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  WRITINGS OF JACOB GARTENHAUS
  by Jacob Gartenhaus
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A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Jacob Gartenhaus,
compiled for study and devotional reading.

  Chapters: 39

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 01.00.1. THE INFLUENCE OF THE JEWS UPON CIVILIZATION
    2. 01.00.5.     Introduction
    3. 01.00.6.     Preface
    4. 01.01.     Anti-Semitic Propaganda
    5. 01.02.     Jewish Character
    6. 01.03.     The Jewish Scriptures
    7. 01.04.     Jewish Citizenship
    8. 01.05.     Jewish Fine Arts
    9. 01.06.     Literature and Philosophy
   10. 01.07.     Jewish Sciences
   11. 01.08.     Jewish Finance
   12. 01.09.     The Christian Jew
   13. 02.00.1. WINNING JEWS TO CHRIST
   14. 02.00.2.     Preface to the e-Sword Edition
   15. 02.00.3.     Copyright Information
   16. 02.00.4.     Table of Contents
   17. 02.00.5.     Dedication
   18. 02.00.6.       Foreward
   19. 02.00.7.     Introduction
   20. 02.01.     The Stirring of the Bones
   21. 02.02.     A Peculiar People
   22. 02.03.     Types and Segments
   23. 02.04.     The Jewish Religion
   24. 02.05.     The Prayer Life of the Observant Jew
   25. 02.06.     The Jewish Community-(K'Hillah)
   26. 02.07.     Feasts and Fasts
   27. 02.08.     The Laws and Customs of the Jewish People
   28. 02.09.     Jewish Literature
   29. 02.10.     Exegesis of the Bible
   30. 02.11.     The Talmud and the Midrash
   31. 02.12.     The Kaballah
   32. 02.13.     The Messiah
   33. 02.14.     Changing Attitudes of The Jews Toward Jesus
   34. 02.15.     Some Practical Ways of Approach
   35. 02.16.     Objections and Questions the Average Jew Is Likely to Ask
   36. 02.17.     How To Identify the Messiah
   37. 02.18.     Christianity Is Completed Judaism
   38. 02.19.     Hebrew Vocabulary
   39. 02.20.     The Thirteen Princples of the Jewish Faith

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  CHAPTER 1: 01.00.1. THE INFLUENCE OF THE JEWS UPON CIVILIZATION
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THE INFLUENCE OF THE JEWS UPON CIVILIZATION by Jacob Gartenhaus Field Secretary
Jewish Department, Home Mission Board Southern Baptist Convention Author of, The
Rebirth of a Nation, The Ten Lost Tribes, The Jew and Jesus, etc.

Introduction by

Hyman Appelman


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  CHAPTER 2: 01.00.5.     INTRODUCTION
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Introduction The author of this book is one of the best known, most useful
Jewish Christians, not only in the United States, but in all the world. For over
twenty years he has travelled over the nations of the earth, under the auspices
of the Southern Baptist Convention, preaching, teaching, lecturing, conducting
or speaking in conferences, having personal interviews with the high and the
low, and all in between, both Jews and Gentiles. Only eternity will reveal the
magnitude of his contribution to both. I have known him for more than sixteen
years, have read most of his writings, have heard him speak many times. He is a
giant in every sense of the word: a man of wide culture and learning, an able
speaker, and alert thinker, zealous, unbiased, sweet, compassionate, and
tolerant. This volume is a heart and mind contribution to a better understanding
of the Jewish problem by both Jew and Gentile. It is scholarly, yet written in
the lucid, racy style of a man who has throughly acquainted himself with his
subject and knows how to tell it to others. It is an interpretation of an
age-old subject that has become more modern, more up-to-date than the news of
the warfront. The book is for everybody: for the preacher, the Sunday school
teacher, the layman, the Christian, the nonbeliever. It is eminently worth and
worthwhile reading. It has a zest and a freshness that is very often absent from
books of this type. The chapter headings themselves suggest a wealth of material
in compact form for which many have been waiting. The first chapter,
“Anti-Semite Propaganda,” and the last chapter, “The Christian Jew,” are
something, in compact form, for which all of us have been waiting. The entire
book should be read thoroughly, and then used as a background for other reading,
for discussion, for examination, for writing upon this or any kindred subject.
It was impossible for me to put the manuscript down once I started it, and I
read it at one sitting. With all my heart I earnestly, urgently recommend the
book to everybody, regardless of nationality, race or creed. It will explode
some ideas, introduce new ones, surprise at some points, confirm at others,
delight in all.

The Jew should read it for a much better understanding of himself, of his own
people, of the mighty contributions of his nation, of the problems he faces. The
Gentile should read it to dispel forever any erroneous ideas he may have had
concerning Jewish attitudes and aspirations. The whole book is a great answer to
some of the bladderdash philosophy that has so cheaply, so brazenly, so
mistakenly filled the current mind. Here is a real discussion of the mind and
heart of the Jew, written now from the standpoint of bitter polemics, but with a
view to clear, honest, truthful information. But it, read it, pass it on to
others.

Hyman Appelman Fort Worth, Texas


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  CHAPTER 3: 01.00.6.     PREFACE
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Preface For twenty-two years the writer has been Field Secretary of the
Department of Jewish Evangelization of the Home Mission Board of the Southern
Baptist Convention, during which time he has travelled over virtually all of
America, most of Europe, Palestine and other parts of the world, and has been
associated with many of the outstanding Jewish and Gentile Christian leaders. By
word of mouth and through the printed page the author has sought to bring a
better understanding, a more generous appreciation on the part of the Christian
of the mighty contribution of the Jew to the culture, ethics and, most of all,
the religion of the world; and, on the other hand, to remind the Jew of his debt
to Christianity for its help in spreading the teachings of his forefathers.
There has never been a time when such an attitude is more needed than today.
Both Christians and Jews are facing cataclysmal changes which are bound to
affect their thinking, even their living, for many years to come.

These pages are not intended to be a scholarly contribution to the literature
already existing on the subject but are written from the standpoint of the
average man. The author claims no brilliant originality; his fountains of
information come from many sources. He has read widely on this subject.

Space prohibits the mention of all literary documents perused. However, he
wishes to make specific mention of Dr. Cecil Roth’s The Jewish Contribution to
Civilization, from which he has quoted several times. Anyone wishing to make a
deeper study of the subject will do well to secure a copy of his book.

If the reader will receive any information and inspiration from the following
pages, the author will feel amply rewarded for his efforts.

Jacob Gartenhaus


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  CHAPTER 4: 01.01.     ANTI-SEMITIC PROPAGANDA
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Anti-Semitic Propaganda

Chapter One

There is an organized effort in the world today to destroy the Jew. The
anti-Semitic campaign is confined no longer to the German Reich. At an
accelerated pace it is being spread to all sections of the world, and there are
evidences of it throughout the United States. This anti-Semitic campaign uses
the radio, leaflets, weekly and monthly publications, street meetings and the
like, to promote religious and racial hatred. The propagandists make numerous
accusations against the Jews. It is charged that they have inspired religious
and racial conflicts; that they possess an unlimited amount of gold which they
use to control the press, governments, universities and the economic life of the
world; that they are behind anarchy, socialism, communism; that their aim is to
set up a dictatorship under a Jewish king, and many other similar charges that
are equally ridiculous and contradictory. The propagandists maintain that the
Jew is at the bottom of the world’s troubles, and that only when the Jew is
destroyed will the world be a happy place in which to live.

Professor Alvin Johnson, president of the New School of Social Research,
estimated that there are eight hundred anti-Semitic organizations in the United
States. Since a great deal of the propaganda originates in Germany, * it is well
for one to remember that Hitler approves lies and calumnies as effective and
formidable weapons for attaining his goal.

* Many of these organizations have been forced out of existence upon discovery
by the F. B. I. that they were in league with the enemy, and some of their
leaders are at present under indictment; others are already serving sentences
and their publications have been confiscated. But no doubt many of them will
continue their insidious propaganda following the war. In Mein Kampf, he says:
The Task of propaganda is not to weigh the rights of each side but to emphasize
exclusively the one thing that is to take the place of the other through the
medium of propaganda. Propaganda does not have to state the truth objectively,
insofar as it is favorable to the others, nor to place the truth before the
masses in doctrinary candor, but must serve its own interests uninterruptedly.
It was basically wrong to discuss the war guilt from the point of view that
Germany alone could not be made responsible for the outbreak of this
catastrophe. The right way would have been to place the entire blame on the
enemy, even if this did not really correspond to the true course of events, as
actually was the case.

Although every non-Aryan group in Germany has felt to an extent the bitter lash
of the Nazi whip, it has been upon the Jews that the severest blows have fallen.
To Hitler, the Jew is the basest of all humanity, a miserable creature, weak in
body and in soul. By some mysterious means, the Jew has acquired power, and by
placing in positions of leadership those men whom he, the Jews, can control, he
dictates the policies of the democracies. Therefore, Hitler argues, the Jew must
be destroyed and, one might add, the democracies as well. The unprecedented
onslaught of Nazi propaganda has perplexed the average American. He should be
informed, therefore, that the Jew is not an enemy of the United States but, on
the contrary, that the Jew has been and can continue to be a blessing.

There is an old saying, “Every country has the Jews it deserves.” This adage can
be verified by the history of every people among whom the Jews sojourn. No
country which has dealt justly with the Jews has ever had cause to regret its
justice. On the other hand, every country which has dealt unjustly with the Jews
has always regretted its injustice. The Bible and the history of nations will
support this thesis. Every nation that has raised its sword against the Jew has
paid the penalty. “I will curse him that curseth thee” (Genesis 12:3). “And I
will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken
with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the
Lord am thy Saviour and the Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 49:26).
“Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine
adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil
thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey”
(Jeremiah 30:16).

It is true, of course, that many times God has permitted Israel to suffer at the
hands of her enemies. Yet, in the final analysis, it has been the persecutor who
has borne the curse of the attack. A heathen king once offered large bribes to
his prophet, Baalam, to curse the Jews, and the prophet replied to the king of
Moab: “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom
the Lord hath not defied? . . . God is not a man, that he should lie . . . hath
he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it
good?” (Numbers 23:8; Numbers 23:19). The American Jewish poetess, Emma Lazarus,
expresses the deep emotions of millions of immigrants in the following poem,
“The New Colossus,” which is inscribed upon a bronze tablet, in her honor, and
placed inside the Bartholde Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor: Not like a
brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch,
whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her
beacon-hand Glows worldwide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged
harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me
your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The
wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send those, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden
door.”


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  CHAPTER 5: 01.02.     JEWISH CHARACTER
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Jewish Character

CHAPTER TWO

Many volumes have been written on the Jewish contribution to civilization.
Within the limited space of this little book, I can do no more than survey
briefly the influence of the Jews upon the world, and especially their
contribution to American life.

Long before Herodotus wrote history and before Socrates taught philosophy,
Israel was an organized civilization. The Jews had literature before most
nations had letters and arts. No nation can boast a prouder or more consistent
pedigree than the Jews.

During a dinner party at which Disraeli was a guest, there was a discussion of
the antiquity of the families of the persons present. Disraeli turned to a
friend, and remarked, “Think of these fellows talking about the antiquity of
their families to me - to me whose ancestor was the accepted lover of the Queen
of Sheba!” This incident recalls another gathering, when a man said to a
prominent Jew, “One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence.” The
Jew replied, “And one of mine signed the Ten Commandments.”

It is obvious, of course, that there are all kinds of Jews. Some of them
resemble, without exaggeration, the caricaturist’s sketch. Some of them have
hooked noses, some cannot speak without gesticulating, some enjoy being
conspicuous, some lack good manners and some are a nuisance in refined society.
However, there are many Gentiles who possess the same characteristics and bad
habits.

Although the Jew is not without his faults, he does have many virtues of the
highest quality which are no less typical of his kind than his more unbecoming
features. Perhaps no people on earth have controlled their passions, restrained
their emotions, suppressed their vehement desires and violent feelings as have
the Jews. Through ages, innumerable laws, which have become ingrained in their
blood, have developed in them the mastery of self and a reverence for
temperance. The Jew’s moderation in food and drink is proverbial. It is seldom
that one finds a narcotic addict among the Jews. The “kosher” laws deprive him
of the choicest food which every Gentile relishes. The heroes of the Jewish
tales and legends are almost exclusively sages and saints who dedicated their
lives to the glory of God and to the salvation of man. The young Jew’s
conception of a hero, therefore, is one who renounced voluntarily the pleasures
of the flesh in order to devote himself wholly to spiritual values, and who
suffered death rather than lower his standard of right and wrong. King David is
known to every Jewish child, not as the hero of many battles and the founder of
the great Jewish kingdom, but as the great lyric poet and the progenitor of the
Messiah. Heroes like the Maccabees whom any nation would have venerated as
demigods because of their marvelous victory over a mighty foe, are known to
Jewish children as holy men who, with the aid of God, cleansed the temple of
Greek idolatry and pollution.

What is a hero? He who conquers his passions.” So taught the ancient Jewish
sages. So think the Jewish people.

“Cleanliness is next to godliness” is not a Jewish proverb, although cleanliness
and godliness always go hand in hand. Thousands of years ago, the Jews followed
a code of laws which dealt with personal and communal hygiene and sanitation.
Every Jewish community, from earliest times, had its mikveh, or water reservoir,
for the cleansing and purifying of the body. At least once a week, before the
Sabbath, the Jew had to wash himself clean by immersing in the mikveh. The more
pious Jews immersed themselves every morning, often in icy water. Every woman
had to purify herself in the mikveh.

Upon awakening in the morning, the observant Jew washes his hands, and also
before and after meals. Whenever he touches anything unclean or defiled he must
wash his hands before he touches anything else.

It is no wonder that during the Middle ages, when many a city was ravaged by
deadly plagues, the Jew remained untouched, although he was forced to live in
the congested areas of the abominable ghettos. Although the Jew, as a class,
escaped the epidemics, he did not escape the fury of the Gentile mob who accused
him of spreading the disease, or, at least, of being in league with the devil.
The Jew has been called vindictive, demanding “an eye for an eye.” There is
nothing further from the truth. This lex talionis had its beginning in the
infancy of mankind, probably in the Stone Age, when only stringent laws
regulated the relationships among men. Later these ancient laws were modified,
and instead of inflicting corporal punishment a fine was imposed on the
evildoer. The Jews regarded the sinner and the criminal as persons of unsound
mind, who should be pitied rather than punished. Capital punishment was rare.
The Sanhedrin which only once in seven years sentenced a man to death, was
called a “murderous Sanhedrin.” Even then, execution was made as easy as
possible for the convict, “because it is written, thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself.” From ancient times, the Jew has not only been humane to his
fellow-men but has observed laws for the prevention of cruelty and pain to
animals. Even the trees and plants were protected by law. The anti-Semite will
concede that the Jewish love of learning is proverbial. Not only in their
ancient homeland did the Jews have elementary schools and universities to which
all classes of Jewish society had access but later, in the Middle Ages, the Jews
had schools for their children and adults. While illiterate Europe of the Dark
Ages pursued entertainment and sport, the Jew in their miserable ghettos crowded
their schools to pore over bulky volumes in the pursuit of knowledge. And it is
just as true today that the Jew prefers the pleasures of the concert hall, the
theater and the lecture room to all other forms of diversion. The writer has
been accused of not knowing the Jews, or of exaggerating their qualities.
Otherwise, how could he eulogize and extol a people whom half the world reviles
and abused? It is only fair to the author, therefore, for him to say that he
knows the Jews well; in fact, he knows the Jews much better than an anti- Semite
knows them. He is conscious of their shortcomings, and more than once he has
been mistreated by the Jews because he has told them of their faults. And their
faults are numerous. The anti-Semites do not have to search in vain for Jewish
gangsters, saloonkeepers, drug vendors, white slavers. Vain would be the effort,
however, were the anti-Semites to try to prove that the criminal record of the
Jews is larger, proportionately, than that of other peoples. On the contrary, it
is much smaller.

One of the favorite slurs is that the Jews are wholly materialistic, that they
worship only the god of gold. This accusation is a false one; but even if it
were true there is a just basis for forgiving it. No matter where the Jew has
lived, his environment has forced him to consider the ground under his feet as
only temporary. It has been many generations since he has known the sensations
of “this is my own, my native land.” Since most of the time the Jew has been
forced to depart quickly without thought of his house, his shop, his acreage, he
has adopted of necessity the measure of having available for such an emergency
the only medium of international exchange, gold.

One has to consider only briefly the great sacrifices that the Jewish religion
exacts from its adherents to realize that the Jew is not - or rather that the
Jew cannot be - materialistic. No people ever had so many holidays and fast
days, on which all business was suspended. This, of itself, involves a great
loss of money. The dietary laws require heavy expenditures. The Jews have to buy
special dishes for meat foots, others for milk foods, still others for neutral
foods, and again others for the Passover. “Kosher” food is much more expensive
than Gentile food, although it is not always superior.

Regardless of the Jews’ shortcomings, the criticisms to which they have been and
are being subjected - most of them undeserved - and in spite of the
opportunities of which they have been deprived, and the restricted conditions
under which they have been forced to live in virtually every land, all the world
owes an everlasting debt of gratitude to this people for the Hebraic heritage.


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  CHAPTER 6: 01.03.     THE JEWISH SCRIPTURES
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The Jewish Scriptures

CHAPTER THREE The greatest contribution of the Jews to civilization and to
society is the Bible. All other contributions, important as they are, fade into
insignificance when placed beside the one great gift. What would the world be
without it? In his volume, The Jew As A Patriot, Madison C. Peters wrote: “The
most highly civilized and the most intelligent people, the most just and
reasonable laws, and humane and charitable institutions are to be found only in
those countries where the Jewish Bible rules. Where there is no Bible there is
no liberty. To it we owe more liberty and civilization than to any source or
power.”

Further in his book, Mr. Peters added: “This Book which attends us in our
sickness and when the fever of the world is on us, tempers our grief to finer
issues, enables us with a bright eye and without fear to take the death angel by
the hand, to tread the way through the dark valley, bidding farewell to wife and
babes and home, in the consolation of meeting in gladness beyond the tomb; this
Book on which men rest their dearest hope, and which tells us of earthly duties
and inspires us with heavenly rest and heavenly reunion . . . for this Book we
are indebted to the Jews.”

Israel Zangwill refers to the influence of the Bible in his Voice of Jerusalem:
“From century to century, even unto this day, through the fairest regions of
civilization, the Bible, written entirely by Jews, dominates existence; its
vision of life molds states and societies, its text confronts us on every hand,
it is an inexhaustible treasury of themes for music and pictures. Its Psalms are
more popular in every country than the poems of the nation’s own poets. Beside
this one Book in its infinite editions, with all the good and ill it has done,
all other nations’ literature seems ‘trifles light as air.’”

Colonel Frederick Palmer, whose position as war correspondent all over the world
for nearly thirty years, enables him to pass judgment, pays his tribute to the
Book of a Thousand Tongues:

“The Book of a Thousand Tongues has given the world the greatest of
civilizations, which we like to think is at its best in America. The agnostic,
who holds that the Old Testament is only tribal folklore and that the New is
founded on the gospel of an itinerant dreamer under the spell of an illusion, is
himself bred through centuries of background into the Christianity he
criticizes. His thought, the moral and spiritual side of his conduct, have been
irresistibly shaped by the supreme inheritance which is this atmosphere that he
breathes.

“But for the Book of a Thousand Tongues, the northern ‘Aryans’ might still be
living in stinking wattled huts and clad in filthy, untanned skins; and the rest
of Europe continuing the Dark Ages in unbroken decadence, with the population
kept down by massacres and scourges. Our own country might still be an
undeveloped land of Indian tepees with medicine men making magic and Indian
braves in their war feathers dancing around the painted post.”

Daniel Webster also paid tribute to the Jews: “I feel, and have ever felt,
respect and sympathy for all that remains of that extraordinary people who
preserved through the darkness and idolatry of so many centuries, the knowledge
of one supreme spiritual being, the Maker of heaven and earth, and the Creator
of man.

“The Hebrew Scriptures I regard as the fountain from which we draw all we know
of the world around us, and of our own character and destiny as intelligent,
moral and responsible beings . . . We are indebted to the Jewish nation for
revealed religion, for the most important blessings and refinements of civilized
life, and for all well-grounded hope of immortal bliss beyond the grave.” When
the whole of the ancient world lived in darkness, God chose the Jews as the
recipients of His revelation, and throughout the darkest periods of world
history Israel was the bearer of God’s truth. There were times when even Israel
lapsed into idolatry, but always there were seven thousand who did not bend the
knee to Baal. Toward the beginning of the Christian Era, the light flickered a
bit, but it was not quenched. Rather, it might be compared to the torch which
the Greek relay runners carried. It was passed from the earlier followers of our
Lord to the later ones, until, finally, it burst into a greater and brighter
flame and enlightened mankind more than it had ever done before.

Without the Bible there would be no Christianity. Harnack, in his Mission and
Expansion of Christianity, admits that “the missionary character of early
Christianity was only a repetition of the missionary spirit of the Judaism of
the time which was a preparation for the Christian mission.” If we appreciate
God’s Word, we should feel ourselves indebted to Israel for its origin.

What contribution has the Jew made to Christianity? Everything. Without the Old
Testament there would be no New Testament. Their relationship is that of mother
and child. During our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria, after she
had discovered that He was a prophet, she said unto Him, “Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to
worship.” Jesus replied: “Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall
neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship
ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John
4:20-22). Through this lesson, Jesus conveyed to the woman of Samaria, and
through her to all the world, the everlasting debt of gratitude which we owe to
the Jews. The Apostle Paul asks, “What advantage then hath the Jew?” And with
him, we answer, “Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God.”

Further, in the same letter to the Romans, Paul writes: “Who are Israelites; to
whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving
of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whom are the fathers, and
of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all God blessed for
ever” (Romans 9:4-5). Who taught you tender Bible tales Of honey-lands, of milk
and wine? Of happy, peaceful Palestine? Of Jordan’s holy harvest vales? Who gave
the patient Christ, I say Who gave your Christian creed? Yea, Who gave your very
God to you? Your Jew! Your Jew! Your hated Jew!

- Joaquin Miller


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  CHAPTER 7: 01.04.     JEWISH CITIZENSHIP
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Jewish Citizenship

CHAPTER FOUR In every age, in every land, against all odds, and out of all
proportion to their actual numbers, the Jews have distinguished themselves in
every branch of human achievement. Even their enemies admit that. It is well for
one to remember that everywhere the Jew was considered an alien. He could not
even choose the place for his residence, but rather had to live in a secluded
and designated neighborhood. It was not until the close of the eighteenth
century that the Jews were given the rights of citizenship in many of the lands
where they had been dwelling. Even then, the rights came only because a few
leading spirits volunteered to fight for them. In the following pages, we shall
endeavor to present a few of the contributions which the Jews have made to
citizenship, to statesmanship, and to political life throughout the world.

One of the greatest statesmen that England has produced is Benjamin Disraeli,
Earl of Beacons-field, who became Prime Minister. Although Disraeli was a life
member of the Church of England, he was proud of his Jewish ancestry.

Sir Moses Montefiore, sheriff of the city of London, was knighted by Queen
Victoria. Baron Worms, another English Jew, served as Colonial Minister. Lord
Reading, who served first in the House of Commons, was appointed Solicitor
General in 1910, and then Attorney General. In 1912, he was promoted to the
cabinet rank, and in 1913 he became Lord Chief Justice of England. In 1921, he
was placed in the highest post which any British subject can hold under the
Crown, Viceroy of India. Sir Alfred Mond, later known as Lord Melchett, was
Commissioner of Works and Commissioner of Health. Sir Philip Sassoon, who has
been a member of Parliament since 1912, has held other high offices. Both Lord
Melchett and Sir Philip Sassoon were members of David Lloyd George’s cabinet.
Other important English Jews are the Countess of Desart, Sir Myer Spielman, Sir
Joseph Duveen, Sir Edward Stern, Lady Adolph Tuck, Sir Robert Wesley Cohen and
Sir Samuel Alexander. Among the aristocratic families of England are the
Montagues, the Goldsmiths and the Jessels. On at least two occasions a Jew has
held the office of Lord Mayor of London. An Australian Jew, Sir Isaac Isaacs,
held many government posts, and in later years was Attorney General. Another
Australian, Sir Henry Emanuel Cohen, was Minister of Justice, and still another,
Sir John Monash, was one of the outstanding generals in the Allied Army. In
France, the Jew has played an important role from earliest times, perhaps from
the very beginning of the Christian Era. Following the Revolution of September,
1791, France gave full civil and political rights to the Jew, and thus set the
precedent for other European countries. France can boast the largest number of
Jewish ministers, the most famous of whom was Isaac Adolph Cremieux, who served
in several cabinets as Minister of Justice. Another Jew, Camille Ferdinand
Dreyfus, was Prime Minister of France in the early 1880’s. During the reign of
Napoleon III, Abeles Fuld, a Jew, served as Minister of Finance. Another Jew,
Michel Goudchaux, served in the same capacity under the same king. A ministerial
portfolio in several cabinets was held by David Reynal. Joseph Reinach, one of
the most distinguished of French statesmen, who is celebrated particularly for
his part in the defense of Captain Dreyfus, was a cabinet chief in the Gambetta
government. Another important role was played by a Jew, Gil Simson, as minister,
publicist and statesman. The remarkable advance made by the Jews in France was
illustrated in World War I, when, among others, the follow Jews held cabinet
offices: Henri Bergson, in Clemenceau’s cabinet, 1917; Fernand David, Minister
of Agriculture; Louis Lucien Klotz, Minister of Finance, Painlevé cabinet, 1917;
Edmond Ignac Ignace, Under Secretary of War, 1917; Henry Simon, Minister of the
Colonies, 1917. In contemporary French politics, an outstanding role has been
played by the Jewish premier, Léon Blum. In 1919-20, it was estimated that there
were 85,000 Jews in France. In the year 1923, eight-two Jews received various
grades of the Legion of Honor.

Perhaps in no country have the Jews risen to greater heights than in Germany,
where they are being persecuted so mercilessly. There, in 1871, after a long
struggle, they were granted civil and religious rights. The victory was far from
complete, however, for even then few Jews were allowed to become full professors
at the universities, and even few were commissioned officers in the Imperial
Army. It was virtually impossible for a Jew to be appointed to either diplomatic
or civil service. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the wealthiest
and most cultured Jews of Germany were still struggling for complete
emancipation. In Italy, Luigi Luzzatti was four times Minister of the Treasury.
He served also as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, as Prime Minister, and
was an author of distinction. The contribution of the Jews to statesmanship is
not confined to the pages of European history alone. It is significant, perhaps,
that in the same month that Christopher Columbus sailed on his epochal voyage
which led to the discovery of the New World, Spain ordered the Jews out of her
land. It was Luis de Santangel, counsellor and comptroller of Aragon, and his
brother-in-law, Gabriel Sanchez, the treasurer of Aragon, who contributed 17,000
ducats. It was not Isabella who sold her Jewels to outfit the Columbus
expedition. “Now Jewels, but Jews were the real financial basis of the first
expedition of Columbus.” It was a Portuguese Jew who drew up the maps used by
him, and at least five Christian Jews were members of that company who sailed
with him.

Columbus found the astronomical tables, maps and almanacs of Abraham Zacuto most
useful on his voyage. The ship physician, Maestre Bernal, the ship surgeon,
Marco, and one of the sailors, Alfonso de la Calle, were all Jews. Rodrigo de
Triana, a Jew, was the first to sight land, and Luis de Torres, the interpreter,
was the first to set foot on American soil. Kyserling, in his work, Christopher
Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish Portuguese
Discoveries, translated into English by Professor Charles Gross of Harvard, has
established the identity of these men who took part in the voyage. In his new
volume, Christopher Columbus, the distinguished historian, Madariaga, attempts
to prove that Columbus himself was of Jewish origin. The harassed Jews of Spain
were forced to flee, and they sought refuge wherever they could. Some of them
went to Holland, and others to the Dutch colonies in Brazil. The claws of the
Inquisition reached their new homes, however, and once again they were forced to
leave. In 1655, a group of twenty-three Jews from Brazil arrived in New
Amsterdam. Later in the same year, others came. But even there, they encountered
great difficulties at the hands of unfriendly magistrates. Peter Stuyvesant, the
governor, who was equally hostile to all religious minorities, wrote to the
Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam, and requested that “men of the Jewish
nation be not permitted to infest the New Netherlands.”

The Dutch West India Company, which counted among its shareholders a number of
Jews, thought it unfair to exclude them, since they had sustained considerable
loss in the taking of Brazil by the Portuguese. Consequently, the Jews were
permitted to remain in New Netherlands, with the provision that the poor among
them should not become a burden to the company or to the community, but that
they should be supported by their own people. When the decision of the Dutch
West India Company reached Governor Stuyvesant, he attempted to deprive the Jews
of their rights as burghers, but the attempt was protested by Asser Levy, who
later became the first Jewish citizen in America. In 1664, the city of New
Netherlands was captured by the English, who changed its name to New York, in
honor of the Duke of York, and in 1683, a charter of liberties and privileges
was adopted by the colonial assembly, extending religious freedom to all persons
who faith in God through Jesus Christ. In 1685, the Jewish residents petitioned
Governor Dongan “for liberty to practice their religion.” This petition was
referred to the mayor and the common council of New York, who decided that “no
public worship is tolerated by act of assembly but to those who profess faith in
Christ and therefore the Jew’s worship was not to be allowed.” However, King
James II gave instruction to Governor Andros, who succeeded Governor Dongan, to
permit freedom of worship to all peoples, whatever their nationality or
religion. As soon as the Jews in New York were given religious liberty, they
began to adapt themselves to their environment. Soon other Jewish colonists
came, and settled in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Georgia and Ohio
and Mississippi valleys. The most important Jewish community at that time was at
Newport, Rhode Island. Rhode Island appealed to the Jews particularly because of
its consistent stand for religious freedom. Roger Williams, of Rhode Island, was
not a stranger to them. Not only had he interceded between the Dutch and their
inflamed Indian neighbors, but previously, during his residence in England when
the question of the readmission of the Jews arose, it was he who championed
their cause, writing:

“I humbly conceive it to be the duty of the civil magistrate to break down the
superstitious wall of separation (as to civil things) between us Gentiles and
Jews and freely (without this asking) to make way for their free and peaceable
habitation amongst us.” Still later he said: “There goes many a ship to sea with
many hundred souls in one ship, whose weal and woe is common, and is a true
picture of a commonwealth, or human condition, or society. It hath fallen out
sometimes, that both Papists and Protestants, Jews and Turks may be embarked in
one ship upon which supposal I affirm, that all the liberty of conscience that
ever I pleaded for turns upon these two hinges, that none of the Papists,
Protestants, Jews or Turks be forced to come to the ship’s prayer or worship, if
they practice any.”

In his famous argument for the readmission to England, he said: “By the merciful
assistance of the Most High, I have desired to labor in Europe, in America, with
English, with barbarians, yea, and also I have longed after some trading with
Jews themselves, for whose hard measure I fear the nations and England have yet
a score to pay. I desire not that liberty myself, which I would not freely and
impartially weigh out to all the consciences of the world besides. All these
consciences (yea, the very consciences of the Papists, Jews and so forth, as I
have proved at large in my answer to Master Cotton’s sayings) ought freely and
impartially to be permitted their several respective worships, and what manner
of maintaining them, they freely choose.”

It was the liberal spirit of Roger Williams that made Newport the favorite
community of the Jews. The Jewish cemetery at Newport, laid out in 1677, has
been memorialized by Longfellow in his poem, Justice to the Jews.

After a long struggle, the Jews gained equal rights and power in the various
colonies and states. The Jews aided greatly in the shaping of America. Their
influence has been felt ever since the first Jew stepped upon American soil in
1492. And, today, as we look retrospectively upon the pages of the history of
our development, we find the names of many Jews who have rendered meritorious
service.

Lieutenant Colonel Isaac Franks, a Jew, was aide-de-camp to General Washington
during the Revolution. In August, 1790, George Washington visited the home of
Moses Isaacs in Newport. Quoted below is Washington’s reply to a letter from the
Hebrew congregation in Newport:

“May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to
merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants, while every one shall
sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make
him afraid.

“May the Father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths
and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time
and way, everlastingly happy.” The many Jews who were associated intimately with
the development of our country distinguished themselves in every phase of
service. Among the pioneers in each of the original thirteen colonies were Jews,
whose indomitable energy enabled them to share the hardships and perils of
pioneer life. We have space to do no more than suggest a few of the names which
compose the long list of celebrated Jews who served this country so honorably.

This list includes Gratz, Franks, Sampson, Jacobs, Bush, Mordecai, Hays, Moses,
Meyer, Mendes, De La Mott, Etting, Cohen and Benjamin.

Among the signers of the decision to make more binding the non-importation
agreement which the colonists had adopted to bring England to terms on the
question of taxation were Samuel Judah, Hayman Levy, Jacob Moses, Jacob Meyers,
Jonas Phillips and Isaac Seixas.

One of the most prominent figures during this period was Haym Salomon, a Polish
Jew, who settled first in New York and later in Philadelphia. Salomon arrived in
this country at that time when feeling against England was mounting steadily. He
soon joined a secret society, the Sons of Liberty. After a few years’ residence
in this country, he became prosperous enough to marry the daughter of Moses
Benjamin Franks, one of the most influential Jews in the colonies. Easily he
ranked next to Robert Morris as the man who made possible the financing of the
war. On one occasion, Salomon responded to an appeal by Morris with $300,000,
none of which was ever repaid to his heirs. He was of great assistance to James
Madison, who wrote of him: “I have for some time been a pensioner on the favor
of Haym Salomon, a Jew broker.” And again, “The kindness of our little friend on
Front Street, near the Coffee House, is a fund which will preserve me from
extremities, but I never resort to it without great mortification, as he
obstinately rejects all recompense.”

Salomon was not the only Jew who sacrificed his fortune for independence, for
among the signers of the bills of credit for the Continental Congress in 1776,
we find such names as Levy of Philadelphia and Jacobs of New York. Samuel Lyon
of New York was among the signers of similar bills in 1779. Isaac Moses of
Philadelphia contributed $15,000 to the colonial treasury.

Even a brief survey of the Jewish enlistment in the wars of our country will
indicate, to an extent, their consciousness of their patriotic privileges and
duties. At the time of the Revolutionary War, there were few Jewish residents in
this country. Notwith-standing, however, there were more than fifty Jews in
Washington’s army, twenty-four of whom served as officers. Grover Cleveland paid
a beautiful tribute to the Jewish participation in the Revolutionary War on the
occasion of an address which he delivered at Carnegie Hall, November 30, 1905,
He said:

“When with true American enthusiasm, we recall the story of our War for
Indepen-dence and rejoice in the indomitable courage and fortitude of our
Revolutionary heroes, we should not fail to remember how well the Jews of
America performed their part in the struggle, and how in every way they usefully
and patriotically supported the interests of their new found home. Now can we
overlook, if we are decently just, the invaluable aid cheerfully contributed by
our Jewish fellow-countrymen in every national emergency which has since
overtaken us.”

During the War Between the States, some 8,000 Jews participated, although there
were but 150,-000 Jews in the entire country at that period.

During World War I, approximately one quarter of a million Jews served under our
colors, this figure being about four per cent of the total number who served in
the armed forces, whereas proportionately the Jew in this country formed about
three per cent of the total population. Of this number, nearly 40,000, or twenty
percent of the entire Jewish contingent, were volunteers.

During the war, American Jews were cited for valor over 1,100 times: 723 by the
American command; 287 by the French; 33 by the British; and 46 by the other
Allied Commands. The Congressional Medal of Honor was conferred on 3 Jews
posthumously. Over 150 were the recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross,
and 4 received the French Croise de Guerre.

During this war, the Jews not only served in military capacities but in civil
and political capacities as well. Bernard M. Baruch was chairman of the War
Industries Board. The Swopes, Gerard and Herbert Bayard, and Samuel Gompers
served as members of the Board. Julius Rosenwald and Bernard Baruch served on
the Advisory Commission of the National Council of Defense. Eugene Meyer, Jr.,
was Chairman of the War Finance Corporation. Felix Frankfurter was Assistant
Secretary of War. Manny Straus conceived the idea of War Savings Stamps. General
S. Herbert Wolfe arranged the plan for war risk insurance. The Jews have
distinguished themselves as diplomats, some twenty having served this country
abroad as ambassadors, counsellors and ministers. Other Jews have served in the
homeland as senators, congressmen and governors. The following is a list of Jews
who have represented the United States abroad:

Belmont, August (1816-1890) - Charge d’affaires and Minister Resident to the
Netherlands, 1853-54.

Berstein, Herman (1876) - Minister to Albania, 1929-33.

Einstein, Lewis (1877) - Minister to Costa Rica, 1913-21; Minister to
Czechoslovakia, 1921-30 Elkus, Abram I. (1867) - Ambassador to Turkey, 1916-17
Cuggenheim, Harry F. (1890) - Ambassador to Cuba, 1929-33 Hirsch, Solomon
(1893-1902) - Minister to Turkey, 1889-92 Kaufman, Joseph S. (1876) - Minister
to Bolivia, 1929-30 Kornfield, Joseph S. (1876) - Minister to Persia, 1921-24
Morganthau, Henry (1856) - Ambassador to Turkey 1913-16 Morris, Ira Nelson
(1875) - Minister to Sweden, 1914-23 Otterbourg, Marcus (1827-93) - Minister to
Mexico, 1867; Previously served as Consul in Mexico Peixotto, Benjamin F.
(1834-90) - General Consul to Roumania, 1870-76 Ratshesky, Abraham C. (1864) -
Minister to Czechoslovakia, 1930-32 Steinhardt, Lawrence A. (1892) - Minister to
Sweden, 1933 Straus, Jesse Isidor (1872) - Minister to France, 1933.

Straus, Oscar S. (1850-1926) - Minister to Turkey, 1887-88; Minister to Turkey,
1898-1900; Ambassador to Turkey, 1909-10 Wolf, Simon (1836-1923) - August and
General Consul to Egypt, 1881-82 The following Jews have served their respective
states as United States Senators:

Benjamin, Judah P. (1812-84) - Louisiana, 1853-61 Guggenheim, Simon (1867) -
Colorado, 1907-13 Jonas, Benjamin Franklin (1834-1911) - Louisiana, 1879-85
Rayner, Isador (1850-1912) - Maryland, 1905-12 Simon, Joseph (1851) - Oregon,
1903 Yulee, David Levy (1811-1886) - Florida, 1855-61 The following Jews have
served their respective states as governors:

Alexander, Moses (1853-1930) - Idaho, 1915-19 Bamberger, Simon (1847-1926) -
Utah, 1912-21 Bartlett, Washington - California, 1887 Emanuel, David (1744-1808)
- Georgia, 1801 Horner, Henry (1878) - Illinois, 1932-40 Lehman, Herbert H.
(1878) - New York, 1933 Meier, Julius L. (1874) - Oregon, 1930 Seligman, Arthur
(1873) - New Mexico, 1931 Solomon, Edward S. (1836-1913) - Washington Territory,
1870-74

Undoubtedly, the two leading publicity counsels in this country, with the
possible exception of the late Ivy Lee, are Jews: Charles Michaelson, of the
Democratic National Committee, and Edward L. Bernays.

It is interesting to know that the first Jewish senator was a Southern Jew,
David Levy Yulee. He served also in the Confederate Senate. Another Jew, Judah
P. Benjamin, was called the “brains of the confederacy.” President Pierce
offered him a place on the bench of the United States Supreme Court. Benjamin
declined the honor, however, in order to continue his legal practice in New
Orleans. Later, he became a senator and was the first man to receive appointment
in the Confederate Cabinet. It was said of him, “No man alone had a greater
share in directing the destinies of the South than Judah P. Benjamin, save the
President.”

Francis Salvador, of South Carolina, although he had been a resident in the
country only three years, became an active member of the Provisional Congress
and later suffered a hero’s death while leading an attack against hostile
Indians.

Benjamin Sheftall, of Georgia, while assisting in the defense of Savannah, was
captured and imprisoned by the British. Later he escaped and served throughout
the war as Commissary General for the South. A considerable number of Jews
served in Captain Richard Lushington’s company of militia in Charleston. A
number of Jewish officers in the regular army also distinguished themselves.
Major Benjamin Nones, a native of Bordeaux, France, served under Count Pulaski
during the Revolutionary War, and was decorated for his courage under fire. The
Jews have rendered service in many capacities, but in no way can they surpass in
merit their “brave and tireless fight for complete religious liberty.” Perhaps
this is of itself their supreme contribution as statesmen. Moses was the first
real liberator recorded in history. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Jews,
the most oppressed and persecuted of peoples, should be the ones who possess the
keenest conception of liberty. The 600,000 Jews in the South today are
patriotic. Loyalty to the land of his fathers or to the land of his adoption is
an inherent trait of the Jew. The Jew loves the country “in which are clustered
the proudest reminiscences of the history of his race.” He loves no less the
country where his own home is, where his own dear ones live, and where they will
be buried.

In brief, no matter where he is domiciled, the Jew remembers the admonition of
the great prophet, Jeremiah, who said to the people of Israel when they were
captives in Babylonia, “Seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to
be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace
thereof shall ye have peace.”


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  CHAPTER 8: 01.05.     JEWISH FINE ARTS
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Jewish Fine Arts

CHAPTER FIVE

We can give only a brief outline of the Jew’s contribution to the fields of
music, stage and cinema. In no fields perhaps have they contributed more
worthily and generously than in these arts. Through the pages of the Old
Testament alone, the musical heritage of the Jew can be traced far into
antiquity, for the Jews enjoyed a mature musical culture many centuries before
the birth of Christ. From this approach, at least, there is little remarkable in
the fact that today among the outstanding musicians and composers are many Jews.
Who is not familiar with the name of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, composer,
conductor and pianist? With his Songs Without Words, “Walpurgisnacht” music, his
oratorios, Elijah and St. Paul, and his A Midsummer Night’s Dream which contains
the beautiful and ever-popular Wedding March? His minor works are also popular
with lovers of good music everywhere. Who has not heard of Gracomo Meyerbeer,
born in Berlin in 1791; creator, as Liszt called him, of Cyclopaean melodies?
Meyerbeer made his debut as a pianist at the age of seven years. Some of his
better known operas which have brought him international fame are Jephtha’s
Beloved, Les Huguenots and L’Africaine. Tausig Carl, one of the great pianists
of his day, enriched piano literature with transcriptions of music by Bach,
Schubert and Schumann. Ignatz Moscheles, pianist, born in Bohemia in 1794, soon
forced the world to take note of him. At the age of twenty-four he was the
teacher of Mendelssohn. In 1826 he settled in England where he later succeeded
Sir Henry Bishop as conductor of the London Philharmonic Society. His Concertos
in G Minor were in high vogue, as they are among musicians of today.

Joseph Joachim, interpreter par excellence, was one of the most famous names in
the history of the violin. Hungarian Concerto and Hebrew Melodies for viola and
piano testify to his great talent. Jacques Offenback, the father of Opera
Comique, was a German Jew, though he was educated in France and lived there the
greater part of his life. Having first set to work upon parodies of La
Fontaine’s fables, he shortly thereafter met with success as the composer of
music for De Musset’s La Chandelier. He was the author of a hundred or more
compositions, the most famous of which is the lyrically beautiful and popular
Tales of Hoffman which was performed posthumously and, consequently, whose
success the author did not enjoy. In our own country in 1928, Ernest Bloch,
Director of San Francisco Conservatory of Music, was awarded a prize by Musical
America for the best symphonic composition by an American, called Symphony
America. The Damrosches, Leopold, Frank and Walter, who are of Jewish origin,
have made an invaluable contribution to the musical world. As conductors of
symphonies, they are seldom surpassed and not frequently are they equaled. A
large number of other conductors of symphony orchestras and of the Metropolitan
Opera orchestra are Jews.

Among the great violinists are: Elman, Zimbalist, Heifetz and Menuhin. The late
George Gershwin was considered by many critics to be the greatest composer of
this generation. His music is creative rather than interpretative. He has been
compared with Wagner and Debussy, in that he did not bind himself to traditional
music, but rather explored new fields of tonal blending and harmony. Other
contemporary composers are Rubin Goldmark, Irving Berlin, Gus Edwards, Charles
Kissel Harris, George William Meyer and Arthur Schwartz. The Jews in the United
States have contributed not only to the catalogues of classical music but also
to the semi-classical and popular as well. The operettas of Rudolph Friml and
Jerome Kern have been attended by the great and the small, by the learned and
the unlearned. There are many people who do not care for the noise of swing
music but who have not developed an appreciation for the classics. Consequently,
these people, who feel no less the need for music, have found their release in
Friml and Kern. With the possible exception of the operettas of Victor Herbert
and the waltzes of Strauss, no composers have enjoyed a wider audience nor a
more appreciated one than have these two.

Music has been called the universal language. It has not been shackled by the
persistence of the frontier. Nevertheless, it is only natural that music should
reflect something of the composer’s nationality. The music which has had its
birth in the German mind has been conceded by almost every unprejudiced critic
to be the greatest. Second, perhaps, is the music of the Russians.

One cannot speak of Russian music without think immediately of the brothers
Rubinstein, born of Jewish parentage. Anton, in St. Petersburg, and Nicholas, in
Moscow, dominated the musical thought of “all the Russias” for almost half a
century. Until Anton established his conservatory in St. Petersburg in 1862, it
might be said of Russian music that it lacked maturity. Certainly, there was no
unified Russian music. Nicholas, encouraged by his brother’s success,
established a conservatory in Moscow in 1864, and then the two were in a
position to mold the musical mind of Russia as they, unquestionably worthy
masters, would have it. In a sense, the Rubinsteins were to Russian music what
the Rothschilds were to European banking. Of the two Rubinsteins, Anton, the
elder, was the greater. His compositions include one hundred nineteen works in
almost every known form. His Ocean Symphony is known the world over; his Persian
Songs are still popular. But it is as one of the greatest of all pianists that
he is remembered. For a period of several years he toured Europe in concert, and
the critics said of him that he surpassed even the beloved Liszt.

Greater, however, than their compositions, greater than their ability to play
the piano, was their supreme gift to the world of music: Tchaikovsky. For it was
Anton who “discovered” him, and Nicholas who presented his case to the wealthy,
music-loving Madame von Meck, whose generosity permitted Tchaikovsky to devote
his talents exclusively to composing.

We realize how inadequate this treatment is when we consider the long list of
world-renowned musicians. There is not a country which does not count among its
great in the musical world those of the wandering race. To give the reader a
fuller comprehension of the Jews’ influence here, we cite the following others,
in addition to those mentioned:

Composers: Bruch, Halevy, Bizet, Saint-Saens, Ravel, Mahler, Schonberg, Milhaud,
Saminsky, Achron, Tansman, Korngold, Karl Goldmark, Rubin Goldmark, Aaron
Copeland, Sir Frederick H. Cowen.

Composers: Sir Landon Ronald, Klemperer, Kousevitsky, Monteux, Sololoff, Bruno
Walter, Bodansky, Stransky, Fried, Altschuler, Hertz, Rothwell, Colonne,
Polacco, Schindler, Volpe, Shavitch, Cooper, Fitelberg, Smallens, Taube.
Violinists: Wieniawski, Ernst, Auer, Szigeti, Huberman, Joachim, Kochanski,
Seidel, Flesch, Press, Luboschutz, Gardner, Erna Rubinstein, Rosen, Brown,
Mannes, Tas, Morini.

Cellists: Davidoff, Popper, Press, van Lier, Gerardi, Piatigorsky, Feuermann,
Penha, Garbousova, Beloussoff, Hambourg, Wellerson.

Pianists: Rosenthal, De Pachmann, Godowsky, Gabrilowitsch, Bauer, Horowitz,
Brailowsky, Tausig, Lhevinne, Liebling, Munz, Schnitzer, Ornstein, Moisewitsch,
Schnabel, Landovska, Myra Hess, Mero, Friedman, Gradova, Wengerova, Tina Lerner.

Singers: Raisa, Braslau, Frances Alda, Kipnis, Alma Gluck, Lashanska, Bloch,
Dalmores, Lilli Lehman, Kalisch, Wolfe, Dalosy, Renaud, Matzenauer, Guilford,
Gabor. To those who might be interested in continuing this study further, we
refer to a recent publica-tion, Famous Musicians of a Wandering Race, by Gdal
Saleski, containing four hundred twenty-five biographies. The Jews have taken an
equally great part in producing actors of genius. To guarantee them a place in
the sun, dramatically speaking, one has only to mention the name of the great
French-Jewish tragedienne, Sarah Bernhardt. She was considered the foremost
actress of her day throughout the world, and in the history of dramatics her
name is second to none. Rachel, whose full name is Elisa-Rachel Felix, first
began her career as a child in the streets of Paris. She was the leading woman
in classic drama. Many plays were written for her. There are many others who
enjoyed no less reputation.

Max Reinhardt, the German Jew, is known throughout the theatrical world as an
impresario and director of superior quality. He is known particularly for his
productions of Shakespeare, Wilde, Shaw and Maeterlink. Elizabeth Bergner, an
exile from Germany, is considered one of the greatest actresses on the stage and
cinema. On the American stage we have Eddie Cantor, Ed Wynn, Al Jolson, George
Jessel, Sophie Tucker, Eugene and Willie Howard, Paul Muni, Joseph Schildkraut,
Alla Nazimove, Fannie Brice, Webber and Fields, Jack Benny, the four Marx
Brothers and Charlie Chaplin.

Perhaps no form of entertainment has given a wider diversion to as many people
as the cinema. The success of the cinema industry is due largely to the
initiative of Jewish producers, inventors, technicians and actors.

One only has to think of such companies as Warner Brothers, Columbia, Joseph M.
and Nicolas Schenck, Louis B. Mayer, Adolph Zucker, Marcus and Arthur Lowe, Sam
Goldwyn, Ben Schulberg, William Fox, Carl Laemmle and the late Irving Thalberg.

Jews have not made the marked progress in painting which they have in other
arts, perhaps because in the early centuries the Roman Catholic Church
controlled, through its ecclesiastical rules and traditions, much in the field
of art, and paintings were done by assignment. Naturally the Jews were barred
from such assignments.

Cecil Roth in The Jewish Contribution to Civilization says: “The Jewish
inspiration of much of European art cannot be denied. Three-quarters at least of
European paintings before 1500, and a very high proportion after that date, deal
with Biblical, i.e., Hebrew characters and scenes. It is difficult to conceive
Italian art of the Renaissance without such familiar episodes as the Creation,
the lives of the patriarchs, the triumph of Judith and soon, (though the fact
was not realized or conveyed in pictorial art until the last century) the
central subject of all - Jesus and the Madonna - which was essentially Hebraic.
. . Rembrandt, for example, turned again and again to the Bible for inspiration
though he was more attracted by its dramatic than its spiritual values . . . For
many years of his life, Rembrandt lived among Jews, painted Jews, and worked
frequently under Jewish auspices.” So we see that in spite of conditions and
practices of the early days which were a barrier to Jews themselves as painters,
the Hebraic, or Biblical, influence impress upon the field of art.


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  CHAPTER 9: 01.06.     LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY
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Literature and Philosophy

CHAPTER SIX The Jews have had an invaluable influence in the field of
literature. We have already referred to the Scriptures, out of whose fountain
the greatest writers have drawn inspiration. Both ancient and modern poets,
philosophers, scholars and statesmen have paid their homage to these ancient
writings.

Charles W. Eliot, in an address delivered in Boston, in November, 1905, said:
“The ancient Hebrew poetry is full of the aptest, sweetest and most impressive
descriptions of nature and all her works and of the influence of nature on the
spirit of man. ‘Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades?’ ‘He maketh me
to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.’ ‘Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow . . .’ No race has ever surpassed the
Jewish descriptions of either the beauties or the terrors of the nature which
environs man.”

“In the field of history,” says Cecil Roth in The Jewish Contribution to
Civilization, “no German Jew has risen to the eminence of Ranke, Mommsen or
Gregorouius: but many have attained a considerable reputation.” We are familiar
with the name of Josephus, the Jewish historian, who is known the world over,
and whose writings are frequently quoted in textbooks. We mention also the
Jewish philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, whose philosophy has left its indelible
impress upon the world.

Saadia B. Joseph, of the tenth century, at the age of twenty, completed the
Hebrew dictionary, followed by his polemical works. His mist important work is
The Book of Faith and Doctrines. Solomon ibn Gabirol, the “Jewish Plato” and
poet of the eleventh century, was barely twenty when he published a rhymed
Hebrew grammar. He was the first teacher of Neoplatonism, Occidentalizing
Greek-Arabic philosophy. His literary productions are many.

Moses Maimonides, the Jewish Aristotle of the twelfth century, philosopher,
Talmudist and physician, was author of a completed commentary on the Mishna,
composer of a treatise on the Jewish calendar and other treatises and author of
The Strong Hand, a stupendous work of fourteen books, and other works, the
greatest of which is The Guide to the Perplexed. Immanuel ben Jacob, of Rome,
was an outstanding physician, poet and exegete. Moses Hayim Luzzati, was an
Italian author and poet. Benedict Spinoza was a brilliant philosopher. The
extent of Spinoza’s influence on modern thought is beyond conception. He was one
of the great thinkers of the world.

Moses Mendelssohn was a philosopher, critic and stylist. His Phoenon was the
most widely read book of its time in Germany. It is said of him that he “set
fire” to the intellects of his people.

