account of the sins of the children, nor yet
the sons, for the sins of the fathers ; but each
must die for his own sin. Yet not to die, but
to live was the desire of the Jew ; and to live
so that the restoration might come about
was his self-imposed religious obligation. To
be a righteous man and to realize that which
the Lord desired and commanded — that was
the task before the Jew of that day, even as
it is the duty of the Jew today ; though to ac-
complish this now, we do not have to return
to the ancient 'homeland. To that obligation
Ezekiel particularly gave direction. This
greatest priest-prophet of the exile, who tow-
ered so high above most of his contemporar-
ies, seemed able like his colleagues of the pro-
phetic school, to pierce the veil which sepa-
rated the human from the Divine; and he
knew, too, what kind of life fulfilled the
religious hopes, yearnings and aspirations of
those, who like him, had been torn from the
land of their birth, their early scenes, and

184 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

their hopes. He had abiding faith in his
God and in his people, and he felt that these
had been reserved for a fate better than that
of slaves, farmers and traders for ancient
Babylonia. It was because he felt all of this
that he desired individual righteousness, and
counseled with his people : 151"What mean ye
that ye use this proverb concerning the land
of Israel, saying the fathers have eaten sour
grapes, but the children's teeth stand on
edge ? 'As I live/ saith the Lord God, 'ye shall
not have occasion any more to use this prov-
erb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine; as
the soul of the father so also the soul of the
son, is mine; the soul that sinneth it shall
die. But if a man be just, and do that which
is just and right, * * * neither lifted up his
eyes to idols, * * * neither defiled his neigh-
bor's wife * * * nor oppressed anyone; but
he hath restored to the debtor his pledge,
hath spoiled none by violence, hath given
bread to the hungry and hath clothed the
naked, hath not given forth upon usury nor
hath taken any increase ; hath withdrawn his
hand from iniquity, hath executed true judg-
ment between man and man ; hath walked in
my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to
deal truly: he is just, he shall surely live,'
saith the Lord."

The restoration in the sixth century did
not weaken the obligation of personal right-
eousness. The post-exilic prophets, psalm-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 185

ists, and sages, sing of it. As time went on
this ideal became more and more important
and the later psalmists gave it a meaning
that has never been surpassed in point of
spiritual depth. A difference might be indi-
cated here between the earlier and the later
idea of righteousness in Scripture. The right-
eousness of the heart or inner righteousness
is strongly emphasized in the Psalms; the
righteousness of conduct is extolled in the
prophetic and wisdom literature. The seek-
ing for righteousness of the soul in its in-
nermost depths assumes a spiritualizing force
in the Psalms, unequalled in any other Jewish
or Christian literature. About this right-
eousness there was no sham nor artificial for-
mality. It was a deep seated and genuine in-
ner consciousness of right, whose lofty aspir-
ations put its possessors in unison with God.
Its oral expressions were prayers which
bound the souls of men to the spirit of their
Maker, and its spiritual devotions lifted the
worshippers out of this mundane sphere and
gave them a taste of what seemed to be the
bliss of the world to come. Its songs were re-
ligious symphonies whose notes sounded from
the depths of the soul, and seemed to re-echo
with the music of God's own spheres. No
wonder the Jews were lifted upward by their
wonderful Psalms, and that in them they
found comfort in the darkest and thickest
hopelessness ; no wonder that a world, though

186 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

hostile to the Jew, has appropriated them as
one of its most highly prized religious pos-

sessions

152"Judge me 0 Lord," cries the psalmist
who looks to his righteous God as a child to
its perfect Father, "according to my right-
eousness that is within me." "Let the wick-
edness of the wicked come to an end and es-
tablish Thou the just. For the righteous
God trieth the hearts and the souls of men.
My shield is God who saves the upright of
heart." When in contemplation of the holi-
ness which lifts to divine heights, the singer
thinks of man's duty to God and man, he
cries out in the ecstacy of his religious fer-
vor, 153"who shall ascend the hill of the Lord
and who shall stand in His holy place? He
that hath clean hands and a pure heart ; who
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor
sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a bless-
ing from the Lord and righteousness from
the God of his salvation." According to this
standard only they were to stand on Zion's
holy crest whose righteousness united them
with the Righteous One.

The following might be a reminder to those
who insist that the God of the Jews was so
far from his people that the distance be-
tween Him and them precluded that inti-
mate relationship which those need, who
would throw themselves upon the mercy and
goodness of their Creator. 154"Unto Thee,

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 187

0 Lord, do I lift my soul. 0 my God I trust in
Thee. Let me not be deceived. Let not mine
enemies triumph over me, yea, let none that
wait on Thee be ashamed. Let them be
ashamed who trangress without cause. Show
me Thy ways 0 God, teach me Thy paths,
lead me in Thy truth, and teach me, for
Thou art the God of my salvation. On Thee
do I wait all day. Remember Thy tender
mercies 0 God, and Thy loving kindness.
Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will
He teach sinners in the way. 0 keep my soul
and deliver me * * * Let integrity and up-
rightness preserve me, for I wait on Thee."
Sometimes the psalmist gets into a didac-
tic mood ; sometimes he speaks with a proph-
etic voice. He would have mankind know
what righteousness and godliness are, and he
would have his fellowmen understand how to
be at one with the Shield and the Savior. He
lays down the rule that God rewards those
who follow in His paths and who live accord-
ing to His commandments. 155"Come ye chil-
dren and hearken unto me, I will teach you
the fear of the Lord. What man is he who
desireth life and loveth many days in which
to see good ? Keep thy tongue from evil and
thy lips from uttering guile. Depart from
evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous
and His ears are open to their cry. The face
of the Lord is against them that do evil, to

188 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

cut off their remembrance from the earth."
Here is the meditation and praise of an early
psalm, showing what a deep faith in God this
writer had ! 156"The Lord hath rewarded me
according to my righteousness, according to
the cleanness of my hands hath he recom-
pensed me. For I have kept the ways of
the Lord, and have not wickedly departed
from my God. All His judgments were be-
fore me, and I did not put away His stat-
utes from before me. I was upright be-
fore Him, and kept myself from iniquity.
Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me ac-
cording to my righteousness, according to
the cleanness of my hands in His sight. With
the merciful, thou wilt show thyself merci-
ful, with the upright thou wilt show thyself
upright, with the pure wilt thou show thy-
self pure, with the froward thou wilt show
thyself froward, for thou wilt save the af-
flicted people, but thou wilt bring down the
proud looks. For thou wilt light my candle,
the Lord will light up darkness * * * * The
way of God is perfect, His word is tried, He
is a buckler to those that trust in Him."

The foregoing passages are cited to show
with what feeling righteousness was regard-
ed by the Old Testament teachers. Many
other passages could be shown — the Old
Book teems with them. The Psalms, Prov-
erbs, Job and the Prophets are especially
rich. But was this not to be expected? If

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 189

the ideal of the priestly kingdom meant any-
thing to the Jew of old, it meant that the in-
dividual Jew should feel his own righteous-
ness as deeply as the prophets desired that
the whole people should feel its uprightness.
Was the God of Israel not a God of Holiness ?
How could His people be otherwise? And
if here and there the nation showed a ten-
dency to backsliding, was there not always
a remnant that would still raise its voice in
God's behalf, and recall to wandering Israel
the love of his early youth? With an ever
deepening consciousness of the beauty of
righteousness, this recall was sounded as
years went by, and the call is not yet over,
for Israel's righteousness is not yet com-
pleted, though the call has been sounded for
more than forty centuries. Yet shall he live
on and strive on, in the knowledge that the
157"law of his God is perfect, refreshing the
soul ; the testimony of his Lord is sure, mak-
ing wise the simple ; the statutes of his God
are right, rejoicing the heart; the command-
ment of his Lord is pure, making wise the
simple; the fear of his Lord is true, endur-
ing forever; the judgments of his Lord are
true, and righteous altogether." And thus
firm in his faith, and loyal to his ideals, the
true Jew will strive and continue to be a bless-
ing to the families of the earth.

The Christian apologete will grant the sub-
limity of Old Testament ethics. He will agree

190 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

that spiritual depths have been sounded and
godly heights have been scaled, but he will
do this with the reservation that however
great some of the writings of the Old Book
are, the writings of the New One are greater.
This is with him a foregone conclusion, and
needs no proof. He maintains that the idea
of love in the Old Testament is not as spir-
itual as that of the New; the spirituality of
the Old, is less refining than that of the New ;
the justice of the Old Testament teachers is
too stern and its brotherhood too narrow.
There has to be "superiority" — it imight as
well be in these regards. No matter how
effective the ethical elements of the Jewish
Bible were in Biblical days, they did not ac-
complish much at the time of the rise of
Christianity. The Jews had failed to make
proper use of them, and the few good things
in the Old Testament fell into disuse. There
were some who still clung to the ancient
heritage, but the Scribes and Pharisees had
become such hypocrites and narrow legalists
that all the ethical content of Judaism was
lost. All they cared for was the execution
of minute sacrificial laws and ritual regula-
tions; all they wanted was to show them-
selves conforming in public. They cared only
to parade their piety before God and man by
practicing what the law demanded. True
righteousness, they had not; true love was
wanting; the fountains of mercy had dried

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 191

up in those generations ; the soul that craved
to do charity was not in a Jewish body ; jus-
tice and love did not exist, and every Jew
was as blind to them as Justice is pictured to
be blind to contending parties. It was for
this reason that the new dispensation was
needed. Justice, love, mercy, brotherliness,
charity, and peace — all these had vanished,
and sprang up anew only when the young
teacher from Galilee put a new life into them.
Clothed in new precepts, commandments,
parables, teachings and sermons, these were
then incorporated into a holy collection after
his death. And this collection is the source
of all modern social ideals and social inspira-
tion. All that is valuable in the life of man-
kind comes from it — our highest hopes, our
soul's deepest cravings, mankind's loftiest
ideals, society's noblest strivings, — the very
principles for which democracy is now fight-
ing.

The above is not quoted from any single
Christian work, but such thoughts may be
gathered from any standard work on Chris-
tianity or the Teachings of Jesus. Many
statements will be found stronger, and very
few less strong. The real character of Jews
and Judaism is passed over unnoticed, and
the picture of Jewish life is drawn altogether
from the polemic and partisan New Testa-
ment. Yet when one realizes how late some
of the very finest of the psalms are-, and how

192 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

rich in ethical material much of the apocry-
phal and pseudepigraphic literature is, one
fails to understand the Christian writers.
This is simply a question of misinforma-
tion. Throughout the literature of the second
and first centuries before Jesus and the early
centuries after him, we find remarkable ex-
amples of most inspiring teachings; just how
so many could have been written and how
they could have been cherished if Jewishness
had sunk to the depths so often pictured, they
do not say! Is it too much to hope that a
day of a more just evaluation of Jewish life,
on the part of Biblical expositors, will dawn ?
Something has already been said of the
influence of this early literature upon the
New Testament. We need here quote only a
few passages that deal directly with right-
eousness to show that this ethical quality
was not only not dead, but that it was a very
common teaching in the New Testament pe-
riod. In the whole range of these works there
is nothing that exceeds the advice of Tobit
to his son: 158"Be mindful of the Lord thy
God * * * and do uprightly all thy life long,
and go not in the ways of unrighteousness.
159For if thou practice the truth thou shalt
be prosperous in all thy works. Do good,
and evil shall not touch you; prayer is good
with fasting, and alms and righteousness;
little with righteousness is better than much
with unrighteousness, and those that practice

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 193

almsgiving and righteousness shall be filled
with life."

The Book of Enoch, the Testaments of the
Twelve Patriarchs, the Assumption of Moses
— all late works — testify strongly to the fact
that righteousness was a goal much sought
by the Jews, and that the ideal started in the
early days of the Mosaic inspiration was ever
present as days and years rolled on. It is
true that not every individual Jew was right-
eous; but it is equally true, that at no time
in Jewish history was this idea absent from
the religious consciousness of the Jew. In
the vision of Enoch, God says to Michael : 160
"Go * * * and cleanse thou the earth from all
oppression and from all unrighteousness and
from all godlessness." In the admonition to
his sons, Enoch outlines a most righteous
course of conduct: 161"And now I say unto
you, my sons, love righteousness and walk
therein, for the paths of righteousness are
worthy of acceptation, but the paths of un-
righteousness shall suddenly be destroyed
and vanish * * * But seek and choose for
yourself righteousness and an elect life, and
walk in the path of peace and ye shall live and
prosper." And among the final sentences,
we find, 162"be not godless in your hearts, and
lie not, and alter not the words of upright-
ness, nor change with lying the words of the
Holy Great One, nor take account of your
idols ; for all your lying and all your godless-

194 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ness issue not in righteousness, but in great
sin." The following strong condemnation
sounds as though it were Biblical: 163"Woe
to you who work unrighteousness and deceit
and blasphemy ; it shall be a memorial against
you for evil. Woe to you, ye mighty, who
with might oppress the righteous, for the day
of your destruction is coming."

The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon opens
with the injunction: "Love righteousness,
ye that be the judges of the earth * * * for
the holy spirit of wisdom will flee deceit, and
will remove itself from thoughts that are
without understanding, and will be frighten-
ed away when unrighteousness approaches."
Let us not forget that this book was written
before the birth of Jesus. About two centur-
ies before that another sage wrote: 164"Do
no evil, and evil will not befall thee; depart
from what is unjust, and it will turn away
from thee." We have already had occasion
to speak of the remarkable work known as
Ecclesiasticus or Sirach, which grew so pop-
ular that it was confounded with the Biblical
books." 165"Bear not hatred to thy neighbor
over any wrong," it says, "and do not any-
thing at all by violent practices. Blessed is
the man that hath not offended in his speech,
and is not pricked with grief for sins. 166Lend
to thy neighbor in time of need, and pay thou
thy neighbor again in due season; keep thy
word and deal in good faith with him, and

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 195

thou shalt always find the thing that is nec-
essary for thee. 167To depart from wicked-
ness is pleasing to the Lord; and to depart
from unrighteousness is a propitiation."

Individual righteousness in the Book of Ju-
bilees is illustrated by these three quotations.
The first is an extract from the prayer of
Moses to God, as follows : 168"Let thy mercy
0 God, be lifted upon Thy people, and create
in them an upright spirit, and let not the
spirit of Beliar rule over them before Thee,
and to ensnare them from all paths of right-
eousness, so that they may perish from be-
fore Thy face." The answer of God is in
thorough keeping with the religious hope of
the age in which this book was written,
namely the first century before Jesus, or per-
haps a few years earlier: 169And the Lord
said unto Moses * * * "And after this they
will turn to me in all uprightness and with
all their heart and with all their soul * * *
and I shall create in them a holy spirit * * *
and they will be called children of the living
God * * * and they will know that I am their
Father in uprightness, and that I love them."
In the book further on, Abraham's last words
have special interest for us : 170"I see, my son,
that all the works of the children of men are
sin and wickedness, and all their deeds are
uncleanness and a pollution, and there is no
righteousness with them * * * Turn away
from all their deeds and all their uncleanli-

196 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ness and observe the ordinance of the Most
High God, and do His will, and be upright in
all things."

For the author of this work, and his school,
the Jews were the priests of the Most High
until that time when "all will be called the
children of the living God."

The important Book of the Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs is replete with evi-
dence that when it was written, a little be-
fore the first century before the Christian
era, Judaism was not without the many who
deemed righteousness and uprightness a pri-
mary virtue. We have already dealt with this
work as with others, in Chapter III, yet a few
quotations will emphasize our point. "And
now my children," says Gad, m"I exhort you,
love ye each one his brother, and put away
hatred from your hearts ; love one another in
deed and in word, and in the inclination of
the soul. Love ye one another from the
heart, and if a man sin against thee, speak
peaceably to him, and in thy soul hold not
guile; and if he repent and confess, forgive
h^ * # * n2put aWay therefore jealousy
from your souls, and love one another with
uprightness of heart." 173Issachar too, would
have his children live in uprightness, and he
counsels them: "When therefore I grew
up, my children, I walked in uprightness of
heart * * * And my father blessed me, for
he said that I walked in rectitude before

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 197

him. 1T4And I was not a busybody in my do-
ings nor envious and malicious against my
neighbor. I never slandered anyone, nor did
I censure the life of any man, walking as I
did in singleness of eye. And now hearken
to me my children, and walk in singleness of
heart * * * The single-minded man coveteth
not gold, he over-reacheth not his neighbor
* * * and beholdeth all things in uprightness
of heart. Keep therefore my children, the
law of God, and get singleness, and walk in
guilessness, not playing the busybody with
the business of your neighbor, but love the
Lord and your neighbor, and have compassion
on the poor and the weak." And this was a
document that was circulated nearly two hun-
dred years before Christianity began to have
any power !

There are two other books which throw
valuable light on this matter. They were
both written within about the first half of
the first century of the present era, and are
therefore almost contemporaneous with the
supposed sayings of Jesus. To summarize
to some extent the teachings of these and
other works, one need only read an obser-
vation of Prof. Charles, in his Apocalypse
of Baruch. Commenting on the term "the
righteousness of all" he says: "Dr. Sanday
writes (Romans, p. 29) : 175'For a Jew the
whole sphere of righteousness was taken up
by the Mosaic Law. His one idea of right-

198 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

ousness was that of conformity to this Law.
Righteousness was for him essentially obe-
dience to the Law/ That these words are
true of the conception of righteousness en-
tertained by the writers of this book will be
seen by a perusal of the note on XIV. But
naturally the conception of righteousness va-
ried according as it was used by the legalistic
or the prophetical wing, if I may so speak,
of Pharisaism. With the strict Legalists
righteousness meant the fulfillment first and
mainly of the ceremonial observance, and
secondly, but only in a very subordinate de-
gree, of works of mercy. See, for instance,
The Book of Jubilees. With the prophetical
wing, from which emanated most of the
Messianic apocalypses, righteousness was
taken in its large sense as the fulfillment of
moral duties, and only a very secondary de-
gree of ceremonial. The Ethiopic and Sla-
vonic Books of Enoch are illustrations of the
latter statements. * * * "

In this one paragraph Dr. Charles tells the
story of the attitude of the older school to-
wards the Jews of the first and second cen-
turies. The opinion cited by Dr. Sanday is
typical of nearly every other commentator.
Yet how statements of that sort can be main-
tained in the face of the literature which we
have from that period is hard to understand.
Certainly there were legalistic Jews; there
are such now. But to say that the one idea

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 199

of even legalistic Jews was the "conformity
of the Law" in the sense of excluding the eth-
ical spirit from this "conformity," is doing
violence to the religious conscience of the Jew
and to the whole institution of Judaism. One
wishes that Professor Charles had been more
emphatic in his supplement to, or rather cor-
rection of, Sanday's statement.

