Part 21 (1/2)

18. Another shortcoming of the Synagogue and of Rabbinical Judaism in general was its formalism. Too much stress was laid upon the perfunctory ”discharge of duty,” the outward performance of the letter of the law, and not enough upon the spiritual basis of the Jewish religion. The form obscured the spirit, even though it never quite succeeded in throttling it. This formalism of the ignorant, but observant mult.i.tude was censured as early as the eleventh century by Bahya ben Joseph ibn Pakudah in his ”Duties of the Heart,” a philosophical work in which he emphatically urges the need of inwardness for the Jewish faith.(1517) Later the mystics of Germany and Palestine, while strong supporters of the law, opposed the one-sidedness of legalism and intellectualism, and endeavored to instill elements of deeper devotion into the Jewish soul through the introduction of their secret lore, _Cabbalah_, or ”esoteric tradition.”(1518) Their offering, however, was anything but beneficial to the soul of Judaism. A mysticism which attempts to fathom the unfathomable depth of the divine accords but ill with the teaching of Judaism, which says: ”The secret things belong unto the Lord our G.o.d, but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”(1519) The Cabbalah was but the reaction to the excessive rationalism of the Spanish-Arabic period. As the ultimate source of religion is not reason but the heart, so the cultivation of the intellect at the expense of the emotions can be only harmful to the faith. The legalism and casuistry of the Talmud and the Codes appealed too much to the intellect, disregarding the deeper emotional sources of religion and morality; on the other hand, the mysticism of the Cabbalists overemphasized the emotional element, and eliminated much of the rational basis of Judaism. True religion grasps the whole of man and shows G.o.d's world as a harmonious whole, reflecting in both mind and heart the greatness and majesty of G.o.d on high. In order to open the flood-gates of the soul and render religion again the deepest and strongest force of life, the Synagogue must revitalize its time-honored inst.i.tutions and ceremonies. Thus only will they become real powers of the Jewish spirit, testimonies to the living G.o.d, witnessing to the truth of the Biblical words: ”For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it too far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, 'Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, 'Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?' But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”(1520)

19. The Synagogue need no longer restrict itself to the ancient forms of wors.h.i.+p in its appeal to the Jewish soul. It must point to the loftiest ideals for the future of all humanity, if it is to be true to its prophetic spirit of yore. ”My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples,” exclaimed the seer of the exile.(1521) ”Hear O Israel, the Lord our G.o.d, the Lord is one” must be echoed in all lands and languages, by all G.o.d-seeking minds and hearts, to realize the prophetic vision: ”And the Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be One, and His name One.”(1522) Just as there is but one truth, one justice, and one love, however differently the various races and cla.s.ses of men may conceive them, so Israel shall uphold G.o.d, the only One, as the bond of unity for all men, despite their diversity of ideas and cultures, and His truth will be the beacon-light for all humanity. As the Psalms, prophets, and the opening chapters of the Pentateuch speak a language appealing to the common sense of mankind, so the divine wors.h.i.+p of the Synagogue must again strike the deeper chords of humanity, in its weal and woe, its hope and fear, its aspirations and ideals. Therefore it is not enough that the inst.i.tutions and ceremonies of the Synagogue are testimonies to the great past of Israel. They must also become eloquent heralds and monitors of the glorious future, when all mankind will have learned the lessons of the Jewish festivals, the ideals of liberty, law, and peace, the thoughts of the divine judgment and the divine mercy. They must help also to bring about the time when the ideal of social justice, which the Mosaic Code holds forth for the Israelitish nation, will have become the motive-power and incentive to the reestablishment of human society upon new foundations.

Jehudah ha Levi, the lofty poet of medieval Jewry,(1523) speaks of Israel as the ”heart of humanity,” because it has supplied the spiritual and moral life-blood of the civilized world. Israel provides continually the rejuvenating influence of society. Israel's history is the history of the world in miniature. As the Midrash says,(1524) the confession of G.o.d's unity imposes upon us the obligation to lead all G.o.d's children to love Him with heart and soul and might, thus working toward the time when ”the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”(1525) All the social, political, and intellectual movements of our restless, heaven-storming age, notwithstanding temporary lapses into barbarism and hatred, point unerringly to the final goal, the unity of all human and cosmic life under the supreme leaders.h.i.+p of G.o.d on high. In the midst of all these movements of the day stands the Jew, G.o.d's witness from of old, yet vigorous and youthful still, surveying the experiences of the past and voicing the hope of the future, exclaiming in the words of his traditional prayers: ”Happy are we; how goodly is our portion! how pleasant our lot! how beautiful our inheritance!”(1526) Our faith is the faith of the coming humanity; our hope of Zion is the kingdom of G.o.d, which will include all the ideals of mankind.