Isaac D’Israeli wrote a series of literary anecdotes (beginning with Curiosities
of Literature, and ending with Amenities of Literature, completed when he was
old and blind in 1840) which were favorite works with more than one generation.
His son, Benjamin Disraeli, the great English statesman, was the most
scintillating political novelist that England, and perhaps the world, has ever
known. Among his novels are Vivian Grey, The Young Duke, Sybil and Tancred. Karl
Ludsig Borne was a brilliant essayist, critic and political writer. He was
instrumental in founding the Liberal Party in Germany. Karl Marx was the founder
of the historic economic philosophy of history. His collective works are in
forty-two volumes, the most widely known of which is Das Kapital.

Two Jews have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In 1910, it was worn
by a German Jew, Paul Heyse. In 1927, it was won by a French Jew, Henri Bergson,
who held the chair of philosophy at the College de France.

Two other Jews have been awarded the Pulitzer Prize. In 1925, Edna Ferber won
the award for her novel, So Big. In 1932, and again in 1937, George S. Kaufman
won the award as co-author of the play, Of Thee I Sing, and as co-author of the
play, You Can’t Take it With You. The recognition which these four Jews have
received should of itself be sufficient to command for the Jewish people, a
permanent place in the history of world literature.

There are many Jewish writers whose works, although not so well known, are by no
means inferior. Louis Untermeyer, an American, is considered by many as the
foremost critic of contemporary poetry. His anthologies are prized by both the
student and the law reader. Many of the superior contemporary poets were
“discovered” by Louis Untermeyer. Jean Starr Untermeyer, his wife, is recognized
as one of the outstanding minor poets. In literature, as in medicine, the Jew
reached his peak in Germany. Among the German Jews who have gained world
recognition as writers are: Ludwig Bóerne, journalist and political writer, one
of the leaders of young Germany, author of twenty volumes of collected writings;
Maximilian Harden, critic, political writer, editor; Heinrich Heine, essayist,
satirist, lyricist, political journalist and the most outstanding German Jewish
poet; Leon Feuchwanger, novelist, author of such works as Power, The Ugly
Duchess and Josephus; Theodore Lessing, philosopher, social writer and
reformist; Emil Ludwig, biographer, author of such celebrated “lives” as Goethe,
Napoleon, Bismarck, Mussolini, Roosevelt and Christ; and, finally, Jacob
Wassermann, one of the greatest of the German novelists. In the field of
journalism we have such names as Ignatz Kuranda, founder of Grenzboten, and folr
two years leader of the Austrian Liberals; Rudolf Mosse and Georg Davidsohn,
editors of the Berliner Tageblatt, which speedily became known as one of the
world’s great newspapers. They were succeeded by Theodor Wolff and Leopold
Sonneman, editors of Frankfurter Zeitung. Other outstanding journalists are:
David Kalisch, who founded in 1848 the famous German humorous weekly,
Kladderadatch; Moritz Gottlieb Saphir, the best known humorist in continental
Europe; Rudolf Lowenstein, famous poet whose verses were to be found, prior to
1933, in every First Reader used in German schools; J. M. Levy who created not
merely the Daily Telegraph but thereby popular journalism as a whole in England;
Blowitz, the great foreign correspondent of the Times; Arthur Meyer, editor of
Le Gaulois; Adolph Ochs, who made the New York Times one of the most powerful,
most stabilizing forces in American public life.

Leopold Ullsten, founder of what was in its day the most important German
publishing house; Reuter, Wolff and Havas, pioneers in the establishment of
European news agencies. In the realm of publishing, we have the firm of Fischer,
whose intellectual guidance was largely responsible for the revitalization of
German literature at the close of the last century.

Among other modern Jewish writers we have such names as Franz Kafka, Stefan
Zweig, Arnold Zweig, Ernst Toller, Alfred Neumann, Franz Werfel, Max Broad,
Ernst Lissauer, Ludwig Fulda, Arthur Schnitzler, Ludwig Friedlander, Harry
Bresslau, Bhilippe Auguste d’Ennery, Catulle Mendes, Georges de Porto-Richie,
Tristan Bernard, Henri Bernstein, Baron Henri de Rothschild, who wrote under the
pen name of Andre Pascal, Gustave Kahn, Andre Spire, Marcel Praust, Italo Svevo,
André Maurois, Henri Barbusse, Israel Zangwill, Georg Brandes, Eduard Brandes,
who is one of the most successful Danish playwrights of the last decades of the
nineteenth century, Henrik Hertz, one of the most prolific Danish poets, Henri
Nathansen, modern Danish-Jewish playwright, Ludwig Oscar Josephson, Oskar Ivar
Levertin, Herman Keijermans, Isaak Costa, Israel Querido, Franz Molnar, Ludwig
Biro, Ludwig Hatvany, Melchior Lengyel, Ottokar Fishcher, Frantisek Langer,
Julian Tuwin, Antolni Slonimski, Isaac Babel, Boris Pasternak, Ronetti Roman,
Salamone Fiorentino, Guiseppe Revere, Sabbatino Lopez, Eugenio Camerini,
Alessandro d’Ancona and Graziado Isaia Ascoli.

Limited space permits mention only of a few additional Jewish writers and the
variety of their interests and talents.

Poets: Maxwell Bodenheim, James Oppenheim, Alter Brody. Light verse: Arthur
Guiterman, Newman Levy, Morris Rsykind, Dorothy Parker, Samuel Hoffenstein,
Babette Deutsch.

Novelists: Fannie Hurst, Ludwig Lewisohn, Ben Hecht, Maxwell Bodenheim, Waldo
Frank, John Cournos, Thyra Winslow, Sholom Asch, Robert Nathan, Irving Fineman,
Lester Cohen.

Short Story Writers: Konrad Bercovici, Montague Glass, Octavus Roy Cohen,
Dorothy Parker.

Journalists: Isaac Marcasson, Walter Lippman, David Lawrance, Simeon Strunsky,
Michael Gold, Walter Winchell.

Critics: George Jean Nathan, Martin Lowenthal, Joel Spingarn, Clifton Fadiman,
Joshua Kunitz Philosophers: Morris Raphael Cohen, H. M. Kallen, Irving Edman.


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  CHAPTER 10: 01.07.     JEWISH SCIENCES
========================================================================

Jewish Sciences

CHAPTER SEVEN The twentieth century is pre-eminently a century of scientific
progress. Preceding generations have prepared the way. The scientific verities
of the present are based upon the partial truths of the past. Every race and
every people have been gathering and storing up knowledge for further
development in all branches of science. Our remarks here, however, shall be
confined to that numerically small and much persecuted people, the Jews.

Among the more than five hundred prominent physicians listed in Who’s Who in
American Jewry, more Jews of Germany occupy prominent places in all branches of
science and medicine than any other people. This fact alone should merit the
gratitude, not only of Germany, but of the entire world for what the Jew has
contributed toward the welfare and progress of humanity. A survey of the Nobel
Prize winners is a further confirmation of the notable achievements of Jews in
science and in medicine. Of the thirty-eight Germans who have been awarded this
high honor since its establishment, eleven, or twenty-nine per cent, were Jews;
and of the eleven Jews the ten listed below received their awards in science and
medicine:

Adolf von Bayer, Munich, 1905, Chemistry; Paul Ehrlich, Frankfort, 1908,
Medicine; Otto Wallach, Gottingen, 1910, Chemistry; Richard Willstatter, Munich,
1915, Chemistry; Fritz Haber, Berlin, 1918, Chemistry; Albert Einstein, Berlin,
1921, Physics; Otto Meyerhof, Berlin, 1922, Medicine; Gustav Hertz, Germany,
1925, Physics; James Franck, Gottingen, 1925, Physics; Otto Warburg, Berlin,
1931, Medicine. By including the former Austria, which is now part of Germany,
the names of three more Jews are added to the impressive list of Nobel winners,
two of whom were given the awards for their contributions to science and
medicine:

Roger Barany, Vienna, 1915, Medicine; Karl Lansteiner, New York, 1930, Medicine.

One might add, also, that in former Austria three of the six Austrians who have
been awarded the Nobel Prize were Jews. Before the subjugation of Austria by
Germany, the Jewish inhabitants composed less than four per cent of the total
population.

Since the rise of the Nazi regime, someone has written significantly:

“A Nazi who has venereal disease must not allow himself to be cured by
salvarsan, because it is the discovery of the Jew, Ehrlich. He might not even
take steps to find out whether he has this ugly disease, because the Wasermann
reaction which is used for the purpose is the discovery of a Jew. A Nazi who has
heart disease, must not use digitalin, the medical use of which was discovered
by the Jew, Ludwig Traube. If he has a toothache, he will not use cocaine, or he
will be benefiting by the work of a Jew, Carl Koller. Typhoid must not be
treated, or he will have to benefit by the discoveries of the Jews, Widal and
Weil. If he has diabetes, he must not use insulin, because its invention was
made possible by the research work of the Jew, Minkowsky. If he has a headache,
he must shun pyramidon and antipyrin (Spiro and Eilege). Anti-Semites who have
convulsions must endure them, for it was a Jew, Oscar Liebreich, who thought of
chloral hydrate. The same is true of psychic ailments: Freud is the father of
psychoanalysis. Anti-Semitic doctors must jettison all discoveries and
improvements by the Nobel Prizemen, Barany and Otto Warburg; the dermatologists,
Jadassohn, Bruno Bloch, Unna; the neurologists Mendel, Oppenheim, Kronecker,
Benedikt; the lung specialist Fraenkel; the surgeon Israel; the anatomist Henle;
and others.” As early as the middle of the eighteenth century we find the name
Marcus Eliezer Bloch, who was born in Germany. At the age of twenty-four he was
a practicing physician; he, however, devoted himself entirely to natural science
and became the foremost German authority in his day on the natural life of fish.
He wrote twelve volumes on fish life, which remained for almost a hundred years
the chief, if not the only, scientific work on the subject. Sir William
Herschel, the greatest of astronomers, was known as the founder of sidereal
science. His views on the position of the solar system in relation to the Milky
Way still form the central factor in the modern theory as to the constitution of
the universe. He is also known as the discoverer of the infrared and solar rays.
It was with a telescope of his own contrivance that he discovered the planet
Uranus in 1781. He was afterwards appointed astronomer to the king and advanced
to the foremost rand of contemporary scientists.

Albert Einstein, of world fame, through his theory of relativity can be
appreciated only by very few, may well be classified as the foremost physicist
and mathematician of our day. In 1929, Einstein startled the scientific world
again with his “unitary field theory,” wherein he tried to formulate a single
set of mathematical equations which would contain the equations for both
gravitation and electromagnetism. It was to a fellow Jew, Albert Michelson, that
Einstein is indebted for the apparatus which has proved his theory of
relativity.

Michelson held his position as professor of physics at the University of Chicago
until his death in 1931. He became identified with a long series of experiments
arranged to determine the velocity of light. His patience and extreme accuracy
won him international fame. Honors were showered on him by virtually every
important institution of learning in the world, and by a number of governments.
His greatest effort was the building of a light tunnel one mile in length in
order to determine the time of the passage of a ray of light.

Classed with these great scientific minds is Jacques Loeb. Doctor Loeb was born
and educated in Germany. He came to America in 1891.

After graduating in medicine he drifted into brain physiology, then into
zoology, later turned to the chemico-dynamics of physiology, and finally become
one of the leading workers in the field of colloids and general physical
chemistry. As head of the department of experimental biology at the Rockefeller
Institute, he began a series of startling experiments in the field of artificial
fertilization, the results of which opened up an entirely new and potentially
invaluable avenue of medical work. The wide variety of fields in which he worked
and the amazing results he achieved until his death in 1924, mark him as one of
the greatest figures in American medicine. In chemistry as well as in physics
and invention the Jews have made significant contributions. Julius Stieglitz,
one of the greatest chemists America has produced, is a Jew. So, also, are
professor Moses Gomberg, one of the greatest authorities in organic chemistry;
Emile Berliner, inventor of the telephone transmitter and the first workable
flying machine of the helicopter type; Leon M. Moisseff, one of the greatest
bridge engineers in the United States, and designer of the Manhattan Bridge and
the Interstate Bridge connecting Philadelphia with Camden, New Jersey; Fritz
Lowenstein, inventor of the wireless switchwave; Dr. Louis Cohen, who aided in
eliminating static from radio reception; Dr. Arthur Korn, inventor of a new
device to transmit photographs by radio; Henry Arnstein, one of the chief
chemical engineers in America (Masserman and Baker, The Jew Comes to America,
pp. 450-451). From the earliest days Jewish physicians have played important
roles in medical research. They were favored advisors and consultants of pope
and prelate; of shah and sultan; of king, caliph and kahn. We mention only a
few: Maimonides, physician to the Spanish court; Vichino, physician to the
Portuguese court; Bonet de Latis, personal physician to Pope Leo X, and Jacob
Montino, physician to Pope Paul III; Isaac Israeli, who served the Fatinmate
Cilif at Kairwan; Elias Montalto, who attended Marie de Medici, and the Jewish
physicians who attended Francois I. A biographer of Jewish contributions to
medieval science listed no less than 2,168 physicians of the Jewish faith living
between the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century who made contributions worthy
of note.

Even the casual reader of medical works will come across such names as Ludwig
Traube, the originator of experimental pathology and scientific thermometry in
Germany; Wilhelm Winternitz, who introduced the scientific use of hydrotherapy;
Professor Bela Schick, the creator of the “Schick test” to determine the
presence of an immunity to diphtheria. In The Struggle for Health Hoffman says:
“Today we are able to test our children to find out which are susceptible and
which are immune to the disease, and if all parents were quick-witted enough to
avail themselves of the opportunity of this simple test elaborated by Dr.
Schick, now of New York, diphtheria would vanish from all civilized
communities.” Professor George Ferdinand Widal created the “Widal Test” to
diagnose typhoid fever.

Twenty-five American Jewish physicians were recently cited by various scientific
societies for distinguished service to mankind. We can mention only a few: Dr.
Simon Flexner, the famous Rockefeller Institute pathologist, who revolutionized
medical educational methods, and developed a serum against meningitis.

Dr. Joseph Goldberger, a federal officer, whose pioneer work in discovering the
cause of and cure for pellagra, has resulted in the saving of countless lives.
Casimir Funk, a Polish Jew who worked first at the Pasteur Institute in Paris
and later in New York, and discovered those strange substances called
“vitamins”; Dr. Morris Fishbein, editor of the Journal of the American Medical
Association and for a long time president of this association; Dr. Carl Lucas
Alsberg, head of the Food Research Institute at Stanford University, who is
probably the greatest food chemist alive. This list of leading names is far from
exhaustive, but we have already exceed the scope of this brief chapter.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: 01.08.     JEWISH FINANCE
========================================================================

Jewish Finance

CHAPTER EIGHT In a recent edition of Who’s Who In American Jewry, 2,527 Jews
were listed as having made important contributions to the life and thought of
contemporary America. These names represented all walks of life: science, art,
literature, philosophy, drama, civic affairs, and included some five hundred
physicians, three hundred lawyers, one hundred twenty-five engineers, one
hundred artists, eighty musicians, ninety-three professors, fifty-six educators,
and many others engaged in varied vocations. To an extent, this refutes the
charge that the Jews are solely commercial.

Many of the Jews began as peddlers. With their wares, which they carried on
their backs, they wandered from place to place. As they prospered they increased
their wares and bought horses and wagons. In time they settled in the community
which had been the most favorable to them, and opened small stores. From this
humble beginning some of them became merchant princes. Many of the largest
department stores had similarly insignificant beginnings. In New York alone the
Sterns, the Strauses, the late Ben Altman, the Gimbels, the Bloomindales and
Franklin Simon have become synonymous with large-scale merchandising.

Outside New York, one things immediately of Julius Rosenwald, who built the
gigantic Sears, Roebuck and Company, the largest mail-order house in the world,
and the late David May, founder of the May Department Stores Company. In the
markets of commerce and in the halls of trade, one has associated the Jew with
money. As early as 1705, Jews introduced soap making in Rhode Island.

The whaling industry became one of the most important in the early colonies, and
the Jews assumed important roles as manufacturers and distributors of whale
products. Also, they engaged in the molasses trade with the West Indies, thus
bringing wealth to New England. During the period of Colonial America, Meyer
Hart was the largest taxpayer in Eastern Pennsylvania, and Aaron Lopez, a
Portuguese Jew, owned a fleet of 130 ships. From the volume, Weave A Wreath of
Laurel, by Allen Lesser, we learn that these ships carried fish, lumber, horses,
whale and oil food products and numerous manufactured articles of Jamaica,
Hispaniola, Surinam and Honduras, where they were exchanged for molasses.
Arriving back at Newport, they were loaded this time with run for the African
trade. Coastwise vessels carried tar, pitch and turpentine from the Carolinas,
tobacco from Virginia and flour, pork and beef from the middle colonies.
Meanwhile, from the west coast of Africa, ships carried ivory, palm oil, camwood
and gold dust to European ports. Goods were imported from London and Bristol and
sold to the middle and southern colonies. With the New Bedford merchant, Francis
Rotch, Lopez sponsored many codfish and whaling expeditions, and played an
increasingly influential part in the expansion of colonial commerce.

Abraham de Lyon, a Jewish pioneer of Georgia, introduced viticulture in the
United States. Thousands have prospered economically because of his foresight,
and millions have enjoyed products of his imagination.

During the latter part of colonial America and during the early years of the
United States, there arose in Europe the beginnings of a banking house, the
effects of which were to encircle the globe. Meyer Anselm Rothschild, a German
Jew, in his effort to protect his own against the prejudice of his neighbors,
conceived the idea of international banking. Like Terah of old, who died before
he reached the land of Canaan but passed his dream to his son, Abram, Meyer
Anselm Rothschild died before his plans were crystallized, but not until he had
instilled them within the soul of his oldest son, Nathan, who later became Baron
Rothschild. In later years, the Rothschilds were known as “the kings among
bankers,” and as “the bankers of kings.” The Jew was the first to use letters of
credit. It is impossible to estimate the value of this one contribution alone in
the shaping of the mercantile enterprise. The Jews were also the first to use
the system of checks and bills of exchange. They were the pioneers of trade.
They were the first to engage in the cotton, tobacco and coffee trades. The Jews
have always been philanthropic. From the beginnings of their history they have
had organized charity for the care of the needy among them. Although their
charity had its origin out of their desire to care for the needs of their own
people, their philanthropy has extended to all peoples. Former President Hoover
said of their indefatigable generosity during the strenuous days of the first
World War:

“During the nine years that I have been actively connected with the larger
American measures of relief to Europe, I have had intimate association with
various Jewish organizations engaged in these labors. I have frequently had
cause to comment upon the extraordinary generosity and liberality of the
American Jews in their charitable contributions. Indeed their voluntary
contributions exceeded that of any other American group, and ranged from the
stinted savings of the poorest workman to the full outpouring of those in more
fortunate positions.

“There is no brighter chapter in the whole history of philanthropy than that
which could be written of the work of the American Jews during the past nine
years.” Who has not heard of the philanthropy of Nathan Straus, whose
pasteurized milk stations in New York, London, Jerusalem and other places saved
the lives of thousands of babies? His motto was: “Give till it feels good.” And
who has not heard of Jacob Henry Schiff or Julius Rosenwald, who set aside a
fund of some $22,000,000 for rural Negro schools, the building of Y.M.C.A., and
so forth? Endowments by Jews for educational and scientific foundations run into
the hundreds of millions of dollars. In the home or in public life, whether
financiers, humanitarians or scientists, the Jews have given their best effort
and thought to the development of the land of their adoption. Their
contributions to civilization have been noteworthy, even exceptional in many
instances, and in return for that contribution they ask no more than the rights
of peaceful citizenship and the privileges of tolerance.

We might continue the citation of worthy members of this remarkable race, but
space forbids.


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  CHAPTER 12: 01.09.     THE CHRISTIAN JEW
========================================================================

The Christian Jew

CHAPTER NINE In polemical Jewish literature one often comes across such
statements as: "Only the poor and ignorant Jews have embraced Christianity." We
do not deny that the poor and ignorant have been drawn like a magnet to the
cross; that is to the credit of the Christian religion. Nevertheless, it is an
undeniable fact that from its earliest days Christianity has attracted the
greatest Jewish intellects as well. This is now being admitted by the Jews
themselves. In an article by Morris Goldberg under the heading, "Turncoats, an
Amazing Historical Record of Church Dignitaries of Jewish Origin," which
appeared in the September 11, 1931, issue of the American Hebrew, the author
gives some startling facts concerning Jewish church dignitaries, popes, bishops,
statesmen, clerics of note, scientists, poets, missionaries and philanthropists.
We wish we could reproduce in full this most illuminating article which would
forever put to silence any who might be inclined to minimize the glorious
contribution which the Jew has made to Christianity. The writer concludes with
the statement: "This powerful sketch proves undoubtedly the great weight and
power which some Jews have exerted on the Christian churches. If these same Jews
had devoted their energies and human qualities for the benefit of their own
people, Christianity might never have attained the world power she possesses."
In every century some of the most noble and cultured Jews have accepted Jesus as
their Saviour and Lord. It is generally conceded that Saul of Tarsus possessed
one of the most brilliant intellects, not only of his own day, but of all time.
From the first to the middle of the second centuries, according to Hegesippus,
the celebrated Jewish Christian historian who wrote "Five Memorials of
Ecclesiastical Affairs," and the church historian, Eusebius, there are no less
than fifteen Hebrew-Christians who were the first bishops of Jerusalem: James,
the Lord’s brother (Galatians 1:9), martyred in the temple; Ananias, who
baptized Saul of Tarsus; Symeon, 62 A.D., Justus the First, 64 A.D.; Zaccheus,
112 A.D.; Tobias, 114 A.D.; Benjamin, 116 A.D.; Justin, 118 A.D.; Levi, 128
A.D.; Ephres, 130 A.D.; Joseph, 132 A.D.; ...; Crispus, Bishop of Aegina;
Clement of Rome; Epiphanius, Bishop of Constantina, died 403 A.D.

Space does not permit us to tell of the great hosts of the celebrated Jewish
followers of the cross through the centuries. And when we consider the great
humiliation and suffering which they endured at the hands of professed
Christians, we wonder that any Jews ever turned to the Christian religion.

"Every passion was in arms against them. The monarchs were instigated by
avarice; the nobility by the war-like spirit generated by chivalry; the clergy
by bigotry; the people by all these concurrent motives. Each of the great
changes which were gradually taking place in the state of the world seemed to
darken the condition of this unhappy people, till the outward degradation worked
inward upon their own minds" (From Milman, History of the Jews, Vol. II, page
295).

It was not until the nineteenth century, however, when the consciousness of the
followers of Christ was aroused to the great need of preaching the Gospel to the
brethren of our Lord, according to the flesh, that we began to witness one of
the greatest ingatherings of Jewish souls. A most careful calculation has been
made by Prof. De La Roi in his book, Judentaugen in 19 Jahrundert (Jewish
converts in the 19th Century) which shows there has been one convert to every
156 of the Jewish people, while from all other non-Christian religions there has
been one convert to every 525. At least 204,500 Jews were converted during the
past century. But the success of Jewish evangelization should not be measured
merely by quantity but by the quality of the converts; not by numbers but by
character. There is a galaxy of great stars of Jewish converts who have won
worldwide fame as historians, scientists, musicians, philanthropists, statesmen,
diplomats, theologians, etc. Let us mention a few of the most renowned:

Benjamin Disraeli (Lord Beaconsfield), Prime Minister of England was indeed
outstanding. "As a statesman there was none like him before and there will be
none hereafter." Such is the tribute paid him by his biographer, James Anthony
Froude. The Jewish Encyclopedia states that Disraeli appears genuinely to have
believed in Christianity as developed Judaism (Vol. IV, page 620). Of this we
may well be convinced by Disraeli’s own words:

"The pupil of Moses may ask himself, whether all the princes of the house of
David have done so much for the Jews as that prince who was crucified on
Calvary. Had it not been for Him, the Jews would have been comparatively
unknown, or known only as a high Oriental caste which had lost its country. Has
not He made their history the most famous in the world? Has not He hung up their
laws in every temple? Has He not vindicated all their wrongs? Has not He avenged
the victory of Titus and conquered the Caesars? What successes did they
anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far
exceeded. Has not Jesus conquered Europe and changed its name into Christendom?
All countries that refuse the cross wither, while the whole of the new world is
devoted to the Semitic principle and its most glorious offspring, the Jewish
faith, and the time will come when the vast communities and countless myriads of
America and Australia looking upon Greece, and wondering how so small a space
could have achieved such great deeds, will still find music in the sons of Zion
and still seek solace in the parables of Galilee.

"These may be dreams, but there is one fact which non can contest. Christians
may continue to persecute Jews, and Jews may persist in disbelieving Christians,
but who can deny that Jesus of Nazareth, the Incarnate Son of the Most High God,
is the eternal glory of the Jewish race?" (from Beaconsfield’s Biography of Lord
George Bentinck, page 363).

Johan Augustus Wilhelm Neander, the "father of modern church history, child in
spirit, a man in intellect, a giant in learning and a saint in piety," as Philip
Schaff characterizes him in his History of the Christian Church, is well known.
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia; Vol. IX, page 198, "Neander’s works, most
of which have been translated into English, have secured for him a lasting place
among the greatest ecclesiastical historians. When the Jews of Damascus were
being persecuted in 1846, and the old "blood accusation" was revived, he
publicly and vigorously denounced the "medieval lie." As a young man of
twenty-three years he was advanced to a professor’s chair at Heidelberg. Later
he became professor of church history at the University of Berlin. He
contributed more than any other scholar in Germany to the overthrow of unbelief
and skepticism and saved the Lutheran Church from collapse. For forty-eight
years he devoted himself to the advancement of Christianity.

Isaac Da Costa, poet laureate of the Netherlands is another outstanding Jew.
"His character, no less than his genius, was respected by his contemporaries. To
the end of his life he felt only reverence and love for his former
co-religionists, was deeply interested in their past history, and often took
their part" (The Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. IV, page 291). The following is one
of his most inspiring poems.

Art Thou my King, my Lord who camest to me. To visit me, who did not even ask?
My life in penance I would offer Thee, Inspire my soul and bid me find love’s
task. Believing power and strength pour in my heart, To praise Thee, Thou whom
storms obey. Of heaven’s ardor is my soul a part With Thee the world is warmed
with love’s sweet ray. O Lord, my Saviour, full of mercy, praise. Thou God of
honor, King of Israel’s dream, Whose Love will e’er the lowly spirit raise, The
grace and mercy doth from death redeem. Ah! Give me strength to thank Thee as I
ought, My burning soul with joy, Thy love would meet, And shout Thy glory to the
lives untaught, In psalms, bring heaven and earth to Jesus’ feet.

- Da Costa’s Kompleete Dichter Werken, Vol. II, page. 217. The Rt. Rev. Isaac
Hellmuth, D.D., D.C.L., Bishop of Huron, was the son of Jewish parents, of
Warsaw, Poland. His conversion took place when he was twenty-three years of age.
Like many of his religionists he was virtually cast off. In 1871, he was
consecrated Bishop and "he is considered by church authorities as the most
enlightened and scholarly of bishops to have presided over a Canadian
bishopric." All through his ministry he "ever evinced hearty and unbounded
interest in the spiritual welfare of his Jewish brethren, and on many occasions
advocated, from pulpit and platform, their claims to the Gospel."

Bishop Samuel Isaac Joseph Shereshewsky was born in Russian Lithuania where he
was educated in Jewish schools of learning; he was later sent to the University
of Breslau from which he was graduated. It was through the reading of a New
Testament in Hebrew that he was led to the truth of Christianity and was later
baptized by a Baptist minister. After further study he applied to the Episcopal
Church and was sent by that church to China. He translated the Bible into the
Wenli and Mandarin dialects thereby reaching 250,000,000 heathen souls. He is
described by Prof. Max Muller as one of the six most learned Orientalists of the
world. He was the founder of St. John’s College, Shanghai, China.

Bishop Michael Solomon Alexander was born of Jewish parents in a small town in
Posen. At the age of sixteen he became a teacher of the Talmud and the German
language. He migrated to England where he served as rabbi for the congregations
of Norwich and, subsequently, of Plymouth, where he was known as a man of
profound rabbinic erudition. While teaching Hebrew to an English clergyman in
his spare time, he was converted. He was consecrated Bishop by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, and was appointed as the first bishop in Jerusalem.

Paulus Cassel was one of the most distinguished converts. He studied at the
University of Berlin where at the age of thirty-four, after careful study, he
was convinced of the claims of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah. After his
conversion he was appointed editor of Deutsche Reform by the German prime
minister. His influence for Christ among his own people is evidenced by the fact
that he baptized 262 of his own people, among them doctors, authors, merchants,
etc. The Jewish chronicle referred to him as "an honor to his former brethren in
the faith." High honors were showered upon him by King Frederick William IV of
Prussia. Other universities conferred degrees upon him. He also became a member
of the Prussian parliament.

Joseph Wolff was born at Weilersback, Bavaria, in 1795, into the home of a
rabbi. He was converted in the Roman Catholic Church and studied at a monastery
in Vienna. Later he lost his faith in Rome and united with the Church of England
and studied at Cambridge. He volunteered as a missionary to the Orient and
within a period of sixteen years he had traversed virtually all of its
countries. Archbishop Whately called him a missionary Shakespeare. Among his
friends were Sir Walter Scott, Dean Stanley and Alfred Tennyson. From the
proceeds of his lectures, books and songs he built schools. The following
amusing portrait of this most remarkable man was, some years ago, given by his
attached friend and fellow-traveler, the Rev. Lewis Way:

"A man who, at Rome, calls the Pope ’the dust of the earth,’ and tells the Jews
of Jerusalem that ’the Gemera is a lie’: who passes his days in disputation and
his nights in digging the Talmud; to whom a floor of brick is a feather bed, and
a box a bolster; who finds or makes a friend alike in the persecutor of his
former or present faith; who can conciliate a Pasha, or confute a Patriarch; who
travels without a guide, speaks without an interpreter, can live without food,
and pay without money; forgiving all the insults he meets with, and forgetting
all the flattery he receives; who knows little of worldly conduct, and yet
accommodates himself to all men, without giving offence to any; such a man (and
such and more is Wolff) must excite no ordinary degree of attention in a country
and among a people whose monotony of manners has remained undisturbed for
centuries . . . By such an instrument, whom no school hath taught, whom no
college could hold, is the way of the Judean wilderness preparing."

Such a striking (though somewhat hyperbolic) delineation of a man who, for
laboriousness, may be classed with Wesley and Whitfield.

Sir William Herschel, whom we have already mentioned, the great English
astronomer, was born in Hanover in 1738. He was brought up as a musician, in
which capacity he went to England where he taught music and was organist in
Bath. In his early years he became a Christian. He is known as the founder of
sidereal science. From his family sprang such eminent men as Lord Farrer
Herschel who was a member of Parliament and also a member of Gladstone’s
cabinet. Of him The Jewish Encyclopedia says, "He was a strong church man."

While on a commission to settle the Alaska boundary and other questions pending
between the United States and England, he died in the United States. Another
member of the family, Ridley Herschel, was baptized by the Bishop of London at
the age of twenty-three.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy was born in Hamburg in 1809. He studied music in
Berlin and in his early years showed great talent. At the age of nine years he
gave a public concert where he won great applause. He played before many of the
crowned heads of Europe including Queen Victoria of England. His music is loved
the world over. Among his works are such well known compositions as his Overture
founded on The Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oratoria of St. Paul, Wedding March,
etc. "His earnestness as a Christian needs no stronger testimony than that
afforded by his own delineation of the characters of St. Paul; but it is not too
much to say that his heart and life were pure as those of a little child"
(Encyclopedia Britannica, Vol. XVIII, page 124).

Frederick Julius Stahl was born in Munich in 1802. He became a Christian when
eighteen years of age. He studied law at the universities of Wurzburg, Erlangen
and Heidelberg. In 1840, he became professor of law at the university of Berlin.
He was also a member of the Bavarian parliament. "Stahl had a more predominant
influence and showed more political ability than Lord Beaconsfield," accord to
Lord Acton. To list his writings would fill a page. He was a sincere member of
the church and interested in everything that belonged to its life.

Moses Margoliouth was born in Poland in 1820. He studied at the University of
Erlangen where he obtained his Ph.D. degree. He was editor of the Star of Jacob,
a monthly publication, an author of many books and one of the revisers of the
English version of the Old Testament.

Isidore Lowenthal, a native of Posen, was graduated from the Gymnasium at the
age of seven- teen. He came to America where he was converted and entered the
theological seminary at Princeton, later going as a missionary to Afghanistan.
In one year he learned the language of that country. In the Encyclopedia of
Missions, page 401, we read: "Lowenthal was the translator of the New Testament
into Pushtu. He wrote a number of Pushtu works and had nearly completed a
dictionary of the Pushtu language when he was shot one evening in his own garden
by his watchman, a Sikh, who alleged that he mistook his master for a robber."
"Lowenthal was one of the most remarkable men that India has ever known,"
according to H. Holcomb in Men of Might in India Missions (page 318).

Joichim Heinrich Biesenthal was born in Posen in 1804, of pious Jewish parents.
He studied under the greatest known Jewish critic and grammarian, the celebrated
Heidenheim.

Later he studied German history, theology and philology in the University of
Berlin, from which he received his doctor’s degree. His knowledge of languages
included Polish, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, Syriach, Chaldee, Arabic, Ethiopic,
Samaritan, French, German, Spanish, Italian and English. His published works are
too numerous to mention.

Carl Paul Caspari was born in Dessau in 1814, of orthodox Jewish parents. He was
one of the preeminent witnesses for Christ in Norway during the nineteenth
century. Caspari’s works are many. Prof. Bang calls him "the teacher of all
Scandinavia."

Ludwig Jacoby was the founder of German Methodism, which he spread throughout
the European continent.

Julius Kobner was born in Denmark in 1806, He found Christ and joined the
Lutheran Church, of which he became a minister, later becoming a Baptist. On his
one hundredth birthday in 1906 one hundred of his choicest sermons were
published in book form. Kobner, a man greatly gifted, was used of God in the
conversion of large numbers in Germany, Holland and Denmark, and together with
Oncken he founded Baptist churches in these countries.

Alfred Edersheim was born in Vienna. He studied at the University of Budapest,
and knew Latin, Greek, German, French, Hebrew, Hungarian and Italian. He was
also a voluminous writer, the most widely known of his writings being, The Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Shailer Matthews of the Divinity School of
Chicago University speaks of this work as "masterly and invaluable. If one were
to own but one life of Jesus, it should be Edersheim’s" (The Biblical World,
Volume VI, page 528).

Henry A Stern was born in Germany in 1820, of zealous orthodox Jewish parents.
Later he moved to London where he found Christ. In 1844, we find him at his
first missionary post in Bagdad, using it as a base from which his influence was
felt throughout all the east. The arch-bishop of Canterbury conferred upon him
the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was a preacher of eloquence. Fifteen
hundred Falasha were baptized, many of whom heard the Gospel through this man.
His published journals and books are many.

Solomon L. Ginsburg, another hero of the cross, was born in Poland in 1867. He
was a pioneer missionary under the Southern Baptist Convention to Brazil where
he labored for some forty years, preaching and teaching. He baptized on an
average of one thousand converts a year.

Rabbi Isaac Lichtenstein at the age of twenty years became district rabbi in
Tapio Szele where he labored ceaselessly and unselfishly for nearly forty years.
His conversion in the later years of his life stirred the Jewish world, and
though bitterly persecuted, he remained staunch in his faith, witnessing by word
of mouth and through the printed page to his people in many parts of the
continent.

Joseph Rabinowitz was born in Russia in 1837. Early in life he became known as a
scholar and influential lawyer. He was a man of commanding influence, a
philanthropist among his people.

During the Kishineff persecution in Russia he was delegated to go to Palestine
on a mission of inquiry with a view to establishing Jewish colonies there. While
in that country a New Testament was given to him by his brother-in-law, which he
used as a guide book to the sacred places of Jerusalem and other parts of
Palestine. While at the Mount of Olives a train of reflections and questionings
burdened his soul: "Why this long desolation of the city of David? Why the
scattering of his people?" And in a flash, the truth entered his heart: "It is
because we have neglected the true Messiah." He cried out, "My Lord and my God."
Almost as suddenly as Saul of Tarsus he became a disciple of Jesus of Nazereth.
He returned to Russia where he formulated thirteen theses, maintaining that
Jesus is the only Saviour of Israel and that "the key in the Holy Land is in the
hands of our brother, Jesus."

Rabbi Abraham Jagger was formerly rabbi of Mobile, Alabama.

Through the influence of one of the Christian professors he was led to a study
of the claims of Christ, resulting in his conversion, and he was baptized at St.
Francis Baptist Church in Mobile. He was promptly expelled from the synagogue.
Soon after his conversion he wrote his book, The Mind and Heart in Religion, in
which he sets forth his convictions concerning Christianity. To the
aforementioned renowned Jewish Christians we would add the following prominent
converts who are listed in The Jewish Encyclopedia, Volume IV, page 253:

Assing, David (1787-1842), German physician and poet Bach, Fredrich Daniel
(1756-1830), German painter Bartholdy, Jacob (1779-1825), Prussian diplomatist
Benary, Franz Friedrich (1805-60), German philologist Benary, Carl Albert
(1807-60), German painter Bendemann, Eduard (1811-45), German painter Benedict,
Sir Julius (1804-85), English composer Benfey, Theodor (1809-81), German
philologist Bemays, Michael (1834-1866), Professor of Literature, Munich
Bernhard, Max Adolph (1799-1866), German professor of music Berhardy, Gottfried
(1800-75), German philologist at Halle Block, Moritz (1815-91), Hungarian
professor of ecclesiastical history Boine, Ludwig (1786-1837), German political
writer Brahm, John (1774-1856), English composer and singer Briedenback, Moritz
Aug. Wil. (1796-1856), German lawyer Budinger, Max (1827-1902), Professor of
History at Vienna Cerf, Karl Fr. (1782-1845), German theatrical manager at
Berlin Cohn, Ludwig (1834-71), German historian Cohnheim, Julius (1839-84),
German pathologist Creizenach, Theodor (1818-42), German professor of literature
Csemgi, Karl (1826-99), President, Hungarian Supreme Court David, Christian
Georg Nathan (1793-1874), Professor of Jurisprudence at Copenhagen David,
Ferdinand (1810-73), German virtuoso and composer Detmond, John (1787-1856),
German statesman Dittel, Leopold, Ritter von (1815-98), Austrian surgeon Drach,
David Paul (1791-1865), Librarian of the Propaganda in Rome Eberti, Georg
(1812-84), Professor of Jurisprudence, Breslau Eald, F. C. (died 1874), German
theologian Feinberg, Oscar (1844), Artist at Milan, Courland Fould, Achille
(1800-67), French Minister of Finance Fraknoi, Wilhelm (1843), Hungarian bishop;
President of Hungarian Academy of Science Friedberg, Emil Albert von (1837),
German professor Friedberg, Heinrich von (1818-95), Prussian Minister of Justice
Friedenthal, Rudolph (1827-90), German deputy Friedlander, Ludwig (1824), German
Professor of archaeology Friedlander, Ludwig Herman (1790-1851), Professor of
Medicine, Halle Friedlander, Max (1892-72), German Austrian journalist Gaus,
Eduard (1798-1839), Professor of jurisprudence Goldschmidt, Herman (1802-66),
German astronomer Gutterbrock, Karl E. (1830), Professor of Jurisprudence Halin,
Elkan Markus (1781-1860), Professor of Philology Henle, Friedrick Gustav Jacob
(1809-85), German anatomist Henschel, A. V. (1824-57), Professor of Botany,
Breslau Herz, Henrietta (1764-1803), German authoress Hiller, Ferdinand von
(1811-86), German musical composer Hirsch, Theodor (1806-81), Professor of
History, Griefswald Jacobi, K. G. (1804-57), Professor of mathematics, Berlin
Jacobson, Heinrich (1826-90), Professor of medicine, Berlin Jacobson, Ludwig
(1766-1842), Professor of medicine Jacoby, Heinrich Otto (1815-64), Professor of
Greek Jaffe, Philip (1819-70), Professor of History, Berlin Joachimstadt,
Ferdinand (1816-61), Professor of Mathematics Josephsohn, Jacob (born 1818),
Swedish musical composer Kalisch, David (1820-72), German dramatist Kalkar,
Christian (1803-86), Swedish writer and divine Klein, J. L. (1810-76), German
literature Kossmann, Heinrich (1813-36), Mathematician Gronecker, L. (1823),
German mathematician Lebert, Herman (1813-78), Professor of medicine, Breslau
Lehrs, Karl (1802-78), Professor of Greek Lehrs, Siegfried, Philologist
Lessmann, Daniel (1794-1831), German writer Levin, Rahel, German social leader
Lewald, Fanny (1811-89), German authoress Lopez, Sir Menasseh (1831), English
judge; M.P.

Magnus, Eduard (1799-1872), Professor of Arts, Berlin Magnus, Heinrich Gustav
(1802-70), Professor of Chemistry Magnus, Ludwig Immanuel, Mathematician, Berlin
Mayer, Solomon (1797-1862), German Professor of Law Meir, Moritz Her. Ed.,
Professor of Philosophy, Halle Mendelssohn, Dorothea (1769-1839), German social
leader Monteflore, Lydia (baptized 1858), Aunt of Sir Moses Monteflore Neumann,
Karl Fred (1793-1870), German Orientalist Palgrave, Sir Frances Cohen
(1788-1861), Historian Philippi, Fr. Ad. (1809-82), Professor of mathematics
Ponte, Lorenza da (1749-1839), Writer and composer Ricardo, Daniel (1772-1823),
Political economist Rosenheim, Johann George (1816-87), Professor of Mathematics
Rubino, Joseph Karl (born 1799), Professor of history Rubenstein, Anton G.
(1829-89), Russian musician Simson, Martin Eduard von (1810), Lawyer, President
of German Parliament; Leader of Conservative Party Spiegelberg, Otto (1830-81),
Professor of Medicine, Breslau Stahl, Fried (1802-61), Professor of
Jurisprudence Stronsberg, Bethels Henry (1823-84), German financier Wolfers,
Jacob Philip (1803), Professor of Astronomy Wolf, Oscar Ludwig (1799-1851),
German professor of literature Ximenes, Sir Moses (1762), English High Sheriff
To record the mighty works of these men several volumes would be necessary. A
leading Jewish journalist in a recent article, "The Conversion Epidemic Among
the Jews," confesses that these converts are not merely ordinary persons but men
of prominence; it is not always the poor and ignorant who embrace Christ but
very often the intelligent and wealthy class. Says he: "It must be acknowledged
that in the last century so many hundreds of thousands left us, I maintain that
the number of those who have been baptized, since the death of Moses Mendelssohn
to the present day, is not less than 350,000 Jews." This list is by no means
complete but it is sufficient to convince the most skeptical person that the
preaching of the Gospel is far from being a failure. On the contrary, whenever
an honest and earnest effort has been put forth the results have been most
gratifying. In our own times their numbers increase at an astonishing speed. The
Jewish papers almost daily bring reports of conversions in large numbers, all
over the world. They call it an "epidemic." One paper reported, for example,
that during the first half of 1920 no less than 10,000 Jews were baptized in
Budapest alone. Such news comes in from all parts of the globe. A certain Jewish
daily estimates the number of conversions since World War I to be 100,000. With
the Apostle Paul we would ask, "Hath God cast away his people Israel?" and with
him we answer, "God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto
the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the
riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how
much more their fulness? . . . For if the casting away of them be the
reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the
dead? . . . For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and so all
Israel shall be saved" (Romans 11).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 13: 02.00.1. WINNING JEWS TO CHRIST
========================================================================

WINNING JEWS TO CHRIST A Handbook to Aid Christians in their Approach to the
Jews by Jacob Gartenhaus, Lrrr. D.

Copyright @ 1963

by

Zondervan Publishing House Grand Rapids

edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage
ministry of a century ago

<http://www.baptistbiblebelivers.com/>


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: 02.00.2.     PREFACE TO THE E-SWORD EDITION
========================================================================

Preface to the e-Sword Edition When I first discovered the amazing power of
e-Sword, I was connected to the internet with a 56k fax modem. My enthusiasm for
the program and its plethora of resources motivated me to stay up all night
downloading its riches. I spent the next several days exploring the amazing
variety of study material. As a busy pastor, I’ve tried to assemble a classic
research library. As a busy pastor of a small church, I’ve tried to
inexpensively assemble a classic research library. E-Sword immediately added
many valuable assets that I hadn’t yet purchased; and those resources that
e-Sword duplicated were much easier and faster to use than the paper versions.

Since that wonderful first week, I’ve discovered many more treasures through
Google searches. Then one day I realized that I owed a debt. I made a
contribution to Rick Meyers (Rick - you are the modern day Gutenberg; should the
Lord not return in the near future like I believe He will, you will do for Bible
study the next 100 years what Gutenberg did in the 1500’s), and then started
looking for public domain resources to convert to .topx files. And so my
personal journey has come full circle: from the excitement of discovering
e-Sword to the excitement of creating .topx files for others. Like Rick quotes
from Matthew 10:8, "freely ye have received, freely give."

Thank you, Michelle, Jeremiah, Isaiah & Micah, for understanding my debt and
graciously tolerating my near compulsive computer use for hours on end. My
thanks to the creator of e-Sword, Rick Meyers - www.e-sword.net. Thank you,
Jacob Gartenhaus, for converting your studies to eternal print. Thanks to OMLB
of module builders and proofers (Ed, Jason & Miss Pamela!) - you folks are a
great team to work with. And of course - most importantly - my thanks to the
Lord Jesus who saved my soul for all eternity. This Edition There have been no
changes to Gartenhaus’ work, except for the following:

Scripture references have been converted to Scripture hyperlinks using the
"Format Scripture ToolTip."

A few obvious Scripture reference errors have been corrected, as well as some
obvious spelling errors.

The copy and paste process has unfortunately removed most of the italicized
print. While the words have not been changed, some of Gartenhaus’ emphasis may
be missing. It is with regret that I have not taken the time to correct this.
The sense is still accurate. [By the way - would you understand this paragraph
without italics? Of course!] Also, the italicizing of the foreign words have
been lost. It is my hope that the reader will be able to follow the flow
regardless of these flaws. They - the flaws - are mine, not Gartenhaus’.

I am quite sure my edition of Gartenhaus’ work is rather imperfect. I pray that,
nonetheless, it will be productively useful in the study of God’s Word.

Finally Feel free to contact me with comments. You can reach me via e-mail at
DoctorDaveT@gmail.com

Also, if you convert a classic resource to e-Sword .topx file (or .dctx, .cmtx,
etc.), send me your work! I’d love to utilize it!

If you’ve enjoyed this module, and are interested in hundreds of other good,
conservative Bible study modules, make sure you visit www.DoctorDaveT.com - your
home for conservative Bible study modules built for eSword and The Word. May the
Lord bless you as study His word.

Dr. David S. Thomason

Florida, USA


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: 02.00.3.     COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
========================================================================

Copyright Information This book was originally copyrighted 1963. According to
the Stanford and Rutgers Copyright Renewal Databases, it has lapsed into the
public domain.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 16: 02.00.4.     TABLE OF CONTENTS
========================================================================

Table of Contents 01. THE STIRRING OF THE BONES 02. A PECULIAR PEOPLE 03. TYPES
AND SEGMENTS 04. THE JEWISH RELIGION 05. THE PRAYER LIFE OF THE OBSERVANT JEW
06. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 07. FEASTS AND FASTS 08. THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE
JEWISH PEOPLE 09. JEWISH LITERATURE 10. EXEGESIS OF THE BIBLE 11. THE TALMUD AND
THE MIDRASH 12. THE KABBALAH

13. THE MESSIAH 14. CHANGING ATTITUDE OF THE JEWS TOWARD JESUS 15. SOME
PRACTICAL WAYS OF APPROACH 16. OBJECTIONS AND QUESTIONS THE AVERAGE JEW IS
LIKELY TO ASK 17. HOW TO IDENTIFY THE MESSIAH 18. CHRISTIANITY IS COMPLETED
JUDAISM 19. HEBREW VOCABULARY (WITH INTRODUCTION AND SUPPLEMENT) 20. THE
THIRTEEN PRINCIPLES OF THE JEWISH FAITH

***


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 17: 02.00.5.     DEDICATION
========================================================================

Dedication To HENDERSON BELK whose love for and devotion to Christ have been an
inspiration and encouragement to the author


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 18: 02.00.6.       FOREWARD
========================================================================

Foreward

Without hesitancy I say that Winning Jews to Christ by Dr. Jacob Gartenhaus is a
storehouse of information concerning the Jewish people, their history as a
peculiar people, the Jewish religion and their prayer life, the Jewish feasts
and Jewish fasts, the Jewish laws and customs, the Jewish literature - and many
other pertinent truths about this unique people. These truths which so few know
and which all peoples should learn are set forth with a meticulous accuracy that
gets and holds the attention of the reader - whether the reader be friend or foe
of the Jews, whether he be one of average education or a scholar.

Reading this book one is made to think of a diver who goes repeatedly down into
pearl beds and comes up with pearls filling both hands. With attractive, yea,
with entrancing language, Dr. Gartenhaus has made known to us truths about the
Jewish people of which many have been ignorant. This book will bring informative
blessing, refreshing inspiration, and an acknowledgment of our indebtedness to
the Jewish people through whom came our Messiah and the Bible. The readers will
find in it a gold mine of helpful suggestions on how to present to the Jew the
“Good News” tactfully and efficiently, and how to refute his various objections,
doctrinal and historical. This book ought to be in the library of all preachers
in all pulpits and synagogues, of all teachers in all seminaries, and all
colleges.

To fail or to refuse to read it is to rob one of that which enriches. I predict
for this book a wide sale, a wide reading, and great usefulness.

Robert G. Lee, Pastor Emeritus Bellevue Baptist Church Memphis, Tennessee


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 19: 02.00.7.     INTRODUCTION
========================================================================

Introduction In my opinion, this volume for which I have the privilege of
writing an introductory word is unique in the field of Jewish evangelism,
actually, in the literature of the whole field of evangelism.

Beginning with the great upsurge of missionary activity among Jewish people both
in Western Europe and in Great Britain, especially in London, at the middle of
the nineteenth century, a very important literature has been produced, more
extensive than at any other period of church history.

Some of these titles have for their main purpose the urging of evangelical
Christians to undertake seriously the difficult task of evangelizing the Jews.
Other volumes have been written either attempting to write the history of Jewish
evangelization, or the history of certain societies engaged in this work, as the
British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Among the Jews, the oldest
Jewish Mission Society in the world, with which organization Dr. Gartenhaus is
closely affiliated.

The purpose of others is to present biographical sketches of some of the
outstanding Hebrew Christians of modern times, a very important and interesting
subject. Personally, however, I do not know of any volume in the English
language which in a really thoroughgoing manner attempts to give to Christians
burdened for the cause of Jewish evangelization a knowledge of the customs, the
outlook, the literature, convictions and hopes of the modern Jew as our author
has, in a masterly way, done in this volume.

Moreover, he acquaints us with the Jewish conceptions and attitudes toward
non-Jews, especially toward Christianity and its author, Jesus. He further gives
us most valuable suggestions as to how to approach the various types of Jews,
how to gain entrance into their highly sensitive, suspicious and apprehensive
hearts and minds, how to gain their confidence and arouse their interest in the
claims of Christ to be the Messiah.

Dr. Jacob Gartenhaus has the five basic qualities necessary for the writing of
any work like this with firsthand knowledge and as it were with authority.

First of all, he was born and continues to be, of course, a Jew, who by
upbringing, education, and association has an intimate acquaintance with the
ancient as well as the Modern customs of Jews, knows the literature, can read
the language, and can enter sympathetically into the opinions, practices, hopes
and longings of this ancient people. He knows what a Jew will find appealing in
the Christian Gospel, and he also knows what to avoid that would antagonize him.
In the second place, our author is a devout Christian. He has a living
experience with the Messiah of Israel, who is the fulfillment of the prophecies,
the author of eternal salvation, son of David and son of God, the only Saviour
of men.

In the third place, and this is not true I think of all the redeemed, not even
of all the redeemed of Israel, our author has a great love for his people, and a
Pauline longing to see many of this chosen but bewildered race saved through
Christ. In addition to these factors of such great importance, he, as is clearly
revealed in these pages, has a gift for research, for the organization of
material, a gift for teaching with clearness the subjects he here undertakes to
discuss which are in many cases difficult and often so misunderstood.

Finally, Doctor Gartenhaus has in this volume as it were given us the mature
results of years of unceasing devotion to the very type of work to which he
hopes a great multitude of earnest believers will be drawn. This is not the
product of the dreams of a commendably eager but young and untried evangelist
among the Jews, but of one who by the grace of God has been abundantly used
through the years in leading many of his own people to receive Jesus as their
Messiah, and to come into an experience of full salvation through Christ.

Dr. Gartenhaus is a graduate of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, Illinois,
and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. His rich
experience in his world-wide ministry, his indefatigable and selfless activities
in the Master’s vineyard, have earned for him the love and esteem of all who
have come to know him. In recognition of his unique contribution and
achievements, Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, conferred upon Dr.
Gartenhaus the degree of Doctor of Divinity, and Union University, Jackson,
Tennessee, the degree of Doctor of Literature. And I am sure that the greatest
of all degrees is yet in store for him, that is, the words of our Saviour, “Well
done, thou good and faithful servant,” which the Master bestows on those who do
His work well.