We have thus far tried to show that from
the days of the prophets, to the rise of the
New Testament writings, Judaism emphasiz-
ed the principle of righteousness. Were this
not so, the literature of those periods could
not have reflected it so strongly. That there
were backsliders is admitted. There are
some today — and on moral backsliders, Juda-
ism has no monopoly. That there were hypo-
crites is very conceivable if human nature be
judged by men of today. But this no faith
has yet eradicated, and no belief has yet ex-
terminated.

We have endeavored to adduce enough evi-
dence to show as false, the statement that at
the time of the rise of Christianity the re-
ligion of the Jew was a heartless legalism
and that "all was formal, legal and prescrib-
ed." We have tried to show that righteous-
ness with the Jew was spontaneous, sincere
and of a truly spiritual character. The Jew
tried to do that which he fancied his God
desired. He endeavored to live according to
the Torah which prescribed righteousness,

200 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

and according to the statutes which gave life
and which helped to better it. But the "Law"
in itself as Law was not the end. The Jew
who thought of his spiritual welfare .and
wanted to be righteous, knew that he could
attain this through proper observance of the
Torah ; and this term meant much more than
the word "Law." To say that the aim of
the Jew at this time was to execute the Law
only as a legalistic proposition, and to imply
that rectitude and righteousness were sec-
ondary considerations or none at all, is as far
from the truth as are some of the statements
made by writers who are neither friendly to
Judaism, just to its cause, nor proficient in
its thought.

The Talmud and the Midrash, portraying
the innermost recesses of the cosmopolitan
Jewish life, have given us plenty of evidence
that the ideal of righteousness was as virile
in the days of their development as at any
other period. The old sages, teachers, and
rabbis believed with all their hearts that
righteousness was as instinctive to Judaism
as worship itself. He who would enjoy bliss
in the future must live righteously here in
the present. And this righteousness was not
a one-sided affair. It was not an affair only
between man and God; it was a matter be-
tween man and man, no less than between
man and God. Some even believed that he
who committed an act of unrighteousness

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 201

against his fellowman was less deserving of
divine forgiveness than he who committed a
sin against his God. 176God will forgive the
sins that you commit against Him," says one
authority, "but the sins which one commits
against his fellowman will not be forgiven
by God until he who has been sinned against
has been asked forgiveness." They say that
the Judaism of those days was an affair of
outward piety towards God. Hardly can we
believe this, in the face of the following com-
monly known saying: 177"It is fitting and
proper that one should be right in the sight of
God; but one should act also, that he be just
and right in the eyes of man." If righteous-
ness were not sincere, and was only another
cloak for hyprocisy, we could hardly have em-
bodied in popular literature the statement
that 178"the righteous stand higher than the
angels."

There is perhaps no more beautiful saying
in the whole literature than the one ascribed
to the Rabbi who said that 179"he who does
justly and loves mercy, fills the whole world
with love." How deeply this touches the
heart ! If true love, unselfish, altruistic and
godlike, is at the bottom of the "higher right-
eousness" of Jesus, as Harnack 180maintains,
then there were many other Jews beside the
New Testament teacher, who were teachers
and exemplars of this higher righteousness.
They probably did not stop to measure every

202 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

act, but they acted justly and they yearned
for the "Shekinah," the Holy Presence — in
their midst. How highly they valued jus-
tice may be gained from the saying that
1S1" justice is one of the supports of God's
throne." To those who insist that sacrifice
and not ethical ideal was the more important
thing in life, one should cite the words of
comment on the 182verse of Proverbs: 183"To
do justice and righteousness is more accept-
able to God than to offer sacrifices." "Sacri-
fices," the old teachers said, "availed only
during the Temple. Righteousness and judg-
ment atoned both before and after the Tem-
ple." 184"Righteousness," said one of the pop-
ular rabbis, "is nobler than sacrifices, for
while sacrifices apply only to this world,
righteousness applies also to the world to
come." This may be to us a theological fancy,
but it shows the place of righteousness even
in the popular theology of the early cen-
turies. 185We are informed also, that the
Lord told David that his charity and his
righteousness were more acceptable to Him
than the Temple.

The righteous, according to the rabbis, are
they who permit the good inclination ^in-
stead of the evil one, to direct their actions.
One of the characteristics of these righteous,
is that their "aye" is "aye," and their "nay"
is "nay." 187This is not from the New Testa-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 203

ment, but from a Midrash compiled of older
sources.

Another Midrash of early date tells us
that God says: 188"Be like unto me; as I
requite good for evil, so do thou requite good
for evil." The one rabbinic saying which in
these days is quoted more than any other is
that of which the New Testament Golden
Rule is the positive. The story in which it
occurs is interesting: A Gentile once came
to Hillel and asked him to teach him the Law
while he stood on one foot. 189"What is hate-
ful unto thee," said the gentle teacher, "do
not unto thy neighbor. This is the sum of
the law, the rest is commentary, go and
learn." In the thought of Hillel, a right-
eous man will commit no offense against any-
one. It seems to us that the Golden Rule of
Hillel and the Golden Rule of Jesus supple-
ment each other in a most marvelous way.
Neither is complete without the other:
"What is hateful unto thee, do not unto oth-
ers, but do unto others as you would have
others do unto you." On this Golden Rule,
all men ought to be able to unite.

These passages ought to convince any one
that righteousness was a most vital force in
the religious life of the Jew during the Phar-
isaic period, and that the accusation that this
religious principle was so deadened as to be
of no telling value, is fallacious. To be a
"tsaddik," a righteous one, in Israel, has al-

204 JUDAISM CHRISTIANITY AND

ways been the desire of many, but the priv-
ilege of the few, just as it is among- people in
our own days. The "tsaddik" was a man of
religious scrupulosity, of honor and respect,
and to be known as one was as holy and as
fervent a desire before the advent and growth
of the new faith, as it has been since that
time. Our American individual as well as
national ideal of righteousness is a Jewish
ideal, prophetic in its origin and in its inspira-
tion, and pharisaic in its spiritual longing
to attain godliness, perfection, and oneness
with one Creator. The ideal of righteous-
ness sought for today is no different from
that of the Rabbis of the Talmud, from the
Pharisaic teachers of the inter-testamental
period, and from that of men of the stripe of
Ezekiel who taught and believed that if a 19°
"man be just and do that which is right and
just, * * hath executed true judgment be-
tween man and man, hath walked in My
statutes and hath kept My commandments,
to deal truly, he is just, he shall surely live,
saith the Lord."

Charity

Some one has said, and it has been re-
peated, that there is no Hebrew word for
"charity." This is not quite correct. The
Hebrew Bible contains no word for charity;
but the word "tsedaka" in later literature
assumes that meaning and that of almsgiv-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 205

ing. In the Talmud and Midrash, "right-
eousness" takes on the meaning of our word
"charity," and is regarded as one of the
fundamental religious requirements. The
worse the economic conditions of Babylonian
and Palestinian Jewry grew, the greater be-
came the virtue of charity; and so exalted
a principle does it later become, that the
writings of the first few centuries simply
abound in it. It becomes the standard for
the truly religious life, and the mark of the
righteous man; they who refuse to do
charity forthwith read themselves out of the
party of the godly; and he is held in dis-
honor who refuses to heed the cry of the
poor and the needy. Charity became an ideal
than which none stood higher. It became
the very symbol of the saintly life ; it opened
the eyes to the sufferings of others ; it warm-
ed the hearts of men, and made them re-
sponsive to the cries of the needy. It was
the pillar of light in the darkness of poverty,
and it was indeed literally the m"deliverer
from death." Something has already been
said about charity, in the preceding pages,
yet for the sake of greater fullness a few
more references will be given to show that
charity was not a creation of Christianity,
as millions of Christians faithfully believe,
but before the newer faith had even felt
itself as a force, the Jews had already ex-
alted charity as one of their noblest and most

206 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

deeply religious teachings. We speak of this
social ideal because it still has a distinctive
function in our society. It is still a neces-
sary element in our social makeup, though
we hope for the day when the dominant ap-
plication of the principle of social justice will
do away with this particular virtue.

Though the word charity does not occur
in the Bible, the idea had been highly devel-
oped by the close of the Old Testament
books; the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic
literature deals with it, and the Books of
Enoch, Ben Sirach, Tobit, Jubilees, and the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs all
speak of it freely.

192"Stretch thine hands unto the poor that
thy blessings may be perfected," says Ben
Sirach, "for a gift hath grace in the sight of
every living man, and for the dead detain it
not." 193"He that is merciful will lend unto
his neighbors." "Lend to thy neighbor in
time of his need, yet have thou patience with
a man of poor estate and delay not to show
him mercy. Help the poor for the com-
mandments' sake and turn him not away be-
cause of his poverty." Tobit tells how he
commanded his son to bring home to the
meal, 194"what poor man soever thou shalt
find out of our brethren, who is mindful of
the Lord." He tells how he gave alms to his
brethren and bread to the hungry; clothing
to the naked and burial to the dead. It is in

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 207

this book that we find the proverb 195"right-
eousness delivers from death" repeated, but
righteousness here, means charity.

We can refer here again to the Testament
of Zebulon: 196"And now my children, I bid
you to keep the command of the Lord; to
show mercy to your neighbor and to have
compassion towards all. Not towards men
only, but also towards beasts. Have com-
passion in your hearts. I sailed * * * catch-
ing fish, and through compassion I shared
my catch with every stranger. And if a man
were a stranger, or sick, or aged I boiled the
rish * * * and offered them to all men * * *
grieving with and having compassion upon
them.,,

197"I saw a man in distress through naked-
ness in winter time, and had compassion upon
him and stole away a garment secretly
from my father's house and gave it to him
who was in distress. Do you therefore, my
children, from that which God bestoweth
upon you, show compassion and mercy with-
out hesitation to all men, and give to every
man with a good heart." This quotation is
a very unique one. Here the author repre-
sents himself as violating one of the Ten
Commandments rather than see a man in
distress suffer. It is a telling commentary
on the statements of those who insist that
Judaism was, at that time, a hard, heartless
legalism.

208 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Among the most beautiful sentiments
about charity and kindness, are those found
in the Rabbinical writings. Rabbi Samuel ben
Nechemia said: 198"Woe unto the wicked
ones, who would overthrow the quality of
mercy.,, 19a"Deeds of loving kindness,,, says
one sage, "are worth more than charity.
Charity is done at the mere sacrifice of
money; but deeds of loving kindness are
done both with sacrifice of money and with
personal efforts. Almsgiving benefits only
the poor; but deeds of loving kindness are
for both the poor and the rich." 200There
were some who regarded charity even high-
er than justice, and who proclaimed "first
charity, then justice." There were those
who believed that giving in secret was a
great virtue and Rabbi Eliezer did not hesi-
tate to say that 201"he who gives in secret is
greater than Moses." While at the same
time we are told that Rav Assi said that
"almsgiving is equivalent to the doing of all
the other commandments of the Torah." To
those who say that among the Jews the of-
fering of sacrifices was the principal relig-
ious duty, we would give in reply the words
of Rabbi Elozer, who maintained that 202
"charity is greater than all the sacrifices."
Nor was poverty thought to be a disgrace
among the Talmudic-time Jews. For a well
known teacher, Rabbi Joshua, taught that the
203"poor who is aided, does more for the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 209

giver than the giver does for him whom he
helps." It was accounted a meritorious deed
to aid a poor man, and the more the oppor-
tunities to help were taken advantage of, the
more comfort did the righteous receive.
204"He who closes his eyes to the needs of
charity," said the teacher, Joshua, "acts as
if he were an idol worshipper." If one knows
that idol-worshipping was one of the three
cardinal sins in Judaism, one may understand
how lowly an uncharitable person was es-
teemed in the community of Israel. And
even today, the Jew who can afford to, but
does not give to charity, is generally re-
garded as the lowest of his people. "Take
care," says an injunction in an early book
of etiquette, 205"that your door is not shut
while you are sitting at a meal." The im-
plication, of course, is to keep no one who
may be hungry away from your table. An
old tradition has it that God thus spake to
Israel: 206"My sons, what do I seek of you?
I desire nothing of you but that you love one
another and honor one another." And in
that code in which we found the statement
just referred to above, we find also the pre-
cept, "love mankind and honor it." These
were not the ideals of one Jew. They were
the common thoughts of the Jews who made
Judaism and lived the Jewish life. It is
true that some of these aspirations are from
literature later than the New Testament.

210 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

But all of them show the habitual thought
and life of the Jews, who would not have been
influenced by the writings of the New
Covenant, for these writings were taboo
among Jews, and were not recognized as holy
even by all Christians until the latter part of
the fourth century. The bitterness between
the early Christians and the Jews had the
effect of nullifying any influence that the
New Testament might have tended to have
upon Jews. Moreover, they hardly knew these
writings; the early Christians themselves
hardly knew them; and their circulation
among Jews except perhaps among the larger
cities of Paul's sphere of activity, was so in-
signficant that the larger portion of Jewish
teachers neither knew them nor took cog-
nizance of them. Charity, mercy, and kind-
ness were always Jewish ethical motives, and
the incorporation of these into the new canon,
in no wise lessens their Jewishness. In clos-
ing this section, the words of Tobit may well
be repeated: 207"My son, be mindful of the
Lord thy God all thy days, and let not thy
will be set to sin, or to transgress His com-
mandments ; do rightly all thy life long, and
follow not the ways of the unrighteous. Give
alms of thy substance ; and when thou givest
alms let not thine eye be envious, neither turn
thy face from the poor; and the face of God
shall not be turned from thee. If thou hast
abundance, give alms accordingly, and if thou

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 211

hast little, be not afraid to give according to
that little. For thou layest up a good treas-
ure for thyself against the day of necessity,
because that alms do deliver from death, and
suffereth not to come into darkness." And
to these we may add words which are as true
today as they were when first uttered:
208"There is no limit to the doing of deeds of
loving kindness."

Peace.

Aside from the horror of bloodshed itself,
nothing has given a greater impulse to the
ideal of universal peace than the Bible ; and
never have the visions of peace been more
gloriously described than by the Jewish
prophets; the Jewish consciousness has been
a repository of the wish for that messianic
era which was to free mankind from blood-
shed, and the Jewish heart beats with the
fervent hope that those visions will some day
be realized. Yet the modern works on peace
scarcely mention the Jews' splendid contri-
bution; and hardly is it referred to in the
histories which purport to give authentic ac-
counts of the ideal of Universal Peace. And
this is not as strange as it is painful to the
Jew. For he knows that from the earliest days
war was at the opposite pole of his thought.
The ancient altar 209if made of stone, was not
built of hewn stone; iron would have to be
used to hew such stone, and how could iron

212 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

be used in the construction of that which was
consecrated to God, when out of that same
material those instruments were made, which
took that which was most sacred to God, life
itself? It was not, however, until later that
the idea of peace took a real hold of the Jew-
ish leaders' minds in all of its glorious gran-
deur. And it was the matchless Isaiah first,
who made use of that great vision towards
the realization of which mankind seems now
to be tending. It was Israel who was to be
the teacher from whom other nations were to
learn how to destroy the instruments of de-
struction. Peace was to be founded upon
righteousness and truth ; and the word of God
as Israel understood it, was to be the fountain
from which the waters of peace were to issue.
The prophet's vision was not founded upon
the empty hypocrisy of modern cant. Per-
haps he was too hopeful ; perhaps he and his
colleagues were carried away by the holy
beauty of a peaceful humanity that would
come with trustfulness, righteousness and
truth, even though only one nation may be-
come among these, the instructor of others.
Through the years of toil and turmoil fol-
lowing the best period of Israel's first mon-
archy, the thought of peace never left its
consciousness. Not only Isaiah but Micah
proclaimed, 210"and it shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountain of the Lord's
house shall be established firmly on the top of

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 213

the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills, and unto it people shall flow; and
many nations shall say: 'Come ye and let us
go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the
house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach
us of his ways, and that we may walk in his
paths, for out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem;
and He shall judge between many people, and
decide for strong nations even afar off; and
they shall beat their swords into plough-
shares, and their spears into pruning hooks,
nations shall not lift up sword against nation,
and they shall not learn war any more." The
world shall not only learn international peace,
but more secure yet shall men be, for
211"every man shall sit under his own vine
and fig tree, with none to make them afraid."
The picture is colossal, indeed, when one con-
siders the frightful loss of life, the awful
waste of strength, the enormity of the outlay
and the horrors of civil and international
warfare What a stupendous lesson the world
has yet to learn from the Jews of prophetic
days ! Indeed the prince of peace was not he
whose followers read in his name: 212"Think
not that I have come to send peace on the
earth ; I come not to send peace, but a sword.
For I come to set a man at variance with his
father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter-in-law against the mother-
in-law, and a man's foes shall be they of his

214 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

own household." The princes of peace have
they rather been in whose hearts there flamed
the prophetic love of peace, and upon whose
bodies there fell the stripes of bigotry, op-
pression and persecution. They are the
princes of peace who refused to sell their
souls for an outward peace and an inner dis-
traction, and who in spite of every mode of
relentless barbarity, still longed for it, and
hoped for it in the face of the seeming hope-
lessness of the struggle to obtain it.