Chapter LIX. The Ethics of Judaism and the Kingdom of G.o.d

1. The soul of the Jewish religion is its ethics. Its G.o.d is the Fountainhead and Ideal of morality. At the beginning of the summary of the ethical laws in the Mosaic Code stands the verse: ”Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your G.o.d am holy.”(1527) This provides the Jew with the loftiest possible motive for perfection and at the same time the greatest incentive to an ever higher conception of life and life's purpose. Accordingly, the kingdom of G.o.d for whose coming the Jew longs from the beginning until the end of the year,(1528) does not rest in a world beyond the grave, but (in consonance with the ideal of Israel's sages and prophets) in a complete moral order on earth, the reign of truth, righteousness and holiness among all men and nations. Jewish ethics, then, derives its sanction from G.o.d, the Author and Master of life, and sees its purpose in the hallowing of all life, individual and social. Its motive is the splendid conception that man, with his finite ends, is linked to the infinite G.o.d with His infinite ends; or, as the rabbis express it, ”Man is a co-worker with G.o.d in the work of creation.”(1529)

2. Both the term ethics (from the Greek _ethos_) and morality (from the Latin _mores_) are derived from custom or habit. In distinction to this, the Hebrew Scripture points to G.o.d's will as perceived in the human conscience as the source of all morality. Those ethical systems which dispense with religion fail to take due cognizance of the voice of duty which says to each man: ”Thou shalt” or ”Thou shalt not!” Duty distinguishes man from all other creatures. However low man may be in the scale of freedom, he is moved to action by an impulse from within, not by a compulsion from without. Of course, morality must travel a long road from the primitive code, which does not extend beyond the near kinsmen, to the ideal of civilized man which encompa.s.ses the world. Still man's steps are always directed by some rule of duty. The voice of conscience, heard clearly or dimly, is not, as is so often a.s.serted, the product, but the original guiding factor of human society. The divine inner power of morality has made man, not man morality. Morality and religion, inseparably united in the Decalogue of Sinai, will attain their perfection together in the kingdom of G.o.d upon the Zion heights of humanity.

3. Ethical elements, greater or smaller, enter into all religions and codes of law of the various nations. Ancient Egypt, Persia and India even connected ethical principle and the future of the soul so closely, that certain ethical laws were to determine one's fate in heaven or h.e.l.l. This led to the idea that this life is but the preparatory stage to the great hereafter. But antiquity also witnessed more or less successful attempts to emanc.i.p.ate ethics from religion. When the old beliefs no longer satisfied the thinking mind and no longer kept men from corruption, various philosophers attempted to provide general principles of morality as subst.i.tutes for the departed deities. Confucius built up in China a system of common-sense ethics based upon the communal life, but without any religious ideals; this satisfied the commonplace att.i.tude of that country, but could not pa.s.s beyond the confines of the far East. A semi-religious ascetic system was offered at about the same time by Gautama Buddha of India, a prince garbed as a mendicant friar, who preached the gospel of love and charity for all fellow creatures. His leading maxims were blind resignation and self-effacement in the presence of the ills, suffering and death which rule the entire domain of life. All existence was evil to him, with its pleasure, pa.s.sion and desire, its thought and feeling; his aim was a state of apathy and listlessness, _Nirvana_; while sympathy and compa.s.sion for fellow creatures were to offer some relief to a life of delusion and despair. The Hindu conception of the unbearable woe of the world corresponded more or less with the hot climate, which renders the people indolent and apathetic. In striking contrast to this was the vigorous manhood of the ethical systems developed on the healthy soil of Greece, under the azure canopy of a sky that fills the soul with beauty and joy. Life should be valued for the happiness it offers to the individual or to society. The good should be loved for its beauty, the just admired for its n.o.bility. Greek ethics was thus both aristocratic and utilitarian; it took no heed of the toiling slave, the suffering poor, or the unprotected stranger. Both the Buddhist and the h.e.l.lenic systems lacked the energizing force and motive of the highest purpose of life, because both have left out of their purview the great Ruler who summons man to his duty, saying: ”I am the Lord thy G.o.d; thou shalt and thou shalt not!”

4. Between the two extremes, the h.e.l.lenic self-expansion and the Buddhist self-extinction, Jewish ethics labors for self-elevation under the uplifting power of a holy G.o.d. The term which Scripture uses for moral conduct is, very significantly, ”to walk in the ways of G.o.d.” The rabbis explain this as follows: ”As G.o.d is merciful and gracious, so be thou merciful and gracious. As G.o.d is called righteous, so be thou righteous.