I may add here that Dr. Gartenhaus is a prolific writer of books, tracts and
articles which have had a wide circulation and many editions. His style is
clear, concise and to the point so that it may be understood by all.

I hope and pray that this book will arouse the hearts of many Christians to
seriously consider the tremendous importance of lovingly and intelligently
presenting the Gospel to these children of Abraham, the brethren of our Lord.

Wilbur M. Smith Fuller Theological Seminary


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 20: 02.01.     THE STIRRING OF THE BONES
========================================================================

The Stirring of the Bones Why such a manual?

Why should we care about Judaism? Why study Judaism? Are there not already
enough books on this subject? Is there anything new about this people that
requires a new approach, a re-discovery, re-exploration, a re-evaluation of this
subject? Has not the church replaced the Jew and has she not been fulfilling the
mission to which God called the Jews, and which they have failed to fulfill? We
shall endeavor to show that this is not the case.

We shall seek to show that such a manual is vitally needed at present.

1) Because God is not yet through with the Jewish people; 2) because of the
recent upheavals in Jewish life.

It appears that the books extant on this subject are not sufficiently adequate.
There is much that is new about this people and much of what is old is now to be
studied in a new light. Moreover, the precarious, critical changes which mankind
as a whole is now undergoing with new problems every day, new anxieties,
necessitate new solutions, or rather a fresh approach, a rediscovery of old
truths, and old prophecies; and the more we delve into the situation, the more
we realize that we cannot just do it without the Jews:

1) Because they are in our midst; 2) because their history is a vital part of
our civilization; 3) because of the part they are yet to play in the redemption
of the world. The world now faces an unprecedented crisis which if not overcome
might soon lead the world to total destruction. The ominous handwriting on the
wall: MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN (Daniel 5:25) is clearly seen by all thinking men
and women; and translated into modern usage, it cautions:

“A few more steps in that direction which mankind is now racing will catapult it
into TOHU VABOHU - into chaos and extinction.”

The “heathen rage” while crying, “Peace, peace!” People, good ones and not so
good ones, convene, confer, speak and write, discussing ways and means of how to
avert the impending catastrophe, while the “powers” whom they represent, in
whose name they speak, vie with each other in accelerating the production, or
acquisition, of implements for mass-annihilation.

“Peace, peace!” - But there is no peace, because the heart of man is evil: “And
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis
6:5; Genesis 8:21).

Mankind is sinful and the wages of sin is death. Yet, there is a cure for man’s
evil heart, a remedy for his sinfulness: “the blood of Christ which taketh away
the sin of the world” and its resultant evil (see John 1:29 and Hebrews 10:17).
But, alas, mankind has not yet accepted this unique and only remedy. They have
not yet recognized the “Prince of Peace,” who for 1900 years has been calling to
weary and afflicted humanity: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Why has mankind not availed itself of this life-saving remedy? The answer may
be: Most of them have not heard of it at all, and many of them have not heard
enough of it. Was not 1900 years of grace time enough to reach the hearts of
every human creature in every corner of the earth? The time, surely, was
sufficient, but there were not enough true and faithful messengers to carry the
Good Tidings near and far.

Let us here have a swift glance at the course of the spread of the divine
message: The first messengers, apostles, evangelists, were Jews, and with their
typical zeal nourished by the knowledge of Christ, they launched out into the
then accessible world, and not to Jews of the Diaspora only, but also to
Gentiles. Thousands upon thousands heard the Gospel and were convicted of its
truth and its blessings. Within a relatively short period nearly all the
“world,” as it was known at that time, came under the sway of Christianity. But
then came a relapse: The “wild branches” which were grafted into the natural
branch began to disregard and disdain the hospitality of the stem, arrogating to
themselves its prerogative, deeming its life-giving sap unsavory, and even
loathing its adopted parentage. Thus began the process of degeneration,
deterioration and decay.

Now when the “wild branches” sought to exercise their usurped authority, they
exercised it with ignorance, arrogance, cruelty and failure. For centuries the
cross and the sword were almost twin brothers; at least the non-Christian
nations identified them as such. It was not the Gospel of love, of the meek and
“Gentle Jesus,” that the Medieval Church offered and preached to those who
needed it, but rather a concoction of truth and falsehood, light and darkness,
allurements and threats, all mixed, and then thrust forcefully down unwilling
throats. With the Protestant Reformation there came a reformation in missionary
work. The Scriptures resumed the authority which, for long years, the Catholic
hierarchy had usurped. With the unadulterated Word of God in hand evangelical
messengers could again carry the Gospel of love and salvation to all creatures.
But the endeavors were not adequate, not proportionate to the vast needs. There
were not enough Christlike, self-sacrificing messengers of the Good News. And
more tragic, there were even less of the love-filled, selfless messengers to
bring that same Good News to the Jews next door. How well fits here: “. . . they
made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept”
(Song of Solomon 1:6).

Had they tended to their own vineyard, the Jews - their neighbors - first, they
might have had more workers for the distant vineyards: for, every Jewish
“convert” is a potential missionary and usually an extremely zealous one. As an
example consider the fact that during the nineteenth century, the
proportionately very little mission activity among the Jews in Europe brought
about 300,000 converts. That is an enormous number, compared with the numbers of
conversions in foreign lands.

Moreover, in course of time, Satan confused light with its shadow, fruit with
its husks, and many of the missionaries, or mission societies, began to preach
to the “benighted natives” a form of “Christianity” rather than Christ, and that
sort of “Christianity” began to be identified with “civilization” (i.e., Western
civilization) with its technical achievements, schools, hospitals, museums,
theaters, etc., and, to the “natives” it meant also, colonialism, conquest and
subjugation to foreign masters.

No wonder, that at the first opportunity, the natives, after they had learned
the values of so-called Christian civilization, made use of it in dispensing
with the missionaries, in a more or less “civilized” manner. Thus, now nearly
all the Gentile world is closed tightly against Christian missions.

If we were to sum up the results of 1900 years of preaching to the Gentile
“first,” we would find that the vast majority of mankind is un-Christian,
hundreds of millions are anti-Christian and most of those who are called
“Christian” nations are only nominally Christian.

China, with its countless millions is now tightly closed to Christian
activities, the other Asian countries with their hundreds of millions are
rapidly barring their doors to missions. The vast continent of Africa, which was
once called the “dark” continent, is expelling the missionaries who brought them
“civilization,” and is now relapsing into spiritual darkness.

How about Europe, the “civilized,” the “Christian” continent? Recent estimates
show that of the 550 million people living in Europe - 400 million have not yet
heard the message of Christ.

If one wants to know how many of those who have heard the Gospel are really
followers of Christ, he may get an approximate estimate by having a look at
those of the American people, for example, who “have heard.”

At present there are 66 million people in the “Christian” United States who have
not any church affiliation. And those who are affiliated, even those who shout,
“Lord, Lord,” show little evidence of being regenerated.

Contrasting this “Christian” complacency and indifference with the
anti-Christian activities, we may have a clear picture of Satan’s triumphant
march, driving humanity to godlessness and destruction.

The Arabs having got their education at the missionaries’ schools and colleges
are making enormous strides in the conquest of Afro-Asian peoples to Islam, the
faith of Mohammed.

Buddhism, too, has launched out to conquer the world. Competing with these are
other “isms,” even Rabbinism, and above all Communism, the gravest menace to
humanity. All are feverishly striving to entice the world into the clutches of
Satan. Thus there is confusion, ferment, turmoil, chaos - the “raging of the
heathen.”

Some of our liberal theologians point with satisfaction to modern society with
its modern institutions and its opportunities for all, which enables the poor to
live more conveniently, more luxuriously than did kings of yore, and they call
this Christianity. Is it?

Probably, were it not for Christianity we might not have reached this stage of
more convenient living. But this “advanced,” “progressive” life with Christ left
out has not made man happier, better, nobler.

Had education and science been subservient to the moral values and truth of
Christianity, we might enjoy their fruit, but since they became rebellious and
put themselves above their mistress, their fruit has become bitter and venomous.

The discoveries of the marvelous forces stored up in nature should have opened
man’s eyes more and more to see the omnipotence of the Creator of these forces
and thus apply them only to His glory and to the welfare of His creatures. But
Satan would not have permitted that.

- Thus the horrible abuse of the Creator’s marvels. - Thus also the abuse of
leisure, probably the greatest blessing which technical achievement has extended
to man.

It is enough to scan the contents of the daily newspaper, or look and listen one
evening to television, in order to be convinced that leisure is being terribly
abused. Little is there, in the press as well as in television, which tends to
make man better, nobler. We may assume that they provide man with what he
requires. And it seems that he requires nothing more than to eat and drink and
be merry, and let the morrow take care of itself! In short, while paganism has
become “civilized,” “Christian civilization” has become paganized.

This is what the Gentile church has achieved during 19 centuries.

WHY HAS THE CHURCH FAILED?

Why this catastrophic failure that has brought mankind to the brink of the
bottomless pit?

We cannot find another answer except this: Because the “Church,” however you
define the word, has not obeyed the Master’s injunction to “begin at Jerusalem”;
it did not follow Paul’s example to go “to the Jew first.”

Mind you, both the Master’s command and Apostle’s example came after the
rejection. I stress this point “after” because there have been theologians who
taught that because the Jewish people “rejected” Christ, He rejected them. They
were cast away.

These “modern” thoughts, and all such casuistry about God having broken His
promises, abrogated His Covenant with Israel, because He is “no respecter of
persons,” imply that the Jews do not mean any more to Him than any other people,
to say the least. All these thoughts were in vogue already in Paul’s time.

But Paul, who knew the Scriptures better than all theologians, past and present,
who knew, loved and obeyed his Master more than they have done, emphatically
refuted them: assuring and reassuring those that wanted to know, that God does
not change, that Israel is still His “Chosen people,” and it is still to the Jew
first.

No, He is not through with them; He still has a great future in store for them,
and He still wants them to carry out their mission to all mankind. (See Romans
3:1-2 and Romans 11:1-36).

How those old doubts, heresies and prejudices, persisted all through the
nineteenth centuries; how modernists still try to twisted squeeze out of a
certain word or words, culled out of their context from the Scriptures, “proofs”
that they are right, and not Jesus and not Paul, is hard to comprehend.

It only shows how powerful Satan is to confuse man’s mind and lead him astray.

Again and again we hear the argument: “The Jews had their chance and failed it,
so the ‘Church’ assumed their mission.” Now, we might similarly contend: “The
‘Church’ has had its chance and failed, so perhaps we’d better go back to the
Jews.” But why use childish arguments, when the Bible from Genesis to Revelation
revolves around this Jewish people? Those that would “cast away” this people
would do well if they first cast away the entire Bible.

After the Bible has related the fall of mankind, it goes on relating the history
of the people whom God chose to lift it up again. For many generations the Lord
led this people through rigorous training and education. From time to time He
manifested His will and instructions to them in diverse manners; sometimes it
was through the Holy Spirit by the prophets, sometimes by personal revelation,
and finally with the climax when the Word became flesh.

All theophanies had the one purpose, to prepare and equip this people for the
universal ministry (a “kingdom of ministers”) of proclaiming to all nations the
glory of God and the saving grace which is in the supreme sacrifice of His only
Son for the atonement of their sins.

The Jewish people is still God’s witness, whether they, themselves, or their
antagonists like it or not. Their tragic history serves as incontestable proof
that the Bible is the Word of God and that He cares for the salvation of
mankind. At present, the Jew may be His unwilling witness, but the time will
come when he will become a willing and most efficient witness.

Why did the Jews, as a people, reject the Messiah, whom they so anxiously
expected? Was God’s choice of this people wrong? Was all His training and
disciplining then a failure?

These are blasphemous questions - silly, childish questions.

But strange as it is, there are mature people, even learned people who, by their
talk, evoke such speculations. It is quite natural.

Man, who takes pride in his wisdom and logical thinking, presumes to measure and
weigh God’s wisdom and deeds according to his own standards. We do not know what
might have been the course of history had not blindness in part afflicted the
Jewish people; had they not stumbled; had they accepted their Messiah when He
came to them. We do not know what might have been, but we do know that whatever
happened happened according to God’s plans.

To us, to mortal man, it is a mystery. Yet, Paul, inspired by God, instructs us
and comforts us: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this
mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans
11:25); and his chapter 11 to the Romans, if we read it prayerfully, will shed
heavenly light on the matter and reveal to us at least part of this mystery.

However, the Lord Himself told His faithful disciples, at their first meeting
after His death, that it was not for them to know God’s times and seasons. For
them, as for all other believers, it is only to be His witnesses - and to begin
at Jerusalem (Luke 24:47 and Acts 1:6-8). In short, as regards the
evangelization of the Jews, as indeed in all other human conduct, we are bound
to subjugate our wills to God’s will; we are to obey His command implicitly and
leave His planning and the results to Him.

Yet I shall try to give a reply to some questions which I have been, asked
lately:

1. Are the Jews now more than before spiritually prepared for this vital change
of heart and mind; to return to the God of the Sacred Scriptures, find out what
is His will and fulfill it?

2. Are they now, more than before, physically and mentally equipped with the
necessary qualifications for their mission?

3. Are they now more than before willing to take upon themselves this most
difficult and hazardous task? To question No. 1 our reply is “Yes.” For the
first time in Jewish history the Jews are beginning to ask, “What is Judaism?”
During the time of the prophets there was the question, whether to serve Baal,
or Jehovah, or both. When it became clear that Jehovah God was the only One,
Judaism then meant to serve Him in accordance with His commandments as recorded
in the Sacred Scriptures. With the coming of the Messiah Jesus a crisis came
which changed the whole course of Jewish history. While thousands of Jews
believed in Christ, the people as a whole followed their leaders who rejected
Him and His teaching.

Soon afterward, Jerusalem, including the Holy Temple, the center of Judaism, was
destroyed and its people was dispersed into many lands. Now again large numbers
of Jews came to know Jesus and followed Him. But the people, as a whole, blindly
followed those rabbis who promised that if they would keep the Torah, observe
its commandments scrupulously and conscientiously, God would send them the
Messiah who would return them to the Promised Land and to pristine glory.

But how could they keep God’s commands when almost all of them were, directly or
indirectly, connected with and dependent upon the sacrificial ordinances which
could not be observed when there was no Temple and no altar? Were the leaders at
that time not stricken with partial blindness, they would have seen that their
Redeemer liveth - that He was the living, the only sacrifice. As it was, they
salvaged the few commands which could be kept even in exile and built around
them “hedges” and “fences,” as they called it, till the original Judaism became
distorted beyond recognition. The leaders cherished the hope that this mode of
Judaism would serve the people as a vessel to carry them on the seas of exile
safely till the Messiah would come. Thus they embarked in a wreck on the
boisterous, uncharted seas with raging billows pounding on it, with pilots who
knew little of navigation. Countless were their losses, indescribable their
suffering, as they were tossed about during the nineteen centuries of exile.
Yet, they patiently endured their trials and tribulations in the assurance that
the Messiah and their deliverance might come at any moment.

All they had to do to be worthy and to hasten His coming was to observe
meticulously, implicitly, all the laws and ordinances which the rabbis had
“prescribed.” This they did, zealously and unswervingly, doing all that the
rabbis enjoined them to do. This implicit faith in the rabbis and their type of
Judaism could thrive only under the strict surveillance and constant watch of
the rabbis and was made possible when the Jews in the Diaspora lived segregated
in ghettos, depending on each other, responsible for each other, in a hostile
menacing world around them, where the synagogue was the center of life, where
all “foreign” (Gentile) ideas were anathema, where no book besides the rabbinic
books could penetrate. That was “Judaism,” the Judaism of the exile, the Judaism
of the ghetto. But the old Ghetto walls now have crumbled and collapsed beyond
repair.

There came the age of “Enlightenment,” the age of “Emancipation,” and
enlightened and emancipated Jews began to think for themselves. They began to
doubt the wisdom of the rabbis and to wonder whether the words of Isaiah of old
were not meant also for later ages:

“. . . O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way
of thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

New leaders arose, various “isms” were initiated to replace that so-called
“Judaism” which was rapidly deteriorating and disintegrating. But all “isms,”
all new hopes and aspirations were shattered during the last score of years. All
the hopes and dreams that modern “emancipated” Jews had conceived in regard to
education, progress, science, democracy, socialism and the like, vanished during
the years of World War II, the Nazi atrocities, and the bankruptcy of Communism,
as an ideal. * * See chapter, “A Peculiar People; A Glance at Their History.”
The establishment of the State of Israel brought some new hope to weary and
heavy-laden Jewries all over the Diaspora. But it was also the new “State” that
challenged traditional “Judaism” to reality, to life in a modern State. It was
there, in the new State of Israel, that the question arose, “What is Judaism?”
The rabbis have not yet relinquished their hope of reinstating their brand of
Judaism. Imposing synagogues are being erected, various attractions and
inducements are offered to enlist members; much is done to make Judaism more
attractive, more palatable, more digestible, but all in vain. The people as a
whole stand now at the crossroads, disillusioned and confused, and ask:
“Whither?” The answer to their quandary we are to supply. “Whither?” they ask:
The answer is, we should say: “‘Return ye, all the way back to your God, who has
chosen you to be His holy people and to make Him known to all the peoples of the
earth.’ It is to that end, that God has preserved you through all those
vicissitudes.”

The survival of the Jewish people in a world alien and hostile to them, is the
greatest mystery and miracle in the history of mankind. The Jews know that. They
also know that they were destined by God to make Him known to all the world.
Even their liberals and agnostics acknowledge this, although it is all quite
hazy to them. They know that they have not yet carried out this worldwide
mission. Why? Because, having followed false prophets and blind leaders their
knowledge of God, His Word and His will, became muddled and adulterated.

The highest, noblest ideals were exchanged for the observances of meaningless
rites, which could never have appealed to the hearts of the Gentile world; nor
could they have satisfied their own longings. Least of all could these petty
rites, which have become known as “Judaism,” have given a man the assurance that
he is one with God, that his sins have been atoned for. This kind of Judaism now
has less appeal than ever to other peoples because most Jews themselves have
abandoned it. They themselves realize that it is not leading them in the right
direction - back to the God of their fathers. * * See chapter on Sects.

It is thus our task to show them the way back to God who revealed Himself to
their ancestors and by whose everlasting covenant all the families of the earth
were to be blessed (Genesis 12:3); we are to show them that all subsequent
revelations confirmed this covenant and its divine purpose.

2. Are they now, more than before, physically and mentally equipped with the
necessary qualifications for their mission? Here, too, the answer is “Yes.”
Already in the time of Christ the Jewish people were well prepared for their
mission to a world sunk in the mire of idolatry, sin and corruption. They had
the Word of God, they loved it and were ready to guard and defend it with their
very lives. They had a fair knowledge of the nations around them with whom they
traded and among whom they had settled in large numbers. They had the message
and they had the means of communicating with other people. Some, like Paul and
the other disciples, fulfilled the mission excellently, but the people as a
whole failed.

Since that time the Jewish people has had additional training, not by direct
revelation, through prophets, but indirectly by harsh experience. It was a post
graduate course, each lesson beaten in by hard blows. Now, after 1900 years of
rigorous schooling, they have learned to know all nations and to live with them;
they have learned to endure all climates, to overcome difficulties which to
other people would be insurmountable. This schooling in exile, has equipped them
with exceptional intellectual endowments in such qualities as perseverance,
resourcefulness and initiative, with ambition and energy.

Proof: After about 1900 years of economic and social restrictions, severe
degradation, oppressive laws and legal disabilities, and in spite of hate and
prejudice with its periodic outbursts of mob violence, massacres, gas-chambers
and concentration camps, they have survived. One may now encounter them in the
highest positions of human civilization. They are to be found high up in
industry and commerce, in finance, law, and medicine and in all branches of art,
science and in politics. What is most important, they can and do create and
shape moral ideas and public opinion since they exert such an influence on the
press, theatre, radio, television and education.

These high intellectual endowments can be used for good or abused for evil; they
can make or break, do or undo, kill or cure. Generally, the Jews have used their
abilities for self-defense and for self-perpetuation. Their extraordinary
potentialities are well demonstrated in the upbuilding of the new State of
Israel where, within a few years, they have turned a barren desert into a
flourishing land, and that with almost no implements and no previous experience.
And these gifts were bestowed on them not only for their own good, but for the
good of all mankind - “All the families of the earth” are to be blessed through
them. Yes, the Jews are more than ever before, qualified to accomplish the task
which was given to them by God from the time of Abraham.

3. Are they now more willing to take upon themselves this most difficult,
hazardous task? Again the answer is “Yes.” However, we should bear in mind that
no man has ever been too willing to undertake a task which is likely to incur
great suffering and expose him to ridicule, hate and persecution. Moses,
greatest of prophets, hesitated persistently before he obeyed God’s command to
go to Pharaoh. The other prophets, too, tried to evade God when He ordered them
on difficult missions.

Even the Saviour Himself, in the flesh, pleaded, “O my Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou
wilt” (Matthew 26:39). The Jews have always been a zealous people. They have
been the most idealistic people on earth. They have always been in search of the
highest ideals, and when they found one which they thought was the right one,
they devoted all their heart and mind to it. No other nation has had so many
martyrs as they have had. They have always been ready to offer on the altar of
their faith not only their possessions but also their very life. They showed the
same ardor, enthusiasm and self-sacrifice, when one or another “ism” captured
their heart as a great “ideal.”

Now that they have come to realize that the zeal with which they had hitherto
worshiped God, has been without knowledge: and now that they have become
disillusioned with the various “isms,” which they believed would bring salvation
to mankind, they ought surely to be ready to give their all to the one and only
ideal of salvation for Jew and Gentile alike when the knowledge of this ideal is
impressed upon their hearts. And their hearts have never been more open for it.

It is thus the purpose of this book to assist every Christian in finding the way
to the Jewish heart, and the prerequisite to reach man’s heart is love. But one
cannot really love what one does not know.

There is a fourth question which we have been asked: Are there not enough books
on Judaism, why one more? My answer is: Yes, there are plenty of books, more
elegant, more scholarly than I may boast for mine, but they lack a necessary
perspective which this book will emphasize. As I point out in the Chapter on
“The Jewish Religion,” most, if not all, of those books have, it seems, only one
aim: to glorify Judaism and show its superiority over Christianity, thus only
what fits into that frame is used and what does not well fit in is ignored.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

I became aware of the need of such a special presentation for Christians years
ago soon after the Lord had called me to dedicate my life to the evangelization
of my people. I had my own struggle at “Peniel,” as did my forefather Jacob, but
the “Angel of the Lord” blessed me and promised to be with me and guide me
through all the difficulties encountered in such a mission. When I began my
practical work, I realized that the old methods of reaching the Jews through
mission centers was not sufficient. There were more than 6,000,000 Jews in the
United States scattered in over 9,000 cities and towns. A large army of
qualified missionaries and hundreds of centers would be needed to reach them.

I therefore saw no other solution to this problem than to place the
responsibility for evangelizing the Jews primarily at the door of the local
churches by challenging each church to minister to the Jews of their vicinity.
We have a good example of the effectiveness of this in the early church. The
apostles sowed the seed which fell on fertile ground, producing rich fruit. This
fruit was disseminated and in turn produced more fruit and so on. Every one of
the followers became a missionary, which explains the rapid growth of the early
church.

I wish to say, however, that I do not desire to minimize the efforts put forth
by mission centers. They have their place in large cities as well as in foreign
countries and have rendered monumental service. Without them the fires of Jewish
evangelism might long ago have been extinguished. This conviction I have voiced
by word of mouth from thousands of pulpits as well as through the printed page,
and, thank God, the appeal has not been without effect. The response was
heartwarming. Requests for advice and instruction began to pour in from earnest
Christians who realized that they were duty bound to make Christ known to their
Jewish friends but they did not know how to approach them, for they knew as
little about the inner life of the Jewish people within their gates as they did
about the peoples in distant lands.

Here is a letter typical of the requests which we received at that time:

Very often I have felt guilty of negligence of the divine command, “To the Jew
first,” and I have tried to calm my conscience with the thought that the Jews
did have the Gospel first and rejected it and that the command is no longer
binding upon Christians today. But your message enlightened me very much and I
realize now that it is the duty of every follower of Christ to carry the Gospel
“To the Jew first.”

However, like many others, I feel so inadequate in contacting my Jewish friends,
and should like to know more about them, their relationship to Christianity, how
to approach them, how to gain their confidence, how to win them to Christ. I
feel that from your many years of experience in preaching the Gospel to your own
people, you would have valuable advice to offer. So please (and I am sure that
many others join me in this plea) take the time to prepare a manual on the
subject.

Requests in such a spirit, both oral and written, have been received from
hundreds of devout Christians and I am sure that there are thousands who would
welcome something to guide and direct them in their witnessing to the Jew. The
great need for information on the real life of the Jewish people has been
recognized not only by the layman but also by Christian leaders and missionary
organizations, as the following transcript shows:

Dr. C. E. Matthews, Director of Evangelism under the Home Mission Board of the
Southern Baptist Convention, requested me to write a chapter for his book, The
Southern Baptist Program for Evangelism. In his preface to that chapter he
writes:

It is the writer’s belief that of all minority groups the most neglected by
Christians in soul-winning is the Jew. . . . The writer himself is very guilty
of this sin of neglect. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred we, as Christians,
will pass by the Jew and seek to win the Gentile in evangelism. We make no plans
to win the Jew and apparently, from the amount of praying we do in their behalf,
we reveal our utter lack of interest in the spiritual welfare of the people who
Paul said were to have first access to the Gospel and over whom our Saviour
bitterly wept because of their spiritual blindness.

The first concern in the heart of Paul was for the Jew. So deep was his concern
and so great was his pity and love for them that he cried with bitter tears for
three years as he pleaded day and night with them. We are trying to work out a
plan in our program of evangelism to attract the Jew to the preaching of the
Gospel and to include him in our efforts to win a lost world to Jesus.

One of the main reasons that Gentile Christians hesitate to try to win Jews to
Christ is that we are ignorant concerning their many and varied religious sects
in Bible times and now and concerning what each of them believes. For this
reason we have asked Dr. Jacob Gartenhaus, Secretary of the Department of Jewish
Evangelism of the Home Mission Board, to write an article on the subject of
evangelizing the Jew. Dr. Gartenhaus has favored us with an article on the
subject written especially for this book. In this article we have found more
actual information on the subject than we have ever read in any book outside of
the Bible. But articles in newspapers and magazines were not enough: they might
easily be overlooked. So in response to many further requests, I published my
first tract, How to Win the Jews. So great was the demand for it that I had to
reprint it again and again, altogether in 22 editions - almost half a million
copies. This small tract, however, became inadequate after the Second World War.
Things have changed enormously. A new world emerged from the debris of the old,
and the greatest change of all occurred within the Jewish people. The horrible
German atrocities which were climaxed in the slaughter of about 6,000,000 Jews
while the civilized world looked calmly on without any serious protest, had such
a disillusioning effect upon the lives of those who survived that they despaired
of ever being able to expect anything but trouble from non-Jews.

Yet mightier than these negative causes for the changes in Jewish life, and its
relation to the non-Jewish world, was the positive cause of the establishment of
the national home - the State of Israel. The Jew no longer felt himself to be a
homeless creature wandering from one place to another where sooner or later he
would again become an object of hate, persecution and expulsion. He had become
conscious of the fact that now he had a haven where he would be welcomed as a
brother and fellow citizen. Indeed, the Jew has become a sound, normal, human
being with but little of the complexes and problems that were the marks of the
wandering Jew - the ghetto Jew.

We became aware of the fact that the Jewish people is in the process of being
remodeled, recast; the dry bones of Israel are coming to life, a new type of Jew
is now being born. Christians everywhere know that a miracle is happening before
their eyes: ancient prophecies are being fulfilled and now more than ever they
want to know this wonder-nation - the peculiar people.

Thus in response to the recent urgent requests we are now publishing a new and
much enlarged guide to “win the Jew.” Our earnest prayer and sincere hope is
that this book may lead its readers to the knowledge and the love which is
required in approaching the Jew and winning his heart to his true Messiah.


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  CHAPTER 21: 02.02.     A PECULIAR PEOPLE
========================================================================

A Peculiar People A GLANCE AT THEIR SINGULARITY Some words of caution: In all
your dealings with the Jew, remember that, although he affirms that he wants to
be treated like any other human being, he was, is and will ever be aware of
being a peculiar people. His first patriarch Abraham was peculiar, was different
from all men around him. And God chose him and his descendants to be His people,
holy, separate, and exemplary. When Jacob came to Egypt he asked for and
received a separated, exclusive place for settlement. For hundreds of years
Jacob’s offspring (the Jews) lived in Egypt and remained a distant people.
Egyptian civilization with its few virtues and many vices had no effect on them.
Balaam saw their camp in the desert and prophesied their future as “the people
[that] shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers
23:9). The Law on Sinai, by inculcating into their hearts and minds the faith in
the One True God, and the abhorrence of any other gods, was the final touch (the
master stroke) which separated them forever from all other people. For many
years there were several attempts by the Jews to be like other people, but God
always frustrated such attempts. “And that which cometh into your mind shall not
be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the
countries, to serve wood and stone” (Ezekiel 20:32).

During their first exile in Babylon large numbers of Jews became “like others.”
They assimilated and vanished as Jews, but the main stem remained intact. Many
of them returned to Zion, where they could live apart from Gentile contact and
influence.

During the period of the second Temple many Jews tried to be like the Greeks,
then like the Romans, but the nation as a whole preserved its integrity. After
centuries of vigorous training by the prophets and their successors, the Jews,
by the time of their second exile, were already thoroughly imbued with what we
call Judaism. Nothing could turn them from it and it involved a life peculiar,
distinct, and isolated from the life of all other people.

It often happened that, in order to escape persecution, or to gain recognition
when needed, Jews found it necessary to assume “Gentilism,” to put on Gentile
garb and to speak Gentile language. Sometimes even to shave the beard and the
sidelocks in order to look like a “goy.” After living in a country long enough
to be acclimated and adapted to environment, they even began to look like their
Gentile neighbors, like Arabs in Arabia, like Chinese in China, like Germans in
Germany, etc. But all adaptations and simulations were only external.
Essentially the Jew remained Jewish no matter what disguise he put on. There has
always been the almost impregnable wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. No
matter what contacts he made with the Gentile outside, his home always remained
the sanctuary of Judaism whereto the Gentiles had no access, except occasionally
for some business transaction. They could not dine together. There could be no
thought of intermarriage. There was no particular subject which could be equally
near and dear to both of them.

The usual subjects of the Jew’s conversation have been Judaism and the Jewish
people at home and abroad, in all corners of the earth. Of course he could not
share his feelings about these with his Gentile friends. Nor could he share such
sentiments as the Gentile is likely to voice. What is dear to the Gentile
(especially religion) has always been, at best, taboo to the Jew. The practices
and rites of non-Jewish religions whether Egyptian, Babylonian, Canaanite,
Greek, Roman, so sacred, so dear to his Gentile neighbor, were an abomination to
the Jews. And so were the rites, processions and pomp of medieval Christianity.
The bloody sports and pastimes of Spain, fencing in Germany and prize fights in
America, etc., have, to the Jew, been equally brutal, unfit for man created in
the image of God. Nor have the carnivals, the various races, masquerades, dance
parties ever, been to his liking. The average Jew cannot fathom why a man should
be so enthusiastic, so excited, so engrossed in physical sports as is the
average Gentile. Not only have these differences kept the Jew apart from the
Gentile, he has also distrusted the Gentile, considering him unpredictable and
unstable, who might get drunk (or be incited by some demagogue) and start a
quarrel which could lead to a general brawl and bloodshed. So he has stood apart
and aloof, looking down upon the Gentile as an inferior being.

Every day in prayer the pious Jew thanks God for not having made him a Gentile.
While this self-righteousness is not praiseworthy we may admit that the average
Jew has in most cases stood above his Gentile environment in moral virtues. In
all places at all times he was more humane than those around him.

Why so? Because at all times and in all places he took the Scriptures as his
guide. Not always did he interpret God’s Word properly, and not always did he
follow His guidance. There were times when he would sacrifice his life for every
iota; there were times when his zeal was without knowledge; there were times as
in the present when he was ready to abandon the precepts of the Torah - but
always he was proud of his heritage, proud of being peculiar, and proudly
conscious of the obligation to be better than the “goyim.” Noblesse oblige: He
being of noble ancestry. That they survived notwithstanding all the vicissitudes
to which they were exposed in dispersion among hostile peoples, proves that
their aloofness, their being peculiar, has been justified, has been of God.

A. THE PECULIAR NATURE OF WORK AMONG THE PECULIAR PEOPLE To be an ambassador of
God and particularly to the Jews is the greatest privilege which a human being
may attain. But this also involves great responsibility, devotion, spiritual
fortitude, an abundance of love and patience, and last but not least a fair
knowledge of this extraordinary people.

Remember, the approach to the Jew must be altogether different from that to any
other people. The African tribesman, for example, having no deep-rooted
prejudices against Christ or Christianity, may after some hesitation cautiously
try to get acquainted with the missionary and listen to what he has to tell him.

Things have radically changed everywhere in recent years. The “natives” no
longer fear or revere the “white man.” Up until a few years ago they considered
the white missionary as a member of the superman race, possessor of
extraordinary might, wisdom and wealth, who would dispense to them money, food,
clothing, medicine, education and other advantages that make the white man
great, if they (the natives) would accept the white man’s God.

It is not so with the Jew. He is quite satisfied with himself. He is sure that
the missionary has nothing to offer him except a religion which his teachers
have taught him to abhor, to despise, and to shun. He has always been conscious
of being the elite, and above all other nations, an aristocrat whose noble
lineage goes back thousands of years, who possessed the highest degree of true
culture long before the nascence of the people who now are so boastful of their
civilization.

He has always been firmly convinced that his people are the wisest of people and
that he is superior to all other nations in noble virtues, such as purity of
mind and body, sobriety, charity, etc. Prejudice, fortified with some
experience, has taught him that he has nothing to gain by abandoning Judaism and
going over to “another religion,” but on the contrary, he has everything to
lose. “Judaism” is not just a belief in certain doctrines or a performance of
certain rites (on special occasions) but it is his very life and being. We shall
see later in the chapter on Sects that even the present-day Jew who is slack in
the observance of the traditional laws and customs still feels as one with those
of past generations who zealously clung to those laws and customs. “Going over”
to Christianity is considered by all Jews (observant or non-observant) as
desertion to the enemy’s camp, as high treason, as an unpardonable sin.

Furthermore, whereas the Gentile after having become Christian may often remain
with his kinfolks as peacefully and amicably as before, the Jew, on becoming a
Christian, might immediately and cruelly be ostracized from his people; his
parents would lament him as dead and curse his memory, and his friends would
turn to be his implacable adversaries. In short, he would become an outcast and
everything would be done to make his life miserable.

There surely are discouragements and inconveniences in evangelizing the Jew, but
there are also a great many advantages in this particular field which outweigh
all the disadvantages (and which one does not find in other fields). In the Jew,
contrary to the foreign “native,” you will find generally an intelligent, clean
and sober person with whom you as a Christian have much in common. You may
discuss with him politics, economics, social and civic affairs and often also
literature, music and art, etc., which may be of interest to both of you. And
above all, there is the Bible (in this case the Old Testament) which is regarded
as holy by both of you. Moreover, the subject of Christianity is not foreign to
him although much of his knowledge about it is badly distorted.

Furthermore there is that great advantage in “converting” a Jew, in that one may
have the assurance of not only having saved a precious soul, but of having also
given birth to a new missionary. It is, as we have shown, difficult to convince
the Jew that his conception and evaluation of Christ and Christianity has been
wrong. But as soon as he is convinced of his error, and his ignorance turns into
knowledge, there is no holding him back from rushing out and calling, “Eureka, I
have found it!”

First he wants to exculpate, exonerate himself before his people by proving why
he has accepted Jesus as his Messiah. By so doing he is a missionary indirectly.
Then, as his self-defense is usually of no avail, because his people will always
think of him as an apostate, a renegade, or at best a demented character, he
usually takes to the direct mission work to show his people that not only is he
not to be blamed for his acceptance of the Messiah, but rather he ought to be
emulated by all his people, since Jesus the Messiah is the only Way, the Truth,
and the Life, and that in following Him, one fulfills the true Jewish faith,
becomes a completed Jew. And he is well equipped for his mission work, because
it took him a long time of arduous study, inquiries and arguments before he
finally was sure that Jesus is not only his personal Saviour but also national
Messiah and the only hope for his people. But whether Jewish mission work is
difficult or not, whether it is pleasant or not, advantageous or not, we must
remember that we are on marching orders and we are not to argue with our
Superior on High. Our Sovereign who commissioned us is not paying us a prize for
each and every soul we bring to Him. Our orders are to preach, to sow the seed.
The results of our preaching and sowing are in the hand of God, not in our hand.
(Even if our seed has fallen on barren rocks we have done well because we have
carried out His orders).

And we must bear in mind that God’s commission is not to be trifled with. (See
Ezekiel, Ezekiel 2:1-10 and Ezekiel 3:1-27).

“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore
hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the
wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to
warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall
die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

“Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his
wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit
iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou
hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which
he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine
hand. Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not,
and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast
delivered thy soul” (Ezekiel 3:17-21).

On the other hand, we are entitled to expect visible success of our faithful
labor as the Psalmist assures us: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy”
(Psalms 126:5).

Yet, just as we ought to know the kind of field we are about to cultivate, we
ought to know how to plow and harrow it, find the opportune time for sowing the
seed, etc., we ought to have a knowledge of the Jewish field, and it is our hope
and prayer that this book will provide this knowledge.

Hence let us get better acquainted with the present-day Jew and his background.
This book is not going to tell you “all about the Jews.” Many large volumes
could not do that. Our intention is to open a window through which you may have
a glimpse of the life of this unique people. You’ll have to widen the view, to
see more and more of it, from every angle. We thus hope that this book will spur
you on to further, deeper study of the Jew’s history, the longest and the most
interesting history of any nation, of his literature, the richest of any nation,
and of his religious life, the most devoted life of any nation. The more you
learn to know this peculiar people, the more you will understand the Holy
Scriptures, the more you will grasp why God has chosen this people, and to what
sublime purpose. And, last but not least, you will better understand the New
Testament people - all Jews - their thoughts, their actions.

B. A GLANCE AT JEWISH HISTORY The history of the Jewish people is the most
eventful, the most colorful, even the most tragic history of any other people
past or present. It is a most spell-binding, entrancing story of narrow escapes,
of miracles, real miracles, and you would do well to acquire a fair knowledge of
it. Without the knowledge of his long, most eventful history as background, you
would know little of the present day Jew.

Jewish history is composed of two parts:

1. The Bible which is the history of the Jews from the very beginning until
after their return from the Babylonian exile. The Apocrypha (especially the book
of the Maccabees) and the New Testament books reveal a great part of their life
during the Second Commonwealth.

2. Post-biblical history.

But, bear in mind that while the Bible is an inspired, holy book, the later
history books are to be taken critically, with a “grain of salt.” The Bible,
although written by Jews, is no respecter of persons. When something was wrong
with the Jews or with their leaders the Bible records it truthfully in
unequivocal words. Sometimes it even appeared that the authors were too severe,
too exacting, even too censorious in regard to their people. It is not so with
the later histories in which one will not find much fault with the Jews. If
anything went wrong among Jewry it was almost always someone else (the “goy”)
who was to be blamed. As regards the relations between Jews and the Gentile
world, the Jewish nation is pictured as an innocent lamb among seventy wolves.
(In Jewish tradition the Gentile world is composed of seventy nations). This
conception of Jewish self-righteousness all through the exile is to a large
extent justifiable. If the Jews ever were mercenary, parsimonious, usurious,
tricky, with which they often have been charged, they were forced to it by their
adversaries. It was a matter of self-defense and survival; but whatever they
were, they never were worse than their enemies and accusers, and often not as
bad. Their life in exile was one continuous struggle for survival. And whereas
they did survive, it proves either that they are the fittest people on earth,
according to “modern” theories or evolution, or, as we believe, God has
preserved them miraculously for some purpose which we well know.

C. WHO IS A JEW?

Now we have spoken of the “Jew” taking it for granted that you know who is a
Jew. To a certain extent you do. Everyone “knows” who is a “Jew”; and yet, Jews
themselves have lately raised the question, “Who is a Jew?”

It was in the new State of Israel where there arose the demand for an answer to
this question. And the answer to “Who is a Jew?” is now being discussed with
much concern and acerbity by the Jews all over the world. So you see that even
among the Jews themselves there is no consensus as to “Who is a Jew?”

Some say that only he who observes the laws of “Judaism” or rather “Rabbinism”
is a Jew, whether of Jewish or Gentile descent. Others say that the observance
of religion does not matter; it is only race which makes one a Jew. And there
are various modifications of these two opinions.

Judaism has undergone various radical changes during the ages. One of the
greatest changes, as previously mentioned, transpired during the eighteenth
century when the Jews in Western Europe were enfranchised. Availing themselves
of the rights to citizenship most of them left their ghettos with the intent to
become knitted into one nation with the people of the country in which they
sojourned. Gradually they abandoned all their own laws and customs that served
to keep them apart from their Gentile neighbors, retaining but a few
non-essential customs to be observed as a sort of “Judaism.”

During this eighteenth century, while thousands abandoned traditional Judaism,
straying into agnosticism and other “isms,” about 300,000 Jews in Western
countries accepted Christianity as their religion. So it was wherever their
neighbors were Christian enough to show them a good example of what Christianity
really is.

If the Jewish communities in these “free” countries did not totally disappear,
it is due mostly to the repeated infusions of Judaism by the influx of Jewish
immigrants who came from Eastern Europe (Russia, Poland, Rumania and others).
There the Jews remained disqualified for citizenship. There they remained in
their ghettos apart from the Gentiles outside the ghetto walls. There they were
left to themselves, and traditional Judaism remained the greatest factor of
Jewish life - the most precious treasure worth keeping and living for. As these
poverty-stricken habitations became more and more overcrowded, many had to
depart and “go West” in the hope of finding their fortune abroad. These were the
wanderers who instilled some new life into the dry bones of Western Jewry.

Thus the Jews of East European countries have for many generations served as a
reservoir of traditional Judaism from whose constant overflow, their Western
brethren who living in freedom were inclined to assimilate and be absorbed among
the non-Jewish population, were somewhat restrained and resuscitated. They
retained some semblance of Judaism making concessions to their traditions.

Then came that great catastrophe which practically wiped out “Eastern” Jewry,
which had so long served as the mainspring and mainstay of Judaism.

First came the Nazi German horrible onslaught which exterminated about six
million of those Jews - the majority of European Jewry. Then came Russian
Communism which cruelly suppressed all vestiges of Judaism, thus forcing the
three million Jews living under its sway to dissociate from their brethren
abroad and assimilate and disappear as a people. This double catastrophe was
potent enough to instill despair into Jewish hearts all over the world and
incline them to give up the struggle for remaining “Jewish.” But God does not
want the Jewish people to despair and disappear. A new star of hope rose on
their horizon, twinkling and auguring new life and a glorious future: It was the
establishment of the “State of Israel.”

D. THE STATE OF ISRAEL AS FACTOR OF NEW TRENDS IN JUDAISM The State of Israel
was to serve not only as a place of refuge, a haven of rest for all Jews who
could not and would not stay in exile, that is, in Gentile lands, but also as a
center of Jewish culture and religion which would shine as a beacon light to
Jewry all over the world. It was to be a paradigm of how to live as Jews, and as
the prophets envisaged it long ago; from Zion would come forth the Law, and the
Word of God from Jerusalem (see Isaiah 2:3). It was hoped that there would be
established (reinstituted) a supreme authority like the Men of the Great
Synagogue or the later “Sanhedrin” * who would judge and decide on all matters
pertaining to Judaism.

* A body of authorized rabbis sitting in the “seat of Moses” as ordained in
Deuteronomy 17:8-13 and acknowledged by Jesus (Matthew 23:2). According to
tradition it was instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah.

This hope is suffering much disappointment and setback because most rabbis,
especially in the Diaspora, tenaciously hold to their medieval tenet that
“Judaism” means all the laws and customs introduced into Jewish life throughout
the ages. And this is the type of Judaism they want to perpetuate in Israel.
Behind these rabbis stand most of the Jews in the Diaspora, who themselves are
very lax in observing the innumerable rabbinic laws, but who expect their
brethren living in Israel to do so. To them it is a kind of proxy religion, as
if to say, and some say it expressly, “We of the Diaspora provide the funds to
preserve your State so that you in turn preserve our religion - with which we
cannot be bothered here. We pay and you pray.” But the great majority of Israeli
Jews who for the first time in the last nineteen centuries have tasted freedom,
do not like to be fettered and enslaved again by any people, including the
rabbis. Moreover, most of the Jews who settled in Israel since the establishment
of the Jewish State have previously been weaned away from traditional “Judaism,”
as have most Jews in the Western world.

However, the greatest obstacle to “Judaism” as the rabbis understand it and
strive to enforce it is the “State” itself, or rather, the life in a modern
state. For example, the observance of the rabbinic laws governing Sabbath rest
would paralyze all modern communication and transportation, and cause untold
trouble to the individual inhabitants of Israel, as well as grave danger to the
security of the State as a whole. The same may be said about many other rabbinic
laws which might endanger the functions of the State and the welfare of its
inhabitants. But whatever the temporary differences, difficulties and
perplexities, the Jewish people tenaciously hold on to the great hope and ideal
of Zion becoming not only the religious center of the Jewish people, but also
becoming a “Light to the Nations.”

How will this hope materialize?

Many still believe that the Messiah will soon come and establish the glorious
“Messianic Age.” Others are skeptical; many disbelieve in supernatural changes.
Yet the “State of Israel” as the rock upon which will be established the
salvation of Israel, and by it, the whole world, is the hope, the only hope
which now keeps the Jews and Judaism alive. Our next chapter on Types and
Segments will present a closer view of present-day Jewry in its diversities and
in its unity as a whole.


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  CHAPTER 22: 02.03.     TYPES AND SEGMENTS
========================================================================

Types and Segments

After some initial talk with a Jew, you will soon discover what type of Jew he
is; whether he is learned in Jewish lore, or in general knowledge, or if he is
ignorant in one or in both, and you will have to deal with him accordingly. With
the intellectual, well-informed Jew you may cite Scriptures, hold a theological,
philosophical discourse. He will easily understand what you will have to say; he
probably harbors in his, heart less prejudice; he no longer believes the puerile
fairy tales that were circulated within the walls of the ghetto about Jesus. But
he may also be better equipped to dispute and to argue against your views. In
him you have a well-armed opponent. But with the uninformed and ignorant as far
as religion is concerned - and there are many Jews who know little about Judaism
and less about Christianity - you have to deal quite differently.

The great majority of Jews today belong to this type. All they may know about
Jesus and His teaching is a collection of grotesque tales, and all that they
have heard of Christianity is a distortion of facts or outright falsehoods. You
will first have to disprove his erroneous conceptions, and that should not be a
hard task (See Chapter on “Some Practical Ways of Approach”).

Then you will show him (as is the case with all Jews) that his faith in those
leaders who condemned Jesus may have been wrong, unjustified. You might have to
prove that others of the Jewish leaders have erred *, and often the whole people
has erred also.

1 “O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of
thy paths” (Isaiah 3:12).

They almost stoned Moses, they persecuted the greatest of the prophets, etc.
Finally you will show him that he (like you) and everyone else, is a sinner and
in need of pardon, and that there is no pardon except by Jesus. From this stage
on, your whole dealings with him will be on that point (sin and salvation) which
we will discuss later on.

After your introductory conversation, you will have discovered what are his
religious convictions, what are his views on Judaism in general, and you may
deal with him accordingly. THE AVERAGE JEW The Spiritual Heir to Traditional
Judaism The various views which the Jews of the present day hold about their
religion (Judaism) are not now so marked and clearly defined as they were two to
three generations ago. Then the various segments of Jewry often fought bitterly
with one another in defense of their particular convictions. Today there are not
many Jews who are ready for a serious wrangle in order to defend and enforce
their own views and opinions. Doubt and skepticism are gravely undermining old
beliefs. Religious disputes are now regarded as petty bickerings, fighting
windmills and shadows.

What the Jews, in general, want now is the survival of the nation. They feel,
somehow, that the existence of the nation ought to be perpetuated for some
purpose, for some mission to be fulfilled which is not yet defined, not yet
clear. They feel that there is some brilliant star behind the clouded heavens
which will soon break through the clouds and shower on them beams of light and
waves of warmth to quicken them and lead them on the way to salvation - their
own and that of all mankind. It is a vague feeling, a blurred vision (a stirring
of dry bones), but it is there in the heart of every conscientious Jew. They
feel that things cannot and ought not to go on as they were before; that
something cataclysmic will happen, must happen, to save the Jewish people from
extinction and lead them on to the destiny for which they have been elected and
preserved. They feel that the only place where this greatest of all miracles
will happen is in Israel - the Promised Land.

Thus present-day Judaism, with hardly any significant exception, revolves around
the State of Israel. Jews all over the world, whatever their religious or social
views, feel that with the new State of Israel there lies their finest and the
final hope of survival as a people. Therefore, weave your conversation with them
around Israel.

Knowing the Bible and the everlasting covenant you can readily confirm the Jew
in his conviction, and clear up things for him in the light which to him is
still nebulous but to you is already shining brightly. The future of the Jewish
people according to prophecy really lies in the Promised Land.

Thus the more you are informed about the Promised Land in prophecy and in its
current events the more likely you are to touch and activate tender chords in
the Jewish heart and get a harmonious response.

Yet, although Israel has now become, to most Jews, the center and circumference
of “Judaism,” large numbers of Jews feel impelled by some inner urge to cling to
the old traditions. While the world around the Jew is cold, unfriendly, even
hostile, he feels at home only among his own brethren, and the best bond of
affinity is in the synagogue or the center - the religious home of the Jews
throughout the Diaspora - where he may always meet them.

Out of atavism, nostalgia, habit, inertia, or in honor of his parents’ memory,
and especially his spiritual longing to be an inseparable member of historic
suffering Jewry, he will usually affiliate with an Orthodox synagogue. Some
Jews, to compromise between their own liberal views and those of their observant
parents, may join a conservative synagogue, which is halfway between Orthodoxy
and Reform Judaism. Still others may think that they would derive enough
“religion” and maintain a bond with fellow Jews, in the Reform Temple. Some who
care little for religion are satisfied with Zionism alone - unaware of the fact
that this, too, is a form of religion.

Until recently there were quite a number of Jews who adhered to Socialism or
Communism - this adherence, too, was a kind of religion. When Jews believe in
some idea, they stick to it with religious fervor and are ready to sacrifice
their all for its defense. Finally, there are also some Jews who are unconcerned
and indifferent to Judaism in any form. All they want is to live as ordinary
human beings without any national or religious commitments and problems, or
social complexities. They want to be mixed and absorbed by the Gentile people
around them.

ORTHODOXY (Or “Traditional Judaism”) This as we have seen is by far the largest
sect in Judaism. In principle though not always in practice, these Jews firmly
believe that the Bible (Old Testament) is the revealed Word of God to His chosen
people Israel, and that they ought to keep holy every iota of it, and live their
whole life in accordance with it. Furthermore they still cling to the idea that
since not everything in the Scriptures is clear to everyone the wise Rabbis are
authorized to expound and elucidate difficult passages. And that whenever there
arise new problems and the necessity for new laws and ordinances, the Rabbis
have the authority to enact such laws, etc. But because nothing should be added
nor subtracted from what has been written in the Torah, the Rabbis by some
clever twist of a certain verse, word or even some dot, could sanction and
incorporate their new precepts into the Torah as if it had been given by God to
Moses on Sinai - even when some rabbinic laws circumvent or nullify the written
Law of Moses. In the course of the centuries, since the close of the Hebrew
Canon of Scriptures, the Rabbis have introduced thousands of new laws that
govern the whole life of the Jew, from cradle to grave, “from womb to tomb,” in
all his waking hours. From the moment of awakening until he falls asleep, he is
to observe his religion as it is written:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

These six verses he repeats several times daily, and on various special
occasions. This is his most solemn prayer; it is the essence of Judaism. It has
been the very life of the observant Jew. His frequent ablutions, his dressing,
his eating, his walk and talk have been bound up with specified regulations and
ceremonies. Besides his three daily prayers which are quite lengthy, there are
“a hundred specified blessings” which he has to recite during each day. And
there are the various feasts and fasts and memorial days which the Jew has to
observe; and these holidays are extremely solemn and highly impressive. In
short, all his life, day by day, is inseparable from his religion. Thus, as we
have previously pointed out, to give up his religion has often been tantamount
with giving up life itself.

Throughout the centuries the Jewish people submitted faithfully to the “Law” as
the Rabbis taught it. Judaism has, rightly, often been called “Rabbinism.” There
were some exceptions. During the Second Temple there were the Sadducees who had
their own interpretation of the Bible. Later (in Dispersion) there arose the
Karaite sect, who denied the Rabbis’ authority to do as they pleased with the
Word of God. *

* The Karaites in course of time seceded from traditional Rabbinic Judaism and
kept strictly to the laws of the Bible only. Today there are only a few left of
this sect. The great mass of Jewry kept strictly to Judaism which was,
theoretically, composed of two parts, the Written Law which Moses wrote down at
Sinai, and the Oral Law which Moses supposedly delivered to the Elders and by
whom it was in later years entrusted to the Rabbis.