It is true that there are pages in the Old
Testament which are records of bloody wars
won and lost; it is to be granted that there
are ideas set forth in it which cannot be
messages for today. Yet a collection like that
has its fine elements as well as the other ; and
the contents of the Bible ought not to be
judged simply because they occur on its
pages, but by the part they play or have
played in the history of the thought of Juda-
ism. We would hardly be justified in saying
that Jesus preached war because of a few
warlike passages ; and so, the records of wars
in the Book do not prove that war was de-
sired or advocated. Not war, but peace, is
the stronger Jewish theme; not blood and
slaughter, but mercy and life are the aims
of Jewish endeavor. It may be pleasing to
some to select portions of warlike ferocity
and label them Jewish; but in the highway
of Judaism, these had negative values, and

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 215

in the heart of Judaism, bloodshed found
place only when circumstances forced them
into the exigencies of Jewish life. The noblest
purposes of the Jewish soul were not those of
desolation and war ; but greater by far, were
they those of life-preserving justice, love,
mercy and peace.

If ever there were dreamers of a universal
peace in which a spirit of holiness and fine
humaness would pervade, they were the
prophets and the sages. Nothing in modern
peace literature compares with that simple
picture of Isaiah in which he portrays the
future of the people whose social regener-
ation will be completed. 213"Then judgment
shall dwell even in the wilderness and right-
eousness shall remain in the fruitful field;
and the work of righteousness shall be peace,
and the effect of righteousness shall be quiet-
ness and assurance forever. And my people
shall dwell in a peaceful habitation and in
sure dwellings and in resting places." It is
the simple, peaceful, calm, untroubled life of
a nation whose citizens attend to their duties ;
whose inhabitants filled with the spirit of
justice and righteousness, fulfill their respon-
sibilities, and live in that tranquility which
produces lasting peace and happiness. What
a strong contrast between this old Jewish
ideal and the pogroms, massacres and sav-
agery in Russia, Belgium and France, and
now, since the war, in Galicia and Poland !

216 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

In the face of the late unheard of cata-
clysm let us recall the immortal words of that
Prince of Peace whose prophecy seems far-
ther than ever from realization : 214"And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of
Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his
roots, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under-
standing, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord,
and it shall make him of quick understand-
ing in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not
judge after the sight of his eyes, neither re-
prove after the hearing of his ears ; but with
righteousness shall he judge the poor, and
reprove with equity the meek of the earth;
and he shall smite the earth with the rod of
his mouth, and with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked; and righteousness
shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithful-
ness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also
shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and
the young lion and the fatling together, and
a child shall lead them. And the cow and
the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie
down together, and the lion shall eat straw
like the ox. * * * They shall not hurt nor
destroy in my whole kingdom for the earth
shall be full of knowledge of God as the
waters cover the sea." Yet there are those
who say that the messiah has come!

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 217

The words of Isaiah, Micah, Zechariah, and
the psalmist made lasting impressions upon
Israel. Their lessons have ever been present
in the teachings of Israel's sages. With the
close of the Old Testament, the post-biblical
books took up the hope of peace, and Ben
Sirach, Enoch, The Testaments, Jubilees and
Tobit repeat the refrain. 215"The fear of
God," says Ben Sirach, "is a crown of wis-
dom making peace and restored health to
flourish/' In a reverie of the glories of the
past, the writer in speaking of Solomon, says,
216"How wise wore thou in thy youth, as a
river filled with understanding. Thy soul
covered the earth * * * and for thy peace
wert thou beloved." And then looking to-
ward the future with that yearning for Is-
rael's glory that only a Jew who knows his
history can have, Ben Sirach prays, 217"May
He grant you wisdom of heart, may there be
peace among you, that peace may be in Israel
forever, that the world may confirm His
mercy with us, and deliver us at His time."
With righteousness and mercy, with brother-
liness and love, peace was intermingled, that
all of these may engender a complete har-
mony among Israel and among all the chil-
dren of men.

No vision of Enoch showing him the glory
to come, was complete without peace, and
time and again is this hope repeated. In the
messianic era, 218"truth and peace shall be as-

218 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

sociated together throughout all the genera-
tions of men," and as for the righteous,
219"their lives shall be increased in peace, and
the years of their joy shall be multiplied in
eternal gladness and peace all the days of
their life." The author of the Testaments
of the Twelve Patriarchs who probably voices
the best thoughts of his day, looks forward
to that same state of peace for which the
others hoped, as a reward for that kind of
conduct which is god-like. 221"There shall be
peace in all the earth, for those who have
been cleansed from their iniquities." In the
Testaments of Judah, Issacher, Dan and Ben-
jamin, peace is held out as the highest bless-
ing, not only for the righteous of those among
Israel, but also for those among the Gentiles.
And the words of Dan sum up very succinctly
the whole trend of thought with regard to
the kind of life the religious Jew must lead,
and what his ultimate reward is to be:
221"Observe the commandments of the Lord,
and keep His law; depart from wrath and
hate lying that the Lord may dwell among
you. Speak truth each one with his neigh-
bor, so shall ye not fall into wrath and con-
fusion; but ye shall be in peace, so shall no
war prevail over you. Love the Lord through
all your life and one another with a true
heart."

In the Book of Jubilees more than in any
other work, occurs that oriental expression in

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 219

vogue among Semites and used much among
the Hebrews, "Go in peace." The phrase of
salutation among many of the Jews even to-
day is, "Peace be unto you." The wide use
of this expression alone may be an index of
the depth of feeling attached to the senti-
ment which these words express. Other ex-
pressions of the peace-hope occur there,
among which the loftiest are these: 222"May
thy seed be perfect in the joy of heaven and
earth forever; and may thy seed rejoice and
on the great day of peace may it have peace.
* * * 223«And when thou sittest on the throne
of honor or righteousness, there will be great
peace for all the seed of the sons of the be-
loved, and blessed will be he that blesseth
thee." Tobit and Baruch, too, show the con-
tinuity of this old Jewish hope. There is only
one difference between their conception of
peace and ours. Theirs was a religious peace
for all mankind, ours is one of political se-
curity for the safety of men and nations.

In the rabbinical literature we get a larger
view of the popular sentiments with regard to
this ideal. But again we may meet with the
objection that "peace and good will" had been
announced to mankind through the New Tes-
tament sources which antedated the rab-
binical. We must again reply that the chao-
tic condition of the New Testament books
with regard to their holiness, and the wall
of hatred which had been set up between the

220 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

early Christians and the Jews, precluded the
writings which later became the new canon,
from having any influence upon the Jews and
their beliefs. Aside from this, peace plays
a very inferior part in the New Testament.
Certainly we find no passage in the gospels
in which war was denounced, and if one were
so inclined one could readily cite some pas-
sages which might more easily be unfavorable
to peace than favorable. The passage in
Luke: 224"But those mine enemies which
would not that I should reign over them bring
them hither and slay them before me,"; or
the passage in Mark: 225"He that believeth
not shall be damned" ; or the passage already
cited: "I come not to bring peace but the
sword," certainly would indicate that peace,
one of the noblest ideals of the Jews, was
far from the mind of Jesus or from those who
interpreted his teachings. It is true he said,
226"my peace I give unto you," but that is
rather a matter only between Jesus and his
disciples. We have a few distinctive sayings
such as "blessed are the peace makers, for
they shall be called the sons of God." But
this is again a Jewish idea which seems out
of harmony with some of these other sayings
attributed to Jesus. The other strong pas-
sages which can be taken as indicating the
gospels' tendency in this direction are from
the prayer of Zacharias 227 and from the song
of the 228heavenly multitude, the first stating

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 221

that the prophet "shall guide our feet in the
way of peace," and the second, "glory to God
in the highest and peace among men in whom
he is well pleased." Some of the later books
repeat the ideals which the Bible and the
post-biblical literature have inculcated, and
this is particularly true of the Pauline epis-
tles. The influence of these, however, upon
Christianity has been more upon the theologi-
cal side than the social, and the marked ten-
dency of modern Christianity is to empha-
size the gospels rather than the epistles.

The Talmud is replete with sentiments born
out of the deep desire for the peace for which
the Jew so strongly hoped but which was so
seldom his. 229"Be of the disciples of Aaron,
loving peace and pursuing it," was a trite
saying. Of Aaron it was said that 230"in his
mouth were Torah and truth ; it was he who
went around among neighbors making peace
among them." Of God it was said that His
name is "peace." 2310ne teacher addresses
God, saying: 232"Thou art peace and Thy
teaching is peace." 233"The Torah was given
for the sake of peace," some said. And to
Rabbon Simeon ben Gamaliel is credited the
saying that 234"the world rests upon three
things, upon truth, justice and peace." 235
"Peace is one of the pillars of the earth and
they who pursue it will profit both in this
world and in the next," was another popular
sentiment.

222 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Rabbi Eliezer 236 in the name of Rabbi
Chanina says: "The wise will increase the
peace in the world," and Shamaiah ben Ab-
talyon taught that the Gentiles who pursue
peace are more 237worthy than the sons of
Aaron who do not pursue it. 238Simeon ben
Chalafta believed that God found no greater
blessing for Israel than peace, and others be-
lieved that it was the lack of peace that
caused the destruction of the second Temple
although piety, charity and wisdom were
practiced there. 239We are reminded that it
was one of the virtues of Jochanan ben
Zakkai that he used to be first to salute every-
one, even the stranger in the market place,
by wishing him peace. We have noted that
to wish one peace was a method of Jewish
salutation. The later fancy 240 of the Jewish
teachers made peace one of the seven serv-
ants of the throne of glory, just as in the
earlier literature the spirit of wisdom which
led to peace, was identified with God Himself.

Peace was sometimes placed higher than
truthful exactness and we are told by Rav
Eli 241in the name of Rabbi Elozer ben Simeon,
that one is even permitted to modify a report
for the sake of preserving peace. The Day
of Atonement was made a day of general
peace-making, and the fact that man had
first to make peace with his fellow-man, be-
fore he could make it with God, has already
been referred to. For the sake of peace, the

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 223

gleanings and the left-overs in the fields at
harvest should not be denied to the poor,
whether they be Jewish or non-Jewish; and
another bit of rabbinical wisdom worth re-
quoting in this connection 242is: "We should
support the non-Jewish poor with Jewish
poor, we should visit the non-Jewish sick with
Jewish sick, and we would bury the non-
Jewish dead with the Jewish dead, for the
sake of peace.,,

Of the numerous prayers in the Talmud
the conclusion of Rav Safro's concerns us
particularly : 243"May it be thy will," he used
to say, "0 Lord our God, that thou mayest
establish peace between the family above and
the human family here below." The con-
cluding prayer in the daily prayer book, re-
cited three times a day by the orthodox Jew,
and retained in the reform ritual reads:
244"He who makes peace in the heavenly
heights may he establish peace unto us and
all Israel," 245and later authorities have sub-
stituted the phrase "unto all of His children"
instead of "unto all Israel."

These illustrations show how essentially
Jewish the hope for peace is. It was and
is one of the fundamental ideals of the Jew-
ish faith. Yet it must not be thought that
the peace which Israel has yearned for is a
"peace without honor." No people has lived
which has desired peace more — yet no people
has lived who has sacrificed more, for a peace

224 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

with honor. The terrific persecutions which
Israel has undergone are the very best proof
that its peace was not to be a coward's peace.
Perhaps no example of steadfastness to an
ideal, is more glorious than the fate of Israel
in recent Russia. All that the Jew needed to
do there to gain peace — and equality, too —
was to mark the sign of the cross on his door.
But the Jew did not do this ; he chose all that
the dreaded Black Hundreds had in store for
him ; he bore all the indignities of the unholy
Romanoffs — but he did not surrender his soul
to a peace of dishonor, though three times a
day he prayed and sighed and longed for
peace and quietude. What he wanted was a
lasting peace with righteousness, security and
justice.

As these lines are being written, the end
of the great cataclysm which has shaken the
world for more than four years, has come.
The fields of Europe and Asia have been
drenched with the blood of millions of men
who have been fighting, with Jewish civiliza-
tion at stake. On the one hand we had the
ideal of the Teutons — the ideal of the strong
and the mighty, the ideal of the powerful
and the superman; on the other hand, we
have the ideal of the Bible — the ideal which
has become the bread and life of the Allies,
and more especially of the grand Republic of
the West. On the one hand we had the
armies of a war-crazed clique fighting for

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 225

empire, for more power, for greater com-
merce, for more extended self-aggrandize-
ment; on the other hand, the armies fighting
for the brotherhood of mankind, for justice,
for liberty and for a lasting and assured
peace. It was the fight of the heathen against
the advocate of civilization — it was the fight
of the Germanic gods against social democ-
racy— and again the God of Israel has won.
And when the peace negotiations will have
been concluded, and peace will again be the
world's boon, it will be a peace based upon
the ideals of President Wilson and his ad-
visors, a peace based in the last analysis
upon those veiy Jewish ideals which have
been so loosely treated here — the Fatherhood
of God, the Brotherhood of Man, Social Jus-
tice and Individual Righteousness and Char-
ity, and a Peace with assurance and safety to
all nations and to all men !

226 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

CHAPTER V.

The Attitude of Liberal Jews
Toward Jesus.

After our study of these Jewish social
ideals, let us turn our attention to the consid-
erations of the attitude of the liberal Jew
toward the highest Christian ideal, namely
Jesus. There is, of course, no officially Jew-
ish point of view with regard to him, any
more than there is with regard to Paul, Lu-
ther or Wesley. Official Judaism never took
notice of him except insofar as the persecu-
tions committed in his name, forced the Jew
to regard it with dread as an omen of ill-
fortune. Who does not know of the oceans
of blood spilled by his worshipers, and of
the terrible atrocities committed under the
banner bearing his name? The wonder is
not that Judaism took no official notice of
him ; rather it is that amidst the thick dark-
ness of ages gone by, libraries of anathema
and curses have not been produced by the
Jews.

2But times are changing, and with them
views and feelings. If at one time the name
of Jesus was synonymous with the word
persecution, his name now, where thoroughly
understood, stands for a Jewishness much
misunderstood by his followers. The Jew

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 227

feels that the story of Jesus and the whole
development of Christianity up to the period
of the American Revolution has been for him
a tragedy in which Jesus, not of his own
will, was the cause, while the Jew was the
innocent victim. The Jew understands that
excepting the not numerous passages which
purport to show the indignation and hate of
Jesus for his enemies, the general tenor of
his teachings follow the principle of the rab-
binic saying, 3"be ye of the disciples of Aaron,
loving peace and pursuing it." It is only
they, — and unfortunately they are by far the
greatest in number, — who have never under-
stood their master, that hate, persecute and
murder in his name. The educated co-relig-
ionists of Jesus — he never severed his con-
nection either with his people or with his
faith — feel that he desired to gather the scat-
tered sheep of Israel, in fulfillment of a dut>
righteously conceived and sacrificingly under-
taken. And Jesus was neither the first Jew
nor the last to die for what he conceived to be
his duty, his truth, and his mission.

In discussing the attitude of Jews towards
Jesus, we may consider him from three points
of view, viz : as Jesus Christ or the Messiah
of the Gospels; as the Son of God and the
Redeemer of Mankind; and lastly, as Jesus,
the Perfect or Sinless Man of liberal Christi-
anity. In reference to the first point of view,
we can get into the depth of the matter by

228 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

simply considering the question, why did not
the ancient Jew and why does not the mod-
ern Jew accept Jesus as that Messiah? A
short study of the messianic development in
Judaism will answer.

The messianic idea among Jews had re-
ceived a new impetus with the publication of
the 4Book of Daniel between 167 and 165 be-
fore the birth of Jesus. The sufferings un-
der Antiochus Epiphanes had influenced the
writer of Daniel to supplement the messian-
ism of the prophets with a more virile and
realistic content. Daniel prophesied a deliv-
erance from the oppression of Antiochus ; the
saints of the Most High were to receive the
kingdom, and all peoples and nations were
to serve them; the righteous who had died,
were to awaken again to participate in this
new kingdom. It was to be ushered in by a
son of man, a messiah who was to come from
the clouds. A glorious future was in store
for Israel, who was now to become a nation
of saints. Daniel became the ground work
for the other books containing the messianic
expectations, although here and there, mod-
ifications of the fundamental ideas developed.
5One of these apocalyptic visions stated that
after judgment upon the heathen would be
pronounced, Israel would be delivered from
all troubles, regathered, and again established
as a nation under the leadership of the seed
of David. This latter idea is common to

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 229?

nearly all the later messianic documents.
Sometimes we find that not only the saints
of Israel are to be restored, but the right-
eous of all nations are to be included in the
messianic rebirth. Another prophecy states
that God is to send His messenger who will
put an end to all war, slaying many, but 6"the
people of God will be laden with wealth and
riches; the kings shall, after fighting one
against the other, unite and throw themselves
against the Temple and the Holy Land ; then
with a mighty voice God shall speak unto
the undisciplined empty-minded people and
judgment shall come unto them and they shall
perish. The earth will shake at the hands of
the Eternal and the souls of men and the sea
will shudder. God will rend the mountains
and hills, and He will judge with war and
sword, with fire and cataclysms of rain. And
they shall know the immortal God who or-
dains these things. Then will the sons of
God live quietly around the Temple rejoicing
in the gift which their Creator and Righteous
Judge shall give them, for He Himself will be
their champion. And God will set up an
Eternal Kingdom for all ages and over all
men, and from every land shall they bring
incense and gifts to the House of the Great
God. And wolves and lambs together shall
crop grass upon the mountains, and leopards
shall feed with kids ; prowling bears shall lie
with calves, beasts shall be incapable of

230 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

harm; serpents and asps shall sleep with
babes and shall not harm them, for God's
hands shall be outstretched over them."