It was only hundreds of years later when the Jews were dispersed and there was
danger that the Oral part might be forgotten, that the Rabbis put these laws
into writing. This Code came to be known as the “Talmud.”

This is the “Judaism” that has been recognized and established by Jewry (as a
whole) through the ages. And this type of “Judaism” is what Orthodoxy wants to
perpetuate (and no effort or cost is spared to keep it alive).

I want to stress here that a great many Jews are Orthodox only in name and
affiliation, though there are large numbers who earnestly try to conform to the
tenets and precepts of Orthodoxy. I say “try,” because many of the Rabbinic laws
are very difficult, some even impossible, to observe and obey in modern life.
Especially the young generation could not and would not be subjugated to
Orthodoxy as they see no sense in observing meaningless, obsolete practices.

DOCTRINES OF ORTHODOXY

According to traditional Judaism the Jew is to believe in the thirteen Articles
of Faith formulated by Maimonides (1135-1204).

Although part of these are so defined as to distinguish between the Jewish and
the Christian doctrines of faith, they are basically the same as those of
Christianity. For instance, they believe in the unity of God, but this unity is
so defined as to preclude any thought of plurality.

Of course, as we shall later see, this has no biblical basis, since the very
word which in the Hebrew Bible means “God” (Elohim) is in the plural. Among
these doctrines are the “Coming of the Messiah,” the “Resurrection of the dead,”
and divine retribution for man’s acts. The only real difference between the two
faiths is that Judaism rejects the Messiahship of Jesus, as we shall see later
when we discuss the Jewish contentions against Christ.

PRACTICES OF ORTHODOXY 1. Kosher Food - (Dietary Laws)

While many of the old practices have fallen into disuse in recent years, the
greatest part of Jewry, especially the “Orthodox” Jews, still observe the
so-called Kosher laws. The observant Jew’s life is, as we have seen, rigidly
regulated by innumerable laws and customs. He is particularly punctilious and
scrupulous in regard to his food. It sometimes seems that contemporary Orthodox
Judaism is but a matter of prescribed eating and drinking known as kosher. Few
domestic animals: wild beasts, birds and fish are Kosher - i.e., ritually fit to
eat.

The pig is especially taboo and abhorrent. The animals which are Kosher have to
be slaughtered in a particular manner by an authorized pious man, and even then
their meat has to be prepared ritualistically in order to render it fit to eat.
And even then not all the Kosher foodstuffs may be mixed together.

Milk products and meat; products could not be eaten at the same meal. Separate
vessels and utensils have to be kept for each of these two sorts of food (See
KASHER in chapter on “Customs”).

The intake of food must be preceded and followed by a benediction. Each kind of
food has a special benediction and the benediction after meals is quite lengthy.

Meals must also be preceded by ritual washing of the hands. For the Sabbath and
feast-days special food is prepared, and the meals are eaten “religiously,”
accompanied by singing of pious sacred songs.

2. Prayer The observant Jew’s life was taken up mostly by prayer, or rather the
reciting of prescribed “prayers.” As soon as he awakes from the night’s sleep he
is obliged to recite a certain prayer, then after proper ablution he is to go to
the synagogue for the morning service which on week days, lasts about an hour,
and on Sabbath, festival, and fast days, several hours.

In the late afternoon and in the evening there are again two services (usually
combined) at the synagogue which every Jew should attend (See Chapter on “Prayer
Life”).

3. Sabbath and Feast Days (See Chapter 7)

The Sabbath, and to a large extent also the festivals, is to the observant Jew a
holy day in the fullest sense of the word. It is a day fully dedicated to the
LAW. From Friday evening to Saturday night the Jew is aware that he must keep it
holy. No physical work or carrying of any burden is done, no business is
transacted, no secular, profane thoughts are harbored in his mind. Most of the
day is spent in prayer and in the study of sacred books. The prescribed meals,
too, are a kind of divine service, and even sleep is counted as a virtue -
because the Sabbath and festivals are to be observed joyfully and pleasantly.

These (Kosher, Prayer and Holy Days) are the three pillars that uphold the
structure called “Orthodoxy,” but as mentioned before there are thousands of
other laws and usages, which contemporary Orthodox Jews try to keep somehow or
find some excuse for evading or overlooking them.

Thus, if there is still a sect that exercises some zeal for God, though “without
knowledge” as Paul termed it, it is the Orthodox sect. For the other sects have
not much zeal, and less knowledge. This is also the only sect that holds the
Bible (Old Testament) as the supreme authority on “Judaism,” because, they
firmly believe, it is the peremptory Word of God.

REFORM JUDAISM

Those who do not adhere to tradition but yet would not abandon or repudiate
Judaism altogether call themselves Reformed. This religious movement is about
one hundred years old. It is the outgrowth of the age of enlightenment. In
Western European countries, as previously mentioned, where the Jews were allowed
to come out of their ghettos and live with the other citizens and enjoy the same
civil rights and privileges, many of the Jews thought the time ripe to shake off
old shackles and join the new tide of equality and liberty. Here was a chance
“to be as the heathen” (See Ezekiel 20:32).

To achieve this end, the Jewish religion which tended to keep the Jews apart
from Gentiles, had to be modified. But how may man modify and change the
God-given Word? Well, there were liberal Rabbis who began teaching that the Word
was not God-given. Thus neither the Bible nor the Talmud had any authority which
the Jew must obey. This new movement underwent many radical changes. Some of its
leaders held that all usages which tended to keep the Jews apart from their
Gentile neighbors should be abrogated: such were circumcision, the dietary laws,
the keeping of Sabbath on Saturday, praying in a foreign language (in Hebrew),
praying for the coming of the Messiah and return to Zion, which suggest that the
Jews are foreigners, and wishing to return to their ancient home.

These and many other such laws and customs were abolished and later
re-established partly or entirely according to time and place.

Zionism, which was formerly taboo to Reform Judaism, is now sponsored by many of
its leaders. Prayers are conducted partly in Hebrew and partly in the language
of the country of residence. Some laws, as the dietary Kosher laws, are left to
the conscience of the individual. This “sect” is by far smaller, but more
conspicuous, than the Orthodox. Their “temples” (synagogues) are more imposing
and impressive; their Rabbis are masters of rhetoric and oratory; they are good
“mixers” in society and know how to encourage the friendship of Gentiles to Jews
and Judaism. The services are held in the manner of the Christians, accompanied
by organ music, men and women are seated together and the men are bareheaded.
The members of the Temple are generally of the upper class, merchants and
professional people. Except on the High Holidays they seldom attend the services
of the Temple, because they have little time to spend for it, and less faith in
it. They claim to be very proud of their “Judaism,” because of its high ethical
and social values.

Reform Judaism does not believe in the coming of a “Messiah” or in anything
supernatural, but many of its leaders and spokesmen have expressed their high
regard for Jesus - as a great teacher and reformer.

CONSERVATISM This sect is “Made in America.” It occupies a position midway
between Orthodoxy and Reform Judaism. The latter, it seems to them, has diverged
and strayed too far away from traditional Judaism, while Orthodoxy is too
antiquated and outgrown for modern times. They opine that Judaism, if it is to
remain alive, must “grow” and undergo the natural changes of growth.

In other words it has to comply with and conform to contemporary life and
changing conditions. Generally it is much nearer to Orthodoxy than to Reform
Judaism. It retains many of the traditional laws and usages, but the individual
may modify and adjust his religion to his needs. To a great extent this
adjustment and modification of old laws to modern life is in general the
practice of most contemporary Jews of all sects.

CONSTRUCTIONISM (“Made in America”) This is quite a recent innovation in
American Judaism and has not many followers. They hold that Judaism is a
civilization rather than a religion. It is a particular kind of life of a
particular people who have their own language, literature, law, and customs
which may be called “religion.” All these things may be changed to fit time and
place.

For example, the Jews of America may speak the American language, read its
literature and observe its laws and customs. In short, Judaism was intended for
the Jew, and not the Jew for Judaism. This recalls what Jesus said about the
Sabbath, but there is a vast difference. It denies the existence of a personal
God and thus also divine revelation; consequently there is no “chosen people,”
etc.

Although they have their rabbis and their synagogues and services, yet their
queer sort of “religion” is so far away from what is generally understood by the
term religion, that we may dismiss it from further consideration as an
unimportant segment of Judaism.

ZIONISM

Zionism does not claim to be a religious sect, and many agnostics and atheists
are among its adherents. Yet if we consider the basic principles of Zionism we
may conclude that this is the real Judaism - the true religion of Israel.
Otherwise, why should it (Zionism) want to go “back” to Zion; and by what right
may it put a claim to that far away strip of land which, according to secular
common opinion, belongs to someone else? The “non-religious” Zionist may find
two or three reasons why Palestine belongs to the Jewish people and why the Jews
should go back thereto. But, if pressed with questions, he will finally resort
to the Bible as the legal charter saying that God, the Lord of all lands, gave
this particular land to the Jews.

When you ask him why they should want to “go back” after an absence of 1,900
years, what assurance they have that it would “be better for them over there
politically, economically, physically or spiritually, he will, after evasive
replies, have only one answer: The Jews feel an inner urge that they have to go
“back,” that they feel something grand and glorious is going to happen there,
that they have a most sacred mission to fulfill. Zionists, consciously or
subconsciously, are a religious sect in the truest meaning of religion, although
they may not observe certain rites.

INDIFFERENT JEWS

There is a large number of Jews who do not identify themselves with any
particular -Jewish Segment. Some indifferently belong to the one or the other
segment, on social or economical grounds. For these or similar reasons, a Jew
may belong to two or even more opposing segments. He is not obliged to do much
in order to be “a member” as long as he dutifully pays the required membership
fees.

There are also a great many who do not “belong” at all. They find that they can
get along nicely without having to be “affiliated.”

Then there are the socialists and communists who think that religion would not
help the Jews, nor any religion help any people. They claim that the only
salvation for both, Jew and non-Jew, is socialism or communism, which would
equalize human society in dividing the wealth of the world according to the
needs of each individual without any distinction between race, sex, etc.

Up to a few years ago socialism (in its various forms) had a firm grip on Jewish
workers and intellectuals. Now, after Communist Russia has demonstrated how
socialism works when being materialized, its Jewish adherents have become
totally disillusioned. Only a few fanatics and paid propagandists still cling to
it.

Most of the Indifferent Jews have little knowledge of the Bible, yet could, with
the Lord’s help, be led to it and its wonderful revelations.

SUMMARY OF SEGMENTS

Summing up the segments, those that we have mentioned and others that we did not
think it necessary to mention, we may roughly divide Jewry into three general
parts (from a religious viewpoint).

1. Those who believe the Bible as the Word of God.

2. Those who do not believe so, who waver or doubt whether all or only part of
the Bible is His Word.

3. The indifferent - those who do not care whether it is right or wrong, true or
false. They think that one can get along without religion. As already mentioned
contemporary Judaism has practically no religious divisions which take their
sectarian affiliation very seriously. With few exceptions modern Jews, unlike
their forefathers, are not eager to endure persecution, inconveniences, torture
or death in defense of their religious convictions.

However, Judaism (in its various segments) is now undergoing a radical
transformation which will bring forth a new type of Jew - the type whom the
prophets longed to see - the type which the Lord promised Abraham, when He said
that in his seed all the nations will be blessed.

Summing it up; the Jews who lived traditionally “Jewish” are rare exhibitions
from the past. I still remember them. I was born and reared in their midst. But
one should have some knowledge of them because one could not understand the
present-day Jews without knowing whence they came.

The Jews of today are the products, offspring and heirs of those of yesterday.
The Judaism of their fathers has become inadequate, impossible for present day
life, but they still claim Judaism as their priceless heritage, their dearest
possession, transmitted to them from hoary antiquity (which has no practical
use).

Only, they are at a loss what to do with this dearest possession, this glorious
heirloom. Some Christians view this present indifference of the Jews toward
Judaism as a calamity. But it is not so. They may be likened unto a receptacle
which was filled with water and became stagnant and contaminated. The water has
to be poured out and the receptacle sterilized before filling it again with pure
water.

There is a stirring of the dry bones and great events which will yet occur until
God will revive them with His spirit and they will again be His Holy People
ready to fulfill the mission entrusted to them since the Covenant with their
patriarch Abraham.

Really it is not essential for us to know with what sect or party the Jew is
affiliated. All we need know is, what is his conception of God and what he
thinks of the Bible. And this we may discover easily after our initial talk with
him, soon after we have gained his attention and confidence.

There are two topics which are bound, unfailingly, to arouse the attention of
every Jew today:

1. The State of Israel; 2. Anti-Semitism.

Just start on any of these subjects and you will get his immediate attention.

Furthermore, since these two topics are the heart of evangelization
(Anti-Semitism - the result of the fall from grace, and the State of Israel -
the beginning of the return to grace) you may enlarge upon them and continue
your conversation around these two; or rather condense the two into one topic:
“The Solution of the Jewish Problem,” or if you find him truly religious, call
it: “The Jews’ Reconciliation With God.”


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  CHAPTER 23: 02.04.     THE JEWISH RELIGION
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The Jewish Religion

Just as you cannot find a suitable and generally accepted definition of “Jew,”
so you cannot find any such definition for “Jewish Religion,” and yet everyone
knows that there are such people as “Jews.” In fact, they are, in a sense,
“ubiquitous,” and everyone knows that there exists a “Jewish Religion.”

Ask the average Jew what is his religion and he will unhesitatingly reply that
it is the belief in the “Torah.” If you further ask: “What is the ‘Torah’?” -
Then the answer will be hesitatingly vague, depending on the religious segment
to which he belongs. Generally the “Torah” is defined as the “Bible,” meaning
the Old Testament, in particular the five books of Moses. But usually all the
laws that the Rabbis have ever enacted are included in the word “Torah.”

Now there is not a single word in the whole Bible which could be translated as
“religion,” in the sense in which this term is generally used. There is nothing
in the Bible which might be defined as “Jewish Religion.” The word dath which in
modern Hebrew means “religion” is mentioned only in post-exilic books of the
Bible (in Daniel, Ezra and Esther), and there it means, “law,” “custom,”
“command,” “sentence.” Another word which in modern Hebrew is often used as
“religion,” emunah, is to be found in the Bible, but there it means, “trust,”
“belief,” “faith,” “steadiness”; there is nothing in it that suggests worship,
devotion, etc., which we usually associate with religion.

Nowhere in the Bible (Old Testament) does it say what a Jew should believe in,
although it tells him what to do and what not to do. *

* Recently a well-known rabbi let it be known that a Jew does not even have to
believe in the existence of God in order to be called a “Jew.”

Neither is there anything in the post-biblical Talmudic books which might be
taken as a “Creed.” The Jew was enjoined to obey the Law of God. The Jewish
people were not commanded to believe in the existence of God nor that He
revealed Himself on Sinai and gave them the Law (Torah), although this belief
was a matter of course and self-evident.

But they were taught to believe, and they generally, firmly, believed that God
and the Torah and Israel are bound together as one, and when they really served
God it was with all their heart and all their mind.

They were always aware that God is particularly their own God and that they are
particularly His own people. This conviction came after long years of preaching
by the prophets and after much and repeated castigation which followed their
wandering astray - away from God during the “first commonwealth” (when they
often relapsed into idol worship). The destruction of the first Temple brought
about a radical change of heart. Then the belief in God was firmly, lastingly
and immutably inculcated in every Jewish heart.

During the “Second Temple,” and up to the time of Christ, the Jewish people
(with the exception of the Sect of the Sadducees who, although politically
influential, were yet a small minority) unwaveringly believed in God, and in the
Bible as the holy and true Word of God. This belief included the “coming of the
Messiah” and the “resurrection of the dead.”

It is this “belief,” besides the various ritual practices, which might be called
“the Jewish Religion.”

The need for writing down a creed, to be recited and reaffirmed daily was not
felt till about the twelfth century when the Jews had to fortify and defend
their religion against the onslaught of other religions; in some countries it
was Mohammedanism, in others Christianity. Various Jewish authorities put
forward various “credos,” but only that formulated by Maimonides, the “Rambam;”
was generally accepted and later embodied into the daily “prayer.” At the
beginning of the morning service it is recited in verse and at the end of the
service in prose. This creed, in Hebrew “Ani Ma’amin” - “I believe,” consists of
thirteen Articles of Faith (or properly “Principles of Faith,” see chapter 20).

Maimonides writes that he devoted much time and thought on the formulation of
these principles, yet one may wonder why this genius, this master of fine style,
simplicity and logic had not made these principles as clear and simple as he did
his other writings. They are not clear. They evoke many questions. They need
elucidation and there is only confusion in them.

Because this “creed,” which is generally accepted as the essence of the Jewish
religion, is often used as an argument against Christianity, it is fitting here
to show some of its defects and discrepancies.

For example, only one of his thirteen principles he bases on the Bible by
quoting a fitting passage (see Tenth Principle). All others he takes for
granted. On what biblical passage does he base his Sixth Principle, declaring
that all that the Prophets said is true? And why is it necessary to have a
special “credo” that the prophecy of Moses was true? Why is Six in the present
tense, and Seven in the past tense? Who were the Prophets that preceded Moses
(7)? In Principle Eight, what is meant by the “whole Torah”? Does it mean only
the Pentateuch, or the whole Bible, or the Bible plus its interpretation of the
Rabbis as recorded in the Talmud? On what passage of the Bible does he base the
Principle Thirteen of the resurrection of the dead? His Principles on the
existence and nature of God are vaguely stated. It may be said that they were
meant to be more as an abnegation of Christianity than as an assertion of
Judaism.

We may divide his Principles into two sections:

1. Those that refer to the belief in the infinite, incomprehensible,
unimaginable Being - God. 2. The belief in all that is written in the Torah -
because it was given by God. The Christian conception of God, according to
Scriptures, is One infinite Being who, in order to create the world, to rule it
and to communicate with man, has revealed Himself in finite form of man or by
the Holy Spirit. Thus He is conceived as a triune Being, expressed in the
doctrine of the “Trinity.”

The God of Maimonides is an infinite unit that precludes all revelation or
materialization as becoming “flesh.” While the Hebrew Bible in defining the
unity of God uses the word “echad,” which does not exclude a plurality in one,
Maimonides uses the word “yachid” which designates an absolute unit, or
singleness and solitariness. This change he introduced to show that the
Christian conception of God as a trinity is foreign to Judaism.

Maimonides seems to have labored under two contradictory ideas about God.

On the one hand he was a faithful follower (and adherent) of the Rabbis and he
made it incumbent on the Jews to observe all the laws which the Rabbis (up to
his time) had enacted. On the other hand he was a firmly convinced rationalist,
steeped in Aristotelian philosophy, whose God could be defined or conceived only
by negatives, i.e., He is not good, not bad, not big, not small, has no desires,
does not care, and of course has no mouth to speak, no ears to hear, no hands to
do anything, etc. The Bible, however, tells of God revealing Himself to man,
loving, hating, getting angry, repenting, speaking, walking; in short, becoming
man, becoming flesh.

The Rambam (Maimonides) explains elsewhere such anthropomorphisms as allegories
and metaphors. In this he followed the Alexandrian school of interpretation of
the Bible. According to such interpretation of the Bible, God could not have
come down to Sinai and there declared His Law. But if this were so, if it is
allegory, or pure fancy, why does he want the Jews to believe that Moses (real
flesh and blood) received the Torah on Sinai and that this Torah is true and
therefore binding on every Jew?

If the story of Abraham and his dealings with God as told in the Bible were pure
allegory, as allegorists say, why should the Jews (even the so-called rational
and Reform Jews) today have to circumcise their flesh in order to be a Jew? All
on account of that “ancient fable” of Abraham and his fictitious covenant? On
account of another ancient “allegory,” as that of Jacob struggling with the
angel, according to the Bible, Jews of today, as those of old, have to observe
certain Kosher laws, which entail a great deal of trouble and cost.

Maimonides, the great rationalist, the allegorist, insists that the Jews must
obey, must keep meticulously all such laws! He wrote large volumes compiling all
these laws; 613 laws of the Bible, and hundreds of others which the
post-biblical rabbis built around them.

Maimonides “believed in the Bible,” because, according to him, it is all
compatible with human reasoning. What seems to be irrational is just a kind of
fable having some inner meaning.

According to him “the literal sense must give way when it contradicts the
postulates of philosophy,” and yet according to him all legal enactments must be
taken and observed literally. His allegorism is thus confined between the
barriers of his rationalism on the one hand and his fidelity to tradition on the
other.

Such inconsistency may be found in many of the arguments of the rabbis,
particularly of the liberal type. In contradistinction to Christianity they like
to boast that Judaism is a rational religion. They like to quote Maimonides, who
is considered to be one of the greatest authorities on Judaism, who allows
reasoning powers full play in investigating biblical precepts, to justify
scriptural religion to the human intellect, to verify the fundamental concepts
of religion on purely rational grounds. How much rationalism underlies the
thousands of laws (e.g. the Kosher Laws) which comprise the religion called
“Judaism”?

According to the rationalists, God, the Jewish God, is so perfect that He could
not have walked the earth in the guise of a man, as the Christians believe,
lived a man’s life and died a death of suffering. “To say that God put on the
garb of flesh is pure idolatry” - so the rationalist rabbis say in contention
with Christianity. Here again is inconsistency: Why should God, the infinite,
the perfect, not be able to put on the garb of flesh? Is He not omnipotent?
Could He do every-thing else, but not put on the garb of flesh, and walk the
earth?

Suppose God did not reveal Himself to man in the “garb of flesh” or in any other
irrational manner, suppose He did not appear to Adam, Noah, the Patriarchs, to
Moses, to the prophets, etc., as the Bible tells us.

Suppose He did not choose the Jews as His people (how could the “Infinite” do
such a thing!) and did not command them, do this, and don’t do that. Suppose He
did not promise rewards for pleasing Him, and punishment for displeasing Him -
suppose all these stories of the Bible are fiction and fancy of an ancient,
primitive, immature people.

Strike out all this “nonsense” of the Jewish Bible, what will there be left?
What would there be left to justify a “Judaism,” whatever it be? The great
Maimonides whose “God” is some inconceivable idea, some “Not,” should not have
linked this “credo” with that of giving the Torah on Sinai since the two are
contradictory.

Indeed, his impersonal, unfathomable, philosophical God has almost nothing to do
with Judaism; for Judaism has come into being with the revealed God, with the
personal God, with the One who has taken on the “garb of flesh.”

The first sentence of the Constitution, the preamble, of Judaism which was given
on Sinai, begins with “I am Jehovah thy Gods * who has brought thee out of Egypt
. . .” Not “I am the infinite, the inconceivable . . .”

* In this quotation I understood the word “Gods” because in the language of the
Hebrew Bible - it says “Gods” - implying God as a plurality. When God revealed
Himself to Moses, in the Burning Bush, He did not introduce Himself as God of
the universe, but as the Gods of his father, “the Gods of Abraham . . .”; and
when He sent him to His people, He instructed him to tell them that Jehovah the
Gods of their fathers, the Gods of Abraham . . . had sent him. All through the
Bible He is the Gods of the fathers, the particularly Jewish Gods, the personal
one. Very seldom is He mentioned as God of the universe. So also in the Jewish
prayers it is “our Gods and the Gods of our fathers . . .”

God is revealed. God makes Himself understood to man in the way man is capable
of under-standing. Of course the Old Testament prophets as well as the New
Testament disciples of Christ knew that God is infinite, indescribable, but they
like to think of Him, pray to Him as the father in whose image He created His
children. A father speaks to his little children in the language of little
children; otherwise they would not understand him.

After much opposition the Jewish people adopted the Creed of the thirteen
articles of faith but the average Jew does not understand the “credo” in the
single God of Maimonides anymore than he would understand the triune God as is
the credo of Christianity.

Nor does the average Jew speculate about the nature of God, whether He is
immanent or transcendent. He believes that God is omnipresent, but that God, as
taught by Maimonides, so far transcends human comprehension that all positive
descriptions of Him are inappropriate, foreign to the Jewish mind.

To him, to the average Jew, God sits in heaven (sometimes they call it “Gan
Eden” - the Garden of Eden) on His throne of Glory, surrounded by the angels
(Cherubim and Seraphim) and by the saints who after death have been going up to
be with Him. He, or the “Shekinah” (very few Jews have a clear conception of
what that means) who used to be in the Tabernacle, or later in the two Temples
often comes down to the Synagogue or wherever Jews pray as a congregation. The
Jews believe in the same God as does the average Christian ascribing to Him the
same attributes. The only difference is that while the Christian can by the
doctrine of the Trinity reconcile the conception of the infinite God with the
conception of the personal God who has revealed Himself to man, either by taking
on the “garb of man” or by inspiration, the Jew is not quite sure of that.

He often explains that, by saying that it is the angels who act in His stead and
take on human form. The wise and well-informed Christian may easily prove to him
that the “Trinity” is not only a better solution to that problem -of God
revealing Himself to man -but the only true one.

MANY BOOKS

Many scholarly books have been written on Judaism, or on The Jewish Religion,
most of them in America, but hardly any of these books are written objectively.
It seems that the only aim of most of these books is to prove that Judaism is
much better than Christianity.

One may wonder for whom such books were intended. The observant Jew does not
want any proofs. The non-observant Jew does not care for any proof since
religion, especially rites and rituals, does not interest him.

The same may be said about the Christian. The nominal Christian who cares little
about religion is not likely to read such books, while the true Christian would
likely not be influenced by them, since to him, high moral standards, noble
thoughts, etc., as Judaism is pictured in those books, is not enough to bring
sinful man to God - to him there is no way to God but through His Son.

Whatever is the purpose of those books, they generally present to the reader
only a blurred picture of Judaism. They conceal a great deal, they misinterpret
a great deal, they exaggerate a great deal and even misstate a great deal. In
short, they often tell you half-truths, and even less, and make you believe that
they are full truths. Their “Judaism” is not Judaism. However, most of them
agree, and we agree with them, that “Judaism” is more a “way of life” than it is
a religion. It is not a mere recitation of a certain creed, visiting a house of
worship at specified times, having prayer once in a while. The average Jew’s
conception of Judaism is as it was in practice all through the dispersion: It
was a total subordination, a complete dedication of all thoughts and actions to
the will of God (as interpreted and enacted by the rabbis). If the present day
Jew does no longer practice this old rabbinic Judaism it is not that he has come
to a new conception of Judaism, but because it has become too confused to him,
too difficult.

In their perplexity most contemporary Jews (of all segments) came to think that
by modifying and adjusting the old laws and customs to modern life they can keep
Judaism alive (a crippled, moribund Judaism, some semblance of it). Let us have
a glance at the old now vanishing Judaism as the observant Jew had practiced it
and a great many Orthodox Jews still tenaciously adhere to it (See chapter on
“Segments”).

The Jew who observes Judaism * awakes in the morning with the sure consciousness
of the divine presence. This consciousness is with him all through his waking
hours, till he falls asleep at night.

* Again I want to emphasize that observant Jews have, during the last few
decades, been rapidly disappearing.

Accordingly all his time is filled with worship. On each week-day he spends at
the synagogue about three hours in prayer, on the Sabbath and holy days more
hours are given to prayer (See Chapter on Prayer). All through the day there are
various occasions for benedictions.

A great many Jews dedicate most of the time to the study of the Torah. Even
artisans and businessmen find spare time for such study. Not only the Jew’s
prayers and study, but also his eating, drinking, dressing, washing, etc., all
is dedicated to God’s glory; everything is done according to prescription,
everything intertwined with ritual and benediction. Fringes, Phylacteries, and
Mezuzoth are to remind the Jew of his duties to God, as it is written in
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (at home, on the way, on lying down, and rising up). (See also
Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41). Thus Judaism is a way of life-a
constant uninterrupted living with God, from the cradle till the grave, or as
one said it: “from the womb to the tomb.”

Imagine what such zeal - zeal for godly things - would do to mankind if the zeal
were coupled with true knowledge, as Paul expressed it in Romans 10:1-3. The
Lord who has chosen this people, and trained them to such religiosity, to such
zeal, is about to fill them with knowledge, as the waters cover the sea (see
Isaiah 11:9). According to Jeremiah 31:33 -“This shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put
my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their
God, and they shall be my people.”

REWARD

Two principles * have nourished the zeal and the power of endurance of the Jew
to keep and practice the Torah tenaciously and meticulously in the face of
almost insurmountable difficulties and at great sacrifice - often with supreme
sacrifice. These were the hopes of the coming of the Messiah and the
Resurrection.

* The 12th and 13th Principles of the Thirteen, formulated by Maimonides. With
the coming of the Messiah the Jewish people as a nation will be rewarded for
their faithfulness to God, and with the Resurrection, every individual will be
rewarded according to his deeds. The more a man suffers in this world for God’s
sake, the greater will be his reward in the world to come.

We shall have a special chapter on the Jewish belief in the coming of the
Messiah. But we shall have here a few words on the “World to Come.” The last of
the thirteen Articles of Faith expresses the belief in the resurrection of the
dead. But it does not state when, where, how and to what purpose will the dead
arise, nor whether these will be Jews only or also Gentiles. So also is the
preceding Eleventh Article very vague when it says that God rewards those that
keep His commandments, and punishes those that transgress them. It does not say
when and how this retribution takes place. It does not even say, or hint, that a
man may avert punishment, by repentance or atonement. The Jews faithfully repeat
daily this thirteen-fold confession of faith because the rabbis told them to do
so - although they are quite confused as to their exact meaning.

Yet they derive consolation in the promise of a glorious future - or reward.

What the Jew generally believes, is that in this world the righteous may suffer,
and the wicked may prosper, but the real retribution is in the “World to Come.”
In Hebrew it is “Olam haBa,” and to this world comes each and every individual
right after his death. The body may disintegrate and crumble and wait till after
the coming of the Messiah, when it will come to life again, but the soul soon
after death comes before the Heavenly Tribunal where it is judged according to
its merits and demerits in this world.

Every Jew is entitled to a share in the “World to Come” but it usually takes a
year of expiation by torment in hell (some kind of purgatory) till the soul is
totally purged, purified from the sins it committed in this world. In order to
alleviate the pangs and pains of hell the survivor’s next of kin (only male)
recites the “Kaddish” at the three daily prayers during the year after death. To
make it still easier for the dead he learns daily a portion of the “Mishnah” or
hires someone to learn it in his stead. On certain holidays there is also a
special Memorial Service for the souls in which the sons (and daughters - in the
female section of the synagogue) participate. The soul - according to common
belief - does not sever all its connections with this world. For the first seven
days, after its departure from the body, it is a great deal “at home” with its
loved ones. Then for another three weeks, altogether thirty days it frequents
less its earthly abode, and gradually it is weaned away from this world. But
there always remains some connection between the living and the dead. Jews have
often gone to the graves of relatives invoking the help of the departed souls;
they are asked to intercede for the living who were in need of speedy succor.
The graves (sepulchers) of saints are frequented, especially on their
anniversaries (memorial clays), and are invoked for intercession before the
“Throne of Glory.”

Formerly Jews generally believed in transmigration of souls (“gilgul”). For some
reason the departed soul may have to be born again in this world, to have
another chance and amend wrong done before. It may even transmigrate into an
animal for a certain period and for a certain purpose. Sometimes some wicked
soul, instead of submitting to Judgment, enters and possesses some living person
resulting in his or her mental illness and premature death (see Dibbuk, See
“Vocabulary”). Some of the Chassidic rabbis were known as proficient experts at
expelling such evil spirits from the bodies of the possessed.

These beliefs have undergone great changes. The “dibbuk” and the “gilgul” are
now considered more as folklore and bygone superstition, but the Jews as a whole
still have an ingrained ineradicable belief in life after death and that the
departed “near and dear” are still near and dear. The Jews including many of the
“moderns,” “reformed” and skeptics are still very careful in the observance of
“Yarzeit,” Kaddish and memorial service and Hazkarath Neshamoth (See
“Vocabulary”). To them it is not a mere honoring the memory of the dead, but a
renewal of communion with them, and a refastening the ties that bind the living
with the beloved dead ones. Is this “cult of the dead,” as one may call it, an
integral part of Judaism? Although many “exponents” of Judaism say “no,” my
answer is “yes.” Because as we have seen, “Judaism” is the peculiar way Jews
live, think and practice. This cult has been lived and practiced by Jews for
ages.

I found it necessary to enlarge upon this part of Judaism because the so-called
exponents of Judaism, in contrasting it with Christianity, claim that it is pure
logic and common sense, even compatible with “science,” etc., that there is no
mediation, intercession in Judaism, that there is no original sin, that every
man is judged on his own merits and that men are generally good, and God is good
and all-merciful, and therefore always forgiving human frailties and thus not
likely to punish cruelly any transgressions of His Law. These exponents
sometimes rudely scoff, ridicule, sometimes politely hint at the stories and
miracles of the New Testament and show how irrational they are, how foreign to
Judaism which is all rational, all reasonable.

These “scholarly” exponents of Judaism, especially in America and Britain, are
of the “reform” liberal type to whom traditional Judaism is as foreign and
obnoxious to taste and thought as it is to Christians. But preferring to remain
Jews they reform, or deform, Judaism, fitting it to their own tastes and thought
by calling passages from the Bible and rabbinic books - out of their context.
They are clever writers and speakers, but they stand alone.

Their sort of Judaism is but a creation of their own image, whereas the Jewish
people as a whole have, through the ages, believed and observed a Judaism which
is radically different from that of the modern “exponents” whose books,
seemingly, are intended only for “export” - for Christians.

Contrary to the liberals, who teach that the Jews have been exiled from their
ancient homeland, not for their sins, but only for the benefit of the world - to
teach the Goyim (Gentiles) the true faith, the Jewish people know and
continually confirm it in their prayers, that it is for their sins that they
were exiled and are continually praying for forgiveness and for bringing them
back to their ancient promised land. In opposition to the expositions of the
liberals, the Jews have believed in original sin, have believed that they could
never be justified before God, and only for the sake of the Covenants He made
with their forefathers, and for His own sake could they dare ask for His grace
and pardon. They have believed that God is compassionate, but they also know
that He is vengeful, when necessary. They often felt His hand, and contrary to
the modern spokesmen of Judaism, the Jews have believed in just retribution, in
the “world to come,” in an abode of bliss (Gan Eden) and another of woe
(Gehenom). They have always believed in the power of intercession and mediation,
and in vicarious atonement. Not only does the Jewish Bible testify to these
common beliefs, but the Jewish literature through the ages does so (except the
few English writing “exponents” of the latter days). In short, although there is
a wall of partition between traditional Judaism and Christianity, it is not so
formidable as not to be demolished. Both are really one and the same religion -
the religion of the Bible. It may seem as a daring statement but it is true:
original Christianity is original Judaism. It is the rabbinic exposition on the
one hand and Gentile influence on the other hand that has accentuated the
parting of the ways. This “wall of partition” has to be demolished, has to be
removed, for the peace and salvation of mankind. According to prophecy the
Jewish people will do this job after they have learned that this is their job.


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  CHAPTER 24: 02.05.     THE PRAYER LIFE OF THE OBSERVANT JEW
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The Prayer Life of the Observant Jew*

* Again we must caution the reader that the historic - the traditional - type of
Judaism (including prayer life) is rapidly vanishing. However, we think that
every Christian should be acquainted with it as the background of contemporary
Jewry. The whole life of the observant Jew is wrapped in prayer. He awakes in
the morning and goes to sleep at night with a prayer on his lips. During the day
he goes to the synagogue for three long prayers (in the morning, afternoon and
evening). Besides the three services at the synagogue there are the prayers
which are recited at home. A good Jew has to recite at least one hundred
benedictions during the day. He must not eat or drink anything without certain
specified blessings before and after it, and there are special benedictions for
each kind of food; and not only for food, but for each time he experiences an
extraordinary sight, sound or smell. In Yiddish the prescribed recitation of the
three prayers is called “davnen.” His conversation, too, is interspersed
frequently with some pious words as, “Praise be to God,” “Thank God,” “If God
wills,” “With the help of God,” “May God avert it” (some evil), “May God protect
us,” etc. As in conversation, so also in correspondence; the Jew is ever mindful
of God, so every letter begins with: “Blessed be God” or “With the help of God,”
etc.

Even when some misfortune befalls him, he is to praise God. Upon hearing of the
death of someone dear to him, he is to say, “Blessed be the truthful judge.”
There is the pious adage, “Whatever the All Compassionate does, He does it for
the best.” *

* The Jew is careful not to take the name of God in vain, so that when not in
prescribed and fixed prayer, he generally uses instead, the word haShem - “the
name” - thus Baruch haShem translated is “blessed be the name.”

And there is the “Thillim” - the Psalms - a steady companion of the pious Jew.
Not only are Psalms to be recited on various occasions, in times of trouble,
anxiety, etc., but he likes to fill in every idle moment at home, at the
synagogue, at his work, on his travels - with Psalms either by reading or from
memory. Some Jews know all 150 Psalms by heart, although with many Jews it is
more “prayer reciting” than actually praying.

HISTORY OF PRAYER

Let us take a glance at the history of the Jewish prayer. The word “Tefillah,”
the Hebrew word for “prayer,” is derived from the root “palal” which means “to
think,” “to hope,” “to judge” and also “to fall down,” “to bow.” It is “to fall”
that probably served as root for prayer since prayer was originally generally
performed by prostration or bowing down before God. *

* The various meanings of Pallal have led to the (mis)translation into English
of 1 Samuel 2:25, “If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him;
but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding
they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay
them.” While the Hebrew words for “judge” and “intreat” (other versions have
different translations) are about the same, both might better be translated by
“intercede” or “mediate.”

With the Jews, prayer is as old as the beginning of their race. Indeed,
according to Jewish tradition and legend, the three daily prayers were first
instituted by the three patriarchs. Moses prayed, so did Joshua and the other
prophets and men of God. King David is better known as the author of the Psalms,
as the “sweet singer of Israel,” than for his epoch-making deeds (mostly by his
wars). His Psalms are, and will ever be, the best prayer book in the world. We
find Solomon in prayer at the dedication of the Temple which he dedicated as a
“House of Prayer” for all peoples. (See 1 Kings 8:1-66). Isaiah 56:7 also refers
to this Sanctuary as the “House of prayer” to all the nations:

“Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer: their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine
altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.”

Prayer during the First Temple was more of a personal nature, where each
worshiper expressed voluntarily and spontaneously his feelings and devotion to
God, petitioning Him for help or thanking Him for help He had already rendered
him. But it seems that there was also some kind of communal prayer, besides the
daily sacrificial rites, which were (especially during the Second Temple)
accompanied by orchestras of various musical instruments. The necessity for
communal prayer probably began to be felt after the reforms were instituted by
King Josiah when sacrificial rites were limited only to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Jews who lived far away from Jerusalem felt that they ought to have a “House
of Prayer” in their vicinity (“a lesser Temple”), where they could study the
Torah and pray.

After the destruction of the First Temple and the cessation of the sacrificial
rites, the Jews felt all the more the need for prayer to replace the sacrifices,
as Hosea preached (Hosea 14:2) “- so will we render the calves of our lips.”

Thus arose that typically Jewish institution (nothing like it in all the world)
which we call “synagogue” or in Hebrew “Beth - Knesseth,” a house of
Congregation, for prayer and for study and often also for various meetings of
communal importance. (See chapter on The Jewish Community - the Synagogue).

During the Second Temple, although the daily sacrifices were reinstated, prayer
both private and communal continued not only in the synagogue of the Dispersion
but also in Judea and even in Jerusalem and in the Temple. Communal prayer in
the synagogue has come to be considered not only as a supplement of the
sacrifices of the Temple but as a divine service in itself.

Jesus, who Himself often prayed to the Father and urged His followers to pray,
preferred secret prayer to that which was practiced ceremoniously and
ostentatiously in the synagogue. Yet His objections were only against public
prayers as practiced by hypocrites and by the heathen (See Matthew 6).

After the destruction of the Second Temple, prayer at the synagogue had replaced
the Temple worship entirely. Thus, wherever there arose a Jewish settlement,
however small, they built themselves a synagogue. From the New Testament we
learn that wherever Paul went in his journeyings, he nearly always found a
synagogue where he could start his preaching of the Gospel. “For Moses of old
time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every
sabbath day” (Acts 15:21, See chapter on The Jewish Community - the Synagogue).

It is difficult to state at what point public communal prayer became obligatory;
nor do we know exactly of what those common prayers consisted. They were no
doubt a slow development which included some of the Psalms and other portions of
the Bible and later also of the Talmud as well as Jewish poetry. Some early
rabbis were against fixed prayers at fixed times. Even after the Second Temple
when the daily prayers were fixed and obligatory, some rabbis taught that God
would better be served by the study of His Law, rather than by prayer. Some of
the ancient rabbis prayed but seldom. By the time of Jesus there were already
certain prescribed prayers to be recited daily. There was the prayer known by
the term “Sh’mone Esrei” - “Eighteen” - because it was composed of eighteen
benedictions. There was also the “Sh’ma” * and probably some others (which some
congregation or individual chose to include, especially certain Psalms).

* The “Shema” is the most solemn “prayer” (recited three times daily) and
consists of the verses of Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Deuteronomy 6:13-21 and Numbers
15:37-41. It is particularly, the first part of it, a profession of faith in and
dedication to God (the One and only God) - the quintessence of Judaism.

After the Second Temple, when prayer was the only kind of worship that could
substitute the sacrifices, there were many additions not only in petition and
supplication, mainly for the common welfare, especially for the restoration of
the Temple, but also of adoration, thanksgiving and confession, and even of
instruction; thus were the laws concerning the sacrifices daily recited, with
the hope and prayer that God would soon reinstate them.

“Prayer” was recited from memory for many years. It was not until 875 A.D. that
the “Gaon” Amram undertook the task of definitely prescribing the ritual for the
various services.

But even after his time, there were many additions of liturgic poems to be
recited on certain holy days. However, these additions were not obligatory. This
compilation of prayers - “Siddur” - was generally accepted as the authorized
prayer book. A radical change in liturgy was later instituted by the Reformists.
They dropped many of the age-old hallowed prayers, in particular all those which
have to do with the return of Zion and the ancient sacrificial rites. They
introduced the sermon as a fixed factor of the service while previously it had
been used only occasionally.

They also began to use the language of their country for the prayers instead of
Hebrew which had been used for prayer all through the ages with few exceptions
(Some prayers are in Aramaic). THE THREE DAILY PRAYERS The custom of praying
three times a day has its roots in antiquity. Psalms 55:17 tells of praying
evening, morning and noon. Daniel (Daniel 6:10-11) also prayed three times a
day. The morning prayer (shacharith) lasts about an hour. The afternoon (mincha)
and evening (ma’ariv) services are usually one following the other and together
they, too, last about one hour.

Besides the three daily prayers at the synagogue, there is also some reading,
during the service, in the sacred scroll of the Pentateuch, on Mondays and
Thursdays. During the Sabbath service a whole “sidra” (see vocabulary) is read
from the Pentateuch, to which was added a portion from the “Prophets.” There are
also additions to the usual daily prayers - on the Sabbath and holy days. (The
Rosh Hashonah service lasts several hours, while that of Yom Kippur lasts a
whole day and a great part of the preceding night). The additions to the morning
service on holy days are mostly “piutim,” poetical compositions, incorporated
during the Middle Ages, some of which are devotional, some doctrinal or dealing
with Law, or even allusions to some historical event.

We cannot within the limited space of this book enlarge upon the various
“prayers” or rather parts of these prayers, and we would therefore advise the
student to procure a Jewish prayer book in English translation and study it. It
would be well worthwhile.

PREPARATION AND POSTURE

Prayer requires preparation. It needs dedication and purification of mind and
body. The worshiper must exclude all worldly and selfish thoughts while in
communication with the Creator. Also his body must be clean. No one may pray or
utter the name of God without previously washing his hands. Pious Jews used to
wash the whole body by immersion in a ritual basin (Mikveh) before the morning
prayer. The lower part of the body was considered as not clean enough for
prayer, so a special belt is worn during prayer to separate it from the upper
part which does the actual performance of the ritual. The morning prayer
(scharith) is to be recited in a “tallith” (a praying-shawl), and “tefillin”
(phylacteries). These are not used on Sabbath or on Holy Days. The solemn
prayers are recited in standing posture, facing the East - in the direction of
Jerusalem, according to 1 Kings 8:38; 2 Chronicles 6:39. So we find Daniel
(Daniel 6:10-11) praying three times daily with his face turned toward
Jerusalem.

At home a picture called “Mizrach” (east) hung on the wall facing the East as a
reminder of the location of Jerusalem. In the synagogue, the “east wall” has
special importance: there stands the ark containing the Torah and there are the
seats of the rabbi and the other dignitaries of the community.

While the prayers may be recited alone at home, the recitation is better and
more efficacious when done in a congregation because the “Shekinah” is present
when ten or more Jews are united in prayer. This quorum of ten (minyan) must be
adult males over thirteen years of age. When a Jewish boy reaches the age of
thirteen he becomes “Bar-Mitzvah” (a son of the Law) - responsible to Law, and a
full-fledged member of the Jewish community with all religious duties and
privileges that this entails. When the service is performed in “congregation,”
one of the congregants (if over thirteen years old) serves as leader called
“Chazan” (see vocabulary) cantor, or “Baal Tefillah” (“man of prayer”).

While any one of the congregation may perform all the rites in the service,
larger congregations have special functionaries for leading in prayer, reading
in the Scrolls, blowing of the Shofar, etc. Only the Priestly benediction may
not be performed by a layman. It must be done by descendants of Aaron, the first
priest. The Benediction that follows the larger meals is quite elaborate and is
also better performed by a quorum of three, at least, of whom one is the leader.
In the singing of “Zemiroth” which accompanies the meals on Sabbath and holy
days, all the male household participate. As already mentioned all prayers, with
little exception, are recited in Hebrew, although not many of those who recite
the prayers understand them.


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  CHAPTER 25: 02.06.     THE JEWISH COMMUNITY-(K'HILLAH)
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The Jewish Community-(K’Hillah) A. THE SYNAGOGUE This institution is well known
in the New Testament. It originated during the vacant period between the Old
Testament and the New Testament. While the Temple existed this was only a
supplement to the service in the Temple. There in the synagogue the people could
meet for prayer, study of the Law and probably also for discussion about
communal and national affairs. *

* There were 460 synagogues in Jerusalem in the time of Christ (according to the
Talmud). Jesus frequented the synagogues of His hometown, Nazareth, also in
Capernaum and others as is recorded in Matthew 12:9; Luke 4:16; John 6:59; John
18:20. Paul preached the Gospel in the synagogues as seen in Acts 13:5; Acts
14:1; Acts 18:4.

After the destruction of the Temple and the cessation of the sacrificial service
the synagogue became the center of worship and of Jewish life as a whole. It was
from the synagogue in Diaspora that Paul disseminated the Gospel to the Jew
first and also to the Gentile.

Now, like the Jewish religious life in general so also the synagogue is on a
sharp decline, but until quite recently (before the two world wars) the
synagogue in the old Jewish communities was the center and circumference of
Jewish life. It was the treasury of Jewish ideals, doctrines and history. There
the Jews, almost all the males, met day by day for the three daily services.
There Jews, individually or in groups, spent most of the day and a great portion
of the night in study of the sacred books - and most synagogues usually had
large libraries of sacred books placed on shelves free for all.

That is why the synagogue is also called in Yiddish shod (school), because it
was there that the Jew got his “Judaism,” and, as already mentioned, Judaism to
him meant life - as it controlled almost all his thoughts and actions.

The Greek word synagogue is a translation of the Hebrew word beth-knesseth which
means the House of Assembly (or congregation). Any Jew could come in at any time
of day or night (not during service) for a rest, a chat or even a nap. It was
his club, a second home. The Christian missionary is advised to attend some
Jewish services at the synagogue and get acquainted with the order of service
and also with the things inside the edifice. The most sacred part in the
synagogue is the “Ark,” reminiscent of the “Ark of the Covenant,” usually called
“Aran Hakodesh” (the Holy Ark) wherein the “Sepher Torah” is kept.

This Torah is a parchment scroll on which the “Five Books of Moses” are written
by hand in the original Hebrew text. The Ark is placed in a recess in the east
wall. Its doors are covered by a curtain called parachet. In front of it is
usually suspended a ner tamid - a perpetual lamp, always lighted.

In about the center of the synagogue stands the Bema, (which may be translated
as “pulpit”), upon which the Sepher Torah is laid when it is read. In many
synagogues the Bema serves also as a platform at which the Chazan (cantor)
stands when leading in prayer. There also stands the Rabbi when he delivers a
sermon. Some synagogues have a special “stand,” at which the man leading in
prayer stands.

Some striking features about the synagogues are:

- The absence of pictorial emblems (no portraits or statues). - No instrumental
music is allowed (Reform Temples are exceptions in this regard), and conspicuous
by their absence are the women. - No women are allowed inside the prayer hall.
Those women who want to pray (although women are not enjoined to recite prayers)
with the congregation, may do so in an adjoining room.

Some synagogues have balconies for the women. In Reform Temples there is mixed
seating. You may know that one of the benedictions in the morning service is:
“Blessed art thou . . . who has not made me a woman.”

B. THE FUNCTIONARIES OF THE SYNAGOGUE The Functionaries of the Synagogue or of
the community, as a whole, are usually composed of:

1. The “RABBI.” Formerly his most important duties were to care for the
religious needs of his congregation, especially see to it that the community is
provided with kosher food (see Vocabulary).

Under his jurisdiction came also the laws and rites of marriage and divorce.
(These kosher and marital laws are also the main tasks of the Israeli
Rabbinate). Today, and particularly in Western countries (U.S.A., England,
France, etc.), the rabbis, especially the Reform rabbis (imitation of the
Christian pastor), have assumed many of the modern pastor’s activities: as
preaching sermons, sometimes also leading in prayer, and certain social
activities. He is expected to be a good “mixer” and he is so usually, “a jolly
good fellow.”

2. The “SHOCHET” (“slaughterer”), who in a prescribed manner slaughters kosher
(ritually fit) animals, mainly chicken and cattle, and thus is supplying kosher
meat for the Jewish consumer.

3. The “CHAZAN” (cantor), who leads in the service; sometimes he also serves as
the “baal korei” (Reader from the scroll of the Torah) although these two
offices may be, and it often has been, performed by anyone of the congregants
who volunteers for them.

4. The “MOHEL” - the circumciser.

5. The “SOFEIR,” a scribe who writes the “Torah,” (here meaning “the five books
of Moses,” which for synagogual use are to be written by hand on parchment). He
also writes on parchment the passages from the Pentateuch that are enclosed in
the tefillin, (phylacteries) and in the mezuzzah (small scroll nailed to the
door post). Smaller communities which cannot support a sofeir of their own
import their religious articles from other communities.

6. The “GABBAI,” or Treasurer, one of whose tasks is to allot the various duties
or “treats” connected with the service.

7. The “SHAMASH,” who serves as beadle, sexton and usher as the occasion may
require. Up to a generation or two ago, the Shamash had the task of calling the
Jews to the synagogue to pray. Thus, before dawn he used to go around the Jewish
sections of the towns with a hammer knocking on the doors or shutters, crying
aloud: “Get up, get up to the service of the Creator.”

On Fridays, in the late afternoon, he used to go about crying: “To synagogue!”
(“In shul arein!”). This was an indication to all those laggards who were not
yet ready for the Sabbath, to hurry up, wash and dress fittingly and rush to the
Synagogue. The Shamash also served as the Rabbi’s messenger in his function as
Rabbi.

C. MIKVEH

Every community has had a Mikveh - a bath for ritual ablution and immersion for
purification, mainly for women after the period of their menstruation (only
after she had performed this cleansing ritual was she considered as “clean”).
The males used it for cleansing their bodies on the eve of Sabbath, and on holy
days. Some pious Jews purified themselves in the Mikveh every morning in
preparation for Prayer.

D. OTHER INSTITUTIONS

Since the synagogue had been the center of Jewish life, there clustered about it
various associations for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the individual
Jew as well as for the community as a whole.

There was the chevrah kadisha (the sacred Association) whose task had been to
care for the ritual of the dead, and the upkeep of the cemetery.

There were societies for the care of the sick, the aged, the orphaned, helping
poor brides to get married, to provide the poor with “Matzeth” (unleavened
bread) and wine for the Passover, to provide lodging for strangers, to buy books
(sacred) for the library and many others.

There were various groups for study; groups to study the Talmudic books with all
their hair-splitting casuistry and intricacies. Less learned folk (and with less
time at their disposal) joined themselves into Mishnah groups. The Mishnah was
written in Hebrew, and is not so difficult and intricate as is the Gemarah which
is mostly in Aramaic. And there was the Ain Yaakov group. This book contains, in
simple Hebrew, the homiletical portions of the Talmudic books and their various
legends. The less learned people, usually the busy working men, satisfied
themselves with the reading of the Psalms in spare time. As a whole the
synagogue and its services have been the expression of the common hopes and
yearnings, of the ideals, exultations, joys and sorrows of the Jewish people. To
be expelled from the synagogue was considered a most terrible punishment (see
John 9:22; John 12:42). In conclusion, I wish to emphasize again that the
synagogue, as all Judaism, is rapidly losing its grip on the Jewish people. It
is becoming less and less a force in Jewry. In America where the largest number
of the Jewish people is settled, imposing synagogues are erected, but they are
no longer “houses of prayer” and inspiration. Their purpose seems to be more
negative than positive. It is more to keep the Jews away from the influence of
the Christians, than to teach them Judaism. For fear that the Jewish youth might
stray away into Gentile society, everything is being done to attract them to a
place where they could keep to themselves. Thus the synagogue is rapidly
becoming a social center with sports, dances, and various other entertainments.
No inducement is spared to keep the adolescent within the fold and dissuade him
from intermarriage and assimilation. The Reform Jews call their religious center
a “Temple” -a word which to the modern liberal ear sounds better than the word
“synagogue,” because, although the word is of non-Jewish origin, the institution
itself is uniquely (and peculiarly) Jewish. The Liberal Reform Jews prefer not
to be stamped and identified as Jews (they prefer some degree of painless
assimilation).


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  CHAPTER 26: 02.07.     FEASTS AND FASTS
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Feasts and Fasts THE JEWISH CALENDAR The Jewish people count the year “to the
creation of the world,” which according to tradition and based on biblical data
occurred 5720 years ago. Thus the year 1961-1962 is in the Jewish year 5722.
This reckoning “to the creation” is not mentioned in the Bible. Instead, the
Bible era especially in regard to the festive seasons, is “to the going out of
Egypt.” Thus the Jews have two systems of reckoning the years:

1. The Sacred year which begins in Spring in memory of “the going out of Egypt”
and 2. The Civil (or secular) year which begins in Autumn when the “world was
created.”

For example, the feast of Passover is celebrated in the first Sacred month
(Nisan), “This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you” (Exodus 12:2), while what the Jews call “New
Year” (the Bible calls the “Memorial of Blowing of Trumpets”; see Leviticus
23:24 and Numbers 10:10; Numbers 29:1) is celebrated on the first day of the
seventh Sacred month. The year is divided into twelve lunar months (of 29 1/2
days) with a 13th month seven times in every cycle of nineteen years. The lunar
year (12 times 29 1/2 days) has 354 days, and is thus eleven days shorter than
the solar year, which counts 365 days. In order to make up for this annual
difference, a whole month is inserted every third or second year.

Thus every 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th year (in a cycle of 19
years) is a leap year of 13 months. The months do not have 29 1/2 days each but
alternate in length: Nisan has 30 days, Iyar 29 days, and so on. In some years
there is a little variation in the length of the months for certain reasons. The
names of the Jewish months are not given in Hebrew in the Bible. The Jews
learned them from the people in Babylon during their exile in that country. In
the Bible the months are usually named by ordinal numbers (1st month, 2nd month,
etc). Nor are there Hebrew names for the days of the week. The names of the days
and months used by Christians are of pagan origin!

The names of the Jewish months are:

1. Nisan (corresponds to March 20 up to April 16 or thereabouts), 2. lyar, 3.
Sivan, 4. Tammuz, 5. Av, 6. Elul, 7. Tishri, 8. Cheshvan, 9. Kislev, 10. Teveth,
11. Shevat, 12. Adar.

In a leap year the 13th month is called Ve-Adar. The present Jewish Calendar is
based on astronomical principles and was adopted about 1500 years ago. Before
its adoption (as in the time of Christ), the Rabbis did not rely on scientific
calculations. They were probably not well acquainted with astronomical rules,
and their chief reliance was on actual observation of the moon.

On the thirtieth day of each month the Rabbis (during the Second Temple - The
Sanhedrin) examined witnesses who claimed to have seen the new moon. If the
evidence was reliable and satisfactory, that day (the 30th) was formally
proclaimed to be “New Moon” (Rosh Chodesh). If there were no witnesses, or the
evidence was not trustworthy, the month was declared to begin on the following
day.

Since upon the date of the New Moon depended the date of any festival that fell
in the month, the people all over the country were informed by messengers or by
beacon signals from mountain tops of this formal “sanctification of the New
Month.”

Those Jews who lived too far away from Jerusalem to be reached in time, and thus
could not know whether the 30th day was declared as New Moon, had to keep sacred
both the 30th day as well as the following day, and accordingly every festival
of that month had to be kept two days instead of one day as it was observed in
the homeland.

“New Years’ Day” was celebrated for two days even in Jerusalem, because it fell
on the first day of the month. The adoption of the “Second Day Festival” is
still being observed in Diaspora (outside Israel) although the exact time of the
appearance of the new moon is now well known and is printed in the Jewish
Calendar. Thus, for example, Shavuoth - Pentecost -is kept two days instead of
one day as fixed in the Bible.

HOLY DAYS

Before continuing here, it is important to read carefully concerning the
biblical festive seasons in Leviticus 23:1-44 and Numbers 28:1-31 and Numbers
29:1-40.

I would call the reader’s attention to the fact that my portrayal of the various
holydays here is as they have been observed in the Diaspora up to three or four
decades ago and as I knew them in my early youth.

Today, especially in America, the holydays have no longer the great
significance, the ennobling effect upon Jewry they had previously. If any of
them are observed at all, it is less in compliance with the Word of God, than it
is in compliance with men, especially with old parents; some dim and vague
nostalgia; and more often than not to hear the voice of a “famous Chazan,” or
Cantor who sings and recites the prayers in enchanting tones. Sometimes the
sermon, or rather “lecture” of the learned Rabbi draws attendance to the
synagogues and temples on the holydays, especially on “New Year” and on the “Day
of Atonement.”

Since the destruction of the Temple and cessation of Sacrifices the holydays
were not celebrated in exile in accordance with the Word of God. For example:

1. According to the Scriptures the holydays were to be celebrated by various
offerings. In exile there were no sacrifices.

2. The ritual service of “Day of Atonement” was mainly performed by the priests
as it was a sacrificial ministry, whereas the people as a whole had almost
nothing to do with it except to keep it holy like a Sabbath Day and to fast. *

* The Hebrew words for “ye shall afflict your souls” (see Leviticus 16:31;
Leviticus 23:23; Numbers 29:7) is generally understood to mean “to fast.”

In Diaspora this day has become the most important day in the observance of the
Jewish Religion.

3. “New Year” which together with the “Day of Atonement” has become known as the
“awful days” (when even those Jews who don’t usually attend the synagogue find
it obligatory to attend) is not mentioned in the Scriptures at all.

4. According to the Scriptures the “First Day of the Month” was to be a solemn
holyday; while in exile, and especially now, it had little importance.

5. I may add that while God ordained the holydays to be kept only one day, in
exile they were kept two days. Only Yom Kippur is observed one day.

There have been many other discrepancies in the observance of the holydays in
variance with the Scriptures.

However, bereft of the possibility of offering the prescribed sacrifices, the
Jews did in their own way, keep the holydays “holy” in the highest possible
degree. Here again we may use Paul’s words, “Zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge,” but such well-meant zeal, such devotion, such submission in love,
awe and reverence to God as the Jews evidence in their holydays may well have
earned them the name of “God’s Chosen People.” That bears true witness to
Israel’s potentialities to fulfill their mission at the close of the “times of
the Gentiles.”

SABBATH

Keeping the Sabbath holy is one of the Ten Commandments (See Exodus 20:8-11;
Deuteronomy 5:12-15).

The Sabbath has been the center of Jewish life and of the Jewish home. No matter
how badly the Jew fared during weekdays, on the Sabbath he was his own self - a
scion of kings and prophets. No matter what his position was within the
community, no matter if through the weekdays he and his family suffered the
pangs of hunger and other adversities of poverty; no matter how he was despised
or beaten and bruised by non-Jews from without, when the Sabbath came he was
transformed into a king - at least as lord and master of his home. In the old
ghetto life and within the Jewish settlement, it seemed that the six weekdays
were only days of preparation for the proper observance of the Sabbath. Friday
was almost entirely devoted to preparation for the advent of holy Sabbath:
baking, cooking, housecleaning, everything was done (no cost was spared) that
the home, no matter how dingy and congested, should be converted into a royal
abode.

While the menfolk went to have the ritual cleansing at the Mikveh, the community
bath, the womenfolk washed themselves at home. All put on the cleanest and best
clothing, usually special “Sabbath-clothing.” Toward evening the men went to the
synagogue for “Reception of Sabbath,” as the Sabbath-eve service is called where
special prayers and chants were recited and sung. The center of the service is
the beautiful hymn called L’cha Dodi, “Come My Beloved,” which clearly hints
that the Messiah is already come. When the men return from synagogue they find
their home (perhaps simply a one-room home) highly illuminated, especially with
Sabbath candles, the table being festively decked with the best that their
income can afford. On entering, the men greet the women, “Gut shabbes” (“Have a
good Sabbath”) and all reply, “Gut shabbes.” Then everyone chants a welcoming
song in honor of the two angels, who are believed to accompany every man home
from his Sabbath-eve service.

Then comes the Kiddush (sanctification) which the head of the family solemnly
pronounces over a cup of wine of which everyone tastes after the blessing. Then
after washing of hands the whole family, “king” father, “queen” mother and the
other members of “royalty” sit down around the table, happily, radiantly
partaking of the delicious food, interspersed with Zmiroth - sacred songs -
which terminate with the final lengthy blessing. The following day is
consecrated entirely to the service of God. There is the morning service at the
synagogue which occupies almost all of the forenoon, then the festive meal
which, with its accompanying prayers and chants is also considered as part of
the divine service. The afternoon is spent in reading sacred books; each
according to his education. Then again to synagogue for the late afternoon
service and a third meal, a light one, after which, at nightfall, there comes
the daily evening service. The Sabbath is then terminated by Havdalah
(“separation”). Like the Kiddush which ushers in the holy day, so also the
Havdalah, which separates the sacred Sabbath from the secular weekdays, is
performed over a cup of wine. Then comes M’lavesh Malkah - a farewell meal in
honor of the departing queen - Sabbath. This meal accompanied by recitations and
chants often lasts till late at night. The Sabbath had to be observed not only
by observing affirmative laws, in special prayers, rites and ceremonial meals,
but also by refraining from doing certain things.

The Bible forbids doing work on the Sabbath day, but it does not say exactly
what is to be considered as work. So the Rabbis wrote down hundreds of acts
which are to be considered as work. Certain objects which may lead to the
desecration of the Sabbath, such as money, candles, etc., should not even be
touched. No burden ought to be carried on the Sabbath. Pious Jews even refrain
from carrying a handkerchief, though in case of necessity it was wound around
the neck like a scarf and was considered as a garment. No fire is to be kindled
on the Sabbath. “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the
Sabbath day” (Exodus 35:3), so the Jews (in exile) had to use the service of a
Gentile to make a fire in the stove in cold weather, also to remove the
candlesticks from the table, when not in use.

Present day Orthodox Jews refrain from turning on electric lights, even from
using the telephone, radio and television sets, since a spark is lit when
activating them. Nor may a burning light or fire be extinguished. Thus some Jews
kindle their lights before Sabbath sets in, and let them burn till the Sabbath
is out. Others use various gadgets which automatically turn on and off the
electric current.

Smoking tobacco on the Sabbath is strictly prohibited. Prohibited, too, is
riding, either on an animal or on a vehicle. Only when on board ship may the Jew
continue his voyage on the Sabbath. Jews of old and observant Jews now, have
been cautious not to break any of the hundreds of Sabbath laws. Yet in spite of
these harsh limitations (so many “don’ts”), the day was not only a holy day but
also a day of delight, of joy and happiness. The Jew excluded all worry, sorrow,
and mourning and, of course, all thoughts of any part of his weekday occupation.

Well was it said by a Jewish sage: “More than the Jews kept the Sabbath has the
Sabbath kept the Jews.” They surely could not have survived the everyday
hardships, if they had not had the weekly day of rest and resuscitation, a day
on which they could remind themselves that they are the “Everlasting Nation,”
the nation who had a Covenant with God. The other holydays, too, were kept as
holy as humanly possible. They have been days fully consecrated to God. No
sports or any kind of entertainment were allowed - only prayer, study of sacred
books, and consumption of food eaten solemnly and ritually. THE THREE PILGRIM
FESTIVALS

“Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the
place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast
of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the
LORD empty” (Deuteronomy 16:16):

1. Pesach (Passover); 2. Shavuoth (Weeks); 3. Succoth (Tabernacles).

According to the Bible the first and seventh days of Passover, the day of
Pentecost, and the first and eighth days of Tabernacles were to be kept as “holy
assemblies” (Leviticus 23:1-44). In the Diaspora, an additional day is observed
in each case (see Section on Jewish Calendar). The day after each of the three
Pilgrim Festivals is called Isru Chag, which is a kind of a half holiday.

I. PESACH (Passover)

Most interesting volumes have been written on this Festival. *

* The author has published a book on Passover from the Christian viewpoint.

We here must limit ourselves to some of the main points. The name Passover
refers to Exodus 12:27, and is celebrated for eight days (in Israel only seven)
from the 15th of Nisan to the 22nd of Nisan -the first month of the Jewish Year.
The first two days and the last two days are full holydays, while the
intervening days are half-holidays (“Chol-haMoed”), when work may be done.

Passover is also called Feast of Matzoth (Unleavened Bread) * and Feast of
Harvest, because this falls at the time of the barley harvest.

* Because no bread other than unleavened may be eaten during the eight days of
Passover (see Exodus 12:19-20; Exodus 13:7; Exodus 18:18).

As thanksgiving for the harvest, an omer (a certain measure of the new grain)
had to be offered on the second day of Passover. (About Pesach read also Matthew
26:17-19; Luke 22:7-20; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; 1 Corinthians 6:7; 1 Corinthians
11:24-26). The most festive and ceremonious part of Passover is the Seder, the
ritual meal or “home service” of the first two nights of Passover. Even more
than the Sabbath eve, the home looks as if magically converted into a royal
hall.

Light, joy and happiness permeate the atmosphere. While on Sabbath eve the head
of the family assumes the role of a King, on the Eve of Passover he is more of a
“high priest,” and the table around which the family is seated is more like an
altar, as it is decked with sacred symbols, each of which commemorates some
particular event of the deliverance from Egypt. The table-service begins with
the Kiddush (as on Sabbath eve). It is continued with reciting the Haggadah -
the story of the miraculous deliverance. The recitation and chanting of the
various parts of the Haggadah (some of which are devotional, others quite
frivolous) together with the ritual food, often occupy the greater part of the
night.

While most of this home service is a memorial to the redemption from Egyptian
slavery, there are also many symbols pointing at the redemption of the soul by
the Messiah, and the mystery of the Trinity. Such, for example, are the three
Mazzoth, the bone of a lamb, the Aphikomen, and the “Cup of wine for Elijah.” *

* See my book on Passover for particulars.

When and how these apparently Christian symbols got into the Passover ceremony
is not yet very clear. The Jews who solemnly observe them have no good
explanation for this. At the services of the synagogue during Passover, special
prayers are added to the daily ones. Also certain sections of the Torah,
relevant to this holiday are being read.

Sephirah (“counting”), or the Counting of the Omer. We have previously mentioned
the offering of the “Omer.” Now the Bible commanded to count seven weeks from
that day till the Offering of the First Fruit (Bikkurim) on the fiftieth day
(See Leviticus 23:15-17; Exodus 34:22; Numbers 28:26). In Exile these days of
Sephirah assumed a new phase: They have been considered as days of mourning (no
weddings or other joyous celebrations on these days). Various reasons are given
for it (see further on Lag-baomer), but none is better than that it originated
from the time that the first Christians mourned over the crucifixion of Jesus
till His reappearance and reassurance on the fiftieth day - on Pentecost. This
is my opinion.

II. SHAVUOTH (Weeks) - The Feast of Weeks (See Exodus 34:22; Leviticus 23:15-17;
also read Acts 2:1-47, and 1 Corinthians 15:20).

It is celebrated on the sixth and seventh day of the month of Sivan - the third
month of the year. To Christians it is known as Pentecost, a Greek word which
means “fiftieth” - the fiftieth day after the bringing of the Omer. In biblical
times it was also called The Festival of the Wheat Harvest (Two loaves were
offered from the new crop). It was also called The Day of First Fruit. From this
day until Succoth (the third Pilgrim Festival) the first fruits of the field
(wheat, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, etc.) were brought by the Jewish
farmers to the Temple as a token of gratitude to the Lord for His bounty (see
Deuteronomy 26:5). In Exile, Shavuoth lost its biblical character (which was
agricultural and sacerdotal). It has become the Feast of the Giving of Our Law,
as according to tradition, on this day occurred the Revelation on Mount Sinai,
when the Torah was entrusted to the People of Israel (see Exodus 19:1).

(Significant about the special synagogue service is the reading of the book of
Ruth, the Moabite woman of whom sprang the royal family of David - and the
Messiah).

III. SUCCOTH (Tabernacles) (Leviticus 23:34-43; Deuteronomy 16:13-16) This
commences on the fifteenth of Tishri, the seventh month of the year, and ends on
the twenty-third of that month. It is also called The Festival of the
Ingathering (see Exodus 34:22).

The special feature of this Festival is that meals are eaten in specially built
booths (the very pious even sleep in them). Another important feature is the
observance of the “four species,” in accordance with Leviticus 23:40; “And ye
shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm
trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall
rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.” The seventh day of Succoth is
called Hoshana Rabba, and the eighth day is Shemini Atzereth (Leviticus 23:36).
The ninth day is Simchath Torah (“Rejoicing of the Law”). In Palestine, this
holyday is celebrated on the eighth day together with Shemini Atzereth. This
festival has no basis in the Bible. On this day the annual reading of the Torah
* is completed and recommenced for the coming year.

* The Torah (Pentateuch) is being read in the synagogue on Sabbaths in about
fifty weekly portions until it is all read over the period of the year.

This is a very joyful day. In the synagogue during service all the sacred
scrolls are taken out of the Holy Ark, and carried by young and old in
procession. Children also partake in the reading of the Torah.

(Women may be present in a secluded part of the synagogue during the services -
but they never participate). THE FEARFUL DAYS

I. ROSH HASHANAH (New Year). This holyday falls on the first and second day of
the seventh month - Tishri. Among the order of the sacrifices for each holyday
enumerated in Numbers 28:1-31 and Numbers 29:1-40, there are also special
sacrifices to be offered on the first day of the seventh month, which more than
other New Moons was to be kept holy (see Numbers 29:1-6). (The number “7” had
some symbolic significance in the Bible [in Hebrew lore], thus also the 7th day
of the week, the 7th year, etc. had special significance). This seventh New Moon
was, somehow, in Exile, converted into the New Year and the Yom Haddin - “The
Day of Judgment,” when God sits in judgment of each and every creature and
decides the fate of each in the following year. But the sealing of the judgment
is done on the tenth day of Tishri - the Day of Atonement. In the intervening
time man can still repent and repair any wrong he had committed during the past
year. The two days of “New Year” and the Day of Atonement are called “The
Fearful Days,” and together with the seven intervening days, are called “The Ten
Days of Repentance,” when by prayer, alms-giving and fasting one may avert the
execution of the deserved penalties.

Thus before Rosh Hashanah is over Jews greet each other with the earnest wish,
“May you be inscribed to a good year.”

Between Rosh Hashanah and Day of Atonement the greeting is, “May you be sealed
to a good year.” “Inscribed,” of course, refers into the “Book of Life.”

There is not much festivity at home on Rosh Hashanah. On the other hand, the
services at the synagogue are very elaborate, including many prayers for
forgiveness and the blowing of the SHOFAR (horn) (see Numbers 29:1 and Leviticus
23:24). Another solemn feature is the reading of the story of the Sacrifice of
Isaac in Genesis 22:1-24, as a reminder to God to remember the covenant and
forgive for Isaac’s sake.

II. YOM KIPPUR (Day of Atonement) - (See Leviticus 16:30 and Numbers 29:7) This
is the most solemn day in the Jewish year. It is a total fast day which begins
with the preceding evening. Not even a drop of water may be taken into the
mouth. All the day as well as a great part of the previous night is spent in the
synagogue. Solemn and touching is the commencing service (called Kol Nidre) on
the eve of Yom Kippur and the concluding service (called Neilah). On the day
before Yom Kippur the rite of Kapparah is performed.

Since the person who sins deserves to die and since there is no man without sin,
and since the ordained sacrifices have ceased, the people take a substitute
which is to die as a ransom. Usually the male takes a cock, and the female, a
hen, and by reciting certain prayers and circling the fowl around the penitent’s
head, it takes over the sins and accordingly is to die instead of the human.
This “sacrifice” is then ritually slaughtered and consumed or given to the poor
and needy. This rite is now seldom practiced. Only the extremely pious still
cling to it. This rite as well as the other rituals, prayer, fasting and charity
does not allay the sense of guilt, does not dispel the fear of just retribution;
somehow they fear that all these are not enough for atonement. It is no wonder
that they call these days “Fearful.” Is it not our duty to tell them of the Lamb
of God, of the great Sacrifice made for the Atonement of all that believe on
Him? THE MINOR FESTIVALS

I. CHANUCAH (Dedication)-This festival is celebrated for eight days beginning
from the 25th of Kislev (the ninth month). It commemorates the re-dedication of
the Temple by the Maccabees. The events that led to this festival are recorded
in the Apocryphal Book of “Maccabees.”

In short: the “Greeks” (here, actually the Syrians) intended to subdue the small
state of Judea and force the Jews to abandon Judaism and instead to adopt the
worship of Greek gods. While all the nations around (in the near East) yielded
to this superior power, the Jews, faithful to Jehovah (God) revolted, defeated
the mighty armies of the idolatrous enemy (in 165 B.C) and rededicated the
Temple which had then been defiled and desecrated by the “Hellenists.” The
Kindling of the Chanucah Lights commemorates the miracle which took place at the
rededication. The Talmud tells that when the victorious Maccabees were seeking
the sacred oil to rekindle the “Menorah” (the continual lamp - see Exodus
27:20), they found only one cruse of oil, whose seal of the High Priest was
unbroken, and was thus undefiled. This sacred oil was sufficient only for one
day; yet, miraculously it lasted for eight days.

There is no special sanctity to this holiday except that certain prayers are
added to the daily prayers and that in the evening the Chanucah candles are
solemnly lit, accompanied with benedictions and recitations. It is considered
more of a children’s holiday, as they have usually been free from school and
received gifts from the adults. There is no limitation on work.

John, the Evangelist, tells of Jesus being at the Temple on Chanucah, when the
people who were, at that time, expecting the Messiah, asked Him if He was the
Messiah (John 10:22-39).

It is quite possible that the early Christians celebrated this Feast of Lights
(as Chanucah is often called) and in course of time, after the marvelous
widespread ‘influx of Gentiles into the Christian faith, it evolved into a new
holyday - what we now call Christmas.

(Let us pray for the time when both Jew and Gentile will together celebrate the
Feast of the Light of the World).

II. PURIM (Lots), falls on the 14th and 15th of Adar, the 12th month. In English
it is called the Feast of Esther, as its origin is in the book of Esther. The
Jews call it “Lots” (see Esther 9:26-32).

It is celebrated in commemoration of the deliverance of the Jewish people in
Persia about 23 centuries ago. Like Chanucah, work may be done on the two days
of Purim. The services in the synagogue are distinguished by the reading of the
Book of Esther, and at home by festive meals.

This is a merry holiday when Jews are allowed to get drunk, to masquerade and
even to ridicule the Rabbis, and to distort and recite certain prayers to make
them sound ridiculous, and thus arouse laughter. The children are given license
to raise as much noise as they wish. In the synagogue whenever the name Haman is
read during the reading of the Megillah (“Scroll”: Book of Esther), the children
make noise by specially fabricated noisemakers, whistles, fire crackers, etc.

Haman (as you may know) was the first modern anti-Semite who about 23 centuries
ago declared that the Jews ought to be exterminated because they are different
from all other nations.

“And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad
and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their
laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king’s laws; therefore
it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them” (Esther 3:8).

Haman and many others after him, have endeavored to destroy the Jewish people,
but they survived, because “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper”
(Isaiah 54:17), because they are indestructible - an everlasting nation. The
most welcome part of this holiday is, of course, the sending of gifts to friends
and to the poor.

There are two remarkable things about this Festival:

1. The book of Esther (upon which the festival is based) is the only book in the
Bible wherein not even once is mentioned the name of God in any form, although
the hand of God is felt on every page of it.

2. The Talmud says that all the festivals will be abolished when Messiah comes,
only this one, PURIM, will remain.

This is the only festival mentioned in the Bible which God did not command. In
Esther 9:20-28 it states that Mordecai wrote to the Jews to observe this
festival, and that the Jews took it upon themselves and upon their children to
observe it forever. Also, Esther wrote an edict to all the Jews - to the same
effect. On whose authority? Has God approved of it? (There is some mystery in
this - and someday we may be privileged to know it).

III. ROSH CHODESH (literally: The Head of the Month) In pre-exile time the first
day of each month was solemnly celebrated and additional sacrifices were offered
(see Numbers 28:11-31). From 2 Kings 4:23, we understand that it was an
established festival. And Amos 8:5 seems to indicate that no work was allowed on
Rosh Chodesh.

In course of time it lost its importance. Now it is almost forgotten except that
additional prayers are recited on this day.

IV. LAG BAOMER The 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer (see Pesach) is a
half-holiday. The origin of this holiday is obscure. Formerly it was ascribed to
a plague which occurred in Judea (about 70 A.D). during the days of the SEPHIRA
(see Pesach), but on this day the plague stopped. Now it is ascribed to the
revolt of the false Messiah Bar Kochba which terminated with a horrible massacre
and the final cessation of Jewish life in Judea. (In that case, why celebrate?)

There is no special service on this day. Children are free from school, and they
play as “soldiers.” In the land of Israel bonfires are made at night, the
youngsters dancing and singing around them. Many of the pious visit the
sepulchre of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, at Meron near Saffad (in Upper Galilee).

This Rabbi was (according to popular tradition) a great Kabbalist and miracle
man, and even the mere visit to his grave may bring the fulfillment of wishes,
according to popular belief. Here great illuminations are made accompanied with
prayer and chants. Many people from far and wide also visit the sepulchre of
Rabbi Akiba at Tiberias, who was one of the most revered Rabbis (he may have
known Jesus, but later was the sponsor of Bar Kochba).

V. Tu B’SHVATH (or Chamishah-Assar Beshvat) The fifteenth day of the SHVAT (the
eleventh month), is also called “The New Year of Trees.” In pre-exile times this
day was considered as the agricultural New Year in regard to tithes and the
like. In Exile the day was celebrated by eating various fruits, preferably such
as grow in Palestine (figs, dates, almonds, etc). In the land of Israel, now, TU
B’SHVAT is celebrated by planting of new trees, in towns and villages or new
forests, recalling the words of the Bible: “When you come into the land you
shall plant all kinds of trees . . .” (Leviticus 19:23). The 15th of Av was a
holiday in the times of the Second Temple. It is not now observed.

FAST DAYS Besides Yom Kippur which is the only fast commanded by God6, there are
five other fast-days:

I. TISHAH B’AV (the ninth day of Av -the fifth month). This is a very strict
fast and like the fast of “Yom Kippur” it begins with the previous evening. It
is a day of deep mourning as on this day the First Temple as well as the second
one was destroyed. The Book of Lamentation is recited at the synagogue which is
but dimly lighted while the worshipers sit or squat on the floor, a token of
mourning. A book called Kinnoth, a collection of Laments and Wailings is
chanted, with sighing and weeping and groaning.

* The Hebrew words for “ye shall afflict your souls” (see Leviticus 16:31;
Leviticus 23:23; Numbers 29:7) is generally understood to mean “to fast.”

II. SHIVAH ASSAR B’TAMMUZ (the 17th day of Tammuz - the fourth month),
commemorating the capture of Jerusalem and siege of the Second Temple by the
Romans. The “Three Weeks” intervening between this fast and “Tishah B’av,” are
weeks of mourning. No wedding or any other joyous occasion is allowed.

III. ZOM G’DALYAH (The Fast of G’dalyah) commemorates the murder of the governor
of the Jews who was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (see 2 Kings 25:25). The fast
falls on the day next to Rosh Hashanah (the 3rd of Tishri).

IV. ASSARAH B’TEVETH (“Tenth of Teveth” - Tenth Month). On this day began the
siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Now in Israel this fast is observed also
as a Memorial Day for the six million Jews who were massacred by the Nazis in
the second World War (1939-1945).

V. TAANITH ESTHER (“Fast of Esther”) falls on the day before the day of PURIM.
It commemorates the fasting of Esther and the praying of the people that God
might frustrate Haman’s design to exterminate the Jewish people (see “Purim”).
(Also, see Esther 4:16).

There was a sixth fast, but this is to be kept only by first-born males. It
falls on the day preceding Passover, in memory of the death of the first-born of
Egypt, before the exodus, while the Jewish first-born were spared.

Pious Jews observed various other fasts, either self-inflicted as penitence, or
fixed ones on various occasions, which the people as a whole are not enjoined to
keep. On all the fast days there are certain variations of the daily prayers.
With the exception of TISHAH B’AV, all the minor fasts begin at daybreak and
last until nightfall. (Tishah B’av, like Yom Kippur, begins with the previous
evening). When a fast day falls on a Sabbath it is transferred to a weekday.

Isaiah, who in Isaiah 1:1-31 tells of the New Moon and the Sabbath, as well as
the other holydays, and the sacrifices and that they have become an abomination
unto God, concludes his last chapter with the reassuring, reconciling words:

“And it shall come to pass, that from one New Moon to another, and from one
Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord”
(Isaiah 66:23).


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  CHAPTER 27: 02.08.     THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
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The Laws and Customs of the Jewish People The KITZUR SHULCHAN ARUCH (Condensed
Code of Laws), the popular guide to Jewish living, starts out with the motto: “I
have set the Lord always before me” (Psalms 16:8), and goes on saying that the
consciousness of God’s omnipresence will assuredly keep the Jew from sin and
indecency. It says that a man standing before a king will be very careful that
his every action, every movement, every word be pleasing to his Majesty.

Thus, with this precept in mind, the life of the religious Jew is governed in
all its phases, during all his waking hours. As soon as he awakens from his
night’s sleep he recites: “I thank Thee, O eternal King, because Thou hast
graciously restored my soul to me, great is Thy faithfulness.”

Then begins his service of God, not only by the daily prayers, in the morning
and evening, and the various benedictions prescribed for the various sorts of
food, and the various experiences, but also, almost every action of his, is to
be performed punctiliously in accord with the tradition: What to wear, and how
to dress; how to wash, when to wash; what to eat, when to eat and how to eat.
Even his private natural needs, he is to satisfy according to prescription.

And most of his actions, whether of profane or sacred nature, are preceded and
followed by a set of benedictions or some pious formula. This religious life, as
if always aware of the presence of the King-Creator, is to go on incessantly
during all conscious life - “from the cradle to the grave.”

Some of the Jewish customs and usages are based on some biblical precepts, and
others came into Jewish life by certain historical experiences, and these, too,
have been sanctioned by some passage, or word, in the Bible, which the rabbis
have cleverly adapted. But some usages of doubtful origin, even if infiltrated
from heathen sources, have been sanctioned by long years of practice. The
popular saying is: “A custom breaks the law” - meaning that the observance of
the custom nullifies the law (which it breaks) and is, thus, to be preferred.
The custom is given the prerogative.

Present-day Jewry which is in a state of religious transition and perplexity has
become skeptical about the traditions of the rabbis and fathers, including some
old hallowed usages. Yet most of the people still cling to certain laws and
customs purely from sentimental motives.

To these belong the rites or ceremonies of Circumcision, Bar-Mitzvah, Marriage,
Mourning, Lighting of Sabbath Candles, Kosher, the “Seder” on the Eve of
Passover and some others. Of all these only circumcision is built on and about
the solid rock of divine command.

We shall try to acquaint our readers with the most important usages which are
still generally observed, although less rigidly and with some minor variations
by various groups.

CIRCUMCISION The oldest and most sacred of Jewish rites is circumcision (Milah).
It is the removal of the foreskin of the male organ by means of cutting. It is
called brith or brith milah, or brith Abraham, i.e. the Abrahamic Covenant (see
Genesis 17:9-14, and Leviticus 12:3). This rite has been preserved most
faithfully all through the ages.

Originally every father actually circumcised his child, but in course of time
every Jewish Community had a professional operator Mohel - Circumciser. This
rite which is performed on the eighth day after the child’s birth is accompanied
with various impressive ceremonies.

We wonder whether some of these ceremonies and recitations were not introduced
by the early Christians who still circumcised their children at the synagogue.
Many of these rites are symbolic of the Messiah and the New Covenant as recorded
in the New Testament. When the child is brought in for circumcision the
congregations call out: “Blessed be he who comes in the name of God.”

Then the child is placed on a chair which is called the “Throne of Elijah.”
Elijah, according to the rabbis, is the “Angel of the Covenant” of Malachi
3:1-3. The “Mohel” recites a prayer which begins: “This is the throne of Elijah
. . . For Thy salvation, O Lord, I have waited. . . .”

Then comes the recitation and benediction over a goblet of wine. The Godfather
(Sandak) drinks of the wine, inserts a few drops of it into the mouth of the
infant, and the remainder is sent to the mother. It is at this rite when the
infant is given a Hebrew name, which will henceforth be used as legal or ritual
name although it may be supplemented by an additional non-Hebrew name. At the
conclusion of the rite a prayer is recited wherein are the following significant
lines:

“May the All-merciful, regardful of the merit of them that are akin by the blood
of the circumcision, send us His Messiah, walking in His integrity, to bring
good tidings and consolation to the people that is scattered and dispersed among
the Peoples. . . . May the All-merciful, send us the Righteous Priest who
remains withdrawn in concealment, until a throne, bright as the sun and the
diamond, shall be prepared for Him, the prophet who covered His face with His
mantle and wrapped Himself therein, with whom our covenant was made in life and
peace. . . . May the All-merciful make us worthy of the days of the Messiah, and
of the life of the world to come.”

Here the Messiah, the Righteous Priest, (even the Angel of the Covenant), is one
and the same person -as Jesus was understood to be, by His early Jewish
followers, and which modern Jews fail to recognize, although they have been
reciting these and other “Christian” prayers and observing “Christian” rites, as
on Passover Eve, for centuries.

Circumcision ceremonies usually conclude with a feast at home or with some
“treat” of liquor and cake to the congregation after the morning service.

Girls receive their names about six weeks after their birth, on a Sabbath day,
when the father is called to the Bemah in the synagogue (to be one of the eight
persons) to recite the usual benedictions over a subsection of the weekly
portion read from the scroll of the Torah. Then the father requests the
precentor, or the “Gabbai,” to dedicate a special blessing to his new daughter
who is now called by the name the father chooses for her. Whereupon the
congregation responds with: “Mazaltov” (“Good Luck”).

(No ceremonies, no feasts follow the birth of a female child).

Many of the old customs that had been observed about child birth, especially
during the first week after birth, have lately fallen into disuse because the
people became aware of their superstitious nature.

PIDYON HABEN (Redemption of the First Born Son)

According to the Bible (Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:12-15, and Numbers 18:13-16), the
first born male child must be redeemed on the thirty-first day of his birth.
Exempt from this duty is the father who is a Kohen (See vocabulary) or a Levi,
or if the mother is the daughter of a Kohen or Levi.

If the thirty-first day falls on a Sabbath or holiday the ceremony is postponed
to the following day. The main feature of this rite of Redemption is the
father’s presenting his child (usually on a silver tray) to the Kohen declaring
his wish to redeem him for five shekels in accordance with God’s commandment.
(The equivalent of five shekels in our currency is about $2.50).

After the Kohen has received the redemption money he returns the child to the
father, whereupon the father recites certain set benedictions. Then the Kohen
holding the money over the head of the child recites:

“This is instead of that, this in commutation of that, this in remission of
that. May this child enter into life, into the Law and the fear of Heaven. May
it be God’s Will that even as he has been admitted to redemption, so may he
enter into the Law, the nuptial canopy, and into good deeds. Amen.”

Then he places his hand over the head of the child and pronounces a blessing
which contains also the priestly blessing: “The Lord bless thee and keep thee,
the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee, and give
thee peace.”

After the redemption there is a feast similar to the one following the ceremony
of circumcision. Unlike circumcision which all Jews observe, “Redemption of the
Son” is falling into disuse.

BAR MITZVAH (Literally: “Son of Commandment” - “Man of Duty”)

One of the most favorite customs and practices is the “Bar Mitzvah” celebration.
As the circumcision rite brings the male child into the “Covenant of Abraham,”
thus making him a Jew, so the Bar Mitzvah rites, when he reaches the age of
thirteen years, make him a religious, a responsible Jew.

He then becomes a full-fledged member of the Jewish community sharing with it
all duties and privileges.

On the first Sabbath of his fourteenth year, at the morning service in the
synagogue, he is called up to read a part of the weekly portion of the Torah and
the weekly portion of the prophets (“Haftarah”). These are preceded and
concluded by his reciting certain benedictions. The father who stands by calls
out, “Blessed be He who has relieved (freed) me from the responsibility of this
child’s doing.”

From that time on the boy has attained ritual maturity. He may now be one of a
Minyan (a ten men quorum needed for “congregation” service). He may then lead
the congregation in prayer, read the Torah and perform all religious duties
which a mature Jew may perform. The ceremony at the synagogue is usually
followed by festivities at home when the boy gives an address on some biblical
or Talmudic theme, and gladly inspects the presents his friends and relatives
have brought him.

Like most of the Jewish customs the Bar Mitzvah, too, has no biblical basis and
there is no indication in the Talmudic writings that there existed such a
practice. Its existence as a Jewish custom cannot be traced back further than
the fourteenth century.

There is no doubt that the “Bar Mitzvah” came into being as a Jewish religious
institution, as a result of Christian influences and corresponds to the rite of
Confirmation in the church (See Dembitz, Services in Synagogue and Home, p. 263,
and Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, p. 32).

Christian confirmation rites have had still more influence on the “liberal” or
“Reform” Jews, who include also girls in the rites of confirmation. A girl
celebrating such ceremonies is called Bath-Mitzvah (i.e. “Daughter of
Commandment”).

This innovation is not in harmony with rabbinic law which does not expect women
to perform religious obligations, and thus girls are not to be subjected to
“Mitzvah” ceremonies. There are only three Affirmative Commandments which Jewish
women are expected to observe. They are Challah (See vocabulary), Niddah and the
Kindling of the Sabbath Candles. But (we may say) liberal Judaism does not have
to differentiate between male and female Jews, because neither is expected to
keep the various ritual laws, and both sexes ignore them alike.

MARRIAGE The age of marriage among Jews is usually the same as among their
non-Jewish neighbors, although the Jewish code, “Shulchan Aruch,” states: “Every
Jewish man should marry at eighteen, and he who marries earlier is more
meritorious. No one, however, should marry earlier than thirteen years of age.”

The restrictions in selecting a spouse on account of affinity, chastity,
religion are about the same as are among Christians, excepting that a Kohen
(Aaronite, or priestly descent) may not marry a divorced woman (see Leviticus
21:6-7; Leviticus 21:14). During the Middle Ages, up to modern times, marriages
have been arranged by professional marriage brokers (match-makers - Shadchan).
This profession is not altogether extinct. Even here in America, many a Jewish
marriage was made possible by the “Shadchan,” although it may have a more modern
name. The nuptial ceremony is performed by a rabbi, under a canopy (chuppah),
made of silk or satin, supported by four staves (one on each corner) and held by
the guests (4). Sometimes a tallith (a praying shawl) is used instead of the
silk covering. The act of marriage is called kiddushin (sanctification).

The main ceremony is the groom’s placing a ring, without stone, upon the
forefinger of the right hand of the bride and saying: “Thou art sanctified
(consecrated) unto me by this ring according to the law of Moses and Israel.”

The consecration by ring originated in medieval times, as a substitute for the
coin by which marriages were originally consummated. The groom then places a
glass on the ground and breaks it with his foot, after which the guests shout
joyfully, “Mazal tov - mazal tov” good luck, good luck. The breaking of the
glass is doubtless of some ancient pagan origin. It is interpreted as a reminder
of the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. This ceremony is preceded by
various recitations and benedictions. One of the benedictions which the
officiating rabbi recites over a cup of wine, ends with: “. . . Blessed art
thou, O Lord, who sanctifiest thy people Israel by the (rite of the) canopy and
the covenant of wedlock.”

Both groom and bride drink some drops of this wine. Much time of the ceremony is
occupied by the reading of the “Kethubah” or marriage contract, wherein the
customary obligations of married life are specified, and in particular the
settlement on the wife of a certain amount payable at her husband’s death or on
her being divorced. The “Kethubah” is retained by the wife. This contract is
written in Aramaic - the language of the Talmud and the Targums.

Bride and groom are expected to fast on the day of their marriage as a mark of
their penitence for sins they committed up to that day, so that they may start
together a God-fearing, pious life.

After the ceremony, which is usually conducted at the synagogue, a feast is held
at home accompanied by set prayers and singing of customary songs - usually of a
religious nature. THE “GET” (Bill of Divorce) The Jewish divorce laws are based
on the Mosaic Law: “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come
to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some
uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in
her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his
house, she may go and be another man’s wife” (Deuteronomy 24:1-2).

According to this passage the right of divorce was granted to the husband with
no provision of the same right to the wife. But the Kethubah (marriage contract)
which stipulates a dowry in case of divorce tends to prevent the abuse of the
husband’s privilege. Today the Jewish divorce laws are about the same as are
customary in the Western world.

The later rabbinic laws governing divorce have, undoubtedly, been influenced by
the principles expressed in the New Testament about the equality of rights of
man and woman, husband and wife.

Like the Kethubah, the Get, too, is written in Aramaic, but the Get is
handwritten on parchment, as are the passages in the Mezuzzah and in Tephillin,
as well as are the Scrolls of the Torah. The Get is always conducted in the
presence of a Minyan, a religious quorum of ten men. The main features of the
bill are the place, the date, the names of the parties, the signatures of the
witnesses, and the phrases which express separation in unequivocal terms.

CHALITZAH (“Drawing Off”)

According to Leviticus 18:16; Leviticus 20:21, and Deuteronomy 25:5-10, a
brother of the man who died leaving a widow but no children, is obliged to marry
this widow. This is known as “Levirate marriage,” or in Hebrew: “Yibum.” If the
brother refuses to marry the widow, she is to report the matter to the
Rabbinate, which then calls the brother and in the presence of three judges,
usually the Rabbi and chief officers of the congregation, the Chalitzah ceremony
is performed. The important feature of this ceremony is: The widow “draws off”
the shoe of her brother-in-law, whereupon she spits into his face and calls out:
“So shall it be done to the man that will not build up his brother’s house.” In
course of time the practice of Levirate marriage has become objectionable
especially in Christian countries where polygamy was outlawed (by a decree of
Rabbi Gershom Ben Judah, 960-1028), * so that only Chalitzah has to be performed
to release the widow’s brother-in-law of his obligation to marry her.

* Oriental Jews, in opposition to Ashkenazi Jews, don’t feel themselves obliged
to practice monogamy and thus as their non-Christian neighbors may marry more
than one wife.

SOME OF THE RITES AND CEREMONIES (CUSTOMS) IN JEWISH LIFE CONCERNING DEATH On
hearing of the death of a relative the Jew is to recite “God has given, God has
taken, Blessed be the Truthful Judge.” At the death of a near relative, the rite
of K’ria’ah, Rending of Garment, is performed as an outward sign of grief.
Usually after the coffin is lowered into the grave, a cut, or tear, is made at
the lapel of the outer garment. If for some reason the relative was not then at
the cemetery, he is to rend the garment as soon as he hears of the death. The
Chevrah Kadishah (Holy Association) is an organization which every Jewish
community has to care for the funeral rites. Their members are at the deathbed
to recite with the dying person the vidui (confession), and after the death
occurs they cleanse the corpse (taharah) and shroud it (in tachrichin) and
accompany it (l’vayah) to the cemetery where they bury it with the customary
rites.

Every Jew in the neighborhood feels it his duty to accompany the funeral
procession, at least a part of the way, to “extend to the deceased last honor.”
During the procession, collectors of free will offering go about chanting:
“Charity saves from death” (Proverbs 10:2; Proverbs 11:9).

Jews of priestly descent (kohen) are not allowed to come near the dead, nor
enter the cemetery. In the belief that the resurrection will take place only in
the Holy Land, some Jews place some earth brought from Palestine under the body
in the coffin. The dead are usually buried shrouded in plain white linen, and in
a plain board coffin. This simple attire and coffin is to emphasize the equality
of all men in death (See Job 1:21). The Kaddish, an old prayer, written in the
Aramaic language, sanctifying the name of God, was adapted during the late
Middle Ages (for some reason) as a prayer for the dead. The recitation of the
Kaddish by the mourners at the services in the synagogue has, according to the
rabbis, the efficacy of redeeming or, at least allaying the dead from suffering
in Gehenom (See vocabulary).

It is recited by the mourners at the grave, and all through the mourning year
(the eleven months after the departure) at the daily services. Then it is
repeated on every anniversary of the death - the so-called Yarzeit. During
Yarzeit as well as during Shiva’a a “soul-candle” is to burn at home, all night
and day.

Mourning. The first seven days (Shiva’a) the mourner is confined to his home,
where he is to sit on the floor. Since he may not leave his home, Jewish
neighbors, friends or passersby come in to form a Minyan for the daily services.
During the Shiva’a the mourner may not perform any manual labor or business
transactions. During the “Seven Days” he is not permitted to wear shoes, to cut
his hair, or shave or take a bath, nor anything that may afford him pleasure,
not even to study sacred books, except those that arouse sadness and grief, as
the book of Job and similar writings. During these days people come in to
console him. The usual formula of Consolation is, or starts with, “May God
comfort you with all those who mourn for Zion and Jerusalem.”

Certain restrictions of mourning are continued through the first month (Shlosim
- 30 days of mourning), and some restrictions go on for the whole of the first
year (keep away from music and all forms of entertainment).

Another occasion of hallowing the memory of the dead, is the so-called Yizkor
(“May He remember”), or Mazkir Neshamoth - a memorial service conducted during
the public service in the synagogue on Yom Kippur, and on the last day of Pesach
and Succoth.

Many Jews, especially women, even such as do not usually attend synagogue, are
present at this Memorial Prayer. There are set prayers for various relatives.
For the father, for instance, the prayer is: “May God remember the soul of our
honored father (here comes his name and the name of the father’s father) who is
gone to his repose, for that, I now solemnly offer charity for his sake; in
reward of this, may his soul enjoy eternal life, with the souls of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, and the rest of the righteous
males and females that are in Paradise; and let us say, Amen.”

Non-mourners leave the room while these prayers are recited and return when they
are over. It is believed that the departed souls (of the near kin) are present
in the synagogue at that prayer. Non-relatives might be harmed if present.

Those of the less-observant mourners, especially women, leave the synagogue soon
after Yizkor.

(There is heart-rending weeping and sobbing during this prayer).

KOSHER

Kosher, means “fit,” “suitable.” In Jewish lore it refers to food which is
ritually fit to be eaten. When food is not kosher it is treif or treifa,
signifying “unfit” (taboo) for Jewish consumption. The laws governing the ritual
fitness of food are called Kashruth.

Now this Kashruth, it may truly be said, is the center and circumference of
modern observant Judaism. It occupies the greatest part of Jewish home life and
practices, and it provides the greatest part of the income of the Jewish
hierarchy.

Rabbis, Ritual Slaughterers, Kosher butchers, various supervisors (inspectors)
make their livelihood by maintaining these laws. These laws, which are
“innumerable,” have no real biblical foundation. Moses, the Jewish lawgiver, as
codified in the Pentateuch, if he were to look at Kashruth would not be able to
understand or recognize any of them as “Jewish.”

All this multitude of peculiar practices is built around the Scriptural
commandment: “Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19;
Exodus 34:26, and repeated again in Deuteronomy 14:21).

The rabbis have made this kid stand for all kinds of meat-products, and its
mother’s milk for all dairy products, and nothing that comes from meat could be
mixed with anything that comes from milk. The strict separation between the two
involves not only separate utensils, as pots and pans, plates, knives, spoons,
etc., but also washbasins, tablecloths and napkins. The extremely pious even
have separate sculleries and ranges.

Thus every Jewish household has three sets of vessels; one set for meats and
meat products, one for milk and milk products, and a third for neutral foods as
fruit, vegetables and also fish. Besides these three sets, there are three
separate sets for the Passover when nothing that had been used for or had
touched unleaven bread could be used during the eight days of Passover.

After a Jew eats meat he is to wait at least six hours before he may eat any
milk products, because, as the rabbis have figured out, it takes six hours
before meat is digested, so if some milky food reaches the stomach before the
meat is fully digested they may unlawfully mix there. Milk is supposed to digest
within half an hour, so meat may be eaten half an hour after milk has been
consumed.

Meat is considered as Kosher, not just if it comes from a Kosher animal
according to Mosaic Law (Leviticus 11:1-47), but has also been killed ritually
by a specially qualified Shochet (Slaughterer), and then passed scrupulous
scrutiny of the flesh, to see if the animal was not diseased.

Then certain “unclean” parts must be removed before the meat is pronounced as
Kosher. The Kosher inspector then affixes a seal indicating its fitness. But
even then there are certain rigid requirements to be fulfilled to make the meat
fit to be eaten. Every drop of blood is to be extracted from it. This is done by
first soaking it in water for a certain specified time, then salt is sprinkled
on it and so it is to stand for a specified time; then it is carefully rinsed
and placed on a draining board or grate till it is thoroughly drained. Then only
is it ready for cooking, and as said previously, in specially “meaty”
(“fleishig”) vessels. If some dairy products, or a utensil (let us say - a
spoon) once used for dairy products happens to come in contact with the meat,
then the meat as well as the vessels containing it are “treif” and ritually
unfit for use. The Kosher laws involve also various other practices and
inhibitions; for example, bread is considered as Kosher only after a part of the
dough from which it is made has been separated and ritually burned (see
Challah). Another example: wine that a Gentile had touched is no longer Kosher.

Strict observance of Kashruth becomes rarer day by day. Yet this is still
considered as the most important part of what is called Judaism. The other
important part of Judaism is the heap of Sabbath laws, which, too, have only a
faint basis in Scriptural Judaism, and which, too, are rapidly falling into
disuse.

Take away these man-made food laws and Sabbath laws from “Judaism,” and next to
nothing is left of rabbinic Judaism.

MISCELLANEOUS

There are also innumerable customs connected with the various feasts and fast
days, and occasions of various private or family events. Mention may be made
here that special articles of food are being prepared for each holiday, as well
as special food being provided for the Sabbath (Chulent, Kugel, Geflllte fish).
(On Pesach - Kneidlach, matze-braten, and on Purim, Haman Tashen, etc.).

Another peculiar custom may be mentioned: The perpetual covering of the head.
While the Jewish married woman must have her head covered for the sake of
decency, the man, too, must cover his head for some unknown reason. This custom
is not mentioned in ancient Jewish literature.

The Bible speaks of a head cover only for the priest as part of his official
garb.

Yet the orthodox Jew considers bareheadedness as a serious breach of Judaism, so
he is careful to have on a small skull cap, a “cappel” or “yarmulka,” when for
some reason he has to take off his larger head-dress. With modern orthodox Jews
the yarmulka has become the only outward sign and symbol of Judaism.
Old-fashioned Jews still cling to their typically “Jewish” garb besides their
untrimmed beard and sidelocks (peoth) which distinguish them as Jews, different
than goyim (Gentiles).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 28: 02.09.     JEWISH LITERATURE
========================================================================

Jewish Literature The Jewish people have often been referred to as “The People
of the Book.” The “book” probably originally meant the “Bible.” But one might as
well say, “the people of books.”

Not only has this people produced more literature than any other people in the
world, comparatively speaking, but also there is or was no other people that had
so much reverence, respect and love for books, for their authors, and for those
who are learned and well-versed in books. The hero in Jewish life, legend and
genealogy has never been, as with the Gentiles, one of brawn, but of brain. The
talmid chacham - the “wise scholar” - was the ideal type in Jewish estimation.
The am ha’ aretz, the ignorant, has always been the subject of contempt. For the
last 2,000 years and perhaps centuries earlier, there were hardly any illiterate
male Jews. Every Jewish boy attended some kind of school. Schooling usually
began when the boy was only three years old. At the age of five he was already
initiated in the study of the Pentateuch in the original Hebrew and translated
into the vernacular.

At thirteen when he became bar mitzvah, “a son of the law,” a full-fledged
member of the community, he could deliver an oration on an intricate Talmudical
subject full of hair-splitting casuistry (“pilpul”). If after some more years of
schooling he distinguished himself as a “talmid chachan,” he was, as a rule,
“snatched” up as a son-in-law by well-to-do parents, in whose house he could
continue his studies for several more years. His studies were, almost entirely,
in the Talmudic books and their commentaries and in books of later dates,
dealing with Jewish laws. On rare occasions he may have glanced into the Bible,
besides the Pentateuch, in which almost every Jew was well-versed.

Besides the large libraries (of “sacred books”) which every community possessed
and usually kept in the synagogues, open and free to all at all times, every
Jewish home had a library of its own, each according to its means. Cases or
shelves well-stocked with books were considered as the best ornaments of the
Jewish home.