A number of 7books containing these ideas
and similar ones, moulded public opinion after
the close of the Old Testament and before the
completion of the New. The Book of Enoch,
Psalms of Solomon, the Assumption of Moses,
the Book of Jubilees and the Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs, the Apocalypse of
Baruch and the Sybilline Books, are among
those which deal with and mention the usher-
ing in of the much hoped-for messianic era
of peace, justice and love, which was to be
established in the land of Israel, and par-
ticularly in the City of Jerusalem, the seat
of the House of the Only God. These expeo
tations became a national possession and a
perennial hope. The most important among
them, just before Jesus, were the coming of
the Messiah who was to deliver Israel from
the surrounding enemies; the gathering of
Israel by this Messiah ; the re-establishment
of a Davidic dynasty ; the bringing about of
eternal peace, and the religious predominance
of Zion. Side by side with these expectations
had grown up the belief that just before the
final redemption there would be insufferable
trouble and affliction. Sin, ungodliness, mad-
ness and war would reign, and when these
would be at their worst, the Messiah would
appear, after being announced by Elijah, his
forerunner.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 231

After the fulfillment of all these expecta-
tions Israel was to be a holy nation, sanctified
by God, and dedicated to His services and the
service of mankind. Israel's was to be a
kingdom of righteousness without wicked-
ness; justice tempered with mercy was to
be supreme, and peace was to be everlasting.
The Holy Land was to be the home of a king-
dom of priests, an example of civic righteous-
ness, political wisdom and social justice to
the other peoples of the earth. Concerning
the Messiah himself, there were varying
speculations. Some thought that he would be
altogether human, others were not so certain ;
some thought he was created even before
the world; others thought differently; some
thought he would redeem only the righteous
Israelites; others extended his mission to
righteous Gentiles also; some thought Israel
alone would be resurrected by him, others
included Gentiles and their conversion, in the
resurrection; there were these and other
minor differences of opinion, but in the main,
the ideas were in agreement with the larger
expectations pointed out above.

Let us now examine the political condition
of the Jews at about the time of Jesus, and
keep in mind at the same time, these funda-
mental ideals as they stirred their breasts.
Ever since Pompey had been invited by the
warring sons of Salome Alexandra to adjudi-
cate their claims to the crown, Roman power

232 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

in Palestine was gradually assuming the as-
cendancy. Never did Rome settle civil or
international disputes on the ground of hu-
manitarianism. This instance was no excep-
tion. The dispute between Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus gave Pompey a pretense for en-
tering Judea, and after a three months' siege
and a frightful massacre, the Temple Mount
fell, on the Day of Atonement, 63 before
Jesus, and for the first time since the days
of Antiochus, a heathen entered the Holy of
Holies and profaned it. With the fall of the
Temple, came also the end of the freedom of
the Jewish people. The leaders of the party
that opposed the Romans were beheaded, the
city and country were made tributary to
Rome, and Hyrcanus was recognized as High
Priest, but not as king.

The 9Roman governors who administered
the political affairs of Judea were unfriendly
to the Jews, and consequently no opportunity
was overlooked by these for the over-throw-
ing of the hateful yoke. In 57 before Jesus,
Alexander, the son of Aristobulus made an
attempt to regain a foothold with an army
of more than 11,000, but he was defeated
by the Roman proconsul, who at the same
time took away from Hyranus what little
political power he had left. He was now only
a High Priest, but to such political depth had
Judea fallen, that the only thing left of the
glory of the Maccabean rulers was the care

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 233

of the Temple. In 56, and the year following,
the sons of Aristobulus again attempted to
wrest Judea from Rome and were again de-
feated. Two years later another revolt broke
out, and when the Romans emerged as vic-
tors, 10,000 of the party of Aristobulus had
been slain. Between 53 and 51 the followers
of Aristobulus again made an effort to win
and this time their leader was killed, and
30,000 of his partisans were sold into slavery.
In a few years thousands of Jews had suc-
cumbed to the ravages of the wars against
Rome. The land was literally cut to pieces.
The Temple had been robbed several times,
and the exactions of the Roman governors
had become intolerable. If the Temple failed
to supply the funds needed, a special tax was
levied, and if this was not forthcoming thou-
sands were sold into slavery. The lot of the
Judeans became more hopeless and more bit-
ter. In 49, Julius Caesar became dictator
of Rome. He seemed more kindly disposed
to the Jews, and especially favorable to Hyr-
canus and to Antipater, his advisor, an am-
bitious and crafty Idumean, who cherished
ambitions for himself and his sons, and there-
fore encouraged Hyrcanus in his trouble with
Aristobulus. As long as Caesar retained
power, there was a measure of peace in Judea.
But after his death in 44, trouble again com-
menced. Money was needed, and when it did
not come forth from tax levies, it came in

234 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

the form of proceeds from the sale of slaves.
The Jews were helpless before the Roman
terror. In the meantime, the sons of Aris-
tobulus were not idle. The sufferings of
Israel kept their cause fresh in its memory
and followers were not wanting. Judea never
lacked patriots who were willing to die for it.
In the year 40 the Parthians invaded Syria,
and Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, again
raised an army and succeeded in gaining Jeru-
salem and proclaiming himself king and high-
priest. His period of supremacy, however,
lasted only a short time, as in the spring of
37, Herod, the son of Antipater and governor
of the province of Galilee, appeared at the
gates of Jerusalem, and with the help of
the Romans, took the city. Antigonus was
taken to Antioch and executed, and Herod
became king, an office to which he had been
proclaimed by the Roman senate three years
before.

The ascendancy of Herod gave to the out-
side world a semblance of peace in Judea.
But the wounds of the last quarter of a cen-
tury could not be healed. Palestine had been
made desolate by contentions, anarchy, trib-
ute and war. Its fields were soaked with
blood, and the best of its sons had been taken
away in battle. The continued unrest was
making the Judeans desperate, and the exac-
tions of Rome completely sapped the once
wealthy land. Yet to the Jewish mind it

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 235

could never be possible to think that God had
forsaken His people. He was their everlast-
ing God even as they were His everlasting
people. The prophets and psalmists bore
witness to this, as did many of the later and
apocalyptic writers. Over and over again
the messianic expectations welled up in the
hearts of the hapless people, and as their
conditions grew darker the expectations of
the Messiah became more vivid. Herod was
thoroughly hated, though outwardly there
was an appearance of calm. Within, the
land was full of sorrow, and although it pros-
pered materially, there was a deeply growing
discontent and bitterness. Herod was un-
true to the best Jewish traditions, and disre-
garded whenever he could, the teachings and
the faith of those whom he ruled. He was
more than friendly to the customs of Rome' —
indeed only by such an attitude could he
maintain himself. Though supposedly a Jew,
he had little interest in the religion of Judea,
and though he erected a magnificent Temple,
the land was in a spiritual turmoil. His de-
sire for renown, and his love for vanity and
public display caused him to build palaces
and cities, but the reputation he gained
abroad could not lessen the hatred he had
earned in his own land. To the hate and
distrust that the Jews had for him whom
they regarded as a traitor and usurper, there
was added the resentment caused by the
heavy taxes and the financial burdens.

236 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

The longer he reigned the more deeply was
he despised. His interest in the Temple, its
service and priesthood, was regarded as hypo-
critical, and he was looked upon as a man
whose hands had been stained with the blood
of martyrs; and as it was recalled that
10David was not permitted to build the first
Temple because he had shed innocent blood,
surely Herod's sin could not so easily be for-
gotten. His efforts in the direction of peace
and contentment in his kingdom, were frus-
trated by his wish to please Rome and the
Romans, and as the years rolled by, he be-
came aware of his failure and then embit-
tered by it. The mistrust within his house-
hold was as deep as that without it, and as
the truth of this grew upon him, his frenzy
knew no bounds. His own wife and children
fell victims to his madness, and for the Ju-
deans, matters became as bad as they possi-
bly could get. But the mad acts of the king
only heightened their hopes for the final de-
liverance. In 4, before the birth of Jesus, the
old king, worn out by madness and disease
went the way of his fathers, hated by his
people and unwept by those of his own house
who were left. His will provided that his
son, Archelaus, he made his sucessor, but be-
fore Archelaus had time to leave Jerusalem
for Rome to be confirmed in this office, a re-
bellion against him broke out. The people de-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 237

manded a release from their oppressive tyr-
anny; a reduction of the taxes; the freedom
of many that were imprisoned by Herod ; the
removal of his high priest, and the punish-
ment of those who had advised Herod to exe-
cute several rabbis who tore down from the
Temple gate, a Roman Eagle which had been
put there. The answer of Archelaus was an
attack by his army, and after the multitude
had dispersed, 3,000 people were found
slaughtered. Archelaus then departed for
Rome, but before his claims were settled, the
oppression of the procurators became so un-
bearable, that a number of rebellions took
place in different parts of Palestine, against
Rome. The disorders were quieted, but in
Jerusalem alone 2,000 men were crucified and
the Temple again robbed. Archelaus re-
turned from Rome as Ethnarch, but was ban-
ished in the year 6 for political excesses.

After this, Roman procurators whose cap-
ital was Caesarea, governed Palestine, but
their periods of office were short, unsuccess-
ful and cruelly oppressive. In 26, Pontius
Pilate became procurator of Judea. Pilate
cared even less for the feelings of his sub-
jects than did his predecessors. A test of his
disregard for the feelings of the people whom
he governed came when he asked them to
pay homage to the Roman emblems, and upon
their refusal, threatened to have them killed.
When he saw that they preferred to give up

238 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

their lives rather than their religion, he re^
moved the cause of the trouble. Later he
made some improvements near Jerusalem,
but robbed the Temple of some of its treas-
ures to pay for them. When the people pro-
tested he ordered some of his soldiers to dis-
guise themselves as Judeans, mingle with the
crowds and attack them. Many were thus
killed and wounded; and Roman oppression
grew worse.

The Judeans were kept in constant fear of
Pilate's plans and acts which became more
unbearable day by day. He seemed to have
full sway and there was no appeal from his
barbarity. The cowardice of the Judean aris-
tocracy, the corruption of the high priests
and the seeming hopelessness of the whole
situation, increased the hopes for a Messiah
to such an extent that any superiorly gifted
man could have found followers if he but an-
nounced himself as the Chosen One. Indeed
even before the coming of Pilate, pseudo-
saviors had already appeared; and during
this period of oppression no fewer than six
important rebellions were started by men
who believed themselves messiahs. Thou-
sands of lives were lost in these worthy at-
tempts to free Israel from Roman tyranny.
Indeed to initiate the Kingdom of God became
the obsession of many religious Jews and the
indwelling ambition of the great and popular
leaders11.

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 239

About this time Jesus of Nazareth appear-
ed. He was a young man whose antecedents
were unknown except in the city of his birth,
where his father was a carpenter and spent
his time at his trade. 12The family had no
special distinction, and the feeble efforts of
the Gospels to give Jesus Davidic ancestry
have been largely discredited by scholars. If
the mortal father of Jesus had been a de-
scendant of David, something of honor and
prestige would have been attached to the
family. We might also add, that in view of
the part assigned in the Gospels to Joseph
and adopted by Orthodox Christianity, the
alleged Davidic descent of Jesus can not be
considered. For according to Jewish custom
the fact that Mary might have been descend-
ed from David would not make any difference,
as descent counts on the side of the father,
not that of the mother. Jesus grew to man-
hood in Galilee and there he must have inher-
ited those characteristics which distinguished
the Galilean commoner from the cultured Ju-
dean. If Jesus were expert in the knowledge
and practice of Judaism, it is not probable
that he obtained such knowledge in Galilee, as
we have no record of any of the greater
teachers living there during the time of
Jesus; nor do we know of any important
school in his native province at this time.
Jesus might have known more when he left
home than the ordinary Jew of Galilee, where

240 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

the possibilities of becoming a student under
proper guidance were very limited. But
these external disadvantages did not deprive
Jesus — and others for that matter — from
having individuality and character, and in
these, rather than in learning, does the im-
portance of Jesus lie.

When near the age of thirty — the authori-
ties are not agreed — Jesus set out for the
heart of Judea. There is no need to discuss
here the question as to whether or not he
had messianic aspirations at this time. But
he had a task, and the fulfilment of this he
set before himself. For this purpose he left
his parental roof and the city of his birth, if
the records be historical. In his heart, as in
the hearts of John of Giscala, Hezekiah the
Zealot and similar patriots, a fire of deep loy-
alty to Israel and his faith, was burning.
Jesus felt that he but needed to communicate
this to the lost sheep. The stirring events of
the last fifty years and the virile part played
in them by Galileans who had more than
once set the spirit of Jewish patriotism ablaze
with their enthusiasm, must have been known
to this man who possessed native zeal and
deep loyalty, and they must have served as
inspiring precedents for him. And thus this
young man full of hope and energy and fired
by the faith of his fathers, set out to give
the message that had come to him in Galilee
to the larger Jewish world in Judea. Was he

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 241

cognizant of the great difference between the
men of his native province and those of Ju-
dea? Did he appreciate the great gulf that
lay between the untutored Galileans and the
more highly cultured Judeans, especially in
Jerusalem ? Could the youthful champion of
Israel's salvation understand the practical
difficulties which he would have to encounter
before he could popularize his message of re-
pentance in preparation for the kingdom
which he thought was about to come?

There is no doubt that the life of Jesus in
Nazareth had been altogether too circum-
scribed to have given him an adequate idea
of the conditions of his people as they existed
in Judea. He had doubtless heard of them,
otherwise he would not have gone there ; but
he could not have known them intimately.
He came to Jerusalem, a son of a small city ;
he did not seem to understand that the stand-
ards of a small town could not well be applied
to the life of a great city. Judea was as
different from Galilee as was Jerusalem
Jewry from the Jewry of Nazareth. And
even in his own province the success of Jesus
was questionable. The simplicity which
Jesus hoped for, he found absent in Jeru-
salem. He could not brook the extravagance
of the aristocracy or the impiety of the priest-
hood. The rich were abhorrent to him and
poverty was almost synonymous with piety.
He came from a land where learning was at a

242 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

low ebb, while here in Jerusalem, he met with
a wealth of argumentation, learning and rea-
soning. The extravagance of learning seemed
as distasteful to him as the extravagance of
wealth, and both of these he set about to
correct. The result that took place was in-
evitable. Success was not on his side. Com-
ing with high hopes to regather the lost sheep
of the House of Israel, he found that many
of these sheep did not consider themselves
lost ; and many which he thought lost did not
want his ministrations. The illustrious were
not with him, for he did not possess the power
to attach them to himself, as did Bar Cochba,
later. The learned were not with him be-
cause he did not possess enough learning to
inspire them. The ordinarily pious were not
with him, for he offered them no new wisdom,
no new ethical motive, nothing that they had
not had or heard; and those who believed
themselves righteous — and because they be-
lieved themselves so, does not necessarily
make them self-righteous or unrighteous —
they were not with him, because he had no
new message for them, and their almost daily
contact with the scribes, teachers, sages and
preachers, reminded them of their short-
comings. The Pharisees certainly found in
him little that was unknown before, and could
at best look upon him as an enthusiastic
preacher; and the Sadducees and the priests
were not looking for any new reproofs or

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 243

sources of reproofs; they had enough. Nor
must it be thought, as it generally is, that
Jesus condemned all the Pharisees. He did
condemn the hypocritical ones ; but for these
to attach themselves to him would have been
an open admission of guilt. The people to
whom Jesus could and did appeal were indeed
the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the sin-
ners who were thought to be beyond redemp-
tion, the publicans who were thought un-
worthy of respectable association in this
world and unworthy of inheriting the world
to come; and the fallen women for whose
rescue and salvation none seemed to care.
And here Jesus found and accomplished his
work — here among the ignorant, the lowly
and the outcast. And here it was that Jesus
did something original and unique, so far as
we are able to ascertain. The originality of
Jesus does not lie in his precepts, in his teach-
ings or method of preaching. But it does lie
in this attitude towards those whom others
chose to neglect. To us, social regeneration
of men and women in the lowest depths is a
commendable and natural thing for those
who are adapted to that kind of work; but
in his day, the social sense had not advanced
so far and tho there is a rabbinical proverb
which says that, "altho one has sinned he is
still an Israelite," and therefore entitled to
the advantages of Judaism and the com-
munity, yet it remained for Jesus to set the

244 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

great example of seeking those whom others
left to their own miserable fate. And this
to our mind is the grandest aspect of the
ministry of Jesus. But let us not forget that
so far as the popular messianic expectations
were concerned, ministering to the sinful as
Jesus did, was not one of them.

And thus Jesus went about teaching,
preaching, ministering and gathering disci-
ples about him. If he was pre-eminently suc-
cessful, the records fail to state it. We mean
of course the records outside of the New Tes-
tament. There is not even historical mention
of Jesus himself. But we may cast this aside
in the consideration of the messianic fulfil-
ment, on the ground of Jewish partisanship.
We may grant that as the Jews did not ac-
cept him as their messiah, they left out all
mention of him and his messiahship eveiy-
where, which is of course an almost impossi-
ble thing. His name does occur in the Talmud.

We have before, during and after the ad-
vent of Jesus this situation: The tyranny
of Rome has struck terror into the hearts of
the Jews. The priesthood has become cor-
rupt, and the Sadduceans have become dis-
loyal. The very air seems to breathe hope-
lessness and terror. There is not a peaceful
moment in the land. Its independence has
been lost, and its glory has departed. Even
the Temple is not safe from Roman desecra-
tion. Every now and then comes news of a

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 245

new rebellion, and more disaster and more
bloodshed. God seems to have forsaken His
people and forgotten His promise to them.
On the other hand, Israel cannot believe that
his God has abandoned it, and out of the
very hopelessness of the situation messianic
hopes are born. The messiah must soon ap-
pear, for out of the darkness of despair comes
the hope of the new light. Not only had he
been promised and expected, but the condi-
tions are now about to be fulfilled. It is true
that there is no absolute unanimity about the
matter. Some mystics say that the redeemer
is to appear upon the clouds from heaven,
where he has been since a time which ante-
dates the creation of the world. Some ra-
tionalists say that he is to be descended from
the House of David, and will be born of wom-
an. Some say that he is to be a warrior who
will break the power of the nations, forever
throw off the yoke of Rome, regather Israel
from the four corners of the earth, and re-
establish the commonwealth in all its glory.
And others say that he is to be a prince of
peace who after a great war, will usher in a
period of social justice and social love, which
will make of this earth, a very Kingdom of
Heaven. But whatever the minute differ-
ences be, the messianic expectations are rife.
Still misfortune after misfortune follows.
The real messiah has not appeared though
several' have announced themselves as sav-

246 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

iours, have started rebellions and have lost
out. Now there appears one who has come
not as an avowed messiah, but as a teacher
of ethics and baptism in preparation for the
coming of the Kingdom. He teaches those
who will be taught, and as he gathers
strength, both in purpose and energy, and in
number of followers, he develops the messi-
anic consciousness. He hints that he is the
messiah, and his disciples wonder. They can-
not understand it, for he came to them not
as a messiah but as a religious teacher, a fish-
er for the souls of men. Nor do his conditions
of fulfilment seem to be propitious. Israel is
not being gathered from the ends of the
earth: Rome is still the oppressive tyrant;
Jerusalem has no peace; Pilate is still the
offensive Roman hater of everything Jewish
and yet this messiah does not even exert him-
self for the political emancipation of his peo-
ple. In truth, this Jesus cannot be the mes-
siah, for if the messiah idea meant anything
at all, it signified the ushering in of a com-
pletely changed order. This, of course, did
not happen. Jesus attracted the attention of
the priesthood, was arrested, tried and found
to belong to that same class of pseudo-
saviors that had been giving Rome so much
trouble. He was asked by Pilate whether he
is the king of the Jews, and answered, "thou
sayest it." He is, as was to be expected, exe-
cuted, for the Emperor of Rome alone was at

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 247

this time king of the Jews. Still the mes-
sianic expectations are not realized. Jesus
makes some predictions concerning himself,
but they are alleged to have been fulfilled only
to a select few, and concerning even these
there is a disagreement. Israel's misery con-
tinues. Rome is still the murderous master
of Judea. In view of this complete failure of
the realization of the messianic expectations,
the Jews of Jesus's day could not accept his
messiahship. They did not, and their de-
scendants cannot, for the same reason that
they had, accept him as the messiah.

Aside from his non-fulfilment of the mes-
sianic ideals, the later New Testament idea
of Jesus as the lamb and blood sacrifice had
absolutely no place either in the general
teachings of Judaism or the messianic teach-
ings. Nor did this idea play any part in the
messianic consciousness of either Jesus or his
immediate followers.

According to the thought of his days, and
according to the Judaism of today, Jesus does
not present one single phase in his life which
can be regarded as a unique fulfilment of the
messianic expectations. That he was a teach-
er, no one will dispute. That he was a fine
product of ethical Judaism, no one can deny.
That he was a self-sacrificing, loyal enthus-
iast for his people, all will admit; that he
holds a unique place in the uplift work for the
outcast of society, all will agree ; that he was

248 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

a striking preacher and preached ofttimes m
striking form, all will grant. But that he
was the messiah of the immediate expecta-
tions, or that he was the messiah of the Bible
or the apocalyptic literature, or that he was a
necessary sacrifice for the sins of mankind,
and thus the spiritual messiah — all this is so
far from historical fact, that the Jew will
never accept it as truth, even as the liberal
Christian has rejected it as truth. And it
seems to us that none could accept it as a fact
if the messianic-biblical prophecies concern-
ing universal peace, harmony among men and
beasts, and the reign of justice and mercy
and everlasting peace so fondly dreamt of
both in the Bible and the later literature —
the very basis and ground of messianic ex-
pectations— were known and considered.
Whatever else Jesus was, he was not the pre-
dicted and expected Messiah of Israel.

Let us consider the attitude of the Jews
towards the Jesus, the Son of God, or the ec-
clesiastical Jesus Christ. This Christological
conception is based upon the Pauline specula-
tion, largely, and was developed by the early
church until it became the distinguishing
mark of Christianity, and still remains such.
We need here concern ourselves particularly
with the second article of the Apostolic Creed,
or that of the Nicene, which is later and more
authentic, but which does not differ in es-
sence from the other. For the sake of clear-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 249

ness, we give them both : 13"I believe * * * in
Christ Jesus, His only Son, our Lord, who
was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin
Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate and
buried, the third day he rose from the dead,
he ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right
hand of the Father, thence he shall come to
judge the living and the dead." The second
article of the Nicene Creed runs thus: "We
believe * * * in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-
begotten, that is, of the substance of the
Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God
of very God, begotten not made of the sub-
stance with the Father, by whom all things
are made, both those in heaven and those on
earth, who for us men and for our salvation
came down and was made flesh, and lived as
man among men, suffered and rose the third
day, ascended into heaven, is coming to judge
the quick and the dead." The creed of the
Apostles is the creed of the evangelical
churches, while the Nicene is still used in the
Catholic confession.

The creeds are so plain that it is unneces-
sary to analyze them. But their provisions
run absolutely counter to the teachings of
Judaism — they are opposed to its very genius.
From the time that the second commandment
became the theological standard of Judaism
until this very day, the Unity of God and His
uniqueness, forms the fundamental dogma in

250 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

Judaism. It is in fact agreed, that this is the
only dogma in Judaism. Among the profes-
sing Jews today, the words of Deuteronomy,
"Hear 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is
One," has become the distinguishing doctrine
as well as belief. We need not here go into
the possibilities of the translations of the
original Hebrew. The fact is that the cur-
rent of Judaism has determined the transla-
tion of this sentence in accordance with its
genius, and Israel today believes as it did at
the time of the rise of Paulinism, that there
is nothing comparable or equal. The second
commandment whose contents the Jews ac-
cept today as well as their ancestors did, is
the bar that keeps a Jew from being able to
conceive anything that is like God ; and least
of all any human being endowed with the
qualities of God. Their understanding of the
second commandment, reinforced by the verse
quoted above, absolutely precludes any possi-
bility of any phenomenon such as a physical
and unique sonship-co-equal with God, very
God of very God, etc. Nor can the Jewish
mind conceive of its God dividing himself, or
incarnating himself in the person of a Jesus
Christ, an only son, or anyone else. We rea-
son that if God becomes man, he is human
and not God; and we maintain, that while
God is omnipotent, He cannot transgress His
own laws of nature; He cannot even by a
divine fiat beget Himself, or incarnate Him-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 251

self. He is, always was and ever will be a
spiritual Being, eternal, invisible, omnipotent
and indivisible. He is God, and there is none
besides Him nor to be compared with Him.
He is the divine energy, the Creator and
Ruler of the Universe, whose spirit creates,
ordains and gives life; He is the One God,
and no one shares His power with Him ; He
is unchangeable, and will last unto all eter-
nity. He is merciful and gracious, and abun-
dant in goodness and truth, and He judges
the world in righteousness. He alone is di-
vine, none shares His divinity with Him, and
He alone is to be worshiped. He is the' first
and He is the last, and there is no God besides
Him. He is not a multiplex God, nor is He
capable of being divided.

The essence of the Jewish faith from the
time of the return from the Babylonian exile
to this very day has been ethico-monotheistic,
and nothing short of a pure monotheism can
be held by Judaism today. The Jewish idea
of God is nothing if not monotheistic, and any
dogma tending against this is opposed to the
thought of Judaism. So far as the belief in
Jesus as an incarnation of God is concerned,
no professing Jew could proclaim it, either
during the life of Paul, or at any time since
then. The Jew cannot grasp a God of the
Universe and at the same time think of an-
other, a "son of God, that is of the substance
of the Father, God of God, Light of Light,

252 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

very God of God, begotten, not made, of the
substance with the Father." If God is unique
there is nothing like Him; if there are two
objects, co-substantial, then there are two
gods — altogether unthinkable to Jews; if
Jesus was part human and part divine, there
is the old controversy of two souls, two wills
and two natures — one divine and one human,
in the same human or divine being — also
unthinkable to the Jew. The Jew has not,
cannot and will not accept the Christology of
the church because it is contrary to the
genius and teaching of his faith, his imagina-
tion, his reason, and his experience.

If Jesus was not divine, he is not worthy of
worship and adoration. Here, too, the second
commandment is basic to all Jewish thought
on this particular point. God alone is worthy
of worship and while human beings are de-
serving of respect, our prayers are directed
to the Almighty. 14"There was a time when
Judaism had developed a rich angelology and
demonology. But after all, angels and demons
belonged more to the folk-religion, and were
easily and resolutely brushed aside, as soon
as it became apparent that they might be-
come dangerous to the monotheistic idea/'
Prof. Schechter has summed the matter up
thus: 15" Amidst all these embarrassments,
contradictions, confusions, abberations, how-
ever, the great principle of the synagogue
that worship is due only to God, remained

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 253

untouched. Into the liturgy none of the
stranger appellations of God were admitted.
'When a man is in distress/ says R. Judah,
'he does not first call upon his patron, but
seeks admittance to him through the medium
of his servant or his agent ; but it is different
with God. Let no man in misfortune cry
either unto Michael or Gabriel, but pray unto
me (God) and I will answer him at once, as
it is said, 'Whoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be delivered/ 'Come and
see/ says another rabbi, 'that in the portions
of the Scriptures treating of sacrifices, no
other name of God is ever used than the
Tetragrammaton. This is done so as not to
give room for heretical interpretations which
might claim divine worship for some other
being. * * * At a certain period in history,
when'the heresy of the new sects was threat-
ening to effect larger classes, the rabbis even
enforced the utterance of the Tetragramma-
ton in very benediction, lest there should be
some misunderstanding to whom prayer is

directed."

With the incarnation and Christ-worship
ideas disposed of, the other Christological
dogmas must fall of themselves. Since God
is the only saviour and redeemer, none else is
necessary. Therefore Jesus cannot be recog-
nized as the divine redeemer. And in the last
analysis, according to the best Jewish
thought, every man has within him the possi-

254 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

bility of his own redemption, and thereby
may become his own redeemer. With regard
to the idea that Jesus, as the messiah, judges
the quick and dead, Judaism teaches that God
alone is the supreme judge in this world and
the world to come. The virgin birth of Jesus
finds no credibility among Jews because the
phenomenon of conception by the Holy Spirit
without the intervention of a human father
is inconceivable and contrary to every record
of human experience, and the Jew prefers to
be guided by the universal fact of the neces-
sity of the male in procreation. As for the
dogma of the Immaculate Conception, pro-
mulgated only as late as 1854, and declaring
that the doctrine which holds the blessed
Virgin Mary from the first instant of her con-
ception to have kept free from all stain of
original sin, by the singular grace and privi-
lege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, as re-
vealed by God, and therefore firmly and con-
stantly to be believed by all the faithful, this
is of course outside of the pale of credibility
of Jews and Judaism, as it is without the
sphere of belief among the Protestant Chris-
tians. The whole fabric of the virginity of
Mary and the conception of Jesus, is based
upon the misinterpretation of the little He-
brew word which means 16"young woman"
rather than "virgin." And the matter is sim-
ply a theological construction in order to

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 255

make the birth of Jesus tally with the mis-
understood prophetic text which speaks of a
messiah. The conception of the Holy Ghost
finds neither any warrant for belief within
Judaism, nor any reason for its acceptance
outside of Judaism. The Jews do believe in
the Spirit of God, or the Schechinah, but their
presentation of it makes it impossible of
being the means of producing a condition of
17"being with child."

The Jew then, cannot accept the Christ of
the church, because the ecclesiastical concep-
tion of Jesus conflicts with the pure monothe-
ism which is the fundamental characteristic
of Judaism, and for which Judaism must ever
stand so long as its development travels in
the path determined by its history and tradi-
tions.

We have still to consider the Ideal Man,
Jesus, of the liberal Christian theology. Vol-
umes have been written upon this theme by
those who have disengaged themselves from
the ecclesiastical point of view and from the
creeds, and have adjudged Jesus as a histori-
cal personage, in accordance with the histori-
cal development of the gospels. The newer
Christianity has shifted its basis from the
dogmas of the Son and the Christology of
Paul, to the doctrines of the Ideal Man, a shift
which is in line with the historical and scien-
tific judgment of the learning of the last half
century. Men have come to recognize that

256 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

the theological problems of the church were
unsolvable, and that unless a change of em-
phasis took place, Christianity would have to
succumb. And so liberal Christianity has
turned, not to the possibilities of the force of
old Christian dogmas, but to the possibilities
of the influence of the ethics of Jesus and his
purported perfect character. And they have
judged therefore that in the power of the
personality of Jesus lies the salvation of
Christianity and the church. He is, according
to this newer conception, the son of God, not
in the substance, but in his nearness to God,
in his understanding of the purposes of God,
and in the perfection of his life and character.
He is the one perfect man, who is to save
mankind not by his death and resurrection,
but by his life and precept.

With respect to the perfection of Jesus, the
Jew believes with Ecclesiastes, 18that no man
is so righteous upon earth that he should do
always good and never sin. As the Jew re-
gards Jesus as a man, human standards must
be applied to him. Does Christian perfection
as applied to Jesus cover his whole life or only
the few years of his public ministry? As a
matter of fact do we know enough about the
years previous to that to say that he was
either perfect or sinful? Is not his whole
early life a blank so far as authentic records
are concerned? Or are we to judge of his
perfection by the legends concerning his

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 257

youth which have crept into Christian tradi-
tion? Moreover, is it consonant with the
spirit of historical criticism, to ascribe per-
fection to Jesus, on the basis of writings
alleged to be his, and whose historicity and
authenticity have themselves to be assumed,
and which mention only some of the things
he said and did, and do not give us a complete
and authoritative record of everything that
he did? We may say that he was perfect be-
cause the records do not mention anything
which Christianity deems sinful ; but is this
argument from silence critically sound? And
as a matter of fact, is this statement true?

Again, is Jesus sinless and perfect because
the gospels attempt to make him so, or do
the gospels picture him just as he was? In
other words, does the career of Jesus fit the
gospels, or are the gospels made to fit the
career of Jesus? To be still more explicit : Is
the conception of the sinlessness of Jesus
based upon the evidence of the New Testa-
ment, or is the evidence of the New Testa-
ment made to fit the conception of the sin-
lessness of Jesus?

Ideas as to just what constitutes sinless-
ness or perfection may vary. To our minds
there are several instances recorded which
by no means confirm the Christian concep-
tion of the ideal and sinless Jesus. We be-
lieve that the driving into the sea of the herd
of 2,00019 pigs which were not the property

258 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

of Jesus, was not right. No matter what
the motive of Jesus was, the owner's point of
view ought to have had some consideration.
Or were they ownerless wild boars ? The at-
tempted cleansing of the Temple by throwing
out the money changers,20 though the money
changing stalls were an old established and
sanctioned institution in the Temple Court,
may have had another aspect to it. The fact
that Jesus thought them evil need not have
made them so. One may say that these
things were proper because Jesus did them,
indeed the Christian world accepts them as
proper for just this reason. But is this logi-
cal or just? The attitude of Jesus towards
those who questioned him21 and his indignant
bitterness, seems to us out of harmony with
a gentle sinlessness. The short and unfilial
reply at the wedding of Cana seems to us to
mark neither an ideal son nor a perfect man.
The wanton violation of age long customs
dear and sacred to others, is not the mark of
a perfect teacher. 22The cursing of a harm-
less fig tree — God's creation, comes, we think,
dangerously near blasphemy. The passages
such as the command to slay the enemies of
Jesus who would not have him reign over
them; the consignment to hell of those who
would not give him meat or drink; and the
resentment against adversaries, do not har-
monize well with other statements of this
teacher with regard to the forgiving of ene-

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 259

mies, and the praying for those who despite-
fully use you. The use of invective, the exer-
cise of wrath, the repaying of evil for evil,
and the promise of revenge, are hardly the
characteristics of the perfect, sinless or ideal
man. It is true that most of these actions
are laid to occasions where Jesus rose in
righteous indignation. But after all, is it the
privilege of a perfect man to permit himself
to be unduly aroused even by righteous indig-
nation? We know of one great teacher of
whom we have written a good deal, who could
not be aroused even by those who desired to
torment him. It was the great Hillel, who
did not even speak unkindly to those who
scoffed at him. He was indeed always con-
siderate and kind, and so gentle was he at all
times, that his beauty of character became
proverbial in Talmud and Midrash. You may
recall that it was this gentle teacher who
taught his disciples "not to do unto others
what is hateful unto thee;" it was he who
taught his people to be "of the disciples of
Aaron, loving peace and pursuing it ;" it was
he who said "judge not thy neighbor until
thou hast come into his place." Although in
all that we have of this teacher, not one in-
stance of indignation is recorded, yet no Jew
would think for a moment, of calling him a
sinless man. "Hillel," says Prof. 23Graetz,
"was particularly distinguished for his win-
ning, dove-like gentleness, his intense love for

260 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

humanity which arose from his own humility,
and from his deep faith in others, and lastly
for that perfect equanimity proceeding from
his profound trust in God, that never wavered
in the midst of trouble. In later ages he was
revered as the ideal of modesty and gentle-
ness." With such a teacher, how can Israel
believe that Jesus was the only Ideal Man —
the Sinless One?