Even the poorest, ignorant family had at least its own liturgical books, such as
a siddur (“order,” meaning order of service), which contained the daily prayers
and benedictions for various occasions; a machzor - series of prayer books for
each of the various holy days; Selichot (Supplications), a book containing the
prayers which are recited in the early mornings (or late at nights) several days
before New Year and between New Year and the Day of Atonement; Kinnoth - a book
of elegies and prayers, containing also the “Book of Lamentations,” which is
recited on the fast of the Ninth of Av (the memorial day of the destruction of
the Temples); Haggada (“Legend”) containing the “prayers,” etc., which are
recited and chanted on the Eve of Passover (Seder); Megillah - (Scroll) -
meaning the “Book of Esther” which is read both on the Eve and the Day of Purim;
Thillim - The Psalter, which has always been a handy book and steady companion,
to be read on various occasions, in time of illness, of danger, of worry, or
just for pleasure in spare time; Chumash - meaning the “five” books of Moses.
This book is divided into weekly portions, which are read in the synagogues
during the morning service of the Sabbath, each Sabbath a different portion, so
that during the year the whole book is publicly recited (read). The same portion
was also read privately at home, and it usually was studied during that week in
“Cheder” (elementary school).

All these books were necessary for the “divine service” at the synagogue or at
home. As to commentaries for study of the “Torah,” their number and variety
depended on the state of learning of the male members of the family.

While the women were not obliged to pray or attend services at the synagogue,
they often did pray at home. On Sabbaths and festivals when they attended the
synagogue, they used either the same books as the males, or the same books
together with a translation in the vernacular (in Yiddish). In European
communities the Jewish women also had some books in Yiddish of their own, such
as the Deutsh-Chumash, a free translation of the Chumash richly mixed with
expositions and legends from the Talmudic books. Another favorite book was
T’chinoth (supplications), prayers in Yiddish for various occasions, and there
were other books specifically prepared for women in Yiddish.

Within the limits of this discussion it is possible to give only the briefest of
brief accounts of the Hebrew literature which began some three millennia ago.
The Bible, the “Book of Books,” mentions various books which disappeared during
the ages. As early as the time of Moses, someone wrote a book called “Book of
the Wars of the Lord” - (see Numbers 21:14). It must have been quite popular at
that time.

Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 12:12) warns against the many and innumerable books.
The recent discoveries of scrolls at the Dead Sea reveal that the Jews had about
the time of Christ many books besides the Bible and the Apocrypha.

After the destruction of the second Commonwealth and the dispersion of the
Jewish people, their literary production received a serious setback. For long
years the rabbis outlawed all books besides the Bible. The Bible was called
Torah She’bichtav (written Torah) in distinction to the Torah She-balpeh (oral
Torah), which were laws and customs that became part of Jewish life during the
centuries after Moses.

According to the Rabbis these laws were already handed down from Sinai, but for
certain reasons were not then incorporated in the written law. They were to be
delivered orally from generation to generation. However, since there was the
danger that in exile these oral laws might be forgotten, the rabbis decided to
write them down.

The result of that decision was The Talmud - a monumental work which was about
500 years in the making. It is not strictly a code of laws, although it contains
all the laws which were enacted up to the time of its completion, but also
contains exposition and interpretations of the “Written Law,” as well as some
historical events and legends and much superstition mixed with scientific facts.

Side by side with the Talmud there came into being the Midrash (or in the
plural, Midrashim, books dealing with the homiletic exposition of the Bible,
mainly of the Pentateuch). These, like the Haggadah part of the Talmud, became
very popular with the Jewish masses, since they were written in Hebrew, in the
moving, narrative style, not like the Halachah, which was mostly in Aramaic,
intricate and less appealing to the heart, even to the legalistic heart of the
Jew. (See chapter on “Talmud and Midrash”). The Targums (Translations) form a
set of books which usually come under the heading of Exegesis (See chapter on
“Exegesis”). The Kabbalist Books: These are the mystical interpretation of the
Scriptures. Sometime around 1200 A.D. there arose in Spain a tendency and belief
that the Bible, or religion as a whole, might best be understood by faith and
spiritual insight and contemplation rather than by the ordinary sense perception
or the use of logical reasoning (See chapter on “The Kabbalah”). The Kabbalah
had a profound influence on the pseudo-Messianic movement of Shabathai Zvi, and
later upon the Chassidic movement which arose in Poland in the eighteenth
century. The Chassidic movements have produced a large number of books, some
homiletic, but mostly narrative, biographies of certain wonder-rabbis. These
books were very popular at their inception, but are now seldom read.

Among the most famous post-Talmudic books which profoundly inspired Judaism
(with an enduring effect) are:

Emunoth We-deoth (Dogmas and Truths) by Saadya Gaon (892-942).

Chovath Halvavoth (Duties of the Hearts) by Bachya ben Joseph in the eleventh
century. This is the first Jewish system of ethics. In it, the writer insists on
the need of fulfilling the spirit of the Law rather than its letter.

Moreh Nevochim (Guide of the Perplexed) by Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204) or
as he is known by the initials of his name “BaMBaM.” To the Gentiles he is known
as Maimonides. Most of his books became classics in Jewish literature.

In his time he was regarded with disfavor by many of the leading rabbis, mainly
because of his heretical teaching as expressed in his book, Moreh Nevochim,
which was considered dangerous to rabbinic orthodoxy. Later he was regarded as
the greatest Jewish genius since the first Moses.

While in his other books he showed himself to be a faithful disciple of the
rabbis of old, in this book he ran counter to rabbinic teaching. In it he
attempts to show that Judaism is the very expression of human intelligence, that
there is nothing in Judaism, if properly explained, which contradicts true
philosophy.

Thus he sought to spiritualize what seemed to be “contradictory to true
philosophy,” and interpret it in the allegorical manner of the Alexanderines
(Philo, etc.). And yet, paradoxically, this man, who in his time was suspected
of heresy and even atheism, became the author of the so-called Jewish Creed or
Confession of faith.

In his commentary on the Mishnah he enunciates thirteen principles of the faith
which every Jew ought to believe. These principles (in Hebrew, Ikkarim) were
generally accepted and embodied in the Prayer Book and are to be recited daily,
except on Sabbath and holydays. The “Moreh Nevochim” was generally outlawed by
the Rabbis, especially was it forbidden to the younger students who might be
misled into unbelief, and yet it was published again and again, and was studied,
often secretly, by young and old.

Kuzari by Yehuda Helevi (1085-1140). This author is generally regarded as the
greatest of Hebrew poets, many of whose poems are embodied in the Jewish
liturgy. The Kuzari was first written for the benefit of the ruler of the
Kuzarim (Khazars). It is in the form of “Apologia” and justifies Judaism as
against Philosophy, Christianity and Mohammedanism. The Khazars were then
converted to Judaism. The books that exercised the most powerful influence on
(later) Judaism, however, were the various codes.

CODIFICATION The Talmud, although it contained, as it was intended to, all the
Rabbinic Law, could not for long serve its purpose. It was too lengthy,
difficult and confusing for the average Jew, and it became necessary to make
shorter compendiums and codifications, omitting all the non-legal portions
(stories, etc.) and the legal discussions.

Among the systematic codes are the Rif or Alfasi (in the eleventh century). The
Mishneh Torah (Repetition of the Law) by the “RamBam,” consists of fourteen
volumes, sometimes called Yad Hachazakah, and is written in Hebrew so that
anyone knowing this language could easily read it (1180 A.D.). The Turim, a four
volume book:

1. Dealing with liturgical laws; 2. Ritual laws; 3. Marriage laws; 4. Civil
laws.

This code is the more practical as it restricts itself to the laws actually in
use at the time. It omits all laws that had become obsolete, and embodies all
laws and customs that came into practice after the completion of the Talmud. The
Shulchan Aruch - this is the most extensively used of the various Codifications.
It was written by Joseph Karo in the sixteenth century and has become the
guiding authority on Jewish practice. It is this code that the Jews have since
been consulting to learn what is the law (what to do and what not to do).

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Abridged Shulchan Aruch), written in simple language,
contains only those laws and customs which are generally practiced. It
disregards the laws that are only occasionally used. When such an occasion
arises, a Rabbi has to be consulted. This abridged compendium was widely spread.

Besides the various codes there are also The Responsa books, compilations of
questions and replies. Whenever some legal question arose which was not
mentioned in the extant codes, it was put before one of the great authorities of
the age. Such questions and the authoritative reply to them were recorded for
reference.

There were also several books, mostly poetic, of a religious nature, many of
which were incorporated in Jewish liturgy for various occasions.

Since the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement the Jewish people have produced a
vast literature which is mainly secular. Most of the books were written in
Hebrew, a great many in Yiddish, and others in the various languages of the
countries where large Jewish communities lived.

Among the great authors of secular books: novels, poems, etc. are: Mendele
Mocher S’farim, Perez, Shalom Aleichem, Shalom Ash, Bialik, and Chernichovski.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 29: 02.10.     EXEGESIS OF THE BIBLE
========================================================================

Exegesis of the Bible

After the Jews had produced the Bible, they started to explain it, and they have
been doing this explaining ever since. Most of the innumerable books the Jews
have produced during the last 22 centuries are concerned with explaining,
elucidating, interpreting and expounding the Bible. The books of the Talmud, the
Targums, the various Midrashim, the philosophic Philo to Maimonides, and others,
are all in one way or another commentaries on the Bible.

Since the Jew has to live by the “Law of God,” every word, every iota of the
Holy Scriptures was to serve as a sign post to direct his way in the
complexities of life. Thus every word had to be unmistakably clear and well
defined.

First came the Targum (Translation). THE TARGUMS AND EXEGESIS For many centuries
following the Babylonian exile the Jewish language was Aramaic. The Bible which,
with some exceptions, was in Hebrew, was no longer well understood by the
masses. It was thus necessary to translate it into the vernacular and to explain
difficult passages.

Thus, on the Sabbath and Holy Days when a portion of the Hebrew Bible was read
in the synagogue, one of the learned men - the Rabbi or an official translator
(“Meturgeman”) - translated the Hebrew text into Aramaic and when necessary also
often expounded it.

In countries where the Jews spoke Greek, they used the Septuagint, a translation
made about 270 B.C., by seventy emissaries from Jerusalem for Ptolemy II, then
king of Egypt. In Hebrew it is known as Targum Hash-iv’im, translation of the
seventy, which is also the meaning of septuaginta (in Greek). With the exception
of this early translation which was written down, the Aramaic Targums were oral,
like the “Oral Law.” It was after the destruction of Jerusalem and the second
exile that the Aramaic Targums were written down. The best known Targum is that
called Onkelos to the Pentateuch, and it is on the whole a literal translation.

The other Targums are generally paraphrastic. Such is the Targum Yerushalmi (The
Jerusalem translation and Targum Jonathan). *

* There are no sure data as to the authorship of the various Targums, nor as to
the time of their authorship. It is surmised that “Onkelos” was written in the
second century A.D.;”Jonathan” (to the Prophets) in the fourth century;
“Yerushalmi” (or pseudo Jonathan) in the seventh century, and the others even
later.

Onkelos, whose translation bears his name, is said to have been a pupil of Rabbi
Gamaliel and may have known Paul at the same school. The Targum Yerushalmi in
its present form was written not earlier than the seventh century A.D. The
Targums shed much light on ancient Jewish Theology and exegesis, and often show
that there was no difference between the New Testament interpretation and the
rabbinic interpretation of certain Messianic passages in the Old Testament. It
is only much later, in the Middle Ages, that the Rabbis found it necessary to
interpret certain passages differently.

There is a marked tendency in the Targums to avoid anthropomorphisms. For
example, for “the Lord came down” (Genesis 11:25) the Targum has, “the Lord
revealed Himself.” The transcendence of God is emphasized by the employment of
intermediate agencies like the Memra (the “Word” or the “Logos” - in Greek -as
used by John: “In the beginning was the Word”), the “Shekinah,” etc. Or another
example: Genesis 3:8 the Targum translates: “And they heard the voice of the
Memra of God walking in the garden . . .” (We shall return to this subject in a
later chapter dealing with the Trinity). The Targums have served not only as a
translation of the Scriptures but also as an explanation and exposition. When,
however, there arose large Jewish communities in Europe, where Aramaic was no
longer the Jewish vernacular, there had to be new commentaries on the
Scriptures. The greatest of the Commentators was Rashi, Rabbi Shlomo Itzchaki,
famous also as the commentator of the Talmud, who lived in France (1040-1105).
The commentary is usually printed below the Hebrew text. Jewish children began
the study of “Chumash with Rashi” at an early age and this is still customary in
the schools of Israel and is widely used in most Jewish schools in Diaspora.

Among the other notable exegetes of the Middle Ages whose works have been
accepted as authoritative and sacred are:

SAADIA, Rabbenu Saadiah Gaon, born 892 in Egypt, died 942 in Babylon. A most
revered Rabbi whose books have left an indelible impression upon Judaism.

RAMBAN ( MAIMONIDES ), is considered as a great commentator of the Bible,
although his book, More Nevochim, was usually shunned because of its non-Jewish
spirit. Yet, because of his other voluminous books which are strictly in the
rabbinic spirit, he was often called “Second Moses.” Indeed, since Moses, son of
Amram, no other Jew has wielded such an influence upon Judaism as has Moses, son
of Maimon - known as “RMBM.”

IBN EZRA (Abraham), born 1093 in Spain, died 1167 in Rome; a Hebrew poet and one
of the greatest Bible exegetes.

KIMCHI, or R’D’K (Rabbi David Kimchi), lived in France 1160-1235. Philolog and
commentator.

RAMBAN - (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman), known also as Nachmanides, born in Spain
1194, died in Palestine in 1270. Revered as a great Rabbi and commentator of
great renown.

RABBI BACHYA -ben Asher of Spain (in thirteenth century). His commentary on the
five books of Moses became one of the most popular exegetical works.

RALBAG (initials of Rabbi Levi ben Gershon) died in 1344, recognized as one of
the great exegetes.

ABABBANEL (Rabbi Isaac Abravanel), bom in Lisbon, Portugal, 1437, died in
Venice, Italy, in 1508. He was one of the most famous authorities on Judaism,
and one of the greatest exegetes.

RABBI MOSES ALSHECH of Palestine in sixteenth century, was the most prolific
exegetical author on most of the Bible.

YARCHI in the twelfth century in France was another of the recognized great
exegetes. THE PESIKTA, PHUCE D’RABBI ELIEZER, and the YALKUT of the thirteenth
century are Haggadic compilations and have been considered as sacred as the
older Midrashim. The ZOHAR on the Pentateuch (see KABBALAH) explains the Bible
in the mystic way of the Kabbalah. This book has been kept by observant Jews,
especially by the Chassidim, as very sacred, and is referred to as the Holy
Zohar.

According to the expositors of the Bible, and of Judaism as a whole, the Word of
God should be explained by four methods, known by their initials as “PaRDeS,”
i.e. Peshat Remez Derash Sod. The Peshat is the simple explanation, i.e. it
means what it says, in plain language. Remez (“hints”) is the allusion and
allegorical sense. Derash is the way the Midrash expounds the Bible (the
homiletical way) and Sod (mystery) is the way the Kabbalah interprets the Bible.
Some of the exegetes used only one of these four ways, some used all the four
ways in their exposition of the Bible. As a whole their exposition tallies with
that of the Christian exponents. In modern times when Jews began to use the
language of the land where they sojourned there were published translations into
the vernacular, mostly in German and English.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 30: 02.11.     THE TALMUD AND THE MIDRASH
========================================================================

The Talmud and the Midrash* * See chapter on “Literature.”

After the great calamities which befell the Jewish people by the destruction of
Jerusalem, A.D. 70, Jewish learning found two places of retreat. One was on the
shores of the Euphrates in Babylon, the other in the little town of Jamnia, or
Yavneh in Palestine. This Jamnia school was in a subsequent period removed to
Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

About the year A.D. 230, Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi compiled the Mishna (Instruction);
a collection of Jewish laws and usages up to that time. This book served later
as basis for the Talmud. Just as the Mishna was supposed to be an explanation of
the Mosaic Laws (the Bible) so the Mishna itself had to be explained. The
explanatory remarks and opinions of the later Rabbis were compiled about a
century afterward by Rabbi Yehochanan who was then the Principal of the Tiberias
College. This new compilation was called Gemara (“Completion”). This Mishna and
Gemara together was denominated The Jerusalem Talmud.

While this compilation of laws and their exposition was going on in downtrodden
Judea, the more prosperous Jews of Mesopotamia produced their own Gemara. This
compilation which was completed about A.D. 512 is called Talmud Bavli
(Babylonian Talmud). Although the Jerusalem Talmud was the simpler and clearer,
it did not appeal to the Jewish mind in Diaspora as did the more difficult and
complex Babel Talmud. It is this Talmud that became dominant in Jewish life and
changed it radically. This Babel Talmud is veritably a Babel (mixture) of laws
and customs, of facts and fiction, of science and superstitions. You may start
out with a simple discussion of a certain law and soon find yourself in a
fairy-land. It is hard to discern where reality ends and imagination begins:
where begins the Halacha, the study of the law, and where ends the Agada (or
Haggadah), the imaginative or homiletic portion. The language of the Talmud
(mostly Aramaic), the style, the method, the sequence of things, in short,
everything seems tangled, confused, chaotic, so that only years of instruction
and practice and a “Jewish head” may make one understand it

In the course of time, the text of the Talmud became wedged in various
commentaries, chiefly that of RASHI (short for RAbbi SHlomo Izchaki, who was
also the best known commentator on the Bible) printed side by side with the
text. These commentaries, glosses and annotations help the student to unravel
the obscure and entangled arguments of the Talmudical discussions.

Let us take, as example, the Sabbath.

The Bible forbids all work on that day. Now one may ask, what is “work”? Is
sweeping the floor, or cooking a meal, or washing the dishes, etc., called
“work,” and thus should not be done on the Sabbath? If the Rabbis had acted in
the spirit of our Lord, who said that the Sabbath was for man and not man for
the Sabbath, they might have answered that question with a page or two.

Instead, they wrote a voluminous book called Shabath, wherein various kinds of
human actions are discussed and disputed, before it is finally decided as to
whether they are to be considered “work” or not. Thus hundreds of laws
concerning the Sabbath rest were evolved. A great many of these laws involved
the penalty of death if broken. Now, in between the discussion of the various
laws there are interspersed moral precepts, exegeses of certain verses in the
Bible, legends, some medicine, some astrology, ghost stories and many other
things which are entirely irrelevant. Some of the stories may have some hidden
secret truth, perhaps something which could only be hinted but not plainly
expressed. But all of them, even the most absurd, have been considered by
observant Jews as sacred and infallible and obligatory.

During the Middle Ages, the Church held the Talmud responsible for Jewish
stubbornness in refusing to accept the predominant religion. They accused the
Talmud of depraving the Jewish intellect and undermining their moral principles.
Heavy fines and imprisonment were imposed on those who kept the Talmud in their
house. Sometimes, these books were hunted out and burned at the stake, in the
hope that they would totally disappear and be no more a stumbling block to
anyone. But the cruelty and stupidity of the church-leaders had the reverse
effect. The more the Talmud was calumniated, the more the Jews loved it,
preserved it and studied it, until it became the real “Torah” for the Jewish
people. The Bible, by which name the Pentateuch is generally known, is
considered, indeed, a most sacred book which ought to be recited periodically,
but it is the Talmud which guides and directs Jewish life because only the
Rabbis are authorized to interpret the Bible. In their great zeal for the
preservation of the Holy Book, in their care that no harm befall it, the Rabbis
have built around their beloved books, hedges and fences, and locked it with
several keys, so that the Bible - especially the Spirit of it - has become
inaccessible. The Talmud is an impenetrable wall encircling and concealing the
Bible. So the wall without has become sacred while the Holy Scriptures within
have become obscure, forgotten, a “sealed book.”

Jesus said: “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
candlestick,” so that it gives light to all around it. The Rabbis did just the
reverse: they put the light of the Word of God under a bushel, probably to keep
it safe there, forgetting that the purpose of light is not to be kept safe, but
to shine and keep the people safe and enlightened.

There are other books of ancient date which are considered as in line with the
Talmud. Such is the Midrash (“exposition”). It is mostly Haggadah, homiletic
interpretation of the Pentateuch. It also contains various stories, fables,
allegories - sometimes to expound a passage in the Bible, sometimes just to
inculcate some moral lesson. The various Midrashim form quite a large set of
books in haggadic literature.

Then there are Apocryphal Appendices to the Talmud, such as: Avoth d’Rabbi
Nathan, Derech Eretz, Kalla and others. Parables, stories, maxims, proverbs,
folk-lore, fables, etc., find untrammeled expression in this vast collection,
which has enjoyed great popularity among the Jews. For the missionary to the
Jews, it is interesting to know that the Midrashim reveal that various passages
of the Old Testament which the New Testament applies to the Messiah were also
applied to the Messiah by the Jews of old - for example, Isaiah 52:12-15, Isaiah
53:1-12, which later Jewish commentators applied to the Jewish people. The
Midrash, like the New Testament, referred it to the suffering Messiah.

According to the New Testament (Matthew 22:44 and in other parts of the New
Testament) Psalms 110:1 is applied to the Messiah. Later modern rabbis made
various efforts to suppress the old Jewish exegesis of passages which were
favorable to the claims of Christianity but the Midrash on the Psalms interprets
Psalms 18:36 thus: “Rabbi Judah in the name of Rabbi Chama says: that in the
time to come, the Holy One - blessed be He! - will make King Messiah sit at His
right hand, as it is said (Psalms 110:1), ‘The Lord said unto my lord sit thou
on my right hand,’ etc.” The Talmud being so voluminous, so difficult, it could
not become the heritage of the mass of the Jewish people, especially not for the
Jews who settled in European countries, and the Aramaic language, in which most
of the Talmud was written, became foreign and difficult to study. Thus there
arose the new danger that the laws and usages of the Talmud would be forgotten.
To meet this exigency, new compilations of the laws came into being. These
compilations were written in plain Hebrew, systematically arranged, leaving out
all the legends, etc., of the Talmud, so that all Jews could more easily read
them. On these compilations read chapter on Literature, Section: “Codification.”


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  CHAPTER 31: 02.12.     THE KABALLAH
========================================================================

The Kaballah This mystic philosophy, an offshoot of Judaism, has had an immense
influence upon the Jewish people for hundreds of years. It took a firm hold of
the people in connection with the Messianic movement * and it spread widely with
the rise of Chassidism in the eighteenth century.

* The Kabbalah had a profound influence on the pseudo-Messianic movement of
Shabathai Zvi.

Today there is little interest left among Jews in the Kabbalah. Yet, because of
the indelible imprint it left on Judaism, and because much of its mysticism may
be likened to Christian mysticism, it is but fitting to devote to it, at least,
a short chapter here. *

* See also chapter on “Literature: Kabbalistic Books

The word Kabbalah is derived from the Hebrew root Kabbel, which signifies “to
receive.”

It has been used in a large sense, as comprehending all the explications, maxims
and rituals which the Jews have received from their fathers. But it is more
often employed to designate a particular species of theology and philosophy.

It is especially that mystical exposition of the Bible and metaphysical
speculations concerning God and other beings (angels, etc.) which are found in
many Jewish authors, and which are said to have been handed down by secret
tradition from the earliest ages.

It has been pretended by its adherents that Moses received it on Mount Sinai,
but for various reasons he revealed it to a select few only. Many of the
Kabbalistic books were attributed to ancient venerable authorship; for example,
there is the book “Raziel” (a name of an angel - meaning “Mystery of God”). This
was supposed to be a gift which Adam, the first man, received from the angel by
that name. Another book was attributed to the Patriarch Abraham. The most
celebrated of these books are Sepher Yetsirah (Book of Creation), and the Zohar
(Splendor).

The Book of Creation was supposed to have been written by Abraham. Some
attributed its authorship to Rabbi Akivah, while the author of the Zohar was
said to be Rabbi Shimeon Bar Yochai, a disciple of R. Akivah. These two rabbis,
who lived at the time of the Bar Kochvah uprising in the second century a.d.,
have been considered as great saints and highly venerated. *

* Thousands of Jews annually visit their graves in Palestine to pray for their
intercession before the throne of mercy.

Literary critics ascribe the appearance of the “Book of Creation” (by an unknown
author) to between the seventh and ninth centuries, while the Zohar (the
Kabbalistic interpretation of the Pentateuch) was probably written by Moshe de
Leon about 1290 a.d. The rise of the Kabbalah took place at the time of the
Maimonidean (Rambam) Philosophical controversy in Judaism, and was caused
thereby. The Zohar has exercised a profound influence on late Judaism. The
mystics devoted much of their time to the study of this book. Others, for
example the Yemenite Jews, have been “reading” it, just as some Jews were
reading or “saying” Thillim.

One may find in this book, and Kabbalah as a whole, much of Christian dogma,
such as the Trinity, the fall of angels, original sin, eternal punishment of the
wicked, and even of the incarnation and deity of the Messiah.

According to Kabbalah the goal of religion and of union with the Creator can be
attained not by obeying the Law, nor by philosophical speculation but only
through the contemplation of the mystic tradition which goes back to the origins
of mankind. It taught that the Infinite One (En-sof) did not create the world
directly but that an emanation from Him created the world. From this first
emanation there came others - altogether ten in number, or in the language of
the Kabbalah, ten “Sephiroth.” By these emanations God clothes Himself in a body
and makes Himself visible. By them He communicates with His creatures, and by
them He directs the universe.

These ten “Sephiroth,” which have finite and infinite attributes, serve also as
intermediaries between Creator and created. God revealed Himself to Israel
selecting it as His people to preserve the world. The laws and ceremonies of
Judaism have a profound mystical significance. The earthly Temple at Jerusalem
had its counterpart in the heavenly Temple. When it was destroyed prayer took
its place. Thus prayer is essential to the existence of the world. The Kabbalah
has much to say about the soul and its transmigration but we do not think it
worthwhile to enlarge upon it here.

Kabbalah influenced many Christian theologians who sought and found confirmation
of Christian dogmas and doctrines in the teachings of Kabbalah, such as the
Trinity, the Incarnation of God in Jesus, the fall of the angels, original sin,
eternal punishment. (Pope Sixtus, 1471-84, favored the production of Latin
translations of various Kabbalah books, to be used in defending the Catholic
faith).

Some mystics used, or rather abused, the Kabbalah for “practical” purposes, by
applying certain formulae, composed of names of God and angels and the like
(meaningless hocus-pocus) in amulets and charms against evil spirits, to avert
illness, or to heal it, as a whole to help the bearer of such a Kabbalah
talisman or charm to achieve his desires.

Many of the “wonder-rabbis” of the Chassidim were famed for their miracles which
were supposedly also performed by such charms. This may have given impetus to
the spread of Chassidism, and this also may have been the main cause of its
decline and fall.


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  CHAPTER 32: 02.13.     THE MESSIAH
========================================================================

The Messiah In our introduction we spoke of the difficulties the missionary
encounters when preaching the Gospel to Jews. But there are also many advantages
in Jewish evangelization, because of the basic principles common to both
Christian and Jew, such as the common conception of God, the common belief in
the Bible and the Messiah.

These three beliefs are unknown to the heathen in foreign mission work, while
with the Jews, these beliefs are the essence not only of their faith but also of
their very existence as Jews.

Next to God nothing occupies the Jewish religious mind as does the Messiah. The
various daily prayers, at the synagogue and at home, revolve around this axis -
the Messiah.

It is the old, old story, and they believe it. They believe that God had chosen
Israel to be a holy people, a “kingdom of priests” - to be a blessing to all the
peoples of the earth. He was very strict in the training of them toward the
fulfilling of that divine mission. Whenever they disobeyed Him, He chastised
them severely by raising enemies (“whips of His wrath”) against them. Then when
they repented and pleaded for His forgiveness He raised unto them “redeemers”
(Judges and Kings) who helped them against their enemies. Whether they
implicitly believe it, or only have a beclouded idea of it, it is in every Jew’s
conscience. It lies deep in his heart.

He, more than anyone else, sees that all through the Bible God never wanted to
destroy them entirely as He destroyed other sinful rebellious people; He did not
want to defeat His own purpose in His plan of salvation. So He always restored
them to their senses, to their home, to their well-being. To make them conscious
of their guilt and need of atonement He instituted the sacrifices. Thus God made
it clear to them: “You, as individuals, and you as a nation, deserve to be
punished by death, but I will overlook your sins if you ‘cover them’ by the
blood of an animal substitute.” If he is learned in Jewish lore he also knows
that several years (70) after the destruction of the First Temple God caused a
Gentile King, Cyrus of Persia, to be a redeemer, a “messiah” to let the Jews
return to their “Promised Land” and there serve God as ordained by Moses and the
prophets, i.e. in the preparation toward the final goal of being a blessing to
the world. This preparatory schooling under the guidance of Ezra and Nehemiah
and other enlightened and earnest teachers wrought wonderful changes in the
hearts and minds of the Jewish people. Idolatry disappeared entirely. There was
a genuine faith and love of God, a passion for justice, etc. But what he is not
(usually) aware of is that the Rabbis in their mistaken zeal, zeal without
knowledge, in course of time came to worship the letter that killeth and forsook
the spirit that reviveth.

It seems that when Satan could no longer beguile the chosen people with the
worship of foreign gods, he tried, successfully, to confuse and falsify the
worship of the true God. The greatest, the most fatal of these falsifications
and adulterations was the conception of the Messiah. For some reason, mainly
ignorance, fear or egotism, the leaders of the people, during the latter part of
the Second Temple, found it expedient to blur the picture of the promised
Redeemer.

They should have known, and undoubtedly many did know, that the only purpose for
electing their people, the only aim of the Covenants, beginning with Abraham,
was to make them into a holy people of priests to teach the world the truth of
God and that the culmination of the covenants was to be the coming of the
Saviour of the world.

Abraham was shown, at the “offering” of Isaac, the Lamb for the greatest of all
sacrifices (see Genesis 22:8, etc.). Moses and the prophets foretold His coming.
Jeremiah announced the coming of the New Covenant in unequivocal language.
Daniel predicted the exact date of His coming. Many of the Rabbis knew, and
said, that all the prophets prophesied only to the time of the Messiah. They,
the Rabbis, even deduced from the Bible that the Old Testament laws including
the observance of the festivals were to be abrogated by the coming of the
Messiah. And yet when He came, they received Him not. They rejected Him.

They had been teaching the people that the Messiah would come only to free them
from the foreign yoke. They withheld from them the vision which the prophets
saw, of a Messiah who would be Redeemer of all mankind. Thus when Jesus came,
the Rabbis pictured Him as an apostate to Judaism, a rebel against the
invincible Roman power and therefore most dangerous. Thus He was delivered to
the “powers that be,” and executed as a dangerous criminal. This the average Jew
does not exactly know.

Divine retribution was not slow in coming. The Jewish people, who rejected Him
who wanted to make them free, were driven into exile, their capital city
destroyed, and the Temple, the altar, the priesthood, and with them the
sacrificial rites to “cover up sin,” came to an end. Had this calamity happened
to any other nation, the nation itself would have come to an end. Not so with
Israel. God is not through with the nation yet. He destined them to be an
everlasting nation. They have yet to serve Him, to fulfill His mission. But
while not utterly destroyed, they have nevertheless experienced by His
chastening, one catastrophe after another. As Moses foretold: the horrors of the
day would make them pray for the night, and the terrors of the night make them
wish for the day to come. Of this the Jews are well aware although the picture
is not yet clear. It is partial blindness that obscures the real picture. No
wonder that most of their solemn and fervent prayers are for the coming of the
Messiah, not only to redeem them from their bondage and the misery that is
involved in it but, more so, because the Messiah would restore the sacrifices
and so “cover up sin.”

The observant Jew, throughout exile, has firmly believed that only the priestly
sacrifices are valid to atone for sin, and all they could do, in prayer,
repentance, charity and studying the Torah, was obviously only a temporary
substitute. This consciousness of guilt and need for a means of atonement is
expressed in nearly all the prayers during week-days and especially so on the
Sabbath and Feast Days. At the beginning of the daily morning prayers God is
invoked to remember His oath to Abraham who was ready to sacrifice his beloved
son. Afterward the chapter ordering the daily sacrifices is read (Numbers
28:1-8). Then there is to be recited a certain chapter of the Talmud (Mishnah,
Treatise Zevachim, chapter 5) which deals with the locations of the various
sacrifices, the use of their blood, etc.

After reading several passages of the Bible, mostly Psalms, there follows the
most solemn part of the three daily services - the so-called “Eighteen”
(eighteen benedictions) which is recited standing and silently. Before rising up
the worshiper pleads:

“O Rock of Israel, arise to the help of Israel, and deliver according to thy
promise, Judah and Israel. Our Redeemer the Lord of Hosts is His name, the Holy
One of Israel. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who has redeemed Israel.”

The greater part of the “Eighteen” is supplication for the national redemption
and welfare of Israel. Thus for example: “Look upon our affliction and plead our
cause, and redeem us speedily for thy name’s sake; for thou art a mighty
Redeemer. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the Redeemer of Israel.”

“Sound the great horn for our freedom; lift up the ensign to gather our exiles,
and gather us from the four corners of the earth. Blessed art thou, O Lord, who
gatherest the banished ones of the people Israel.”

“And to Jerusalem, thy city, return in mercy, and dwell therein, as thou hast
spoken; rebuild it soon in our days as an everlasting building, and speedily set
up therein the throne of David. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the rebuilder of
Jerusalem.”

“The offspring of David thy servant speedily cause to nourish and let his horn
be exalted by thy salvation, because we wait for thy salvation all the day. . .
.”

“And let our eyes behold thy return to Zion in mercy. Blessed art thou, O Lord,
who restoreth thy divine presence (In Hebrew: Thy “Shekinah”) unto Zion.”

After the “Eighteen” there comes the prayer that God may speedily rebuild the
temple where they might serve Him with the offerings that would please Him as in
ancient years. On New-Moons and feast days there is an additional prayer that
God may remember the Messiah son of David.

There is a shortened form of the “Eighteen” for those who on account of illness
or some weighty reason cannot recite the full form. This shortened form really
shows us what is the quintessence of the Jewish prayer.

I quote it here in full:

“Give us understanding, O Lord our God, to know thy ways; circumcise our hearts
to fear thee, and forgive us so that we may be redeemed. Keep us far from
sorrow; and satiate us on the pastures of thy land, and gather our scattered
ones from the four corners of the earth. Let the righteous rejoice in the
rebuilding of thy city, and in the establishment of thy temple, and in the
flourishing of the horn of David thy servant, and in the light of the son of
Jesse, Thine Anointed (Messiah). Even before we call, do thou answer. Blessed
art thou who hearkenest unto prayer.”

Toward the end of the morning prayer there are these lines:

“And a Redeemer shall come to Zion and to them that turn from transgression in
Jacob, saith the Lord: And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the
Lord: my Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth,
shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from now and forever” (taken from
Isaiah 59:20-21). On holy days (Sabbath, New Moon, etc.), on the days when
during the existence of the Temple additional sacrifices were offered, extra
prayers are now recited, confessing that on account of “our” sins “we” have been
exiled and thus not being able to bring the prescribed sacrifices, therefore
“we” implore God not for our sake (for we are not worthy) but for your name’s
sake, and for the sake of the covenant with the forefathers - to bring us back
to our land and there we will again offer the prescribed sacrifices. This
yearning for redemption, for forgiveness of sin, is felt and uttered not only in
the liturgy of the daily services but on various other occasions. Thus, the
lengthy prayer (“grace”) which is recited after meals is saturated with that
longing. From among many such passages let us quote this:

“May the All-merciful make us worthy of the days of the Messiah, and of the life
of the world to come. Great salvation giveth He to His king, and showeth
lovingkindness to His Messiah, to David and to his seed forevermore. . . .” And
not only in prayer, which is performed several times every day, but also, in
common parlance, is this longing for the Redeemer, the Mashiah, given
expression. In short, the belief, the yearning, and expectancy in the speedy
coming of the Messiah, has exerted the greatest influence upon the life and
customs of the Jewish people. Throughout the centuries of misery, humiliation
and persecution in exile, the “coming of Messiah” has been the greatest
consolation and most treasured hope. No article of faith is recited with so much
fervor and devotion as this: “I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the
Messiah, and though he tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.”

What is the Jewish conception of the person of the Messiah? Well, there is no
consistent or uniform picture of the Messiah. The Jewish sages differed widely
in their portrayal of the Redeemer, depending on the times and places, and the
material and cultural position of their people. There is thus much confusion
about the Messiah. Some thought of Him as a divine all-powerful person who would
perform great miracles and introduce great changes in nature. Others thought and
taught that He would be human although endowed with extraordinary powers and
qualities. Maimonides (Rambam), who formulated the “articles of faith,” teaches
that “There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah
except subjection of Kingdoms.”

We have already seen, in the chapter on religion, that Maimonides often
contradicted himself. He was a rationalist and did not believe that anything is
supernatural or is not in accordance with previous human experience. On the
other hand he was a faithful follower of the rabbis and he enjoined the people
to observe all their laws and teachings with all the irrationalism and the
absurdities it involved.

If the Jew is to believe Maimonides the rationalist, that the Messiah is just as
human as human can be, how is he to believe Maimonides the rabbinic dogmatist,
that he is to expect daily the Messiah’s coming? How can He come today or
tomorrow? Does He not have first to be born and grow up in a natural way? Or was
He born already? When? Where? Where is He now, He who may at any moment arrive
(according to that same Maimonides)?

Well, the Jewish people are quite confused in their belief in the Messiah, as in
many other beliefs, because the rabbis have confused them, for various reasons.
Generally the Jews who were born and reared into ages-old tradition firmly
believed in the Messiah as superhuman, as divine.

We have seen that in the daily prayers the Redeemer is sometimes referred to as
God, sometimes as “Son of David” sent by God. No doubt the Jewish people
throughout the ages have harbored the thought, the vision, though not a clear
one, of the Messiah being God incarnate. The “Targums,” the translations and
interpretations of the Bible, that have been used in the synagogues since
ancient times (see “Targum”) have the same conception of the Messiah as is to be
found in the New Testament. Those passages in the Old Testament which in the New
Testament are applied to the Messiah are also interpreted so in the Targums. The
fact that the Targums have been held sacred and printed side by side with the
Hebrew text, and read every Sabbath, according to old usage, clearly proves that
the Messiah was held by the ancient rabbis, and the people in general, as being
divine in human form. In the “Benediction of the Moon” (recited monthly) the
worshiper shouts: “David King of Israel lives and exists” and the prayer is
finished with the verse, “And they shall seek Jehovah their God and David their
king, Amen” (Hosea 3:5).

Young people in Israel have a popular dance which is accompanied by singing
continuously, “David king of Israel lives and exists.” This is sung in a
rapturous manner quite often on various occasions. Does it not show that the
belief in the supernatural Messiah is still deeply ingrained in the Jewish
heart?

Moreover, ever since the restoration of the State of Israel, the Jewish people
still wait for the Messiah. They still pray the same old prayers for God’s
return to Zion. Nothing in Jewish liturgy referring to redemption physical and
spiritual, has been changed, although many Jewish leaders demanded changes. The
people still wait for the miraculous, for the divine Messiah.

What have the people been expecting throughout the exile? The answers are
various. The prayers during the weekdays, and more so on holydays, expressed the
main yearning for the return to Zion in order to be able to serve God, as
ordained in the Old Testament by bloody sacrifices, which may be done only at
the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The coming of the Messiah was also to inaugurate
the Kingdom of Heaven, sometimes called “Kingdom of Shaddai,” with Zion as its
center. His coming is also associated with “resurrection of the dead” and the
“Day of Judgment.” All these events are often included in the name “Olam Habba,”
the world to come.

While some of the Rabbis portrayed this “Coming World” as pure spiritual bliss,
others pictured it as a paradise, where and when men, mainly Jews, will live
pleasantly and where they might obtain all the innocent, harmless pleasures of
life without the need of any exertion to obtain them. Delicious food, as well as
beautiful clothes, will be produced by the earth ready to be used, according to
Talmud: Sabbath 30b and Ketuboth 111b. There will be banquets where the
righteous one will partake of the meat of the mythical wild ox, and the fish
Leviathan, and imbibe the wine which is preserved for them since the six days of
creation.

These beliefs and hopes of Olam Habba (Eschatology) are closely knit also with
the immortality of the soul which after leaving the body is purified in
purgatory (in Gehenna) and then ascends into Paradise (“Gan Eden”) where it
lives in bliss till the coming of Messiah and the resurrection.

Now, as mentioned previously, these ideas are quite confused, but they all
revolve around the Messiah who lives and waits for the opportune time for His
appearance. Where is He? Some Rabbis said that He is now in “Gan Eden”
(Paradise). Some said that He is living disguised in Rome. Some said that He is
the “Shechinah” which is in exile, wherever the Jewish people sojourn.

Explaining the beginning of verse 3, chapter 30 of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy
30:3), which may be translated: “And He will return with thy returning . . . ,”
the Talmud Meggilah 29a says that this teaches that the Holy One is in exile
together with His people and together with them, He, too, will return.

In other words, when He redeems His people, He Himself will be redeemed with
them. When is the Messiah to come? There is no uniform answer to this question.
To sum up the various opinions of the Rabbis it may be said that there has been
a specified time for His coming but this set time might be hastened or postponed
in accordance with the worthiness of the people.

Many Rabbis tried to figure out the appointed time of His coming, but as ever,
were disappointing. It often even led to disaster. Often usurpers, scoundrels,
or half-witted men assumed the role of the Messiah and thus misled the people
into great calamities. Jewish history has many tragic accounts of such false
Messiahs.

Christians witnessing to Jews, and the Jewish people have thus a subject in
common and to both it is of the most vital interest (See chapter, “How to
Identify the Messiah”).


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  CHAPTER 33: 02.14.     CHANGING ATTITUDES OF THE JEWS TOWARD JESUS
========================================================================

Changing Attitudes of The Jews Toward Jesus Jesus came to His own, but His own
received Him not.

We know that the masses of the people followed Him faithfully, lovingly,
reverently, but when the crisis, the climax came, when He was to taste the
bitter cup, He was alone; even His most faithful disciple, Peter, denied Him for
a while. For a moment it seemed that even the Father forsook Him. Incited by the
leaders, whose leadership was obviously jeopardized by Jesus, some people who
yesterday shouted “Hosannah,” now shouted, “Crucify Him”!

After the Resurrection, thousands came back to Him, then hundreds of thousands,
both in Judea and in Diaspora. But the Jewish people as a whole, “received Him
not.” Not even when their Temple and the Holy City were destroyed and the
majority of the people were either destroyed or dispersed - all as Jesus
foretold; not even then did the blind leaders relinquish their grip on the
people, keeping them away from their Saviour.

In order to justify their crime against Jesus, they concocted various tales to
portray Jesus as an impostor, a blasphemer, a traitor, a sorcerer, who fully
deserved the death to which the “saintly” Rabbis condemned Him. These tales,
though so self-contradictory, so far-fetched in imagination and so perverted and
distorted, were propagated and handed down from generation to generation both
orally and in script, and sad as it is strange, the people implicitly believed
these wild yarns. The shrewd leaders knew how to keep away anything that might
contradict their story. The New Testament or any authentic account of the life
of Jesus was nowhere within reach.

Excommunication was the fate of anyone guilty of reading any Christian book, let
alone one who dared believe or speak favorably of Christ. Worst of all, the life
and acts of the so-called “Christian people” could only serve the Rabbis as an
example of how bad Christianity was. The Roman (Catholic) Church in the Middle
Ages surely could not serve as a good example of what Christianity is meant to
be.

However, the impact of the Christian Reformation upon Europe had its effect also
on the Jewish people. Protestantism became interested in the Scriptures - both
the Old Testament and the New Testament - and consequently the Jewish people
appeared to Christians in a new light.

They began to realize that both the Old and the New Covenants were made
primarily with the Jewish people and were to be everlasting covenants.

People began to see the Jews, not as a God-forsaken, accursed rabble, but as
those who were the chosen people, and thus were worth saving, and worthy of
Christian love. The Jews, many of them, could not help but reciprocate. They
began to see that the Roman Church, with its Inquisition and persecution of
Jews, was not synonymous with Christianity. Some even dared to read the New
Testament which, after the Reformation, could more easily be obtained. And, of
course, anyone who read the New Testament, or even part of it, could no longer
believe the incongruous, incoherent and scurrilous tales about Jesus. Then, with
the bursting of that bubble, the outlines of the true Jesus began to be
recognized by the Jewish mind. But, alas! The risk was still too great to utter
what one thought of Jesus, if it was not in strict accordance with the utterance
of the ancient rabbis.

Now and then, however, there were courageous men who dared utter some praise of
Jesus, and of course they suffered the consequences. Such men were, to cite but
a few outstanding instances:

Baruch Spinoza, considered as the greatest Jewish philosopher and, by many, as
one of the greatest philosophers mankind has ever produced. He lived in
Protestant Holland, 1632-1677. He was excommunicated by the rabbis of his
hometown, Amsterdam. Recently many people in Israel have voiced their conviction
that the rabbis ought now to remove that excommunication. The Israeli Prime
Minister, Ben Gurion, is a great and outspoken admirer of Spinoza. In his
“Tractatus Theologica-Politicus,” Spinoza writes:

“Christ was not so much a prophet as the mouthpiece of God, Christ was sent to
teach not only Jews, but the whole human race; and therefore it was not enough
that his mind should be accommodated to the opinions of the Jews alone, but also
to the opinion and fundamental teaching common to the whole human race; in other
words, to ideas universal and truth.”

Heinrich Graetz, the greatest of Jewish historians (lived in Germany,
1817-1891), writes:

“High-minded earnestness and spotless moral purity were his undeniable
attributes . . . the gentle disposition and humility of Jesus reminds one of
Hillel, whom he seems to have taken as his particular model, and whose golden
rule, ‘What you wish not to be done to yourself do not unto others,’ he adopted
as the starting point of his moral code. Like Hillel, Jesus looked on the
promotion of peace and forgiveness of injuries as the highest forms of virtue.
His whole being was permeated by that deeper religion which contributed to the
mildness of his face. He has made humanity honour; he has carried the highest
wisdom to the homes of the lowly and the ignorant of the world. He has carried
it beyond all barriers of schools and temples, and for this, only, he had to die
a death of shame. The redeemer of the poor, the teacher of the ignorant, the
friend of all that faint with toil and are oppressed with cares must die on the
cross. Over the supreme tragedy let the angel of sorrow spread his wings. Veil
thy face, sun! Be darkened, sky! Let the earth tremble and men mourn in tears!
The most angelic of men, the most loving of teachers, the meek and humble
prophet is to die by the death of the cross” (History of the Jews, Vol. II, p.
149).

Dr. J. M. Jost, 1793-1860, another great Jewish historian, writes:

“Spotless walk, unselfish love for mankind. Thousands of Jews adored Jesus,
their teacher and friend” (The History of Judaism and Their Sects, Vol. I,
Chapter 12).

Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconfield (1804-1881), novelist and statesman
(British Prime Minister), writes:

“The pupil of Moses may ask himself whether all the princes of the House of
David have done so much for the Jews as that Prince who was crucified. . . . Had
it not been for him, the Jews would have been comparatively unknown or known
only as a high Oriental Caste which had lost its country. Has not he made their
history the most famous history in the world?

“The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded. Has not Jesus
conquered Europe and changed its name to Christendom? All countries that refuse
the cross will, and the time will come when the countless myriads in America and
Australia will find music in the songs of Zion, and solace in the parables of
Galilee.”

Theodore Reinach (1860-1928), of France, another great Jewish historian and
archeologist of renown, writes:

“Although we know very little with certainty concerning the life and teachings
of Christ, we know enough of him to believe that, in morals as well as in
theology, he was the heir and continuator of the old prophets of Israel. There
is no necessary gap between Isaiah and Jesus, but it is the misfortune of both
Judaism and Christianity that a gap has been affected by the infiltration of
heathen ideas in the one, and the stubborn ‘only too explainable’ reluctance of
the other to admit among its prophets one of its greatest sons. I consider it
the duty of both enlightened Christians and Jews to endeavor to bridge over this
gap.”

Max Nordau (1849-1823), author of international fame, Zionist leader and
colleague of Dr. Herzl, writes:

“Jesus is the soul of our soul as he is the flesh of our flesh. Who then could
think of excluding him from the people of Israel? St. Peter will remain the only
Jew who said of the Son of David: I know not the man.’ If the Jews up to the
present have not rendered homage to the sublime beauty of the figure of Jesus,
it is because their tormentors have always persecuted, tortured, and
assassinated them in his name.”

Albert Einstein, the world-famous scientist, expressed his opinion about Jesus
in an interview recorded in The Saturday Evening Post, as follows:

“To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?”

“As a child,” Einstein said, “I received instructions both in the Bible and in
the Talmud. I am a Jew, but am enthralled by the luminous figure of the
Nazarene.”

“Have you read Emil Ludwig’s book on Jesus?”

“Emil Ludwig’s Jesus is shallow,” Einstein replied. “Jesus is too colossal for
the pen of phrase-mongers, however artful. No man can dispose of Christianity
with a bon mot.”

“You accept the historical existence of Jesus?”

“Unquestionably. No man can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence
of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such
life. How different, for instance, is the impression which we receive from an
account of the legendary heroes of antiquity like Theseus! Theseus and other
heroes of his type lack the authentic vitality of Jesus.”

“Ludwig Lewisohn, in one of his recent books, claims that many of the sayings of
Jesus paraphrase the sayings of other prophets,” Viereck interposed.

“No man,” Einstein replied, “can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his
sayings are beautiful. Even if some of them have been said before, no one
expressed them so divinely as he.”

Israel Zangwill, considered as the greatest novelist in English Jewish
literature, says: “We shall never get the future straight until we disentangle
the past. To disentangle the past means to re-examine the trial of Jesus - myths
woven purposely by our leaders around the greatest and most noble personality in
history, only that we may not see and recognize the real Jesus. To us, my
brethren, in this our day, is given the privilege to reclaim the Christ we have
lost for so many centuries. Has not the crucified Christ more than fulfilled the
highest and noblest of our greatest prophets? Is not He the Incarnation of the
essence of what the Law, the Psalms and the Prophets taught?”

Dr. Claude Montefiore, recognized spokesman of English Liberals, President of
the Jewish Religious Union, speaking of Jesus, said:

“The most important Jew that has ever lived, to whom the sinner and the outcast,
age after age, have owed a great debt of gratitude” (Jewish Chronicle, July 14,
1809).

“I cannot conceive that a time will come when the figure of Jesus will no longer
be a star of the first magnitude in the spiritual heavens, when he will no
longer be regarded as one of the greatest religious heroes and teachers the
world has seen. I cannot conceive that a time will come when ‘the Bible’ in the
eyes of Europe will no longer be composed of the Old Testament and the New, or
when the Gospels will be less prized than the Pentateuch, or the Books of the
Chronicles preferred to the Epistles of Paul.

“The religion of the future will be, as I believe, a developed and purified
Judaism, but from that developed and purified Judaism the records will tell,
however imperfectly, of perhaps its greatest teacher. Certainly its most potent
and influential teacher will not be excluded.” The following most remarkable
tribute to Christ appeared in a conservative Jewish periodical:

“I have often thought that Christians miss much of the glory and the grandeur
and the beauty of the life of the founder of their faith, his wonderful power of
imagery, his remarkable homiletic gifts, the magnificent doctrine he taught and
the splendid life he lived by way of example to his followers . . . rebelled and
revolted against the infamous ecclesiastical system that prevailed in the days
of Jesus as well as against the political conditions which he denounced. There
must, too, have been in his character, in his life, much more than in his death
something infinitely glorious for him to have become, largely among Jews be it
remembered, the object of such adoration as was paid him years and years after
his death” (from Jewish Chronicle, June 5, 1931).

Dr. Felix Adler, founder of Ethical Culture Societies, speaking in New York
before a large Jewish audience, had this to say:

“It has been said that if Christ came to New York or Chicago, they would stone
him in the very churches. It is not so! If Christ came to New York or Chicago
the publicans and sinners would sit at his feet! For they would know that he
cared for them better than they in their darkness knew how to care for
themselves, and would love him as they loved him in the days of yore.”

He goes on to point out that the resurrection of Jesus must have some historical
foundation to have survived the centuries.

“It is sometimes insinuated that the entire Christian religion depends on the
accounts contained in the New Testament, purporting that Jesus actually rose on
the third day and was seen by his followers; and that if these reports are found
to be contradictory, unsupported by sufficient evidence, and in themselves
incredible, then the bottom falls out of the belief in immortality, as
represented by Christianity.”

He continued:

“But similar reports have arisen in the world time and again; apparitions of the
dead have been seen and have been taken for real; and yet such stories, after
being current for a time, invariably have passed into oblivion. Why did this
particular story persist, despite the paucity and the insufficiency of the
evidence? Why did it get itself believed and take root?”

These glowing words coming from a man of international reputation shocked some
of his rationalistic admirers, who charged him with having surrendered to the
orthodox Christian position.

Here is the opinion of one of the outstanding rabbis of France, Rabbi Emmanuel
Weill:

“Let us then as Jews be thankful there was a Jesus and a Paul. I do not know the
secret of God, but I believe that Jesus and Christianity were providential
means, useful to the Deity in guiding all men gradually and by an effort,
keeping pace with the mental state of the majority of men, from paganism up to
the pure and true idea of the divinity.” And here one of Italy, Prof. David
Castelli:

“Jesus, in a certain sense, fulfilled in his person the prophecies of the Old
Testament: they reached in him a height beyond which it is impossible to go. He
was the great teacher of man-kind, spreading among all nations the principle of
love and humanity which, until then, had remained confined within the limits of
Judaism.”

American rabbis, living in a free Christian civilization, could also freely
express what they thought of Jesus, and they often did. Thus a rabbi in St.
Louis opened the service by reading the Sermon on the Mount and then preached a
sermon giving the following six reasons why Jews should acknowledge Jesus:

“Because he lived as a Jew, mingled with Jews, and observed their festivals.”