We prefer to look upon Jesus as a human
teacher, subject to the same social and uni-
versal laws and human reactions as other
human beings. We regard him as the type
of man who felt that he had something to
say and said it without regard to possible
consequences. Certainly he was a man with
a mission. And we should regard his mission
as that of a teacher in Israel, who performed
his duty as he saw it, and who acted like
other men would have acted, when brought
face to face with opposition and even scorn.
We should class Jesus, too, with the other
Galileans, who bent upon doing their nation
a service, and finding followers to carry out
their purpose, began to think of themselves
as saviours of their oppressed people, in ac-
cordance with the expectations current in
their time.

Whether or not Jesus belongs to that class
of great men called prophets, is, to some, a
question. There are a few Jews who believe
that he does, while nearly all believe that he

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 261

does not. There might be room for a differ-
ence of opinion. But certainly the transcen-
dental greatness of Isaiah or Jeremiah who
lived so long before Jesus, and whose teach-
ings are still so vital, can hardly be compared
to that of one who lived many centuries after
their early teachings had already taken root.
We cannot fail to compare the days of Isaiah
and his ethical environment, with those of
Jesus and his ethical environment; and the
comparison brings us to the inevitable result,
that for his day, Isaiah was much greater
than was Jesus for his. To the Jew, the
prophets, especially the greater ones, will
always be prophets; while Jesus will at best
be one of those honored teachers who labored
in the vineyard of God, after the prophetic
spirit had left the world.

It seems to us that the view of many Jews
regarding the personality of Jesus, that is,
the looking upon him as a purely human and
upward-striving teacher, does away with
many difficulties. The lack of Jesus's politi-
cal and social insight has caused much embar-
rassment to those who look to him for a social
program. His divine wisdom, according to
these, should have been great enough to en-
able him to set forth a complete program of
social emancipation. The Jew does not look
for a superhuman document of this sort from
any one person. Hence he may look upon
Jesus as a social and religious reformer with-

262 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

out expecting a complete program of social
and economic salvation. The Jew does not
look upon Jesus as an ideal man and therefore
periods of anger which would not be expected
in ideal beings, can be overlooked in Jesus.
It is in this human way that the Jew can ac-
count for the show of wrath in the 24philippic
of Matthew against the Jews. It is at least
logical to assume that had Jesus been that
ideal man which Christianity regards him to
have been, he would have used that same
kind of gentleness and forbearance toward his
enemies that Hillel used towards the heathen
who came to make fun of him and his relig-
ion. To the Jew who believes in the human-
ness of Jesus 25the unfilial renunciation of the
mother and brethren of Jesus by him, can be
explained on the ground of a temporary hu-
man passion for his own ideals and principles ;
but how can the perfect and ideal man be un-
filial under any circumstances? The same is
to be said of his remark to the man who de-
sired to buiy his father, and received the ad-
monition to 26"leave the dead bury the dead."
A great deal has been said about the ideal-
ism of Jesus with regard to the breadth of
his attitude towards the Gentiles, while the
Jews as a whole were clannish and narrow.
Yet his injunction 27"go not into any way of
the Gentiles and enter not into any city of
the Samaritans but go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel," would indicate

THE MODERN SOCIAL IDEALS 263

the opposite. The reluctance of Jesus to help
the Canannitish woman 28and his answer to
the disciples that he was sent to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel bears out the
statement above.

The attitude of the Jew towards Jesus ap-
proximates somewhat that of a scholar like
Bousset. The teacher of Nazareth was one
of many who gave their lives for the sake of
the faith as they knew it, understood it and
taught it. We would not say with Bousset
that "he was the leader of the ages and the
nations to God, for death and the grave could
not hold his person and his spirit." But we
would rather believe that Jesus, born of hu-
man parents, endowed with an extraordinary
passion for Jewishness, endeavored to en-
throne this where he thought it had been de-
throned. It was this passion for his faith
that led him to leave his home and to break
with his family; it was this passion that
brought him to those lowly and outcast whom
others did not reach ; it was this passion that
gave him the courage to face his accusers,
and it did not leave him even at the thresh-
hold of martyrdom to Roman intrigue and
rascality. Prof. Bousset is right to the ex-
tent of believing that the grave cannot hold
the person and spirit of such a one. But
among the flesh and blood of Jesus there have
been many such — some before, thousands
after, the man of Nazareth. And even today

264 JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND

this spirit of the Jew is daily manifest in the
thousands of the persecuted who believed
largely as he did, and who carry their faith
with them, some through torture and perse-
cution, and many to destruction and death.

The liberal Jew of today regards Jesus not
as the Messiah, not as the Son of God and the
Redeemer of mankind, and not as the perfect
or Ideal Man. But he looks upon him as a
Jewish teacher of the first century, human
in his passions, devoted to his religion, en-
thusiastic for its advancement, loyal to its
implications and sincere in his admiration for
it. For all of these the liberal Jew admires
Jesus ; further he cannot go. He claims him
as one of the many sons of Jacob who have
lived and achieved. But he cannot give him
a place beside the Creator of the Universe.
"Judaism/' says Dr. Kohler, 29"ever found its
strength in God, the Only One, and will ever
find Him anew a source of inspiration and re-
juvenation." For to the Jew, 30God will al-
ways be One, and His Name will be One.

ABBREVIATIONS

AdRN.— Aboth de Rabbi Nathan

Am. — Amos

Apoc. — Apocalypse

Apoc. and Pseud.— Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha

Art. — Article

BB. — Baba Bathra
Benj. — Benjamin
Ben Sir. — Ben Sirach
Ber. — Berachoth

Chag. — Chagiga
Chron. — Chronicles

Deut. or Dt. — Deuteronomy

Eccles. — Ecclesiastes

Ecclus. — Ecclesiasticus

ERE. — Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics

Ex. — Exodus

Ex. R. — Exodus Rabbah

Ezek. — Ezekiel

Gen. — Genesis

Gen. R. — Genesis Rabbah

Gitt.— Gittin

Hos. — Hosea

Isa. — Isaiah
Iss. — Issachar

Jer. — Jeremiah

JE. — Jewish Encyclopedia

Jos. — Joseph

Jub. — Jubilees

Keth— Kethuboth

Koh. R.— Koheleth Rabbah

Lev. — Leviticus
Lk. — Luke

LNT. — Introduction to Literature of the New Testament
by James Moffat

Mai. — Malachi
Mk. — Mark

266 ABBREVIATIONS

Matt. — Matthew

Mech. — Mechilta

Mic. — Micah

Mid. — Midrash

Mid. R.— Midrash Rabbah

Mid. Ruth R.— Midrash Ruth Rabbah

Mish. — Mishnah

Naph. — Naphtali

N. T.— New Testament

O. T.— Old Testament

PA.— Pirke Aboth

P. B.— Prayer Book

Prov. — Proverbs

Ps. — Psalms

Ps. of Sol.— Psalms of Solomon

RH. — Rosh Hashanah

Sabb.— Sabbath

Sanh. — Sanhedrin

Sib. Bks.— Sibylline Books

Sif.— Sifra

Succ. — Succoth

Tanch. — Tanchuma
Test. — Testament
Theol.— Theology
Tob.— Tobit
Tos.— Tosephtah

Way R— Wayikrah Rabbah
Wis. of Sol.— Wisdom of Solomon

Yeb. — Yebamoth

Zeb. — Zebulon
Zech. — Zechariah
Zeph. — Zephaniah

NOTES

NOTES ON CHAPTER I.

(1) Page 14, Cf. S. J. Case, Evolution of Early Christi-
anity. Chap. IV.

(2) Page 14, Article Jesus, JE; W. Bousset, Chap. II.

(3) Page 17, "So far as we know, Jesus left no writings,
no notes behind him. We do not read that he ever told
any one to take down his words so as to give them to
others, in white and black. We are not told that he wrote
or dictated even a letter." C. R. Gregory, Canon and
Text, p 44.

(4) Page 17, Cf. G. B. Foster, Finality of the Christian
Religion, p 325ff.

(5) Page 17, S. J. Case, Historicity of Jesus, p 136ff.

(6) Page 17, Cf. P. Wernle, Sources of Our Knowledge
of the Life of Jesus.

(7) Page 18, James Moffat, Introduction to the Litera-
ture of the New Testament, p 1. This work of Moffat lb
easily the best piece of New Testament scholarship that
has been produced in recent years. On account of its mas-
terly treatment of the New Testament writings, and be-
cause of the tremendously large field of scholarship whicn
it covers, it has been used as the basis to a large extent,
for the summary of the New Testament in this chapter.

(8) Page 18, "Jesus wrote nothing, nor caused anything
to be written. He never dreamed of giving a second vol-
ume to the Bible of the Jews, still less of creating anoth-
er sacerdotal order and new ceremonies." L. A. Sabatie:-.
Religion of Authority, p 45. "This new inspiration which
gave to all preachers of the Gospel the assurance of
being, and the right to claim to be, bearers of the Word
of God, gave rise to a new collection of sacred books. But
in the Apostolic time, no one had gone so far. No one
foresaw that a second volume would be added to the
Bible. People lived in expectation of the end of the world.
Jesus had promised the Church his spirit, not a new-
book." Ibid, p 167; Case, Historicity, p 136.

(10) Page 21, Cf. Moffat, p 8, 15ff.

(11) Page 21, Cf. Moffat, p 16.

(12) Page 22, Cf. Moffat, p 23ff.

(13) Page 24, Cf. Moffat, p 38ff.

(14) Page 26, Cf. Moffat, LNT. p 185-186. Cf. Wernle,
Sources, Chap. I.

(15) Page 28, Q for Quelle, which means origin or
source.

268 NOTES

(16) Page 29, Moffat, LNT, p 114 ff. Art. New Test., JE.

(17) Page 34, Cf. Art. Burial, JE.

(18) Page 37, Cf. Moffat, LNT, p 60 ff. Art. Paul, Enc.
Biblica. The so-called Dutch School of Biblical Criticism
denies that Paul wrote any of the Epistles attributed to
him.

(19) Page 39, Cf. Moffat, LNT, p 435.

(20) Page 40, Cf. LNT, p 448.

(21) Page 46, Cf. G. Friedlander, Sources of the Sermon
on the Mount.

NOTES ON CHAPTER II.

(1) Page 48, Lev. 19:18.

(2) Page 48, Lev. 19:34.

(3) Page 49, Sif. to Lev. 19:18.

(4) Page 49, Matt. 5:43-44.

(5) Page 50, Prov. 24:29: "Say not I will do so to him,
who hath so done to me, I will requite him according tu
his deed." Prov. 25:21-22: "If thine enemy be hungry, feed
him with bread, if he be thirsty, give him water to drink;
for thou shalt be heaping coals of fire upon his head, and
God will reward thee." Ex. 23:4-5. "If thou meet thins
enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely
bring it back to him again; if thou see the ass of him that
hateth thee lying under its burden, thou shalt forbear to
pass by him; thou shalt surely release it with him."

(6) Page 51, PA, 1:12.

(7) Page 51, Mark 2:27.

(8) Page 51, Mech. to Ex. 31-14.

(9) Page 51, Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32.

(10) Page 52, Pirke Aboth, or Chapters of the Fathers.
A very valuable treatise of the Mishnah, containing a large
number of ethical maxims and sayings of the rabbis. The
treatise contains some of the best gems of rabbinical
thought, and in such high esteem was it held by the an-
cient authorities, that it was incorporated as an integral
part of the Sabbath afternoon service, in the ritual for
the summer months. It was the most popular of the rab-
binical writings, and the most widely quoted.

(11) Page 52, C. Taylor, Ethics of the Fathers. A later
edition of this treatise, and also an excellent one, is by
Joseph L. Gorfinkle, Ethics of the Fathers, in the Li-
brary of Jewish Classics, Bloch Pub. Co., New Yorlc.

(12) Page 53, Cf. W. H. Green, Introduction to Old
Testament Canon, p 138, where all the passages concern-
ing the canonicity of the OT books are cited and discuss-
ed.

(13) Page 53. For a full description of these sects, see

NOTES

articles under sect heads in Jewish Ency. Cf. also R T
Herford, Pharisaism; and Gerald Friedlander, The Jew-
ish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, especially

(14) Page 53, See first part of note 13. Cf. also articles
under sect heads in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics

(15) Page 54, Essenes, JE.

(16) Page 54, Gen. 1:28.

(17) Page 54, Cf. JE, Vol. 9, p 665.

(18) Page 55, Matt. 23, and similar passages

(19) Page 57, G. B. Stevens, The Teachings of Jesus,
Chap. III.

(20) Page 58, Stevens, p 34.

(21) Page 58, PA, 1:11.

(22) Page 58, PA, 1:9.

(23) Page 59, There are nearly two hundred parablea
In the Midrash Tanchuma on the Five Books of Moses
and more than half that many stories and anecdotes. '

(24) Page 59, Matt. 22:1-15. Cf. Sabb. 153a.

(25) Page 59, Matt. 20:1-16; Cf. JE, Vol. 9 p 514

(26) Page 60, AdRN, IV.

(27) Page 61, BB 10b.

(28) Page 61, PA, 1:17.

(29) Page 61, The word "Thora" or "Tora" does not
mean "law" in our sense of the term. It is best translated
by the word "religion," and the phrase "teachings or the
faith." Our word "law," is not only a very inadequate
translation, but a very misleading one

(30) Page 61, P. A., 1:2.

(31) Page 61, PA, 1:5.

(32) Page 61, Matt. 7:1.

(33) Page 61, PA, 1:6.

(34) Page 61, PA, 2:5.

(35) Page 61, Sota, 1:7, Cf. Matt. 7:1-2.

(36) Page 63, Yoma, 8:9.

(37) Page 63, The Prophet Hosea tells you "take with
you words and return to the Lord. Hos. 15:3. Words
words of earnest prayer, not sacrifice do I require, ana
I will pardon all your sins. ExR. 38:4. Cf. Amos, 5:23-24,
and similar expressions.

(38) Page 63, Matt. 5:23-24.

(39) Page 63, Yoma, 8:9; 86b.

(40) Page 64, Mark 2:27.

(41) Page 64, Stevens, Teachings of Jesus, p. 52. Cf
Matt. 23:23 and Matt. 5:20.

(42) Page 64f PA, 1:1.

(43) Page 64, PA, 1:18 on Zech. 8:16.

(44) Page 64, PA, 2:5. The passage in Matt. 7:2 and

270 NOTES

Luke 6:38, "judge not.. with what measure ye mete, It
shall be measured unto you," has a parallel as follows:
"With whatever measure one measures, with that meas-
ure will men measure him." Sota 1:7.

(45) Page 65, PA, 4:9.

(46) Page 65, PA, 4:10.

(47) Page 65, Ex. 18:21 and Mid. R. to Deut. 1:7; to
Deut. 1:1: "Said Rabbi Berachya in the name of Kabm
Chanina: It is necessary that those who judge shall pos-
sess seven qualifications, and these are: They must bt>
wise men, men of standing, and well known, and the four
as mentioned in Ex. 18:21."

(48) Page 65, In the treatise known as Aboth de Rab-
bi Nathan, we find that it was the opinion of Simon tho
Just that the knowledge of the Law was more desired by
God than sacrifice, for he who knew the Law, would
know also the desire of God. And the superiority of the
knowledge of God's Law is attested to, according to this
authority, by Hos. 6:6: "Mercy I desire more than sac-
rifices, the knowledge of God more than burn of-
ferings." AdRN 4, on Hos. 6:6. Cf. K. Kohler, Jewish
Theology and M. Lazarus, The Ethics of Judaism.

(49) Page 66, Ps. 106:3.

(50) Page 66, Am. 5:24.

(51) Page 66, Hos. 2:21.

(52) Page 66, Isa. 1:17.

(53) Page 66, Jer. 22:3.

(54) Page 66, Ezek. 18:8-9.

(55) Page 66, Zech. 7:9.

(56) Page 66, Mich. 6:8.

(57) Page 67, Sifra to Lev. 18:5.

(58) Page 68, Deut. 13.5.

(59) Page 68, Sota 14a.

(60) Page 68, Midrash Tanchuma 1.

(61) Page 69, Sota 14a.

(62) Page 69, Koh. R, 7:4.

(63) Page 69, Succ. 49b.

(64) Page 69, Derech Eretz Zuta 1.

(65) Page 69, Ex. 15:2.

(66) Page 69, Sabb. 133b.

(67) Page 69, Koh. R. 7:23.

(68) Page 69, Gen. R. 33:3.

(69) Page 70, BB, 9a.

(70) Page 70, Succ. 49b.

"The poor man who receives charity does more for the
master of the house than the master does for the poor
man." Way. R. 34:10.

(71) Page 70, Keth. 68a.

(72) Page 70, BB 9b. Cf. Is. 58:8-14.

NOTES 271

(73) Page 70, Way. R. 34:15.

(74) Page 70, Chag. 5a.

(75) Page 71, BB, 9b.

(76) Page 71, Succ. 49b.

(77) Page 71, Sabb. 10a.

(78) Page 71, Gitt. 61a.

(79) Page 72, Tos. Sanh. 13.2.

(80) Page 74, AdRN, 23.

(81) Page 74, Adolf Harnack, "What is Christianity?"
p 38.

(82) Page 74, PA, 4:3. Cf. Sabb. 77b.

(83) Page 74, Gen. 5:1; Gen. R. 24; Cf. Sifra to Lev
19:18.

(84) Page 74, Sanh. 37a.
(S5) Page 75, Tama, 38b.