“He died as a Jewish patriot, for principle and convictions.”

“His religion was the religion of the Synagogue. He taught the Fatherhood of God
and the Brotherhood of man.”

“Jesus was a Jew in his criticism of the Jews of his day.”

“Jesus was a Jew in that he influenced the Jewish race by his personality. In
other words, because Jesus was a kinsman of the Jews, they became of world
importance.”

“Jesus was a Jew in his influence on the history of humanity.”

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, of New York, a great Zionist leader, one of the most
prominent leaders of American Jewry, was often attacked (by certain speakers and
writers) on account of his favorable expressions about Jesus. In a sermon at the
civic Lenten Service held under the auspices of the Petterson Council of
Churches, he is quoted as saying:

“There is less difference than most people think in the creeds of Christians and
Jews. We differ only in the way in which we place Christ. He is a wonderful Jew.
He is my teacher as well as yours. It would be well for everyone, Jew and
Gentile alike, to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.” In an article that
appeared in The Outlook, June 7, 1913, Rabbi Wise says: “It is no mean joy and
ignoble pride in us of the House of Israel to recognize, to honor and to cherish
among our brothers - Jesus the Jew.”

Rabbi Krauskopf, of Philadelphia:

“I will yield to none in recognizing the civilizing influence of the Man of
Nazareth. I am ready to bestow upon him as high a tribute as anyone has yet
bestowed” (from A Rabbis Impressions).

Dr. Gerson B. Levi, of Chicago, in a sermon published in the Chicago Tribune:

“A protest of Orthodox Jews criticizing me for my position has led me to make
this public statement. For some time I have been teaching in my classes at the
Temple, the New Testament with special reference to the life of Jesus in the
Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, giving the history of the founding of the
Christian Church.

“This is a Christian civilization and the majority of the people of America are
of the Christian faith. Therefore, I feel it the duty of everyone who would
understand our present civilization to study the foundations upon which it
rests.”

Rabbi H. G. Enelow, D.D., of Temple of Emmanuel, New York City:

“Among the great and the good that the human race has produced, none has ever
approached Jesus in universality of appeal and sway. He has become the most
fascinating figure in history. In him is combined what is best and most
mysterious and most enchanting in Israel - the eternal people whose child he
was. The Jew cannot help glorying in what he has meant to the world, nor can he
help hoping that Jesus may yet serve as a bond of union between Jew and
Christian.”

Rabbi Enelow asks and answers the question: “What does the modern Jew think of
Jesus? A Prophet? Yes, crowning a great tradition, and who can compute all that
Jesus has meant to humanity? The love he has inspired, the solace he has given,
the good he has engendered, the hope and joy he has kindled - all that is
unequaled in human history.” He also speaks of Jesus as the most “fascinating
and most influential and most beneficent religious teacher.”

Dr. E. N. Cailisch, Richmond, Va., giving reasons why Jesus was excluded from
Judaism, expressed regret because of the estrangement that has existed between
Jesus and his people:

“This is a moderate and restrained expression of conditions, and to those who
regret that this estrangement has existed between Jesus and his people, and who
hold that there is much in his life and teachings which can be of value to the
Jew, the ‘hope must remain that somehow, and at some not too distant time, Jesus
will be reclaimed by Judaism, and will assume the place which should be his in
the minds and hearts of his fellow Jews.’

“With this thought I am in hearty accord. An ancient rabbi once said: ‘From all
of my teachers I have learned,’ and in our ritual we voice the prayer: ‘O Lord,
open our eyes that we may see and welcome all truth, whether shining from the
annals of ancient revelations or reaching us through the seers of our own time.’
In this spirit I agree with the writer that the time has come when the Jew of
today shall seek to know if there is not something in the life and doctrine of
Jesus of Nazareth that will help him to make his own life nobler and truer,
whether or not there may be room for Jesus in modem Judaism even as he had place
in the ancient synagogue.”

Isidore Singer, Ph.D., Managing Editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia, expresses his
views in the following words:

“I regard Jesus of Nazareth as a Jew of Jews, one whom all Jewish people are
learning to love. His teachings have been an immense service to the world in
bringing Israel’s God to the knowledge of hundreds of millions of mankind.” The
great change in Jewish thought concerning Jesus of Nazareth, I cannot better
illustrate than by this fact: When I was a boy, had my father, who was a very
pious man, heard the name of Jesus uttered from the pulpit of the synagogue, he
and every other man in the congregation would have left the building and the
rabbi would have been dismissed at once.

Now it is not strange in many synagogues to hear sermons preached eulogistic of
this Jesus, and no one thinks of protesting; in fact, we are all glad to claim
Jesus as one of our people.

I also wish to call attention to that masterly, monumental book written in
Hebrew, Jesus of Nazareth, by Joseph Klausner, one of the greatest Hebrew
scholars and professors in the Hebrew University of Palestine. This was the
first life of Christ published in the Hebrew language, and, according to all
critics, Jewish and Christian, it is a scholarly work of the first magnitude.

It has done more to bring Israel nearer to Jesus than all the Medieval churches
and to a great extent many of the Protestant churches even of today. Though it
caused a great furor, the author was neither excommunicated nor stoned to death
as might have been his lot in former days. For the first time in 1900 years, a
rabbinical Jew discussed the life of Jesus.

“He pitilessly destroyed the idea that Jesus was a myth. He tells his readers
they are wrong in taking a negative or indifferent attitude to Jesus, for his
character and his indisputable idealism deserve a positive valuation.”

He declares all the hostile passages about Christ in the Talmud possess no
historical value; that likewise the book, Toldoth Yeshu, is unhistorical and
blasphemous.

I quote from the last chapter of this book which has so greatly stirred the
Jewish and Christian world:

“But Jesus is for the Jewish nation a great Jewish teacher of morality and an
artist in parable. In his ethical code, there is a sublimity, distinctiveness,
and originality in form unparalleled in any other Hebrew ethical code; neither
is there any parallel to the remarkable art of his parables. The shrewdness and
sharpness of his proverbs and his forceful epigrams serve, in an exceptional
degree, to make the ethical code be stripped of its wrappings of miracles and
mysticism; the book of the ethics of Jesus will be one of the choicest treasures
in the literature of Israel for all time.”

I have quoted but a few rabbis and scholars of prominence, and these are of the
past generation. Liberal rabbis of the present day are even more daring in their
praise and admiration of Jesus.

Orthodox rabbis still cling to the traditional tales, but at least they are more
cautious in the use of their language; there is no longer the reviling,
vilifying and derisive vocabulary of olden times.

Many Jewish authors, both in Hebrew and in Yiddish, demanded a revision of the
trial of Jesus. Some years ago one of the greatest Jewish writers, Dr. Chain
Zhitlowsky, demanded a revision of the trial of Jesus. In Das Neue Leben, his
journal, he says:

“The Jewish legend concerning Jesus is a shameless blasphemy of all that should
be considered holy and precious. . . . Every Jew should be proud of the fact
that Jesus is our brother, flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood. We desire
to put him back where he belongs.”

Many Jewish novelists had Jesus as the “hero” of their novels. Outstanding among
them, was the late Shalom Ash, who is generally considered as the greatest of
Jewish novelists. His so-called “Christian” novels, such as The Nazarene, have
raised a storm of protest from many notable Jews, especially in America.
Nevertheless, they were translated into Hebrew and printed in Israel, and found
a wide circulation there.

Not only because his books are real masterpieces in literature, did the Jews in
Israel eagerly read them, but also because there in the reborn homeland the Jews
want to be free from all encumbrances and impediments which have thus far kept
them away from the Truth, the free unadulterated truth which some of their
leaders so badly distorted.

Many are asking themselves:

“For nineteen hundred years we blindly followed our leaders. Now it has been
proven beyond refutation that their whole account of Jesus is utter nonsense.
Can we now trust the rabbis? May not the Christian’s account be the right one?
Have not our forefathers erred in their condemnation of Jesus?”

It is in Israel where a new day is dawning, the day when finally they will fully
recognize Him whom they pierced, the day when they will shout: “Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Jehovah.”


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  CHAPTER 34: 02.15.     SOME PRACTICAL WAYS OF APPROACH
========================================================================

Some Practical Ways of Approach

Remember that bearing God’s message to men has always been a difficult,
thankless and risky task. We are not surprised that the great prophets, Moses,
Amos, Jeremiah, Jonah, etc., tried hard to evade this task, but the Lord
compelled them to do His will. The Jews, surely, would not appreciate your
telling them that the most important things which they have always believed to
be right and good are wrong and unacceptable. No one would. But as Christ’s
ambassador you may expect no better fate than was His and should not expect
immediate successes.

You bear the message whether they will hear it or not. But, as did the Master,
bear it in love, with patience and tact.

Now let me suggest a few practical hints as to how you might make the first
contact with the Jew.

Always be tactful. Don’t show any condescension of superiority over him. He is
sure that he is a member of the chosen people, a scion of kings and prophets,
that his way of life, his culture, his religion is the best in the world. Don’t
try to controvert, to minimize these opinions.

On the contrary, show him that you have high regard for his opinions, that as a
student of the Bible you know his exalted position as one of a people chosen of
God and that you hold sacred the words of his ancient prophets.

Show him that you are aware of the lofty, noble qualities of the Jewish people,
and that you admire them. Show him that you think it an unpardonable sin the
Gentiles have committed in persecuting the Jewish people. Show him that you
believe that his people are still to play a most important role in the history
of mankind. In short, without overdoing it, show him love, kindness, readiness
to help in any good way. You will later, when you have found a path to his
heart, have an opportunity to show him that even he, as a Jew, is not
infallible, even his people have been capable of sin and according to his own
Bible, have often sinned. Their own prophets have rebuked and reproved them most
sternly.

According to their own Bible, God has often chastised His people severely but
for the sake of their saintly forefathers and the everlasting covenant and their
appointed mission, He did not destroy them utterly, as He destroyed other
peoples in retribution for their iniquities.

Later on, when you find him attentive, you may remark cautiously, that those
Jewish leaders who delivered Jesus into the hands of the Roman executioners,
might have erred in condemning Him. Indeed, that is the opinion generally held
by all, including a great many Jewish intellectuals, who know the story of Jesus
and His environment.

Those leaders who rejected Jesus’ claims and caused His death, were not of the
best Jewish type. Indeed, their actions were very un-Jewish in their dealings
with Jesus. The best that can be said in their exoneration is that they did it
out of fear of the Romans, who might have used the new Messianic movements as an
excuse for further and harsher oppression. Many Jewish writers have expressed
such an opinion. This is perhaps the best method to use in carrying out the
initial steps.

If you have succeeded in arousing his attention so that as he is ready to ask
questions, to argue - then half the battle is won. All you have to do now is
answer his questions honestly, reason with him (he may be earnest in his
arguments, he may be cynical) and refute his misstatements, his traditional
misconceptions and purposeful falsehoods.

You have disarmed him, you have won half the battle, but you have not yet turned
your opponent into a friend. You have not yet won him to Christ. But this task
of regeneration, conversion, is not yours. It is only the Lord Himself who can
work this miracle of grace. You may keep on praying for his salvation, you may
help him, guide him faithfully, patiently on the way leading toward God’s grace.
And this you will do.

All I have said now depends on your having succeeded in rousing his attention to
your words. If you have not succeeded in this, then try, try again. If after
several trials you have not yet succeeded, do not be discouraged, do not
despair. You keep on performing your duty to preach the Gospel. Victory is not
your duty. The Lord will see to it if He wills so. Further on we shall present
some of the typically Jewish questions and arguments about Christ and
Christianity with suitable answers.

Let us now consider a few of the usual ways of making contact.

Approach the Jew like an adroit salesman, as if you have something to sell him
at a great profit to both of you, which in your case is quite true. Think first
how a good salesman would handle such a case. You may start with something
casual, depending on the time and the place of meeting: on the bus, in a waiting
room, in the park, on the play ground, at work, in the store, etc. A cursory
starting point is the weather, some remarkable event of current interest, or you
may even at once introduce yourself: “I am a Christian and have special tracts
for Jews. I hope I don’t offend by offering you some of them,” or something like
that. Of course, your next action depends on his reaction to your introductory
remarks.

Other good approaches might be a recent crime wave, or some road fatalities,
some catastrophe (flood, fire, etc.), some political event that had at that time
aroused public attention. You may ask him about a hotel which he would recommend
to you, or what is his opinion about some sports event. He most probably will
respond and express his opinions. Then you find a fitting verse in the Bible
that would illustrate or affirm your opinion (or his), or say: “If people only
heeded God’s words. You will, thus, soon find out whether he wants to keep up
the conversation.

Suppose you notice that your vis-a-vis on the bus, train, etc., is reading a
paper or book in Hebrew characters. You start: “Excuse me . . . isn’t that
Hebrew you are reading? How I wish I could read the Bible in its original
language. I am sure it is more beautiful and meaningful than in its
translation.”

By his reaction to your introductory remarks, you would know how to continue the
conversation. Start a discussion about the Bible as the greatest Book in the
world, about its prophecies which are now being fulfilled. You may lead up to
asking why the Jews refrain from reading the New Testament: “Is it not a Jewish
book? A good book, of which the Jewish people have a right to be proud?” When
you separate, you may declare your friendship for him, giving him your address
and asking for his - so that correspondence may continue on the subject. An
occasion for contact may occur in any office, any place of business:

“Aren’t you Jewish?” Some Jews might think you are being sarcastic or offensive,
so explain yourself: “I like to study faces. In the Jewish face I recognize an
ancient aristocracy: especially the Jewish eyes. I find them so thoughtful, so
gentle, so spiritual. Whenever I see a Jew I like to think of the face of Moses,
Jesus and His followers. They must have looked like that. That may not sound as
a compliment to many Jews who dislike Jesus, but I mean it as a compliment.”

* * * * *

Suppose you have found out that your new neighbor is a Jew. Let him know by
telephone, letter or orally that you are glad to have him as a neighbor; that
you would appreciate making a more intimate acquaintance, visiting each other,
etc. There are good chances that your family (man, wife, children) and his will
become friends, or at least, pleasant neighbors, and be ready to meet and
exchange opinions and views.

* * * * *

Invite your Jewish neighbors and friends on certain celebrations, such as
birthdays, weddings or some religious occasions (for example, Christmas) or to
some excursion or picnic, or even to some service or social in your church.
Whether he accepts your invitation, or excuses himself for not accepting, you
have the opportunity to continue your contact.

* * * * *

You may ask your Jewish friend to invite you to a service in the synagogue. If
he agrees and takes you along to the synagogue, then you may get a stock of
subjects for further contact and discussions that will last you for a long time
and lead to the ultimate aim of his hearing the Gospel and accepting it. Of
course he may find some pretext for refusing your request. In that case, too,
you are afforded chances to make him hear your views. You may ask him why he
refuses. His answers may complicate him so that you will have to extricate him
from his perplexities.

* * * * * A chance subject for contact with your Jewish grocer, attorney,
bank-clerk, agent, peddler, etc., may be thus: “Oh, I’m so happy to see you
today. I have some questions, and you being a Jew will probably know the proper
answer. I had an argument with a friend about this -”

Then you may ask: “What is the meaning of that ‘amulet’ which is fastened to the
door posts of Jewish homes? What are phylacteries? What is the real meaning of
‘Mashiach’? Why is the Israeli parliament called K’nesseth? What is the meaning
of Sanhedrin?” and such like. It may turn out that he knows little or nothing
about these things, in any case, you have subject matter for further contact.

Another excellent approach to the Jew may be made by mail. Send him a certain
tract, the New Testament, or only a part of it. At about the same time you let
him know by telephone or letter, or orally, that you sent it to him because you
thought it might interest him, and that you would appreciate it if he would let
you know his opinion about it. If he replies, keep up the contact in accordance
with his reply. If after a certain time you get no reply ask him the reason for
his silence. (Hasn’t he read it yet? Has he had time to form an opinion? Has he
not received it?) He may tell you that he is not interested in such things, and
demand you stop sending any such “stuff.” In that case write him that you did
not intend any offense and that you hope he or she might still reconsider the
matter and get interested, and that you are ever ready to be of help. Preaching
by mail does not have to be applied only to Jews whom you know. You may pick
out, at random, names from the telephone book and contact them.

* * * * *

After some practical experience in this work you may find other effective ways
of reaching the heart of the Jew. You may adopt some of the methods of the
professional missionary, such as house-to-house visits, placing suitable
literature in door slots, open air preaching in Jewish neighborhoods, etc. Now,
in your dealing with a Jew you should know what type of Jew he is, for there are
various types, and the methods that are best for one may not be suitable to
another (See Chapter on “Types and Segments”).


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 35: 02.16.     OBJECTIONS AND QUESTIONS THE AVERAGE JEW IS LIKELY TO ASK
========================================================================

Objections and Questions the Average Jew Is Likely to Ask In your work among the
Jews you are likely to encounter many obstacles and impediments, bitter
contentions, arguments, belligerent controversy.

I assume that you are blessed with the love and the patience needed for this
kind of work, but you probably lack the knowledge of what particular questions
the Jew may ask you, and what you ought to answer.

A. SOME OF THE USUAL OBJECTIONS THE OBSERVANT OR ORTHODOX JEW MAY MENTION

Objection 1 I have my own religion. I don’t want any other.

Reply 1

I don’t intend to tell you of another religion. It is about your own religion,
which is also mine that I want to speak to you.

(Here he may cut you short: telling you he does not want to discuss it with a
missionary, especially a Gentile. In that case you need extra tact and wisdom to
retain his attention. He may tolerate or even encourage further discussion.
Then, you may tell him that the Christian God is the Jewish God; that the
Christian Messiah is the Jewish Messiah; that the Christian Bible is the Jewish
Bible - the only difference is in the interpretation of it. And since the
Christians are convinced that their interpretation is not only the true one, but
also that on it depends life and death, they count it as their most sacred duty
to bring this truth to all people including the Jews).

Objection 2

I know you worship three gods while we Jews have been taught from the days of
our progenitor Abraham, on Sinai, and by our prophets and teachers that there is
but One and only One God.

This was, is and forever will be our faith. The Christians during the ages have
tried their best, but unavailingly, to make us change our faith and you are not
going to do it either.

Reply 2

(Here you may tell him that true Christians respect and honor the Jewish people
for their valiant and tenacious stand in their belief in the true God. Indeed,
Christians feel much indebted to the Jews who taught them this faith in the one
true God. Again it is the One God according to the Jewish conception of Him that
Christians worship and none other).

There are not three gods, but there are three aspects of Him, and this the
Christians learned from the Jews, from the ancient Jews to whom the Bible was
near and dear. It was only later on, in the Middle Ages, in order to counteract
Christianity that some Jewish Rabbis began to teach that God has no attributes,
that He cannot be imagined by man because He has no form, no appearance
whatsoever. These Rabbis knew well that this sort of God is not the Jewish God,
is not the God of the Bible. This was not the only distortion of the Bible which
some Rabbis perpetrated in order to uphold a certain point of theirs. Of course
there is only One God, and He is so great that we puny creatures cannot
comprehend Him with our puny minds. But does not the Bible, the Jewish Bible,
from beginning to end, speak of God who often acts like a human being? He walks,
He stands, He sits, He speaks, He is glad, He is angry. He comes in contact with
man usually in the form of man. He dwelt in the Tabernacle in the wilderness.
Later He dwelt in the Temple. He conversed with Abraham. He struggled with
Jacob. He appeared before Joshua as a warrior. He also appeared in dreams and in
visions, and by His spirit the Holy Ghost, He spoke to the prophets. It is hard
to understand it but the Bible, the Jewish Bible, is full of God’s threefold
being:

1. The Incomprehensible “endless” Creator of all existence. 2. His revelation to
man by assuming human form, so that mortals could grasp His presence. 3. His
revelation through the Spirit. In fact, God the Infinite, the Eternal, never
asked man to believe in Him as an incomprehensible abstraction. One cannot
believe in, or love, or pray to “something” which he cannot by any means
comprehend or perceive.

It is only the revealed God, the One who assumed human garb that the Jews, or
any man, were asked to believe in, to love, to fear, to worship. He never spoke
to the Jews as the inconceivable God, Creator of the universe, but, as thy God,
the God of your fathers. On Sinai, in the greatest of His revelations, His first
words were, “I am thy God who have brought thee out of Egypt.”

Objection 3

Yes, but we believe that the same God - the abstract one who created the world -
is also the concrete one who revealed Himself to man, whether in human form or
by His spirit.

Reply 3

Exactly so do we Christians believe. These Three are One. There is only that
difference that you insist on emphasizing the word One as an absolute unity,
while we prefer to emphasize the three-fold nature of the One.

Objection 4 But the Bible tells us: “Hear ye, O Israel, Jehovah our God Jehovah
is One.” This verse we repeat several times in the day - this is the most sacred
principle of our faith, this is repeated by every Jew when he returns his soul
to God. This oneness precludes all plurality, all polytheism.

Reply 4

(Here you have to explain to him that plurality is not polytheism). Indeed, the
Hebrew word which we translate God really is a plural noun. That very verse,
most sacred to the Jews, if properly translated would be: “. . . Jehovah our
Gods . . .” The Bible starts with the words: “In the beginning Gods created . .
.” Further on we read, “- And Gods said, let us make a man in our image -” The
plural noun for God is mostly defined by an adjective in the singular but
sometimes also in the plural, which suggests or teaches that while God is One,
He may appear in more than one form. Just as man consists of three different
beings, body, soul and spirit; or for example, electricity, which no one really
understands, may show itself as (1) light, (2) heat, (3) power. An “electric”
train is driven by electricity, lighted by it, and in cold weather also is
heated by it.

(The Ancient Rabbis, exegetes and exponents of the Bible well understood this
plurality, or the threefold unity of God, as they expressed it in the Targums,
Midrash, and the Kabbalist books. See special chapters on these subjects).

Objection 5

If this plurality, or trinity as you call it, is the true nature of the Godhead,
why does not the Bible speak of it in unequivocal words? Why only in hints,
allusions and implications?

Reply 5 It is because there was no need for telling things which were of common
knowledge, of common thoughts and belief.

You may ask on what ground did Rambam (Maimonides) formulate the thirteen
Articles of the Jewish Creed, which the Jews have to believe and recite in their
morning prayer. There is no solid ground for them in the Bible except allusions.

Like Christians, the Jews, too, believe in the Messiah because all the Bible is
permeated with the “Coming of the Messiah.” Like Christians the Jews, too,
believe in the Resurrection. The Bible nowhere says one must believe in any or
all of these thirteen articles or principles, which Rambam enjoins every Jew to
believe. What basis did he have for them? Is it not because he knew that for
hundreds of years this creed had been already the common belief of Judaism, and
that up to his time there was no need of writing them down? It was only because
in his time there was the danger of Jews going over to Christianity, or
Mohammedanism or atheism that he found it necessary to define and formulate what
the Jews must believe. So also was the creed which is now known as “Christian.”
For many centuries, since Abraham, and even before, it was the common creed of
all believers in God. There was no occasion for any of the authors of the Bible
to record something that everyone knew. It was only after the people began to
doubt, to waver, to form schisms, that some of the followers of Jesus, the
Church fathers, had to formulate the creed, which was then in danger of being
attacked, abandoned and forgotten.

There might have been another reason: In the times of Moses and the other
prophets the Jews were still inclined to revert to idolatry, like the people
around them. Thus the Biblical writers had to be very cautious in the choice of
words. If Scripture had used the word trinity, it might have led someone to
believe that it sanctions polytheism, whereas by the time of Christ this danger
no longer existed. Then the threefold unity of the Godhead could be generally
spoken of and so it became the common belief. In short, there is nothing which
the Christian believes that is not in the Bible and which the Jewish people
believed for hundreds of years even after biblical times.

Objection 6

Ridiculous, preposterous, blasphemy! Do you mean to say that all those fancy
dogmas of Christianity are in accordance with Judaism? With the Jewish Bible?

How absurd all this talk about Jesus, that poor carpenter’s son, asserting that
he was the Messiah, that he was born of a virgin, that after he died he rose
from the grave and went up to heaven. All that stuff you may believe, if you
please, but don’t tell me that it is in accord with our Bible.

Reply 6

All this may sound absurd and contrary to human reasoning but it is certainly in
harmony with your Bible. Jesus was and is the Messiah because all the prophecies
of the Bible about the Messiah were fulfilled in Him. These include His virgin
birth and all the other things which you consider so absurd. *

* See chapter on “Christianity is Completed Judaism.”

True, these are irrational, unfathomable mysteries, but so is all life, all
existence. We are surrounded by millions of inexplicable mysteries. At any rate
these “absurdities” are the very essence of the Bible.

Why is it easier for the modern Jew, remote from Bible teaching, to fathom God
appearing in human form (as to Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, Manoah) for a short time,
than to believe that He appeared in human form for a longer time - as in Jesus?

Jews know, although they don’t understand it, that God lived in the Holy of
Holies, because the Bible says so. Surely the omnipresent God did not leave all
the universe to take care of itself while He was sojourning with the Jews in the
Tabernacle and later in the Temple. But because the Bible says so, Jewish
believers are sure it was so. They even have a word for it - the “Shechina”
which implies, “God-living-among-men.”

Thus, too, the Bible speaks of the Messiah as a divine person, incarnation of
the Infinite, Son of God. When the Bible foretells the Messiah’s birth of a
virgin, why not believe this miracle as any other miracle recorded in the Bible?
Is not every birth a miracle?

Death, too, is a miracle, and rising from death is a miracle. The whole Bible
from beginning to end is a record of miracles, so when you do believe part of
it, why not all?

These records, these doctrines about the Messiah are not the creations,
fabrications of Gentiles. The Christians learned them from Jewish teachers and
preachers. Many rabbis, especially the mystics (Kabbalists), were teaching and
expounding these doctrines long after certain Jewish authorities discredited
such teachings for argument’s sake. Indeed, they are Jewish doctrines; purely
Jewish precepts.

Objection 7

We Jews could not accept Christianity, as it is full of superstitions, and
doctrines which are repugnant to Jewish taste, sentiment, ideas and principles;
such as original sin, vicarious atonement (by Messiah), mediation and the like.
We cannot believe that people now, thousands of years after Adam, should be
punished for his sin. We cannot believe that one man can atone for the sins of
another man. We have a straight, direct access to God and we don’t need anyone,
no Messiah, no Son of God, to mediate, to intercede between us and God.

Reply 7

Original Sin - These ideas which you now express, are those of some liberal
Jews. They are not according to the Bible, not even according to traditional
Judaism. According to the Bible and to post-biblical Judaism, suffering and
death came to mankind because of Adam’s sin.

Because of the voluntary suffering and death (the supreme sacrifices) offered by
another man, the greatest of men, the Messiah, death was abolished, lost its
sting (See Appendix).

Mediation - Mediation is an old Hebrew principle, as old as Melchizedek, priest
of the Most High God, and Abraham, who interceded for Abimelech (Genesis 20:7;
Genesis 20:17) and for Sodom (Genesis 18:23-32). Moses and other men of God
interceded for their people. The priests were mainly mediators and intercessors
between sinful man and a Holy God. The people and kings begged the prophets to
intercede for them before God.

Throughout the ages, Jews were accustomed to beg saintly men to intercede. They
traveled long and hazardous distances to rabbis or to the graves of saintly
people to seek their intercessions. In cases of troubles (sickness, etc.),
people hastened to the graves of relatives to supplicate that they might appear
before the Throne of Mercy and intercede for help. People have been hired to say
Kaddish, and learn Mishnaoth in order that the departed relatives may have peace
in the other world.

Among the most solemn prayers of New Year’s Day certain angels are pleaded with
to bring the prayers before the Throne of Glory. In one of those prayers even
Yeshua Sab Hapanim, which may mean Jesus, “Lord of the Innermost,” or, “Lord of
the Face,” is implored to mediate between the Jewish people and God. As to how
this Jesus got into the prayer book, no one has yet found a good explanation.
Nor does any Jew know to whom this great Mediator refers. In most new editions
of the prayer book, for the High Holy days, this prayer is omitted. At any rate,
mediation is a (good) Jewish doctrine and Christianity obtained it from Judaism.

Objection 8

All right. But all this talk of a Mediator is superfluous. Since you claim that
Christianity is all taken from Judaism of old, and thus, by your religion
(conviction) you are a real Jew, why not preach to us to be good Jews, to keep
all the Law, and not to sin, so we shall not need any intercession, any
forgiveness? No sin - no punishment, no expiation.

Reply 8 That would be fine, if it could be achieved. Think of Adam and Eve; they
had everything any creature could desire. All that God wanted from them was just
a little obedience: All paradise was at their disposal except one tree, whose
fruit they were not to eat. Had they obeyed God, this world would have remained
a paradise to mankind, but they didn’t and they and their offspring were cursed
for it.

Later, God chose unto Himself a people that would in course of time become a
blessing to accursed mankind. Till that glorious time came He gave them a set of
laws by which they would be disciplined, educated and kept holy. Every earthly
blessing was promised to those who would submit to God’s grace and obey His
commandments, and a curse was laid (or rather the original curse remained
intact) upon the one who would disobey Him.

Yet, if the sinner repented and offered a certain prescribed sacrifice (as a
symbol that he himself is worthy of death) his sin was forgiven, or “covered,”
as the Hebrew means. Were the Jewish people, the chosen people, better than Adam
and Eve? They certainly were not. After God had brought them out from Egypt by
so many marvels, after they had heard His voice on Sinai, accompanied by
wondrous visions, after they solemnly swore to obey the One God, their God, the
God who brought them out of Egypt, after all these they went and made themselves
a golden calf, and worshiped it as their god.

Disobedience, rebellion against God, was committed repeatedly by individuals as
well as by the people as a whole, so the Bible tells us. But then, there were
the sacrifices for individual as well as for national expiation.

Now there is no Jew who keeps all the laws of God; what can he do to be forgiven
since there is no sacrifice to be offered in expiation of his sin?

Objection 9

We hope and pray that God would bring us back to our “promised land,” there we
shall reinstitute the sacrifices as prescribed by Moses. Till that time we offer
prayer instead of sacrifice. If a Jew sins he may atone by repentance, prayer
and charity, and for these we need no mediator: also the Day of Atonement is set
for the atonement of our sins.

Reply 9 The Rabbis so taught you, but the Bible expressly says that there is no
remission of sin without blood (Genesis 4:1-4; Leviticus 17:11).

If prayer and fasting, almsgiving and repentance were effective for atonement,
why do the Jewish people still feel guilty? Why are they not forgiven? Why do
they still have to suffer for their sins? There is not in the whole world a
people who repents more, prays more, is more charitable. Why does not the
Merciful God, the God of Israel, accept all these signs of submission and
penitence? The great prophets, beginning with Moses, have warned their people
that if they disobeyed God’s Word they would be exiled from their country and
then, in their exile if they truly, wholeheartedly repent He would return them
to their country. The first part of the prophecy was fulfilled - they rebelled
against God, and they were exiled. The second part has not yet been fulfilled. *

* Only a small number of “Jews” (as they were after called) returned from
Babylonian exile and only for a short period were they really an independent
sovereign nation. After (the rejection of Christ and) the destruction of
Jerusalem the Jews were dispersed to all corners of the earth. The rise of the
new Jewish state - the state of Israel - again like the return from Babylon, is
only a partial return, since the greatest part of the people are still in exile.

Why? All through exile in Diaspora the people prayed God for forgiveness, prayed
for the Messiah, prayed for the return to the Promised Land, prayed for the
reinstitution of the holy altar and the sacrifices. They performed all the rites
and meticulously, punctiliously kept all the laws - which the rabbis taught them
to keep and perform in order to find favor in the eyes of God. But all to no
avail.

Why, O why! Why was not their unparalleled suffering throughout their exile, why
were not all their good deeds enough to atone for their sins? Is not God, their
God -the God of love and mercy and forgiveness? Can there be another answer than
that only sacrificial blood has had the power to atone? Since the sacrifices of
animals have ceased, and since they have rejected the supreme sacrifice of the
Messiah, there can be nothing else to atone for sin.

Another question might be asked of the Jews (remember we deal now with observant
Orthodox Jews): They continuously, in prayer, confess their sins for which they
have been exiled; on the High Holidays they recite long lists of sins “for which
we were exiled from our land.” These lists are being recited and confessed
several times on the Day of Atonement - the Day on which, according to the
Jewish faith, God forgives their sins. Does He forgive them? Judging from what
has been meted out to the Jews all through their exile, and their still being in
hostile exile, it seems that He rejects their confession and their repentance.

Why, oh why?

There can only be one answer: Among the long list of sins and crimes which they
confess to have committed, many of which they did not, many they could not have
committed, they have been leaving out one sin, the greatest sin: their rejection
of the Messiah - Jesus.

When their leaders delivered Him into the hands of the Romans to do away with
Him as a criminal, the Jewish people, as a whole, acquiesced. Since then, the
people, as a whole, justify the judgment of their forefathers and He is still
rejected by the people. Isn’t this the sin for which the Jews do not ask for
pardon, and for which they are still unpardoned? If this is not the sin for
which they have been suffering, for which they have been castigated during the
last nineteen centuries, what else is?

Objection 10

Let us not argue about the supernatural. Let us get down to facts, to life. The
Messiah whom we Jews expected was to be a mighty King who would initiate and
institute a new world-order of peace and justice in which the nations of all the
world would be guided by the people of Israel - out of Zion. But Jesus did none
of these.

Wars are being waged now no less than before. There is no more justice now than
there was before, and as to the Jewish people, not only had he not helped them
but could not even help Himself when he was arrested and executed as a criminal.

Moreover, the most horrible crimes against the Jews have been perpetrated in His
name and fulfill all law and prophecy and inaugurate “The World to Come.” (See
chapter on “The Messiah”).

There is still much confusion among the less informed Jews as regards the two
appearances of the Messiah. They know little of the suffering Messiah. (To these
you may point out the passages in the Bible - Psalms 22:1-31, Daniel 9:24-27;
Isaiah 53:1-12, etc.)

It surely is surprising to see how much space the Bible devotes to the suffering
and dying Messiah for the sins of mankind, with the space it devotes to the
finally triumphant Messiah.

Some rabbis, (usually) antagonistic to Christianity, interpret those passages as
referring to the suffering Jewish people, but any scrutiny of the text will at
once show that it cannot mean the Jews. For example: Isaiah 53:8 last clause. In
reply to the charge that Christianity has been the greatest enemy of the Jews;
that the vilest, crudest atrocities were perpetrated in Jesus’ name against the
Jews, may I state briefly: whoever does wrong, or harm to anyone, especially to
the Jews, is not a true Christian, because true Christianity means to follow
Christ, which implies to love, to sacrifice, to forgive.

How much sin and crime has been committed in the name of God! Those so-called
Christians who persecuted the Jews had not and could not cite anything that
Jesus said or did, that would support their evil deed. But they could cite (and
they did so) many passages in the Hebrew “Tanach” (Old Testament) where God, the
God of Israel, rebuked and reproved the Jewish people in most severe terms and
visited upon them the most severe chastisement.

Should God be rejected because some fools took His name in vain? because some
perverted mind had abused His name? Why, then, should Jews blame Jesus for the
misdeeds of beguiled, misled or benighted people?

Since the Pharaohs of Egypt, long before the advent of Christianity, and through
the ages, the Jews have been persecuted. Even from the simple human standpoint
it can be easily understood. People do not like strangers, and because the Jews
are the most strange, the most peculiar, they are the least liked. Wherever Jews
lived they were disliked, distrusted. All races, nations, religions, sects,
parties, all social strata (rich, poor, aristocrats, commoners, capitalists,
socialists), all have had some grudge against the Jews. The main reason for this
dislike is, surely, the Jewish way of keeping aloof, or at least keeping to
themselves. However, this dislike is not particularly a “Christian” fault or
shortcoming. On the contrary, only in “Christian” countries did the Jews
survive; only there did they prosper; only there have they acquired rights and
privileges equal, or almost equal, to those of the other, the native
inhabitants. Once in a while, the evil spirit prevailed and it came to bitter
persecution and violence even in so-called Christian countries, but there it was
only a passing madness, while in non-Christian countries, the passionate
anti-Jewish outbreaks brought total annihilation.

The more a country was influenced by the spirit and love of Christ, the better
it was for the Jews to live there. Modern anti-Semitism which climaxed in Nazism
and Communism is only the result of the decline of Christianity among these
people. An Anti-Semite is not and cannot be a Christian, because he has to hate
the founder, the propagators, the first churches, because they all were true
faithful Jews, and because Christianity is all based on the Jewish Bible, a book
that the Christian is to use as the standard of life.

Look around and you will see that the only friends the Jewish people have now
are Christians. Only Christian nations helped in the establishment of the new
state of Israel; only Christian nations are helping its survival in the midst of
implacable enemies. So the notion that Christianity is the greatest foe of the
Jews is a base lie invented by misleading and misled leaders. But whatever human
beings do to the Jews or to anyone else has nothing to do with the saving grace
of Christ, and this is our message.

B. SOME (OF THE USUAL) OBJECTIONS OF THE LIBERAL JEWS

“Liberal” Jews (Reformists, Conservatives and others) usually contend that
Christianity with its irrational doctrines cannot be accepted by the Jewish
people, because for thousands of years, they have been taught a simple, logical
and rational religion. All those dogmas, of the Trinity, God becoming Man,
Virgin Birth, the Fall of Man, Original Sin, Christ’s Vicarious Atonement, and
Hell with its horrors, etc., are contradictory to reason and to the spirit of
Judaism.

Such objections are often used in religious controversy by Jews who are “very
proud” of their “Judaism” which they either disbelieve or of which they are
quite ignorant.

Some half-baked scholars “prove” that the Christian dogmas were introduced from
pagan mythology. To such Jews you may reply: “Whether these dogmas are
irrational, or are of pagan origin, is a different question. But, whatever they
are, they are truly Jewish. Christianity acquired them from Jews, from the
Jewish Bible, from Jewish belief, and from Jewish teachers.”

If what is irrational (to our minds) is what repels Jews from Christianity then
they ought to repudiate their own Bible, their own Talmud and all their
religious literature. The most revered part of the Bible, the “Five Books of
Moses,” is from beginning to end a succession of things (stories and laws) which
could be called unreasonable. Many scoffers, some of them known as “great men,”
had little respect and much ridicule for these five books. And if this is so,
what is left of Judaism, of which they are so proud? Moreover, just as Jewish
scholars find pagan origin to some Christian doctrines and practices, so have
other Gentile scholars found pagan origin to Jewish beliefs and practices such
as circumcision, sacrifices, and various other laws. So, you may tell them, we
are in the same boat. You can’t deny the one without denying the other. On the
other hand, no part of the Bible, whether of the Old Testament or New Testament,
may be discredited because it contains something that had already been written
or done before by other people.

One must remember, that, if the Infinite God revealed Himself to man, then He
had to appear to him in a manner as to be understood by him. If man of antiquity
was accustomed to mutilate his body, to offer sacrifices and the like, when he
wanted to pay homage, to appease his god, if that was man’s way, if that was how
man understood it, the Lord in His infinite mercy and love for man dealt with
him in his own way. Only He taught him to limit his practices to more “humane”
ways, forbidding harmful mutilations and human sacrifice, etc.

At the same time He let them know, by His Spirit through the prophets, that
there would come a time when circumcision of the “heart” would replace that of
the flesh, when the “supreme sacrifice” would do away with all other sacrifice,
when everyone would know the law and would know what the Lord wants him to do in
each case. He will not have to ask anyone else, rabbi or priest, what to do.

Some Gentile scholars, with a touch of Anti-Semitism and atheism, have often
disparaged Judaism by showing the Code of Hammurabi as proof that the Jews were
not the first to have a written law. Well, what of it? Any sensible man may know
that wherever there was an organized society where people lived together, they
must have had rules and regulations as to how to make life more endurable and
more pleasant.

Space does not permit enlargement here upon this subject and it is also
irrelevant when dealing with the Jew. You may use this only as an example in
regard to some Jewish arguments, that all the nice sayings of Jesus, parables,
etc., were taken from the Jews. To prove this they quote certain passages from
the Talmud, showing that the rabbis had already said that. In reply say: “As
Jesus was a Jew, who always lived among Jews, and was reared in Jewish
tradition, and who knew the Torah, He must have been speaking in the Jewish
manner; but most of His sayings were unique and new, and the people marveled
hearing Him speak as no one ‘spoke like it before.’ Surely He did not copy His
sayings from the Talmud which was written hundreds of years after Him.

“True, there are some things in both the Old Testament and New Testament which
seem unnatural, unreasonable; well, there are millions of things around us that
we cannot understand; some of them we may get to know and some never. All life
is a fathomless mystery. Rising from death is unusual, unnatural, but it is no
more of a mystery than death itself, than birth itself.

Being born from a virgin is unnatural, but any birth is beyond our
understanding. It is only that we have become accustomed to this mystery. And so
it is with the other miracles and mysteries of the Bible. We may only say that
God knows what He is doing and that His will must be done.” The liberal’s view
about sin and retribution is extremely vague.

There is no national sin, they say, and God did not disperse the Jews from their
country on account of some sin, but sent them out into the world to spread
Judaism among the Gentiles. They don’t say how the Jews fulfilled this mission.
However, this view is entirely different from Judaism. Not only does the Bible
often refer to the national sins and threat of retribution by expulsion from
their land and dispersion among the nations, but it also opposes the general
Jewish conception of this subject.

The Jews often repeatedly confess in their prayers that “because of our sins
were we exiled from our land,” several times daily they pray that God may have
mercy, for His own’ sake and for the sake of their patriarchs, to bring them
back to their land, where they might atone for their sins with sacrifices as
prescribed of old. At any rate, let him explain to you how God deals with
sinners - what would prevent men from sinning?

One of the objections of liberal Jews against the Christian faith is that it
requires bloody atonement, that a man had to die for the sins of others. Also,
that it speaks of eternal punishment, of “gnashing of teeth” and the like. These
liberals contend that God cannot be “so bad” as to allow human suffering on
account of some frailty. These good people seem to have a sugar-coated God, who
would do only the things which according to them are sweet and good and
harmless. In that case they might as well reject all Judaism because it, or
rather the Old Testament speaks of God, not only as the Merciful, the
Compassionate, the forgiving, but also the “jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children.” So God Himself introduced Himself to the
Jewish people in His Ten Commandments on Sinai (see Exodus 20:5-6).

Indeed, liberal Gentiles have condemned the Old Testament because of its “cruel”
God. Why cannot these good people understand that like a good surgeon, God has
sometimes to administer some bitter remedy, or even to amputate a part of the
body in order to preserve the remainder? If these liberals believe in that very
liberal Supreme Being as they claim, why does He or It allow so much suffering
in the world? Why sickness, earthquakes, floods, droughts, etc.? Should we puny
mortals ask our Creator why He does this, and why not otherwise? Can we not
understand that He knows better what is good and what not? In this the Orthodox
Jew is more correct when he declares: “All that the Compassionate does He does
it for the good” (or “is good”). Or on hearing bad news of the death of a
relative, etc., he is to exclaim: “God had given, God has taken: Blessed be the
True Judge.” The liberal Jew is ready to concede that Jesus was a great man;
some go even as far as to admit that He was the greatest Jew that ever lived,
but no further. He was a man, but no more than that. To these we may say, if
Jesus was great, righteous, just and honest, as those liberals admit, then we
must believe His words, when He claimed to be the Son of God, the Messiah
(etc.). If what He claimed to be was false, illusory, misleading, then He was
not a good, just, and truthful man. He was the reverse of all that.

Some of the liberal’s objections are like those of the Orthodox (in regard to
“mediation,” for example, which we have already discussed).

C. DEALING WITH AGNOSTICS (ETC).

It is much easier to deal with Jewish agnostics and atheists than with
non-Jewish ones, because, no matter how vociferously he claims disbelief, by the
fact that he is of Jewish descent he is religious to some degree. No matter how
much he denies his Jewishness, he is partial to Jews and Judaism. Why? Because
in every Jew’s heart there is a latent spark, which was once kindled by the
ancient prophets and fed and kept alive for long ages. Every Jew is a potential
minister of God. This latent spark you may kindle to a flame, giving out light
and warmth.

Ask him to explain the unparalleled enigma of history -the existence
(perpetuation) of his people after centuries of persecution, oppression and
massacre.

No other people in the whole wide world could have survived such catastrophes as
have befallen the Jewish people. All efforts of mighty people to destroy them,
to extirpate them, were of no avail. Can this fact, this phenomenon be explained
otherwise than that an almighty supernatural power has been keeping and guiding
this peculiar people, and that this “power” has done it for some purpose?

Can he, or anyone, explain why the Bible written by different authors in
different ages, mostly by primitive man and, to modern standards, also ignorant,
has become the world’s best, most beloved, most read book, and that in spite of
all attacks against it? Is this not due to its divine inspiration and the divine
will that it should be intact, studied and obeyed? Of course you may also use
the same evidence of the existence of a personal God, as may be used in argument
with Gentile atheists, etc.

You may sometimes hear a cynical Jew say: “You want me to believe in the Son,
when I don’t believe in the Father,” or, “I don’t believe in the existence of
the Father, how can I believe in the Son?”

Jesus must have been aware of such people when He argued with His persecutors
(see John 5:19-47), “For had ye believed Moses, you would have believed me: for
he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my
words?”


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  CHAPTER 36: 02.17.     HOW TO IDENTIFY THE MESSIAH
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How To Identify the Messiah

(The final argument with the average Jew, especially the one who has some
leaning toward tradition and ancient Jewish culture.)

I. WHAT MORE COULD JESUS HAVE DONE THAN HE DID TO PERSUADE THE HIGH PRIESTS AND
THE OTHER LEAERS THAT HE WAS THE TRUE MESSIAH?

It was the time when the Messiah was anxiously expected. “And she coming in that
instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that
looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38); “And as the people were in
expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the
Christ, or not” (Luke 3:15); “When the men were come unto him, they said, John
Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we
for another?” (Luke 7:20).

Hard-pressed by the cruel Roman conquerors; split among themselves into
contending sects; with a perplexed confused leadership; the people as a whole
were as scattered, straying sheep, waiting for the true shepherd to lead them
unto green pastures; waiting for a sign from God that He had not forsaken them,
waiting for a new revelation, a new message, waiting for comfort, for love.

They knew that the time was ripe for the Redeemer to come; Daniel, the “greatly
beloved” (Daniel 10:10-12), had foretold the fixed time for it. There was a
rumbling also in the heathen world. There, too, it was felt that something
somewhere was going to happen, that a divine person was about to appear and save
the world. At that momentous time Jesus came. John (the Elijah who was to
precede the Messiah) witnessed to the people that followed him, that this Jesus
was the Messiah. Jesus Himself claimed to be the Messiah; His deeds, His whole
life affirmed that He was the Messiah.

All the prophecies of the Torah pointed out that He was the Messiah. The people
felt that He was the Messiah, the expected Comforter, the Redeemer.

There was opposition only from one side, from the cowardly, egotistic, blind
“ruling” class. They may be compared to some of the chief priests such as those
mentioned in 2 Chronicles 36:14-16 : “Moreover all the chief of the priests, and
the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen;
and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the
Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and
sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But
they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his
prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was
no remedy”; or, those whom Isaiah had in mind when he lamented, “. . . O, my
people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy
paths” (Isaiah 3:12). And these leaders succeeded in splitting and scattering
the people even more than they were previously, they succeeded in driving them
away from Jesus who so wanted to gather them into His fold: “O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matthew 23:37).

Again, what could Jesus have done more than He did to make those leaders confess
the truth of His Messiahship?

II. HOW COULD THE MESSIAH BE IDENTIFIED TODAY BY THE JEWS? The Jewish people as
a whole still expect the coming of the Messiah. The observant Jew still prays
for His coming, and he daily declares his belief in His coming, very soon. Now
suppose that somewhere (let us say in Jerusalem) a man known or unknown,
suddenly appears and claims that he is the long expected Messiah. How could he
prove his claim? By what could he be identified? By what could he prove that he
is of the lineage of David? There is no Jewish family in the world now that
could produce any legal document to show that he is the offspring of King David.
Would miracles performed by him convince the leaders that he is the Messiah?
Probably not.

Rambam (Maimonides) who formulated the creedal statement of the Messiah and made
it incumbent on every Jew to believe in it, asserted that there would be nothing
supernatural about the Messiah’s coming, that he would only redeem Israel from
foreign yoke and establish peace. He does not say how the Messiah will achieve
that without any supernatural means. However, unlike Rambam, who was a
rationalist, the people believe that the Messiah will perform many great
miracles in establishing the Messianic Age.

Now suppose he performs miracles. Would that cause the people to believe in him?
He may win to his side the extreme Orthodox Jews of Jerusalem if he adapts
himself to their ways, in which case the rest of the people would have nothing
to do with him. If he would not agree to all their ways, they would declare that
he works his miracles by the power of Satan, and they would reject him and
endeavor to destroy him. Other people would say that he is only a trickster, or
a magician. What else could he do to prove his Messiahship? What could he do to
persuade the leaders to relinquish their government posts and let him rule over
them?

Suppose they did let him rule, what next? What would he initiate? What new
things would he introduce? How would the Jews in Israel and in Diaspora react?
How would the Arab world react? etc.

I only want to show that the Jewish leaders of the present day would not
recognize anyone who would now come and claim to be the expected Messiah, since
he could not produce any more proof of his Messiahship than did Jesus before the
high priests of old, but much less.

Now, to all the evidences that were before the people during Jesus’ life on
earth, there are added the evidences of His death and resurrection, the
evidences of history, the evidences of hundreds of millions of people who have
been acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, although not all have been following in
His footsteps. What more evidence could any person now bring forward to prove
his Messiahship? The only thing for the Jew to do is to read carefully the story
of the life of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, where he will see that
not the leaders who condemned Him were right but that He of whom Moses and the
Prophets wrote was in the right. Because Jesus, and He alone, can easily be
identified as the One of whom they prophesied: the Messiah - Redeemer of
mankind.

Here are some of the identification marks of the promised Messiah:

He Was to Be (According to Old Testament Prophecy):

I. The Seed of woman who would bruise Satan’s head: “And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise
thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

II. Of Abraham’s Seed: “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and
thy SEED . . .” (Genesis 17:7). See also Genesis 22:18; Genesis 21:12; Genesis
28:14; Genesis 12:1-3.

III. Of the House of David: “I will set up thy seed and establish his kingdom
for ever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). See also Genesis 49:10; Psalms 132:11; Psalms
2:12; Psalms 89:3-4; Psalms 110:1-2; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:17;
Jeremiah 33:20-21.

IV. Preceded by a Messenger: “Behold, I will send my messenger; he shall prepare
the way” (Malachi 3:1). See also Isaiah 40:3.

V. Born of a Virgin: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall
call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

VI. “Now, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea” (Matthew 2:1).

VII. “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep and am known of mine” (John
10:11-16). See also John 10:27-28; Matthew 15:24; Mark 14:27; 1 Peter 2:25;
Hebrews 13:20.

VIII. “And he shall send Jesus Christ, for Moses truly said, A prophet shall the
Lord our God raise up like unto me” (Acts 3:20-22).

IX. “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 5:5-6).
See also Hebrews 4:14-16.

X. “. . . Thou sayest that I am King. To this end was I born” (John 18:33; John
18:37). “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” (Luke
1:32-33). See also Matthew 28:18; John 1:49; Revelation 11:15.

XI. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). See also Matthew 1:21; Romans 11:26-27; John
3:14-15; Acts 13:23; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 9:12; Galatians 4:4-5; 1 Peter 1:18-21;
Revelation 5:9. This Prophecy Was Fulfilled in Jesus (According to the New
Testament):

I. “. . . God sent forth His Son made of a woman . . . to redeem . . .”
(Galatians 4:4). “. . . For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He
might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).

II. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
seeds, as to many: but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians
3:16). See also John 11:51-52 and Hebrews 11:17-19.

III. “Of David’s SEED hath God according to His promise raised unto Israel a
Saviour, Jesus” (Acts 13:23). See also Acts 2:29-30; Matthew 1:1; Matthew
22:42-45; Mark 11:9-10; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 1:31-33; Romans 1:3-4; Revelation
5:5; Revelation 22:16.

IV. “He shall go before him to make ready a people for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
See also Matthew 3:1; Matthew 3:3.

V. “Now . . . when his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came
together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:18; see also
Matthew 1:21-23).

VI. Born in Bethlehem: “But thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among
the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to
be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting .
. .” (Micah 5:2).

VII. The Shepherd: “He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd: he shall gather the
lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those
that are with young” (Isaiah 40:11). See also Psalms 23:1-4; Psalms 80:1;
Zechariah 13:7; Ezekiel 34:23-24.

VIII. The Prophet: “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet like unto
me: unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

IX. The Priest: “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”
(Psalms 110:4). See also Zechariah 6:13.

X. The King: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation;
lowly and riding upon an ass . . .” (Zechariah 9:9). See also Psalms 2:6;
Jeremiah 23:5-6.

XI. The Redeemer: “And the Redeemer shall come unto Zion, and unto them that
turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 59:20). See also
Isaiah 19:20; Isaiah 45:15; Isaiah 44:22-23; Isaiah 49:6-10; Hosea 1:7; Jeremiah
33:16.

XII. The Sacrifice:

All the passages in the Old Testament which predict the humiliation, suffering
and death of the Messiah as the Sacrifice and atonement for the sins of mankind
were exactly fulfilled in Jesus. Isaiah chapter 52 and particularly 53 give a
clear picture of the promised Messiah: hated, despised, reviled, rejected,
condemned and executed as a criminal - all this as a sacrifice to atone for the
sins of the world. And all this was fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus to the
minutest detail.