(86) Page 75, There are two Talmudic collections, one
of which is smaller and of lesser importance, called Tal
mud Yerushalmi, and the other, the commonly used one.
and the one referred to in this work, Talmud Bafoll, ov
the Babylonian Talmud. The Midrashim are collections
of expositions of the Biblical contents by rabbis and teach-
ers in Israel. There is a large number of Miarashlm,
and they not only contain expositions and explanations oi
the Scriptural verses but they contain stories, anecdotes
sayings, and in fact, the thoughts and the teachings of
Israel. The Midrashim referred to here, are Haggadlc
Midrashim, not the Halachic. Cf. JE. Art. Mldrasn. Cf.
Also Herford, Pharisaism, Chap. III.

(87) Page 76, The best English work is that of M. Miel-
ziner, Introduction to the Talmud.

(88) Page 78, R. H. Charles, Book of Enoch, Introduc-
tion XCV.

NOTES ON CHAPTER III.

(1) Page 79, R. H. Charles, Apocrypha and Pseuaepi
graph of the Old Testament.

(2) Page 80, Book of Enoch 1:1.

(3) Page 80, Enoch 1:1-5.

(4) Page 80, Enoch 5:4-7.

\5) Page 81, Enoch 10:15, 16:18.

(6) Page 81,' Enoch 10:10, 20:22.

(7) Page 81, Enoch, 10:22, 11:1-2.

(8) Page 82, Enoch 91:1-4.

(9) Page 82, Enoch 95:1-7.

(10) Page 82, Enoch 91:1-3; Cf. Matt. 23:15ff; Lukc o:24fr

(11) Page 82, Enoch 98:11-16, 99:1-2.

(12) Page 83, Enoch 99:10-16.

(13) Page 84, Enoch 94:1-3:4.

(14) Page 84, See next Chapter.

(15) Page 84, Cf. Moffat, LNT, p 26.

272 NOTES

(16) Page 84, Cf. JE, Vol. II, p 388.

(17) Page 85, Ben Sirach 7:31-32.
(IS) Page 86, Ben Sirach 7:1-2.

(19) Page 86, Ben Sirch 4:25.

(20) Page 86, Ben Sirach 4:28,29.

(21) Page 86, Ben Sirach 4:31.

(22) Page 86, Ben Sirach 7:6, 7:10-13.

(23) Page 86, Ben Sirach 7:33-35.

(24) Page 87, Ben Sirach 9:11-12.

(25) Page 87,' Ben Sirach 17:14.

(26) Page 87, Ben Sirach 17:25-26-29.

(27) Page 87, Ben Sirach 23:18, 21:22.

(28) Page 87, Matt. 5:43-44.

(29) Page 88, Ben Sirach 28:1-17.

(30) Page 88, Cf. Matt. 5:23ff.

(31) Page 89, Ben Sirach 29:8-13.

(32) Page 89, Ben Sirach 34:18-22.

(33) Page 90, Ben Sirach 35:12-14.

(34) Page 91, Cf. JE., Vol. 12, p 538; also Charles Apoc.
and Pseud, oi the OT.

(35) Page 91, Wis. of Sol. 1:1-11.

(36) Page 92, Wis. of Sol. 5:14-20.

(37) Page 93, Wis. of Sol. 6:1-8.

(38) Page 95, R. H. Charles, Book of Jubilees or Litu*
Genesis; also his Apoc. and Pseud. See also JE. Art. Jubi-
lees.

(39) Page 96, Jub. 1:19-20.

(40) Page 96, Jub. 7:20-34.

(41) Page 97, Jub. 20:2-3.

(42) Page 97, Jub. 20:9-10.

(43) Page 98, Jub. 21:22-24.

(44) Page 99 Jub. 36:3-6.

(45) Page 99, Jub. 36:16.

(46) Page 99, R. H. Charles, Testaments of the Twelvo
Patriarchs; also his Apoc. and Pseud. Cf. JE, Vol. 12, y
113.

Prof. Charles enumerates no fewer than 91 passages of
the New Testament which are directly dependent upon the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. These passages
are scattered both through the Gospels and the other
books of the New Testament.

(47) ^age 100, Matt. 22:36-40; Mk. 12:28-33; Cf. Test oi
Dan, 5:3; Test of Benj. 3:3; and Test of Iss. 5:2.

(48) Page 101, Cf. Lev. 19:18-34; Dt. 6:5; 7:9-10; 30:6,
Isa. 58:6ff; Ps. 15, and similar passages.

(49) Page 102, Test of Reuben 6:1-3.

(50) Page 102, Reuben 6:9.

(51) Page 102, Simeon 2:13.

(52) Page 102, Simeon 3.

NOTES 27S

(53) Page

102,

Simeon 4:7-8.

(54) Page

102,

Simeon 5:2.

(55) Page

103,

Levi 1:2.

(56) Page

103,

Levi 2:10; Cf.

Gen. 34.

(57) Page

103,

Levi 2:3-4.

(58) Page

103,

Levi 8:2.

(59) Page

104,

Levi 13:1.

(60) Page

104,

Levi 13:5-6.

(61) Page

104,

Levi 13:9 Cf.;

Matt 5

(62) Page

104,

Levi 14:3.

(63) Page

104,

Levi 14:4.

(64) Page

105,

Levi 19:1. Cf.

2 Cor. 6

(65) Page

105,

Judah 13:2.

(66) iJage

105,

Judah 18:1-4.

(67) Page

105,

Judah 23:5.

(68) Page

106,

Judah 24:1-3,

5-6.

(69) Page 106,

Judah 25:1 Cf.

; Matt. :

(70) Page

107,

Cf. Luke 6:20ff.

(71) xage

107,

Judah 26:1.

(72) Page

107,

Iss. 4:1.

(73) Page

108,

Iss. 5:1-2.

(74) Page

108,

Iss. 7:2-7.

19.

:14.

19:28.

(75) Page 109, Zeb. 5:1.

(76) Page 109, Zeb. 6:4, 7:1-4.

(77) Page 110, Zeb. 8:1.

(78) Page 110, Dan 1:3.

(79) Page L0, Dan 2:1.

(80) Page 111, Dan 5:1-3.

(81) Page 111, Dan 6:10.

(82) Page 111, Naph. 3:1.

(83) Page Ul, Naph. 8:4-6.

(84) Page 112, Gad 3:1-3.

(85) Page 112, Gad 4:1-2.

(86) Page 112, Gad 4:6-7.

(87) Page 113, Gad 6:1.

(88) Page 113, Gad 6:3-4.

(89) Page 113, Gad 6:7.

(90) Page 113, Asher 2:6.

(91) Page 114, Asher 3:1-2.

(92) Page 114, Asher 6:1-3.

(93) Page 114, Jos. 6:1-3.

(94) Page 114, Jos. 17:1-3.

(95) Page 115, Jos. 18:1-2.

(96) Page 115, Cf. Matt. 5:43ff.

(97) Page 115, Benj. 3:1-3.

(98) Page 115, Benj. 4:1-3.

(99) Page 116, Benj. 5:4.

274 NOTES

(100) Page 116, Benj. 6:5-7.

(101) Page 116, Benj. 8:1.

(102) Page 116, Benj. 10:3.

NOTES ON CHAPTER IV.

(1) Page 119, E. T. Herford, Pharisaism, already refer-
ed to.

(2) Page 119, Ibid. Preface IV, Intro, p 4.

(3) Page 120, Ibid, p 236.

(5) Page 122, Cf. J. Eschelbacher, Das Judentum und
das Wesen des Christentums, p 53.

(6) Page 123, Sota, 10a.

(7) Page 123, Ex. R. 5:9.

(8) Page 123, Mai. 2:10.

(9) Page 124, Sanh. 13:2.

(10) Page 124, Matt. 10:23-33.

(11) Page 124,

Matt. 7:21.

(12) Page 124,

Matt. 11:25-27; Luke 10:22.

(13) Page 124,

Matt. 18:19-20; Cf. PA 3:3-7.

(14) Page 125,

Matt. 18:35.

(15) Page 125,

Luke 22:29.

(16) Page 125,

Matt. 12:50.

(17) Page 125,

John 14:2.

(18) Page iz5,

Matt. 16:17.

(19) Page 125,

Luke 24:49.

(20) Page 126,

Matt. 5:48.

(21) Page 126,

Matt. 5:44-45.

(22) Page 126, Matt. 10:29; Matt. 23:9.

(23) Page 126, Matt. 18:14.

(24) Page 126, Matt. 7:11.

(25) Page 126, Matt. 5:16.

(26) Page 126, Mark 25:26.

(27) Page 126, Luke,6:35-36.

(28) Page 127, Deut. 14:1.

(29) Page 127, Exodus 5:22.

(30) Page 127,

Ex.

4:22.

(31) Page 127,

Isa.

63:15-16.

(32) Page 127,

Isa.

64:7.

(33) Page 127,

Isa.

49:15-18.

(34) Page 128,

Jer.

3:4.

(35) Page 128,

Hos

. 11:1.

(36) Page 128,

Jer.

3:14-19.

(37) Page 128, Ps. 89:27.

(38) Page 1258, Hos. 2:1; Mai. 2:10.

(39) Page 128, Ps. 68:5.

(40) Page 128, Ben Sirach 23:1.

(41) Page 128, Ben Sirach 4:10.

(42) Page 128, Ben Sirach 23:4.

(43) Page 129, Wis. of Sol. 14:3-4.

(44) Page 129, Wis. of Sol. 2:13.

NOTES 275

(45) Page 129, Tobit 13:4.

(46) Page 129, Test, of Levi 24:1-3.

(47) Page j.29, Test, of Judah 24:1-3.

(48) Page 129, Ps. of Sol. 17:30.

(49) Page 130, See Art. Abba and Abinu Malkenu in
JE., Vol. I, also G. Friedlander, The Jewish Sources on
the Sermon on the Mount, Chap. 7; K. Kohler, Jewish
Theol. Ch. XL.

(50) Page 130, Ber. 30b.

(51) Page 130, Yoma, 8:9.

(52) Page 130 Mid. Tehillim, 121-1. .

(53) Page 130, R. H., 3:8.

(54) Page 130, Quoted in JE., Vol. I, under Art. Abba.

(55) Page 130, See note above. Other referenced aro
given in this article.

(56) Page 130, Sota 9:15.

(57) Page 130, Taanith 23b.

(58) Page 131, Sota 10a.

(59) Page 131, Ber. 30a.

(60) Page 13* PA, 5:23.

(61) Page -31, Sota 38b.

(62) Page 131, Succ. 30a.

(63) Page 132, A. Harnack, What is Christianity, p 70.

(64) Page 132, S. Schechter, Some Aspects of Rabbinical
Theology, p 26ff.

(65) Page 133, Ex. 4:32; 19:5.

(66) Page 133, Schechter, Ibid, p 46.

(67) Page 133, Cf. Herford, Pharisaism, p 120.

(68) Page 133, Wis. of Sol. 2:14-16.

(69) Page 135, PA, 2:9.

(70) Page 135, Cf. Prayer Book, Singer's Translation,
pp 46, 60-61, and many other passages.

(71) Page 136, Matt. 10:5-6.

(72) Page 137, Singer PB., p 77; Union PB. Vol. I, p 48.
Einhorn PB, p 35.

(73) Page 138, Zech. 14:9.

(74) Page 138, Lev. 19:17.

(75) Page 139, Lev. 19:23-34.

(76) Page 140, Deut. 23.8.

(77) Page 140, Hos. 6:6.

(78) Page 141, Mic. 6:6-8.

(79) Page 141, Sota 14a.

(80) Page 142, Sabb. 31a.

(81) Page 142, Isa. 68:3; 6:12.

(82) Page 145, Luke 6:27ff; Matt. 5:38ff.

(83) Page 147, Luke 6:29; Matt. 5:40.

(84) Page 148, Ber. 7a; 45b.

(85) Page 149, Tob. 4:15.

(86) Page 149, Iss. 5:2.

276 NOTES

(87) Page 149, Iss. 7:5-6.

(88) Page 149, Dan 5:3.

(89) Page 149, Benj. 3:3.

(90) Page 150, Sota 14a.

(91) Page 150, Gen. R. 33:3.

(92) Page 150, Gen. R. 33:4.

(93) Page 150, Deut. 13:5.

(94) Page 150, Nahum 1:3.

(95) Page 150, Ps. 77:20.

(96) Page 150, Sota 14a.

(97) Page 151, Gen. 2:4.

(98) Page 151, Gen. R. 24:7; Cf. Sifra to Lev. 19:18.

(99) Page 151 Tana d'be Eljah.

(100) Page 151, Sanh. 58b, Cf. Matt. 5:28.

(101) Page 151, Arachin 16b.

(102) Page 152, Koh. R. 7:5.

(103) Page 152, PA., 1:12.

(104) Page 152, Succ. 49b.

(105) Page 152, Yeb. 62b.

(106) Page 152, Isa. 58:7.

(107) Page 154, AdRN, 4.

(108) Page 154, Hos. 6:6.

(109) Page 154,Sabb. 133b.

(110) Page 154 M. Lazarus, Ethics of Judaism, Part
1, p 207.

(111) Page 155, H. H. Wendt, Teachings of Jesus, Vol.
1, P 44.

(112) Page 156, F. Weber, Die Altsynagogale Theologle.
For a just criticism of this unreliable work see Herford,
Pharisaism, p 77ff.

(113) Page 156, Lazarus, Ibid, p 237.

(114) Page 161, Cf. G. A. Smith, The Twelve Minox
Prophets; W. R. Smith, Prophets of Israel; W. R. Har-
per, Hosea and Amos.

(115) Page 162, J. F. McCurdy, History, Prophecy and
the Monuments.

(116) Page 162, Lev. 25:39; Jer. 34:9-llff.

(117) Page 163, Isa. 9:16-28; 7:30; 10-11; Jer. 5:31; 6:13,
Mic. 3:2-9; Zeph. 3:3; Cf. Moses Buttenweiser, The Proph-
ets of Israel.

(118) Page 164, Isa. 1:4; 9:17; 3:14; 5:11; Jer.

5:25; 8:10;

6:13; Hos. 10:13; 12:8; Am. 4:1-5; 10:11; 6:4-6,

and many

other passages.

(119) Page 168, Isa. 2:6; 10:3; 25:26; 28:5-6;

Jer. 6:2-7;

5:9-24; 33:15; Hos. 6:6-12; Am. 4:4-6; 10:5-12;

; Mic. 6:1,

Zech. 8:16-17, etc.

(120) Page 168, Isa. 30:18-32; 20:33; 35:8; Jer.

6:16; 28:5-

6; Hos. 12:6; Amos 5:13, etc.

(121) Page 169, Jer. 5:1 Cf. Mic. 7:2.

NOTES 277

(122) Page 169, Jer. 3:13; 13:27; 23:10-14; Hos. 4:16-18;
Am. 2:7; Mic. 3:1-4, etc.

(123) Page 169, Am. 5:10-11.

(124) Page 169, Isa. 5:20-23.

(125) Page 170, Am. 2:4-7.

(126) Page 170, Am. 8:4ff; Mic. 3:2-7-2.

(127) Page 170, Am. 3:15.

(12S) Page 170, Am. 4:1; 6:4; Isa. 5:11-28; Hos. 7:5; Hos.
7:5.

(129) Page 171, Am. 4:1; 5:11; Isa. 1, and others.

(130) Page 171, Mic. 6:8.

(131) Page 172, Am. 5:21-24.

(132) Page 173, Jer. 4:14.

(133) Page 173, Jer. 6:19-20.

(134) Page 173, Jer. 7:4-7 Cf. ; Zech. 7:9-10.

(135) Page 173, Isa. 1:11-17.

(136) Page 174, Jer. 9:23-24.

(137) Page 175, Isa. l:27ff and other passages.

(13S) Page 176, Jer. 22:lff; Hos. 7; Am. 1:3-11; 13:2-4.

(139) Page 176, Isa. 30:1-2; Hos. 12:6-7; and a large
number of similar passages.

(140) Page 177, Hos. 10:12.

(141) Page 177, Isa. 1:27.

(142) Page 177, Jer. 22:1-6.

(143) Page 178, Isa. 22:8; Jer. 4:lff; Ez. 16:lff; Hos. 4:lff;
Amos 3; Micah. 6:3ff.

(144) Page 178, Zech. 8:16.

(145) Page 178, Isa. 32:16-17.

(146) Page 179, Jer. 7:5.

(147) Page 182, Deut. 13:5.

(148) Page 182, Ex. 34:6-7.

(149) Page 183, Jer. 31:29.

(150) Page 183, Deut. 24:16.

(151) Page 183, Ezek. 18:2-4; 17:18-20.

(152) Page 186, Ps. 7:9-11.

(153) Page 186, Ps. 24:3-5.

(154) Page 186, Ps. 25.

(155) Page 187, Ps. 34:12-17.

(156) Page 188, Ps. 18:21ff.

(157) Page 189, Ps. 19:8-10.

(158) Page 192, Tob. 4:5-6.

(159) Page 192, Tob. 12:8-10.

(160) Page 193, Enoch 10:20.

(161) Page 193, Enoch 94:1-4.

(162) Page 193, Enoch 10:4-9.

(163) Page 194, Enoch 96:7-8 Cf. Form of Matt. 23:13ff.

(164) Page 194, Ben Sir. 7:1-2.

(165) Page 194, Ben Sir. 28.2.

(166) Page 194, Ben Sir. 29:2-3.

278 NOTES

(167) Page 195,

Ben Sir 35:3.

(168) Page 195,

Jub. 1:20.

(169) Page 195,

Jub. 1:22-25.

(170) Page 195,

Jub. 21:21-23.

(171) Page 196,

Test, of Gad,

(172) Page 196,

Gad 7:1.

(173) Page 196,

Iss. 3:1.

6:1.

(174) Page 197, Iss. 4:1-2; 5:1-2.

(175) Page 197, R. H. Charles, Apoc. of Baruch, p 46.

(176) Page 201, Yoma, 8:9; Cf. Sifra to Lev. 16:30.

(177) Page 201, Tanch. Pekuday 2.

(178) Page 201, Tanch. Wayikrah 1.

(179) Page 201, Succ. 49b.

(180) Page 201, A. Harnack, What is Christianity, Lect.
IV.

(181) Page 202, Deut. R. 5:1.

(182) Page 202, Prov. 21:3.

(183) Page 202,

Deut. R. 1:5.

(184) Page 202,

Deut. R. 21:3.

(185) Page 202,

Deut. R. 5:3.

(186) Page 202,

Mid. Koh. R. 9:2.

(187) Page 202,

Mid. Ruth R. 7:5.

(188) Page 203,

Ex. R. 26:2.

(189) Page 203,

Sabb. 31a.

(190) Page 204,

Ezek. 18:9.

(191) Page 205,

Prov. 10:2; Tob. 4:10

(192) Page 206,

Ben Sir. 7:32-33.

(193) Page 206,

Ben Sir. 29:1-2.

(194) Page 206,

Tob. 2:2.

(195) Page 207,

Tob. 4:10; 12:9.

(196) Page 207,

Zeb. 5:1; 6:4-6.

12:9.

(197) Page 207, Zeb. 7:1-4.

(198) Page 208, Gen. R. 33:4.

(199) Page 208, Succ. 49b.

(200) Page Gen. R. 24:9.

(201) Page 208, B. B. 9b.

(202) Page 208, Succ. 49b.

(203) Page 208, B. B. 19a.

(204) Page 209, Keth. 68b.

(205) Page 209, Derech Eretz Zuta 9.

(206) Page 209, Tana d'be Elijah 26.

(207) Page 210, Tob. 4:5; 7:9.

(208) Page 211, Peah 1:1.

(209) Page 211, Ex. 20:22, Cf. Mechilta to passage.

(210) Page 212, Mic. 4:1-4; Cf. Isa. 2:2-4.

(211) Page 213, Mic. 4:4.

(212) Page 213, Matt. 10:34ff; Luke 12:49ff; Luke 23:36.

(213) Page 215, Isa. 32:16-18.

(214) Page 216, Isa. 11:1-7.

NOTES 279

(215) Page 217, Ben Sir. 1:18.

(216) Page 217, Ben Sir. 47:14-18.

(217) Page 217, Ben Sir. 50:23-24.

(218) Page 217, Enoch 11:2.

(219) Page 218, Enoch 5:9.

(220) Page 218, Test. Levi, 18:4.

(221) Page 218, Dan, 5:13.

(222) Page 219, Dan, 5:13.

(223) Page 219, Jub. 31:20.

(224) Page 220, Luke 19:17.

(225) Page 220, Mark 16:16.

(226) Page 220, John 14:27.

(227) Page 220, Luke 1:19.

(228) Page 220, Luke 2:14.

(229) Page 221, PA., 1:12.

(230) Page 221, Sanh. 6b.

(231) Page 221, Sabb. 10b.

(232) Page 221, Ber. 39b.

(233) Page 221, Gitt. 59b.

(234) Page 221, PA., 1:18.

(235) Page 221, Peah. 1:1.

(236) Page 222, Ber. 74.

(237) Page 222, Uktsin 3a.

(238) Page 222, Toma 9b.

(239) Page 222, Ber. 17a.

(240) Page 222, AdRN., 33.

(241) Page 223, Yeb. 65b.

(242) Page 223, Gitt. 61a. The literal translation of this
remarkable passage is as follows: The rabbis taught: We
should assist the non- Jewish poor with the Jewish poor;
we should visit the sick of the non-Jews with the sick of
Israel; we should bury the non- Jewish dead with the Jew-
ish dead, because of the ways of (for the sake of) peace.

(243) Page 223, Ber. 16a.

(244) Page 223, Singer's P. B., p 76 and other places;
Union P. B. p 50 and other places.

(245) Page 223, Einhorn's P. B. Dr. E. G. Hirsch, trans-
lator, p 34, and other places.

NOTES ON CHAPTER V.

(1) Page 226, A number of papers and essays about
Jesus have been written by Jews. The best of these Is
"Crucifixion of Jesus from the Jewish Point of View," by
Dr. Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago. Another writer who has
dealt with this subject is Mr. Claude Monteflore, in his
"Religious Teachings of Jesus;" and also Joseph Kraus-
kopf, 'Jesus, God or Man."

280 NOTES

(2) Page 226, Art. Jesus, JE, Vol. 8.

(3) Page 227, PA., 1:12.

(4) Page 228, Cf. R. H. Charles, Estchatology, Chap. 5,
p 211ft:; also J. H. Greenstone, The Messiah Idea in Jew-
ish History, p 67.

(5) Page 228, Psalms of Sol. 17:23-25.

(6) Page 229, Sib. Bks. Book iii:l: 702-10.

(7) Page 230, Cf. Charles, Apoc. & Pseud.; also his Es-
chatology, Hebrew, Jewish and Christian; James Drum-
mond, the Jewish Messiah; J. H. Greenstone, The Mes-
siah Idea in Jewish History; H. Graetz, History of the
Jews, Vol. II; Art. Messiah, JE., Vol. 8.

(8) Page 231, The Article Messias, in Hamburger Real
Encyclopedia for Bible and Talmud is a splendid sum-
mary of the Jewish thought and belief on this subject.

(9) Page 232, Cf. Josephus' Jewish Wars, Book II; H.
Graetz, History of the Jews, Vol. II, Chap. 1:4; E. Schur-
er, History of the Jewish People, First Div. Vol. II.

(10) Page 236, First Chron. 22:6.

(11) Page 238, Cf. Art. Pseudo. Messiah, JE.

(12) Page 239, See W. Bousset, Jesus, Chap. 1; P.
Wernle, Sources of Our Knowledge of the Life of Jesus.

(13) Page 249, ERE, Vol. Ill, p 838; W. A. Curtis, His-
tory of Creeds and Confessions, pp 64, 70, 109-134.

(14) Page 252, Prof. Max Margolis, Theological Aspects
of Reform Judaism, p 36.

(15) Page 252, Prof. Schechter, Aspects, p 45.

(16) Page 254, Cf. Isa. 7:14.

(17) Page 255, Matt. 1:18; Luke 2:5.

(18) Page 256, Eccles. 7:20.

(19) Page 257, Matt. 8:30ff; Mark 5:llff.

(20) Page 258, Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:15.

(21) Page 258, Matt. 10:14ff; 25:41ff; Mark 16:16; Luk»
19:27; and the various anti-Pharisaic passages. Also
John 2:1 and Matt. 12:46ff.

(22) Page 258, Matt. 21:18-19; Mark ll:12ff.

(23) Page 259, H. Graetz, History of the Jews, Vol. II,
p 97ff.

(24) Page 262, Matt. 23; and similar passages in other
Gospels.

(25) Page 262, Matt. 8:22; Matt. 10:35ff.

(26) Page 262, Matt. 8:22; Luke 9:60.

(27) Page 262, Matt. 10:5-6.

(28) Page 263, Matt. 15:21ff; Mark 1:26ff.

(29) Page 264, Dr. K. Kohler, Jewish Theology, p 90.

INDEX

Abba Shaul, 69.

Abraham Lincoln, 15, 27.

Abtalyon, 58.

Acts, 36 ff.

Ahikar, 23.

Akiba, 49ff, 130, 151.

Akiba ben Mahalel, 55.

Alexander, 232.

Amos, 66, 169.

Antiochus Epiphanes, 228.

Antigonus, 234.

Apollos, 40.

Apocalyptic Literature, 77.

Apocalypse of Baruch, 197.

Apocalypse of John, 42ff.

Apocrypha, 15, literature of, 77.

Apostolic Creed, 248.

Apostles, 18.

Archelaus, 236.

Aristion, 40.

Aristobulus, 232ff.

Asher, Testament of, 113.

Ascension of Isaiah, 23.

Assumption of Moses, 77.

B

Bar Cochba, 243.

Barnabas, 40.

Ben Azzai, 151.

Ben Sirach, 194, 206, 217.

Ben Zoma, 74.

Benjamin, Testament of, 115.

Bible, text altered by early

Christians, 23.
Bousset, Prof., 263.
Brotherhood of Man, 138.
Brotherly Love, 138 ; a Jewish

characteristic, 152.

Canaan, early life, 59.

Caesar, Julius, 233.

Central Powers, violate every
rule of civilized warfare, 147.

Charity, 204ff.

Charles, Prof. R. H., 198.

Christian, sources dealt with
carelessly by later writers, 26.

Christianity, 14 ; built on sandy
foundation, 45 ; misjudges
Pharisaic rabbis, 57 ; could not
influence Jews, 134.

Christians, have a duty of erad-
icating prejudice, 147.

Clement of Rome, 40.

Colossians, 39.

Corinthians, 38.

Dan, Testament of, 100.
Daniel, 228ff.
Day of Atonement, 63.
Drews, A., 407.

Ecclesiasticus, Book of, 84.

Eldad and Medad, Book of, 23.

Eli. Rav, 222.

Eliezer, 70, 71, 208, 222.

Elozer, 152, 208.

Enoch, Book of, 22, 77, 193, 217.

Ephesians, 38.

Essenes, 54.

Eusebius, 206.

Ezekiel, 66, 182, 183, 204.

Fatherhood of God, 122ff ; uni-
versality of, 125 ; in later lit-
erature, 129 ; in Talmud and
Midrash , 131ff ; in Jewish
Prayer Book, 137.

Flakes of Ecclesiasticus, 23.

Gad, Testament of, 112, 196.

Galileans, 240ff.

Galatians, 38.

Gamaliel, the Elder, 55.

Gamaliel, Simon ben, 55, 61, 64,
221.

Gettysburg, address, 15.

God, as Father, 132 ; as merciful
and compassionate, 133 ; His
universality, 125 ; cannot be-
come man nor be compared to
anyone, 250ff ; a God of Holi-
ness, 189 ; under various names
among pious, 134 ; Jewish con-
ception of Fatherhood of,
122ff; true worship of, 174.

Golden Rule, 203.

Gospel of John, 33ff.

Gospel of Luke, 32ff.

Gospel of Mark, 28, 30ff.

Gospel of Matthew, 29ff.

Gospels, Synoptic, 21 ; conflicts
in, 29.

Graetz, Prof. F., 259.

Harnack, Prof. A., 133, 201.
Hebrews, Epistles to, 39.
Herford, E. T., 119f.
Herod, 234ff.
Hezekiah, the Zealot, 240.

282

INDEX

Hillel, 48, 50, 55, 64, 142, 259.
Hirsch, Dr. E. G., note to, p. 226.
Hiyya, 59.
Holy Land, to be the seat of a

holy nation, 231.
Honi, 130.
Hosea, 63, 66.
Hyrcanus, John, 100.
Hyrcanus, 232ff.

Ideal Man, 255ff.
Immaculate Conception, 254.
Individual Righteousness, 177ff.
Isaiah, 66, 173, 212, 215.
Ishmael, 64.
Israel, sonship of God, 129, 135 ;

its early history, 161ff.
Issachar, Testament of, 107, 149,

196.

James, 40.

Jamnia, 52.

Jannai, 70.

Jeremiah, 66, 169, 177, 183.

Jerusalem, 25, 33.

Jesus, as alleged source of mod-
ern ideals, 13ff ; never wrote
New Testament, 15ff, 17, 18,
19 ; not antagonistic to Jews,
30 ; sources of his life ques-
tionable, 44ff ; lives and dies
a Jew, 46 ; method of teaching,
57, 62ff ; on righteousness, 73 ;
influence of Old Testament on
him, 118 ; his conception of
Fatherhood made narrow,
124ff, 134; attitude of liberal
Jews towards, 227 ; as the
Messiah, 227 ; as the Son of
God, 227 ; as Perfect and Sin-
less man, 227 ; his work,
239ff ; messianic pretensions
not fulfilled, 246 ; not perfect,
256 ; as a human teacher, 258 ;
not a prophet, 260 ; a purely
upstriving human teacher, 261 ;
lack of political insight, 261 ;
attitude towards Gentiles, 262.

Jewish sources, difficult to get
at, 119.

Jews, life larger than Bible, 53 ;
ought to be charitable, 153 ;
contributions prove value of
their teachings, 154 : their po-
llitcal condition in Judea, 231 ;
cannot accept the Christ of
the Church, 255 ; attitude to-
wards Jesus, 263.

Jochai, 131.

Jochanan, 131.

Jochanan ben Zakkai, 55, 60,
63, 130, 135, 154, 222.

John I, 42.

John II, 42.

John, the Apostle, 42.

John, of Giscala, 240.

John, the Presbyter, 26, 35, 43.

Joseph, Testament of, 114.

Jose ben Jochanan, 62.

Josephus, 23.

Joshua, 208.

Joshua ben Levi, 131.

Joshua ben Korcho, 70.

Jubilees, 23, 48, 77, 95, 129, 195,
218.

Judah, Testament of, 105.

Judah ben Temah, 131.

Judah, rabbi, 253.

Judaism, 14; authoritative source
for religion, 19 ; sources not
studied by non-Jews, 50ff ; a
progressive religion and does
not cease with O. T., 54 ; pro-
tests against unethical civili-
zation, 175 ; ignored by Chris-
tian scholars, 191 ; righteous-
ness and spirituality its true
basis, 199 ; takes no official
notice of Jesus, 226 ; a pure
ethical monotheism, 251ff.

Jude, 42.

Judea, political condition of, 232.

Judgment, Jewish idea of, 64, 67.

Judith, 23, 75.

Justice, social, 157.

K

Karaites, 54.

Kohler, Prof. K., 264.

L
Lazarus, Prof. M., 156.
Levi, Testament of, 103.
Leviticus, 49, 138.
Lincoln, A., 15, 27.
Logia, 27.
Logos, 33.
Love, commandment, 48, 138 ;

universality of law, 139 ; in

N. T., 142.
Luke, 25, 26, 220.

M

Maccabees, Second, 23.

Man, Brotherhood of, 138.

Man of Nazareth, 13.

Marcion, falsifies gospel, 24.

Mary, 255.

Mark, 25, 26, 220.

Mathean Logia, 28.

Matthew, 25, 26, 49.

Men of the Great Synagogue, 64.

Mercy, 70.

INDEX

283

Messianic Ideals, among the
Jews, 228; not fulfilled by
Jesus, 247.

Micah, 66, 140, 171, 212.

Midrashic sources, 119.

Midrash, 15, 65, 76 ; on right-
eousness, 200.

Mishnah, 15, 94, 119.

Midrash Rabbah, 60.

Moffatt, Prof., 26.

Monotheism, 250.

Moses, 68, 71, 150.

Moses, Assumption of, 23, 77.

N
Napthali, Testament of, 111.
Nain, 34.
New Testament, 13ff, 17, 19, 20.

21, 22, 44 ; influence of other

books on it, 78 ; on love, 141 ;

on peace and war, 220.
Nicene Creed, 248.
Non-Jews, held in high esteem

if righteous, 137.

O

Old Testament, 19, 20; Father-
hood of God in, 125ff ; on
brotherly love, 138ff.

Papias, 26, 27.

Parables, in common use among
rabbis, 59.

Paul, 17, 24 ; correspondence, 87,
137.

Peace, 211.

Peter, 27.

Peter, Epistles of, 41.

Pharisees, 30, 50, 53ff, 64ff, 67,
119, 152.

Philemon, 39.

Philip of Caesarea, 40.

Philo, 23.

Pontius Pilate, 237ff, 246.

Pompey, 232.

Prayer Book, 223.

Prophets, protest against ma-
terialism and unrighteousness,
168ff ; their ideals, 174ff.

Proverbs, 50, 202.

Prince, of peace, 213.

Psalms, 66, 185ff.

Pumbaditha, 52.
R

Rabbis, decisions, 53, 61, 68, 75 ;
their finer characteristics,
148ff.

Rav Assi, 70, 201.

Rav Eli, 222.

Rav Safro, 223.

Renan, E., 47.
Resh Lakesh, 70, 151.
Reuben, Testament of, 101.
Righteousness, 72ff. 17 Iff, 179,

200ff.
Romans, 38.
Rome, 232, 244ff.

Sabbath, 51, 64.

Sadducees, 53.

Samuel bar Nehemiah, 150.

Samuel ben Nechemia, 208.

Schechter, Prof. S., 121, 134.

252.
Scribes, 50.
Shammai, 55.

Shamaiah ben Abtalyon, 222.
Silas, 40.
Sylvanus, 40.
Simon ben Shetach, 58.
Simon ben Gamaliel, 55, 61, 64,

221.
Simon ben Lakish, 69.
Simon the Just, 62.
Simlai, 69.

Simeon, Testament of, 102.
Simon ben Chalafta, 222.
Smith, W. B., 47.
Strauss, D. F., 47.
Social Justice, 157.
Sura, 52.

Sybilline Books, 230.
Synoptic Gospels, compiled from

other sources, 25.

Talmud, 15, 63, 76, 119, 200ff.
221ff.

Talmudic, references on love,
150ff.

Taylor, Prof. C., 52.

Testament of Job, 23, 77.

Testaments of the Twelve Pa-
triarchs, 23, 48, 77. 101, 149.
196, 218.

Thessalonians, 38.

Timothy, 39.

Titus, 39.

Tobit, Book of, 23, 77, 149, 192.
210.

The Torah, 67.

The Law, 62.

The Lawgiver, 67.

U

Ur-Marcus, 28, 32, 37.
Universality of Jewish command-
ment of love, 139ff.
Unity of God, 248ff.

284

INDEX

w

Washington, George, 15.
Weber, M., 120.
Wendt, Prof. H., 155.
Wisdom of Solomon, 23, 77, 90,

194.
Worship, meaning of, 171.

Fahveh, meaning of worship of,

Yehudah, 152.
Yitschak, 70.

Zebulun, Testament of, 109, 207
Zechariah, 66, 217.