Let us have some comparison between the prediction in the Old Testament and the
fulfillment in the New Testament: IN THE OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 52:1-15 and Isaiah
53:1-12

A. A Stranger: “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my
mother’s children” (Psalms 69:8).

B. A Stumbling Stone: “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the
houses of Israel” (Isaiah 8:14).

C. Hated: “Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to him
whom man despiseth” (Isaiah 49:7). Also Psalms 69:4; Psalms 2:1-2.

D. Reproached: “The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me”
(Psalms 69:9).

E. Mocked: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn, they shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him, seeing
he delighted in him” (Psalms 22:7-8).

F. Smitten: “They shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod, upon the cheek”
(Micah 5:1). Also Isaiah 50:6; Isaiah 53:4; Zechariah 13:6-7; Lamentations 3:30.

G. Spit Upon: “. . . I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6).

H. Crucified: “They pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalms 22:16).

I. Like Transgressions: “He was numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).

J. Suffered for our sins: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows . . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities . . . the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah
53:4-6). Also Isaiah 53:8; Isaiah 53:12; Daniel 9:26.

K. Resurrection: “Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption”
(Psalms 16:10). Also Psalms 49:15; Psalms 71:20; Isaiah 25:8. IN THE NEW
TESTAMENT compare with the Four Gospels A. “He came unto his own and his own
received him not” (John 1:11). Also John 7:3; John 7:5.

B. “They stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written, Behold I lay in
Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed” (Romans 9:32-33).

C. “. . . but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father . . . the
word written in their law. They hated me without a cause” (John 15:24-25). Also
Acts 4:27.

D. “For even Christ pleased not himself, but as it is written, The reproaches of
them that reproached thee fell on me” (Romans 15:3).

E. “They that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads . . . Likewise also the
chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders, said . . . he trusted in
God: let him deliver him” (Matthew 27:39-44). Also Matthew 26:67-68; Mark 15:14;
Mark 15:19.

F. “And took the reed and smote him on the head” (Matthew 27:30). Also Matthew
26:67-68; Luke 22:63; Mark 14:27; Mark 15:19; John 1:3.

G. “And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him”
(Mark 14:65).

H. “They crucified him” (John 19:18). Also John 20:25.

I. “And with him they crucify two thieves. And the scripture was; fulfilled
which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors” (Mark 15:27-28).

J. “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Also Matthew 20:28;
Hebrews 9:28; Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18.

K. “He is not here, but is risen . . . And their eyes were opened, and they saw
him; and he vanished out of their sight . . . The Lord is risen indeed” (Luke
24:6; Luke 24:31; Luke 24:34). Also Acts 2:31; 1 Corinthians 15:5-9; (and in
Matthew, Mark, and John).

I have quoted but a few of the numerous predictions and fulfillments in regard
to the Messiah. Anyone who would wish to have more identification marks as to
the Messiahship of Jesus will find them throughout the New Testament and compare
them with the Old Testament. This wonder of Prophecy and its fulfillment,
centuries later, has amazed all Bible students. I shall quote here the words of
one of these students who, in a way, expresses the feelings of all who stood
baffled at this miracle:

“Centuries before Christ was born His birth and career, His sufferings and
glory, were all described in outline and detail in the Old Testament. Christ is
the only Person ever born into this world whose ancestry, birth-time,
forerunner, birthplace, birth-manner, infancy, manhood, teaching, character,
career, preaching, reception, rejection, death, burial, resurrection and
ascension were all prewritten in the most marvelous manner centuries before He
was born.

“Who could draw a picture of a man not yet born? Surely God, and God alone.
Nobody knew 500 years ago that Shakespeare was going to be born; or 250 years
ago that Napoleon was to be born. Yet here in the Bible we have the most
striking and unmistakable likeness of a Man portrayed, not by one, but by twenty
or twenty-five artists, none of whom had ever seen the Man they were painting.”
- Canon Dyson Hague In short, Jesus, and He alone, has produced the perfect
credentials and thus established His identity as Messiah-Saviour. No one before
Him or after Him has done that; nor could there be anyone in the future able to
do it.


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  CHAPTER 37: 02.18.     CHRISTIANITY IS COMPLETED JUDAISM
========================================================================

Christianity Is Completed Judaism

We have seen that the two main objections of the Jews * against Christianity
have been:

(1) That Jesus was not the Messiah of whom the Torah (Old Testament) spoke and
whom the Jews expected to fulfill the ancient prophecies (2) That the dogmas of
Christianity are contrary to those of Judaism.

* We mean those Jews who speak as Jews. The contentions and objections of
liberal Jews and the like are not Jewish (from a Jewish standpoint) but are
common to liberal Gentiles and should be dealt with as with Gentiles.

They maintain that the doctrines of the Trinity and the divinity of the Messiah
are pure idolatry, and in contradiction to the Jewish belief in One God. To
these objections, as well as to others, such as the “Virgin Birth,” “Original
Sin,” “Vicarious Atonement,” there is but one answer: Christianity not only does
not oppose basic Judaism but it is Judaism itself fulfilled.

We can show the Jew that Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah because in Him
all prophecies regarding the Messiah were fulfilled, although some individuals
or groups of Jews may have expected something else. We can show him that those
doctrines which are now known as “Christian Doctrines” are typically Jewish.
Like Philip (John 1:45) we can tell the Jew: “We have found Him of whom Moses in
the law and the prophets did write.” Jesus, the Messiah (Jeshuah Hamashiach) in
the Old Testament. The portrait of Jesus as the promised Saviour is clearly
outlined in the Torah from its first book to its last. Already in Eden after the
fall of Adam God promised that the seed of the woman would ultimately crush the
head of the Serpent, Satan (Genesis 3:15), and thus bring about the redemption
of fallen humanity. Till that time Satan had many a chance to “bruise mankind.”

Thus already during the time of Noah the human race had become so degraded and
corrupt that God had to destroy it by the flood. He saved only God-fearing Noah
and his family. Humanity fell more and more away from its creator, yet He would
no longer destroy His handiwork so He called Abraham out of his corrupt
surroundings to train him and his descendants to be a people who would be a
blessing to all mankind (Genesis 12:1-3). This was the birth of the “Covenant”
between God and the Jewish people, the covenant which the Jews, as frail human
beings, have often violated but which God the Almighty, all merciful,
unchangeable has repeatedly ratified. This seed of Abraham that was to become a
blessing and salvation to the world, was begun in Isaac; as Jesus later, he,
too, had a miraculous birth, since Sarah could not naturally bear a child
(Genesis 17:15-19; and Genesis 21:12).

Isaac so loved God that he was ready to be sacrificed to Him. The Covenant was
later confirmed with Jacob and his seed - not with Esau (Genesis 28:13-14). Of
Jacob’s descendants, the twelve tribes, the tribe of Judah was distinguished as
the kingly line through whom the Messiah would come (Genesis 49:8; Genesis
49:10). Of this royal family came David and later, at the appointed time, Jesus,
the “Son of David.” In the previous chapter we have given a list of prophecies
which tell the life story of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Many of the rabbis, in their antagonism to Christianity or in their zeal to
preserve their particular kind of Judaism, have applied these passages to others
rather than to the Messiah. But it is easy to show how wrong they were. Indeed,
many Jewish authorities of highest standing clearly and boldly taught that they
refer to the Messiah, and these have been generally recognized by the Jews.

Jewish Exegetes Conform with Christian Interpretation:

Let us cite here a few of these controversial passages: The “Seed of the Woman”
that shall bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15) is, according to Christian
belief, the Messiah who would destroy the power of Satan. Many Rabbis deny that,
but the ancient, most authoritative Jewish exegetes and expositors of the Bible
such as the Targums, the Midrashim and others, plainly taught that this “seed”
is the Messiah.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between the seed of thy
sons, and between the seed of her sons: and it shall be when the sons of the
woman keep the command-ments of the law, they will be prepared to smite thee on
thy head; but if they forsake the commandments of the law, thou wilt be prepared
to wound them in the heel. Nevertheless for them there shall be a medicine: and
they shall make a remedy for the heel in the days of the King Messiah” (Targum
Jerusalem).

“As thou wentest forth for the salvation of the people by the hands of the
Mashiach, the Son of David, who shall wound Satan who is the head, the King and
Prince of the house of the wicked, and shall raze up (overturn) all his
strength, power, policy and dominion” (R. David Kimchi).

“As the incarnation of evil Satan is the archenemy of the Messiah: he is
antichrist. The light which was created before the world, was hidden by God
beneath his throne; and to the question of Satan in regard to it God answered:
‘This light is kept for Him who shall bring thee to shame.’ At his request God
showed Satan the Messiah; and when he saw Him, he trembled, fell upon his face,
and cried: ‘Verily this is the Messiah, who shall hurl (bruise) me, and all the
princes of the angels of the peoples down even into hell” (Pesikta Rab. 3:6, ed.
Friedmann, p. 161, b).

“This is that seed that is coming from another place, And who is this? This is
the King Messiah” (Ber. Rabbah, 51, ed. Wars, p. 95, a, on Genesis 19:23). When
Eve bore her first son she called him Cain and said, “I have gotten a man from
the Lord” (that is what the name means). This verse may be translated variously:
“I have obtained a man-God.” According to the ancient Rabbis (in Midrash) Eve
thought this son was the “seed,” the Messiah who would defeat Satan. The “seed”
of Abraham (Genesis 22:18) is also applied to the Messiah by the ancient Rabbis.
This was also their interpretation of the “seed” of Jacob in Genesis 28:14 (John
8:56-58; and Hebrews 2:16). Of the “star out of Jacob” (Numbers 24:17) the
Jerusalem Targum says: “When the mighty King of Jacob’s house shall reign and
the Messiah the Power-Sceptre of Israel be anointed He shall slay the Princes of
Moab. From them their King shall arise and their Redeemer be of them.”

The Princes of Moab here are symbols of the power of Satan. Remember what havoc
they have wrought in Israel (see Numbers 25:1-9). Other books which are most
sacred to the Jewish people also declare that this “Star of Jacob” refers to the
Messiah. So Targum, Onkelos, Pesikta, the Sohar, Debarim, Rabbah and others, The
Pesikta, for instance, says: “Our Rabbis have a tradition that in the week in
which the Messiah will be born there will be a bright Star in the east, which is
the ‘Star of the Messiah.’” * * In this connection you may quote Matthew 2:2;
Matthew 2:9 and Revelation 22:18.

Shiloh: A very important passage is Genesis 49:10 : “The sceptre shall not
depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come.”

Christians understand that Shiloh here refers to Messiah, and they justly argue,
if Jesus was not the Messiah, who was? He must have come before the Sceptre
departed from Judah. To refute this argument some modern Rabbis assert that
Shiloh does not refer to Messiah but to a certain place called Shiloh.

However, the ancient Jewish expositors and commentaries understand it as
referring to Messiah. For instance, Jerusalem Targum, says: “Kings shall not
cease from the house of Judah . . . until the time that the King Messiah shall
come . . .”

Divinity of Messiah:

Some Rabbis say that the idea of the Messiah as a divine being is foreign to
Judaism. The Rambam taught that there is nothing supernatural in the person of
the Messiah or in his deeds. They find it difficult to explain Jeremiah 23:5-6 :

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell
safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord Our
Righteousness,” where the Bible says that He the Branch of David shall be called
Jehovah - Our Righteousness.

Here again the ancient Jewish sages taught that it refers to Messiah. In the
Midrash on Lamentations 1:16 we read: “What is the name of the King Messiah?
Rabbi Abba, son of Kahana said, ‘Jehovah’ for it is written: This is His name,
whereby He shall be called, ‘Jehovah our Righteousness.’”

The Messiah’s divine attributes are also portrayed in Micah 5:2 -“whose origin
is of old from eternity.”

The Jerusalem Targum explains: “Out of thee Bethlehem shall Messiah go forth
before me to exercise dominion over Israel; whose name has been spoken from of
old from the day of eternity.” So also Malachi 3:1 refers to Messiah. Eben Ezra
explains here: “The Lord is both the Divine Majesty and the Angel of the
Covenant.” Kimchi says: “The Lord is the King Messiah; He is also the Angel of
the Covenant.”

Isaiah 9:6 plainly foretells the coming of the Redeemer the “Mighty God” - etc.
Yet the later controversial rabbis insist that a Messiah-God (divine) is not in
conformity with the Jewish Torah. But the Jerusalem Targum and the Midrash (on
Deuteronomy 2:4) refer this verse to Messiah. Son of God -“I will declare the
decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten
thee” (Psalms 2:7). When John the Baptist spoke to the Jewish crowds around
saying, “and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God” (John 1:34): Or
when Paul preached Christ in the synagogues, declaring that “He is the Son of
God” (Acts 9:10; Acts 13:33; Hebrews 5:5), the Jews did not find anything
foreign in the term “son of God.”

Only later to counteract Christian influence did some Rabbis say that Psalms
2:1-12 does not apply to Messiah and that the Hebrew words “nashku bar” do not
mean “kiss the son” but something else. But the ancient Jewish exegetes (the
Targums, the Talmud, etc.) understood that this chapter refers to Messiah. The
“Holy Zohar” says: “This is the faithful shepherd; of thee it is said, ‘Kiss the
Son’; thou art the Prince of the Israelites, the Lord of the earth . . . the Son
of the Most High, the Son of the Holy God . . . and gracious Shekinah.”

Another stumbling-block which the later rabbis placed in the way of
evangelization of the Jews is the Virgin Birth. The Virgin Birth:

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

This passage proves that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin. The later
rabbis say that the word almah of that verse does not mean virgin but young
woman and that the whole passage does not refer to the Messiah but to some
contemporary event. That the Hebrew word almah means virgin has always been
understood until the controversial rabbis tried to change its meaning, and so
also was it understood by the ancient authorities that this verse refers to
Messiah.

Messiah a King:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold thy
King cometh unto thee: he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon
an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9).

Midrash Koheleth (Isaiah 63:2) says: “As it is of the former Redeemer- And Moses
took his wife and his sons and set them on an ass (Exodus 4:20) so it is said of
the latter Redeemer (Messiah), ‘Poor and riding on an ass.’”

Rabbi Saadiah Gaon (on Daniel) says, “But is it not written of the Messiah,
‘Lowly and riding upon an ass’? Yes, but this shows that He will come in
humility and not in pride upon horses.”

A Prophet Like Moses:

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of
thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken” (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Commenting on this verse, Rabbi Levi Ben Gershon says: “In fact the Messiah is
such a Prophet as it is stated in the Midrash on the verse, ‘Behold my servant
shall prosper’ - Moses by the miracles which he wrought drew but a single nation
to the worship of God, but the Messiah will draw all nations to the worship of
God.”

Melchizedek (a Priest):

“The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. Thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek” (Psalms 110:4).

The whole chapter is applied to Messiah by the Targums and Midrash and later
commentators.

Despised and Rejected:

Isaiah 53:1-12.

One of the objections the rabbis have against Jesus is that the expected Messiah
was to be a mighty king who would overthrow the Gentile rule, and instead would
let Israel rule over all nations. Jesus, they say, did not satisfy those
longings and expectations. On the contrary He was despised and rejected and
executed like a mean criminal. When the Evangelists, Matthew (Matthew 21:42),
Mark (Mark 8:31) and Luke (Luke 17:24-25) reminded the Jewish people that He was
destined to be rejected, to suffer and to be killed, it was not strange to
Jewish ears. They knew what Isaiah in Isaiah 53:1-12 meant; they knew that it
applies to Messiah. So did also the later commentators as the Jerusalem Targum
and the “Holy Zohar.”

Rabbi Saadiah Ibn Danan comments: “There is a secret one (interpretation) sealed
up in its midst, which sees throughout allusions to the King Messiah . . . and
in the same verse it is expounded by our Rabbis.”

Rabbi Moshen Alsheck says: “Our Rabbis with one voice accept and affirm the
opinion that the prophet is here speaking of the Messiah.” Today the rabbis
speak differently. In view of the “Suffering Messiah” as portrayed in Isaiah 53,
etc., some rabbis propounded the theory that there were to be two Messiahs: one
Messiah being Ben Joseph of the Joseph dynasty. He is to suffer and die; the
other Messiah Ben David, of the Davidic dynasty. He is to come as mighty King
and ruler of the whole world. Thus R. Kimchi quotes R. Abraham Eben Ezra who
writes that this prophecy “applies to the great wars which shall be in all the
world in the days of the Messiah the Son of Joseph.”

The Messiah therefore is the person to be smitten “before the scattering of the
sheep.” On Isaiah 53:12 the Jerusalem Targum says: “He, Messiah, shall intercede
for man’s sins, and the rebellions for His sake shall be forgiven.” So also the
Midrash B’reshith Rabbah: “And when Israel is sinful, the Messiah seeks for
mercy upon them, as it is written, ‘By His stripes’ we were healed, and He
carried the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Those rabbis who do not like the traditional interpretation of Isaiah 53 which
affirms that it applies to Messiah, say that it may apply to someone else
(contemporary) or to Israel as the suffering servant of God. Of course, any Jew
who knows Hebrew (or in translation) will on reading this chapter at once see
that it cannot apply to the Jewish people, nor to any individual before Jesus.

The Jews were not punished for the sins of others. The Jews in their prescribed
prayers confess their sins and those of their fathers, for which they have been
punished.

No Jew would say that his people is without sin, while the person in Isaiah
53:1-12 is sinless.

This person submits to His suffering and death without protest or resistance.
This cannot be said of the Jews.

He was killed and buried. This cannot be said of the Jewish people as a whole.

That Isaiah did not think that the Jews were a sinless people one may see in his
first chapter -”Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, etc.”

Pierced:

John (the evangelist, in John 19:34-37) when relating how Jesus was pierced
quotes Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they
shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one
mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in
bitterness for his firstborn,” as a prophecy which was then fulfilled. While
modem rabbis do not admit that this passage applies to Messiah, the old
commentators said that it does apply to Messiah. So, for example, R. Kimchi,
Abarbanel, and Yarchl. Rabbi Alshech says: “They shall lift up their eyes to me
in perfect repentance, when they see Him whom they have pierced, that is
Messiah, son of Joseph.”

By “they” the rabbis mean the Gentile nations who would kill this Messiah Ben
Joseph in the war of Gog and Magog, but they agree that it refers to a Messiah
who would be killed. (“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,
until I make thine enemies thy footstool” - Psalms 110:1). This verse is cited
by Jesus as referring to Him (Matthew 22:41-45).

Modern rabbis would not admit that it refers to the Messiah. The ancients did
so, however. Thus Midrash Tehillim on Psalms 2:1-12 says, “The affairs of the
Messiah are told in the Torah (Pentateuch) - Exodus 4:22, in the Prophets -
Isaiah 53:1-3, and in the Hagiographa - Psalms 110:1. So also Midrash on Psalms
18:35, “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation; and thy right hand
hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.”

Rabbi Yoden in the name of Rabbi Kama said that in the future to come in the
days of the Messiah, the Holy One blessed be He, will make the Messiah to sit at
His right hand as it is said, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right
hand.” And so also Rabbi Saadia Gaon (on Daniel 7:13): “And this is the Messiah
our Righteousness, as it is said, “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on my right
hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.””

Coming Again:

“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the
clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near
before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all
people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting
dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus, and later the apostles, cited this passage
as applying to Him (Matthew 26:64; Mark 13:36; Revelation 1:7; Revelation
14:14). This passage, too, contrary to objecting rabbis, the ancient
commentators applied to the Messiah. The Talmud, Sanhedrin 98:1 says, “R.
Alexander said R. Joshua Ben Levi objects to what is written. ‘And behold one
like the Son of Man came with the clouds of Heaven’; and it is written, ‘Poor
and riding on an ass’; if they (Israel) are worthy He (messiah) comes with the
clouds of Heaven; but if they are not worthy, He comes poor and riding on an
ass.”

Abarbanel: The expositor explains these words “Like the Son of Man” as referring
to King Messiah.

Rabbi Shimeon bar Yochai: “When the King Messiah shall be revealed all the
nations of the world shall be gathered to Him.”

I have thus cited but a few of the many comments of the most authoritative
rabbis who have interpreted the Scriptures in the same manner as have the
Christians, and not as do the modern rabbis.

The few examples I cited here are enough to convince the skeptical Jew that true
Christianity is not foreign to true Judaism, but they are one and the same
religion based on the “Old Testament” Scriptures.


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  CHAPTER 38: 02.19.     HEBREW VOCABULARY
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Hebrew Vocabulary

Introduction This Vocabulary is designed for those who would and should be
acquainted with the words and phrases (mostly of religious or ritual nature)
which are common among the Jewish people. Since most of these expressions are in
Hebrew, I feel it necessary to have here some remarks as to the pronunciation
and transliteration of the Hebrew.

A. PRONUNCIATION. There are two main pronunciations:

1. The Sephardi Pronunciation, which has been in use among Oriental Jews, 2. The
Ashkenazi Pronunciation, used by Occidental (European and American) Jews.

Since the Sephardi Pronunciation has been introduced in Israel, the Jews in
Diaspora, too, are gradually adopting this pronunciation. Thus, in this
vocabulary, we also follow their example, but we give in brackets also the
Ashkenazi Pronunciation form if it is still widely in use. The main differences
in the two pronunciations are:

1. The unstressed consonant tav is pronounced by the Ashkenazi like “s,” while
the Sephardi pronounce it like “th.” (Thus, in Sephardi: ba”ith; in Ashkenazi:
ba”is).

2. The long vowel kammatz, which in Sephardi is “ah,” is in Ashkenazi, “uh” (or
“oh”). (Thus, in Sephardi, aron; but in Ashkenazi, uh”m),

3. The accent. According to the Sephardi pronunciation, the accent generally
comes on the last syllable of the word, except when the last vowel sounds are
“ee” or “ai.” In the Ashkenazi pronunciation, the accent generally comes on the
next to the last syllable.

(We shall indicate the accent in the Ashkenazi pronunciation, which comes in
brackets, as well as the exceptions in the Sephardi pronunciation by [“].) (As a
whole the Ashkenazi pronounces the words somewhat negligently. Only the stressed
vowel is well recognized; the others are not quite distinguishable. So
“chanukkah” becomes to Ashkenazi, cha”n-k-; milchamah” - mlchu”m-).

B. TRANSLITERATION. Many of the Hebrew letters have no equivalent or counterpart
in the English alphabet. Yet, disregarding the complicated rules, signs and
symbols of grammarians, we have tried here to simplify the transliteration of
Hebrew into English so that the reader may be enabled to pronounce the words at
least approximately like the Jews do it (and incidentally, the Jews vary in
pronunciation of the Hebrew in accordance with their various vernaculars). The
following few rules may be of help in reading the words of our vocabulary
correctly:

1. Hebrew has no silent letters; every vowel as well as consonant is distinctly
pronounced.

2. G is always G, as in give, get, good.

3. Th is pronounced as in thin, both.

4. Y is always a consonant, as in Yes, You.

5. Tz is like the German Z (in Zwei, ZU”RICH).

6. Ch is a guttural sound equivalent to the German in ach, bach, and the
Scottish in loch.

7. The vowels: a=as in arm, far e=as in get, end i=as in in, pity o=as in lord,
orbit u=as in put, or as oo in noon, uh long u as in food.

Diphthongs: a’a like two a-a ai like ah+i ei like eh-+-i 8. (“) Indicates where
the accent should be.

9. (‘) Indicates that some vowel is omitted; it serves also as a secondary
accent.

10. Affixes to a word are shown in non-capital letters: for example haKoHEN -the
Kohen; L’Shanah -to a year; uBrachah - and a blessing; v Attah - and you (u, or
v prefixing a word means “and”).

There is no indefinite article in Hebrew. The Hebrew letter kaf is generally
pronounced like k, sometimes it is pronounced like the guttural cheth, and in
that case we represent it by ch (as in loch).

HEBREW VOCABULARY Mostly of Religious Significance Often Used by Jews in Common
Parlance ADON, MASTER, LORD. THUS Adon Olam, Lord of the Universe (God). In
modern Hebrew also, Mister.

ADONAI, God. Notice the word is a plural noun, and literally means: “My lords.”

AGGADAH (Agud”de), Narrative, legend, allegory. The non-legal portions of the
Talmudic literature.

AGMATH NE”FESH (ag”mes-ne”fesh), Grief, deep sorrow.

AGUNAH, A woman, whose husband deserted her, or whose husband’s death cannot be
legally established.

AIN HARAA (anne ho”rre), “Evil-Eye.”

ALAV HASHALOM (uh”lev hashuh”lem), “Peace be upon him”; expression used after
mentioning the name of a departed person.

ALEF BEITH (aleph bais), Alphabet.

ALMAN, Widower.

ALMANAH, Widow.

AM haARETZ (amme uh”retz), Literally: “people of the land.” An ignoramus, a
crude person.

APIKO”RES, Atheist; skeptic.

AHBA KANFOTH, Literally: “four corners.” see Tallith Kattan.

ARON (uh”rn), Chest, Ark; Coffin.

ARON haKO”DESH (um”m koi’desh), The “Holy Ark” where the sacred scrolls are kept
(at the synagogue).

ASHKENAZIM, Term appied to the descendants of the so-called “Germon Jews.” These
include all European Jews (and those that emigrated from Europe), excepting
those of Spanish Jewish origin, called Sephardim.

ASSARAH b’TEVETH^ (asuh”re btai”ves), See chapter on “Feasts and Fasts.”

ASSE”RETH haDiBROTH (assei”rs ha-dib”res). The Ten Commandments.

ASSE”RETH Y’MAI T’SHUVAH (assei”rs y’mai tshi”ve), “Ten Days of Penitence.” See
chapter on “Feasts and Fasts.”

AVEIL (uh”vl), Mourner. See Shiv’ah.

AVEIRAH, Transgression, sin.

AVODAH ZARAH (avoi”de zuh”re),”Foreign (strange) worship, i.e., idol worship,
idolatry.

BA’AL BA”YITH (balebus”), Owner of a house, or boss.

BA’AL BRITH (ba’al bris), Father of the boy at the circumcision ceremony; also
ally; and confederate.

BA’AL CHAI, Living Creature.

BA’AL CHOV, Debtor.

BA’AL KORE, Lector, reader of the scroll of the Toral at the service in the
synagogue.

BA’AL MAZZAL (or BAR MAZZAL), A fortunate man.

BA’AL M’LACHAH, Artisan.

BA’AL MUM, Cripple.

BA’AL NESS, One used to miracles; miracle worker.

BA’AL SHEM, Miracle worker (by the power of the Divine Name).

BA AL SIMCHAH, Host of the feast (as at weddings, circumcisions, bar mitzvah,
and other such joyous occasions).

BA’AL TORAH, Scholar of the Toral.

BA’AL T’FILLAH, Cantor, one who leads in prayer at the synagogue.

BA’AL TZ’DAKAH, Philanthropist.

BADCHAN, Entertainer at weddings.

BETH DIN (BEZN), House of law, court house, often: the Rabbinate.

BETH haMIKDASH, The sanctuary, the Holy Temple.

BETH K’VAROTH, Graveyard, cemetery.

BETH KNESSETH (beis aknei”ses), Synagogue.

BETH MIDRASH, Synagogue, where religious books are studied.

BAR MITZVAH, Literally: Son of Commandment.” At the age of 13 the Jewish boy
reaches his religious majority. See chapter on “CUSTOMS.”

BARUCH DA YAM EMMETH (buh”reck da”yen e”mmes), “Blessed be the true Judge”; this
formula is to be uttered upon hearing of the death of a Jew.

BARUCH haBA (buhrechab”be), Welcome. (Blessed is he who has just come).

BARUCH haSHEM, “Thank God.” Literally: “Blessed be the Name.”

BASAR V’DAM (buh”ser veda”m), “Flesh and blood, mortal man.

BATH MITZVAH, “Daughter of Commandment.” See Bar Mitzah.

BATLAN, Idler, unpractical person. B’CHINAM, Free of charge, gratuitously, for
nothing, in vain, without cause.

B’CHOH, “First Born,” Eldest Son. (See Exodus 13:2; Exodus 13:12-13, and Numbers
18:14-16).

BEMA (or, BIMA, or BAMA), Elevated stage in the synagogue, whereon the scroll of
the Torah is placed when it is being read.

B’NAI BRITH, pl., Sons of the Covenant; name of well-known Jewish Fraternity.

BEN YACHID (yuc”ched), “The only son.”

B’EZrath haSHEM (see haShem), “With God’s help.

B’HEIMAH, Cattle, beast; used to describe a dull-witted person.

B’LI NEI”DER, “Without Vow.”

BRACHAH (bruh”che), Blessing, benediction.

BRITH (briss), Short for Brith Milah - Covenant of Circumcision. Denotes
ceremony of Circumcision.

BRITH CHADASHA, “New Covenant” - The New Testament.

CHACHAM (chuh”chem), Sage, wise man. Title of Sephardie Rabbi.

CHAGA (cho”gge), A non-Jewish festival (used disparagingly).

CHALLAH, (1) Loaf of white bread, usually in braided form. (2) The priest’s
share of the dough. See Numbers 15:20-21.

CHAMETZ (chum”ets), Leaven. Term applied to all leavened food and objects that
come in close contact with leaven.

CHATHAN (chuh”sn), Bridegroom.

CHATHUNAH (chas”sene), Wedding.

CHAVEIR (chav”r), Friend, associate, companion, mate, member.

CHAZIR (chazr), Swine, pig: port. (The most objectionable food to the Jew).

CHAZZAN (chazn), Cantor.

CHEI”DER, “Room”; religious elementary school.

CHEI”REM, Ban, excommunication.

CHESHBON, Reckoning, account, calculation, bill, arithmetic.

CHESHBON haNEFESH, Moral stocktaking, introspection.

CHEVHAH (see Chaveir), Company, society, association.

CHILLUL haSHEM (ss haShem), Desecration of the Divine Name. (see Kiddush
haShem).

CHOCHMAH, Wisdom, prudence, popularly: a wise saying, a bright idea.

CHO”DESH, “New,” term applied to the New Moon, month.

CHUMASH, The Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses.

CHURBAN (chor”bn), Ruin, Destruction; often used as short of Churban Beth
haMikdash, “The destruction of the Temple.”

CHUPPAH, Wedding, canopy.

CHUTZPAH, Impudence, boldness.

DAYAN, Rabbinic Judge.

DIN, Law, judgment. The commandments as interpreted by the Rabbis.

DIBBUK, Ghost, possessing man’s body.

EIDUTH (ei”ds), Testimony; witness.

EI”SHETH ISH (aishes ish), Married woman, another man’s wife..

EITZAH, Advice, counsel.

EMETH, (em”es), Truth.

EMUNAH, Faith.

ELOHIM, God. The Hebrew word Elohim is a plural noun, which means“Gods” and
suggests the plurality of the Godhead. so also Adonai, which refers to God, is
in the plural and means “my lords.”

ELOKIM, In order not to take the name of the Lord in vain, would use Elokim
instead of the sacred name Elohim.

ERETZ ISRAEL, Land of Israel.

EREV SHABBATH, The day preceding the Shabbath.

EREV PE”SSACH, The day before Pessach.

GABBAI (gab”be), Collector, treasurer.

GAM ZU ITOVAH, “This too, is for the good.”

GANAV (gan”ef), Thief, cheat, crook.

GAN E”DEN (g’nai”dem), Paradise.

GAON, (guh”en), Genius, Renowned and learned Rabbi.

GAZLAN, Robber, briggand.

GEHE”NNOM, Hell.

GER, Proselyte. A Gentile converted to Judaism.

GET, Divorce.

GEULAH, Redemption (usually refers to the coming of the Messiah).

G’MARA, The usual name for the Talmud.

GO”LEM (goi”lm), Shapless matter. Clumsy, awkward person. (Legendary human
formed of clay, robot).

GORAL (goi”rl), Lot, portion, fortune, fate.

GOY, Non-Jew, Gentile. Popularly also: an ignorant or unobservant Jew.

HACHNASATH ORCHIM (hachnuh”ses orchim), “Bringing in the guests” hospitality.

HAGGADAH (haguh”de), “Narrative” (see also Aggadah). The story of the
deliverance from Egypt, as recided, from the book by that name, on eht Evve of
Passover. haKADOSH BARUCH HU (hakuh”desh bor”che), “The Holy One, Blessed be His
Name.” One of the names the Jew uses for “God.”

HAL’VAY, Interjection: Oh that, Would that, “I wish that it be so.” haSHEM, “The
name.” God’s proper name, the tetragrammaton, which is written in Hebrew by the
four letters Yod Hei Vav Hei, and pronounced in English “Jehovah,” is never
uttered by the Jew. When he meets with that name while reading the Bible, or at
prayer he substitutes (pronounces it) the word Adonai, otherwise he uses instead
the word haShem -”The Name” - often with the addition of Yith-barech -”Blessed
be He.” Thys b’Ezrath haShem, Baruch haShem, L’md’an haShem -”For the sake of
God.” haTIKVAH, “The hope.” generally applied to the Hebrew national anthem.

HATZLACHAH (HATZLUH”CHE), Success, luck, prosperity, good fortune.

HAVDALAH (see l’Havdil) (havduh”le), “Separation.” Benediction over a cup of
wine at the conclusion of the Sabbath and Festivals, Thus separating the
sanctity of the holy day from the routine of the week days. see chapter on
“Feasts and Fasts.”

HAZKAHATH N’SHAMOTH (hazko”res nesho”mes), “The remembering of the souls.” The
prayer for the departed souls (also called Yizkor), which is solemnly recited in
the synagogue on Yom Kippur and on the three pilgrim festivals. see chapter on
“customs.”

HECHSHER, A permit issued by a Rabbi certifying that a certain food product is
ritually fit to be eaten.

HEFKER, Ownerless property, lawlessness, anarchy.

HESPED, Funeral oration, obituary.

HETTER, “Loosening,” legal permission.

HETTER HORA’AH”, Authorization to function as a rabbi.

IM YIRTZE haSHEM (mer”tsheshem), “If God wills.” see haShem.

IVRI, Hebrew, Jew.

IVRITH, The Hebrew language.

KA”AS, Anger, vexation (grief).

KABBALAH (kabul”leh), Receipt, tradition. see chapter on “kabbalah.”

KABBALATH PANIM (kabul”les puh”-nem), Welcoming, reception.

KABTZAN, Pauper, A poor man. In Yiddish, also: “A shnorrer.”

KADDISH, Prayer recited by mourners during the first eleven months after the
death of a near relative.

KADOSH (kuh”dish), Holy, sacred, saint.

KALLAH (kal”e), Bride.

KAMTZAN, Miser.

KAPPARAH (kaphu”re), Atonement, expiation, expia-tory sacrifice. An animal used
as a vicarious sacrifice on the day before yom kippur (Day of Atonement). see
chapter on “Feasts and Fasts.”

KAROV (kuh’ref), Near relative.

KASHER (kuh”shr), Fit, proper. see chapter on “Customs” (Section Kosher).

KASHYA (kash”e), “Difficulty,” popularly: a difficult question.

KAVANAH (kavuh”ne), Devotion, intention, attention, meaning.

KAVOD (kuv”ed), Honor, dignity, glory, majesty, respect.

KEI”VER, Grave, sepulchre.

KELEV, Dog, disparagingly used for wicked person.

K’HILLAH (Also KAHAL) (kuhl), Congregation, community, assembly.

KIBBUTZ, Gathering; company; in Israel: A group of settlers organized on a
cooperative basis.

KIDDUSH, “Sanctification.” Benediction for the Sancti-fication of Sabbaths and
festivals over a cup of wine.

KIDDUSH haSHEM, “Sanctification of the Name” God’s Name). A good deed performed
by a Jew that arouses praise and commendation by Gentiles is considered as a
tribute to God. God is glorified by the acts of his people. To die for Kiddush
haShem has been considered as the supreme merit (sacrifice). see Chillul haShem.

KISHUF, Witchcraft, sorcery, magic.

K’LALAH (kluh”le), Curse.

KOHEN, Priest, a descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses.

KOHBAN, Sacrifice.

KHIA’A”, “Rending,” tearing. As a sign of grief the mourner, upon hearing of the
death of a near relative (parent, son) makes an incision (rend) in the upper
corner of his coat (usually at the lapel), and utters the benediction: “Baruch
Dayan Emeth” (see Joel 2:13).

K’RIATH SH’MA’A” (krish”me), “The reading of sh’ma.” (“sh’ma Israel.”) Sh’ma’a”
(“Hear”) is the first word of the verse: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the
Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:14). This is considered as the Jewish confession of
faith.

K’THUBAH (ksi”be), Marriage contract.

LAMDAN, Learned man, scholar (especially in rabbinic lore).

LA”MED VAV TZADIKIM, “36 righteous.” (The popular belief is that there are at
least 36 righteous Jews in every generation without whose merit the world would
perish).

LASHON HARA’ (luh”shn horre”e), “Bad tongue,” evil talk, calumny, gossip.

LASHON KO”DESH (luh”shn koi”dish), The sacred tongue, “Hebrew.” l’CHAYIM, “To
life”: The customary saluatation (toast) among Jews when imbibing some alcoholic
beverage (Usually on festive occasions).

LEVI (lai”veh), Levite; of the tribe of Levi. As to the original functions of
Kohen and Levi, see Numbers 18:1-32; Deuteronomy 10:8-9; Deuteronomy 10:18;
Nehemiah 10:35-39. l’HAVDIL, To differentiate. see Havdalah.

L’MA”AN haSHEM, “For the sake of God.” see haShem. l’SHANAH TOVAH (l’shuh”ne
tof’ve), “To a good year.” (Equivalent to: “Happy New Year.”) see chapter on
“Feasts and Fasts.”

LU”ACH, Board, tablet, schedule, calendar.

L’VAYAH, Funeral.

MA’ARIV, The evening prayer. One of the three daily prayers.

MA’ASEH, Story, tale. Deed.

MACHSHEIFAH, Witch, sorceress.

MACHZOH, Prayer book for the holidays.

MAGEIFA, Plague, epidemic.

MAGEN DAVID, “Shield of David” sexagram.

MAKKOTH (Singular MAKKAH) or MALKOTH, Beating, blows, plagues.

MAL’ACH, Angel, messenger.

MAL’ACH haMA”VETH, The angel of death.

MAMZEH, Bastard, illegitimate child.

MASHI”ACH, “Anointed’ Messiah.

MASHKON, Security pledge.

MASKIL, A wise man, enlightened, cultured.

MATTANAH, Gift, present.

MATZAH, Unleavened bread.

MAZZAL, Luck, fortune.

MAZZAL TOV, “Good luck.”

MAZZIK, Injurer; one who causes damage or trouble, demon.

MENORAH, Candlestick, lamp.

METH (mess), Dead; corpse.

M’GILLAH, ROLL, Scroll; The Book of Esther.

MIKVEH, Reservoir, pool; ritual bath. see chapter on ‘ Synagogue.”

MILAH, Circumcision. see chapter on “Customs.”

MILCHAMAH, War, fighting, battle.

MINCHAH, (Present gift). The afternoon prayer.

MINHAG, Custom, usage.

MINYA”N, Number, quorum. A quorum of at least ten men over the age of 13 is
required to perform public worship.

MISHPACHAH, Family.

MITZVAH, Command, act of charity, pious deed. The rabbis counted 613 Mosaic
commandments (TaR-YaG Mitzvoth); of these 248 are positive commands (“do’s”) and
365 negative commands (“don’ts”), i.e., prohibitions.

MIZRACH, East, Orient.

MIZRACHI, A religious-political party in Israel.

MOHEL, Circumciser.

MOSHAV Z’KEINIM, Old people’s home.

MOTZAEI SHABBATH, The outgoing of the Sabbath.

M’SHOREIR, Poet.

M’SHUMMAD, Apostate (fem. MESHUMEDETH), renegade. This word is used as an
opprobrious epithet for a Jew who was converted to Christianity.

MUMMAR, Convert, apostate. (See M’shummad).

MUSSAR, Instruction, exhortation.

M’YUCHAS, Of good family, especially of a rabbinic family.

M’ZUZAH, Door post (literally). The word is applied to the parchment scroll
which the Jews attach on the right side door post of their dwellings (rooms).
The inscriptions on the parchment are: Deuteronomy 6:4-12; Deuteronomy 11:13-21.

NACHATH (na”ches), Satisfaction, enjoyment; it refers to pleasure which parents
derive from the conduct or happiness of their children.

NADAN, Dowry, trousseau.

NAVI (nu”ve), Prophet.

N’DAVAH (ndu”ve), Alms, donation.

NEIDER, Vow, votive offering.

NIGUN, Melody.

N’SHAMAH, Soul (breath).

N’VEILAH, Carcass, carrion, (a despicable person).

OLAM haBAH, The coming world, eternal life.

OLAM haZEH, This world, carnal life.

PANIM (phu”nem), Face.

PANIM EL PANIM, Face to face.

PARASHAH (par”she), Section, division, subject matter.

PARNASAH, Livelihood, sustenance.

PASUK (puh”sik), A verse of the Bible, sentence.

PASUL (puh”sl), Ritually unfit, disqualified.

PATUR (phu”ter), Acquitter, free.

PEYOTH (pay”es), Sidelock of hair (which is to be left growing).

PEREK, Chapter.

PIRU”ACH NE”FESH, “Saving life.” A law may be broken (suspended) if by breaking
it, a life may be saved.

PILPUL, Debate, casuistry, sophistical or equivocal reasoning.

P’SHARAH, Compromise, settlement.

RABBI (rebb”e) or RAV (ruf), Master; one learned in Jewish Law.

RACHMANUTH, Mercy, compassion.

R’FUAH, Remedy, cure, medicine.

RASHA (ru”she), Guilty, a wicked person.

RAV (ruf), See Rabbi.

RIBONO SHEL OLAL (riboi”ne shel oi”lm), Lord of the Universe.

RU’ACH, Wind, breath, mind, spirit, ghost, disposition.

RUACH haKO”DESH, The Holy Spirit.

ROTZE”IACH, Murderer, (a violent person).

SAR, Chief, leader, nobleman.

SEI”DER, “Order”; the order of home service on Passover Eve.

SEIFER, Book.

SEIFER TORAH, The Book (Scroll) of the Torah.

S’FARADI, See Ashkenazim.

SIDDUR, Literally, “arrangement,” the Jewish prayer book.

SIDRAH (also called PARASHATH ha’SHAVUAH), The “weekly Section” (of the
Pentateuch read in the synagogue). See CHUMASH.

SIMCHAH, Joy, gladness, festive occasion.

SOFEIR, Writer, scribe, author; copyist of sacred writings on parchment, as the
scrolls of the Bible, or the Bible passages of the Tephilin, Mezuzah, etc. See
chapter on Synagogue.

SONEI ISRAEL (soi”ne isro”el), Enemy of the Jewish people.

S’UDAH, Meal, dinner, banquet.

SHAB”BES GOI, Epithet for a Gentile who is employed to perform some necessary
chores which the Jews are not allowed to do on the Sabbath, such as kindling a
light or a fire, or extinguishing it.

SHACHARITH, The morning prayers.

SHACHEN (shuh”chn), Inhabitant, tenant, neighbor.

SHADCHAN, Marriage broker.

SHALI”ACH, Messenger, deputy.

SHALOM, Peace. See Shalom Alei”chem.. The common greeting in Israel.

SHALOM ALEI”CHEM, “Peace be unto you” is the usual greeting when Jews meet. The
response is: “Alei”chem shalom”: “unto you be peace.”

SHAMASH, Beadle, attendant, servant.

SHASS, See Talmud.

SHED, Demon, devil.

SHE”IVET, Tribe, staff, scepter.

SH’CHINAH, Divine Presence. The Shechina Glory. (This word is derived from
Shachan - to abide, to dwell, to settle down, inhabit). God as He is revealed to
man.

SHIDDUCH, Proposal of marriage (See Shadchan).

SHIKKOR, Intoxicated, drunkard.

SHIV’AH, Literally, “seven.” Denotes seven days of mourning for a near relative.
See chapter on “Customs.”

SH’MAA ISRAEL, “Hear, O Israel.” See Kriath Sh’ma’a.

SH’MAD, Apostasy (religious persecution).

S’HMONEH ESREI, Eighteen, The Eighteen Benedictions, together with the Sh’ma’a
Israel form the most solemn part of the three daily services.

SHOCHET, Slaughterer, one who slaughters animals according to ritual, for Kosher
meat consumption. Yiddish: Shecten: “to slaughter.”

SH’VUAH, Oath.

TA’ANITH (ta”nes), Fast day.

TACHRICHIN, Shrouds.

TALLITH (tal”es), Prayer shawl - a four-cornered shawl, to each of which corners
Tzitzith (fringes) are attached. This shawl is worn over the outer garment
during the morning prayer. See Numbers 15:39-40 and Deuteronomy 22:12. (Besides
the Tallith which only mature males over the age of 13 wear, there is also the
Tallith Kattan (the small Tallith, also called Arba Kan- forth), which all
males, even little boys, have to wear beneath their garments.

TALMID CHACHAM (chu”chem.), Wise pupil. (See Lamdan).

TALMUD, Also called G’MARA, or SHASS. (See Chapter on “Talmud and Midrash.”)
TALMUD TORAH, Jewish religious school.

TaNaCH, The Bible.

TARGUM, Translation. See Targum in chapter on “Exegesis.”

TARYAG MITZVOTH, “613 Commands.” See Mitzvah.

T’CHIATH HAMEITHIM, Resurrection of the dead.

TEIRUTZ (ter”etz), Answer, excuse.

T’FILLAH, Prayer.

T’FILLIN, Phylacteries.

THILIM (til”em), The Psalms of David.

TORAH, Instruction, guidance, learning, law. In its limited sense it means the
Five Books of Moses, but usually it connotes the whole Bible (Old Testament) and
sometimes it also included all rabbinic writings. See chapter on “Literature.”

TREIFAH, Literally: “animal torn by wild beast”; now, forbidden food, not
Kosher.

T’SHUVAH, Repentance, answer, return.

TZA’AR, Pain, grief, trouble.

TZADDIK, A righteous, pious person. Often applied to the Chassidic rabbi.

TZARAH (tzuh”re), Distress, trouble, anguish.

TZ’DAKAH (tzeduh”ke), Charity, alms, righteousness, justice.

TZITZITH, Fringe, tassels. See Tallith.

TZ’VA’AH (tzvuh”e), Last will, testament.

VIDDUI, Confession of sins (on the death-bed).

YA”IN NE”SECH, Wine for libation. Wine which was touched by a heathen is
forbidden to Jews.

YATHOM (yuh”sm), Orphan (male).

Y’THOMAH (ysoi”me), Female orphan.

YE”ITZER TOV, The good impulse.

YE”ITZER haRA, The evil impulse.

YESHIVAH, (Literally: “sitting”), academy, school of higher Talmudic studies (as
the Che”der is for element-ary Jewish learning.

Y’HUDI, Of the tribe of Judah; now: “Jew.”

YICHUS, Pedigree, ancestry, of good family.

YID”DISH, Jewish. This is the language generally used by Eastern European Jews
(also long after their settling in other countries). It is a German dialect
infused with Hebrew and Slavic elements.

YIZKOR, (“May he remember.”) See Hazkarath N’sha-moth.

Y’MACH SH’MO, “May his name be blotted out,” used as a curse.

YOM TOV, A good day - Holiday.

YOVEIL, Jubilee.

Y’RUSHAH, Inheritance.

YORESH, Heir.

Y’SURIM, Affliction, suffering.

Z’CHUTH (z’chuse), Merit.

Z’CHUTH AVOTH (z’chuss o”ves), “The merit of the ancestors,” or “for the sake of
the forefathers.”

Z’MIROTH (z’mee’res), Songs. Traditional hymns sung or chanted during the
Sabbath meals.

SUPPLEMENTARY VOCABULARY The following is a list of Jargonisms used in Jewish
speech. Most of them are originated from Hebrew and German.

ALLEVY”, It should only be so, I wish it were so.

A-MECHA”YEH, Delicious, wonderful.

AZO’CHUNVAY” (From German ach und weh), woe unto . . .

BER”YEH, Complimentary to an efficient, competent woman.

BOB”BE MA”ASE, Grandmother story; fairy tale, a tall story, hooey.

BALEBO”STEH, Housewife; in a complimentary sense, a fine housekeeper.

FLEI”SHIG (see Kosher), Food containing some meat iongredient.

GEFIL”TE Fish, stuffed fish, a favorite dish, consisting of chopped fish mixed
with onions, eggs and seasoning, shaped into balls and cooked in salted water.

GUT, Good; used with salutations as:

GUT SHA”BBES! (May you have a good Sabbath!) GUT YOM”TOV (May you have a good
holiday!)

GUT VOCH (May you have a good week!), A salutation used on Sturday night, when
the new week starts. HALLEVY”, see Allevy.

HA”MAN-TA”SHEN, A special kind of pastry as a Purim treat: (In memory of Haman).
They are tri-cornered cakes filled with stewed prunes or poppyseed.

KA”SHA, Porridge, usually of buckwheat. Also used to denote a “mess,” a
hodge-podge.

KANEHOR”RE, (Mixture of German and Hebrew words: Kein, Ayin-hara”a): “May no
evil eye harm . . . !” Often used in Jewish parlance. For example: “He makes a
good living. Kanhorre!” “She recovers nicely. Kanhorre!”

KNAI”DLACH, Dumplings made of Matza meal served (usually) with soup at the
saider service. Used as a proverb: “He does not mean the Haggadah, he means the
Knaidlach.” - All he wants is to get some material gain. (The Haggadah is the
ritual part of the Saider preceding the meal).

KUNTZ, A clever act, a trick, a gimmick.

KU”GEL, Pudding, made from potatoes, or from noodles, especially prepared for
the Sabbath meal.

MER”TSHE-SHEM (Corruption of Hebrew. Im-Yirtze-haShem), “If God wills so.”
Frequently heard in Jewish parlance. Ex., “I’ll come, Mertshe Shem.”

MIL”CHEG (see Fleishig), Food produced from milk or containing a dairy
ingredient.

NAHR, A fool. NAHRISH, Foolish, stupid.

NEB”BICH, Of doubtful origin it implies pity and compassion.

NISHT-KO”SHE (Combination of German-Hebrew), Not so hard, not bad, passable.

NUD”NIK, A bore, a nuisance, a pest.

OI GEVALT”!, Exclamation of suffering or surprise. “Oh, dear!”

PASKUDNIK (Slavic), A disgraceful, nasty person.

PAR”VE, Food which is neither Milchig or Fleishig, and may be eaten with meat or
milk.

PUSH”KE, Charity box. Jewish homes have had one or more such boxes placed there
by various charity or national organization, such as the Jewish National Fund,
or for the upkeep of some charitable institution. On some occasions, especially
before kindling the Sabbath lights, coins are dropped inside (to be later
collected by representatives of the various organizations).

REB”BE, see Rabbi. REB”BETZIN, Rabbi’s wife.

SHAI”TEL, A wig worn by pious women.

SHLACH-MOO”NES (Corruption from Hebrew Mishloach Manoth), Gifts sent on Purim,
usually accompanied by pastry and confections.

SHLEMI”EL OR SHLIM-MAZEL (Shlim-in German; bad. Mazal-in Hebrew; luck. Thus one
of ill-luck, a simpleton.

SHLE”PPEH, Beggar, sponger, parasite.

SHMA”TTE, A rag, worthless.

SHNAPS, A drink of whiskey.

SHNOR”REH, A beggar.

TZIM”MES, Desert, Also used: to make a fuss over nothing.

TSHU”LENT, Sabbath noon dish. As no cooking is allowed on the Sabbath. Food
consisting of meat, potatoes, or Kasha, or beans are put into a hot oven and
allowed to bake until the Sabbath noon meal. A special part of the Tshulent is
the Kugel.

TZU GEZUNT”, or GESUNDHAIT!, To health! (Usually exclaimed at someone who is
sneezing).

YAHR”ZEIT, Anniversary of the death of a person. On that date, the nearest of
kin recite Kaddish during the daily prayer. (Also some other customs are
observed).


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  CHAPTER 39: 02.20.     THE THIRTEEN PRINCPLES OF THE JEWISH FAITH
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The Thirteen Princples of the Jewish Faith

1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is the
Author and Guide of everything that has been created, and that he alone has
made, does make, and will make all things.

2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is a
Unity, and that there is no unity in any manner like unto his, and that he alone
is our God, who was, is, and will be.

3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is not a
body, and that he is free from all the accidents of matter, and that he has not
any form whatsoever.

4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, is the
first and the last.

5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, blessed be his name, and to
him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being
besides him.

6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.

7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses, our teacher, peace
be unto him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those
that preceded and of those that followed him.

8. I believe with perfect faith that the whole Law, now in our possession, is
the same that was given to Moses our teacher, peace be unto him.

9. I believe with perfect faith that this Law will not be changed, and that
there will never be any other law from the Creator, blessed be his name.

10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, knows
every deed of the children of men, and all their thoughts, as it is said, It is
he that fashioneth the hearts of them all, that giveth heed to all their deeds.

11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be his name, rewards
those that keep his commandments, and punishes those that transgress them.

12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah, and, though he
tarry, I will wait daily for his coming.

13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a resurrection of the dead
at the time when it shall please the Creator, blessed be his name, and exalted
be the remembrance of him for ever and ever.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-jacob-gartenhaus/
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