As G.o.d is holy, so do thou strive to be holy.”(1530) Another of their maxims is: ”How can mortal man walk after G.o.d, who is an all-consuming fire? What Scripture means is that man should emulate G.o.d. As He clothes the naked, nurses the sick, comforts the sorrowing, and buries the dead, so should man.”(1531) In other words, human life must take its pattern from the divine goodness and holiness.

5. Obviously, Jewish ethics had to go through the same long process of development as the Jewish religion itself. A very high stage is represented by that disinterested goodness taught by Antigonus of Soko in the second pre-Christian century and by ben Azzai in the second century of the present era, which no longer antic.i.p.ates reward or punishment, but does good for its own sake and shuns evil because it is evil.(1532) As long as the law tolerated slavery, polygamy, and blood vengeance, and man's personality was not recognized on principle as being made in the image of G.o.d, the practical morality of the Hebrews could not rise above that of other nations, except in so far as the shepherd's compa.s.sion for the beast occasioned sympathy also for the fellow-man. After all, Jewish ethics became the ethics of humanity because of the G.o.d-conception of the prophets,-the righteous, merciful, and holy G.o.d, the G.o.d ”who executeth the judgment of the fatherless and the widow, and loveth the stranger in giving him food and raiment.”(1533) The conception of Jewish ethics as human ethics is voiced in the familiar verse: ”It hath been told thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord doth require of thee: only to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy G.o.d.”(1534) The all-ruling and all-seeing G.o.d of the Psalmist made men feel that only such a one can stand in His holy place ”who hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, nor sworn deceitfully.”(1535) After law-giver, prophet, and psalmist came the wise, who gave ethics a more practical and popular character in the wisdom literature, and then came the _Hasidim_ or Essenes, who, while seeking the highest piety or saintliness as life's aim, deepened and spiritualized their ethical ideals. Some of these considered the essential principles of morality to be love of G.o.d and of the fellow-man;(1536) while rabbinical ethics in general laid great stress on motive as determining the value of the deed. The words, ”Thou shalt fear the Lord thy G.o.d,” so often repeated in the law, are taken to mean: Fear Him who looks into the heart, judging motives and intentions.(1537)

6. As the Mosaic Code presented the ceremonial and moral laws together as divine, so the rabbinical schools treated them all as divine commandments without any distinction. Hence the Mishnah and the Talmud fail to give ethics the prominent place it occupies in the prophetic and wisdom literature of the Bible and did not even make an attempt to formulate a system of ethics. The ethical rules in the ”Sayings of the Fathers” and similar later collections make no pretentions to being general or systematic. The ethical teachings became conspicuous only through contact with the h.e.l.lenic world in the propaganda literature, with its aim to win the Gentile world to Judaism. Thus at an early period handbooks on ethics were written and circulated in the Greek language, some of which were afterward appropriated by the Christian Church. This entire movement is summed up in the well-known answer of Hillel to the heathen who desired to join the Jewish faith: ”What is hateful to thee, do thou not unto thy fellow man; this is the law, and all the rest is merely commentary.”(1538)

On the whole, rabbinical Judaism elaborated no ethical system before the Middle Ages. Then, under Mohammedan influence, the Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic philosophies in vogue gave rise to certain ethical works more or less in accord with their philosophic or mystic prototypes. In addition, ethical treatises were often written in the form of wills and of popular admonitions, which were sometimes broad and human, at other times stern and ascetic. One thought, however, prevailed through the ages: as life emanates from the G.o.d of holiness, so it must ever serve His holy purposes and benefit all His earthly children. ”All the laws given by G.o.d to Israel have only the purification and enn.o.bling of the life of men for their object,” say the rabbis.(1539)

7. Perhaps the best summary of Jewish ethics was presented by Hillel in the famous three words: ”If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am for myself alone, what am I? And if not now, when then?”(1540) We find here three spheres of duty: toward one's self, toward others, and toward the life before us. In contrast to purely altruistic or socialistic ethics, Jewish morality accentuated the value of the individual even apart from the social organism. Man is a child of G.o.d, a. self-conscious personality, who is to unfold and improve the powers implanted by his divine Maker, in both body and soul, laboring in this way toward the purpose for which he was created. Man was created single, says one of the sages in the Mishnah,(1541) that he might know that he forms a world for himself, and the whole creation must aid him in unfolding the divine image within himself. Accordingly, self-preservation, self-improvement and self-perfection are duties of every man. This implies first the care for the human body as the temple which enshrines the divine spirit. In the eyes of Judaism, to neglect or enfeeble the body, the instrument of the soul, is altogether sinful. As the Sabbath law demands physical rest and recreation after the week's work, so the Jewish religion in general trains men to enjoy the gifts of G.o.d; and the rabbis declare that their rejection (except for disciplinary reasons) is ingrat.i.tude for which man must give an account at the last Judgment Day.(1542) The Pharisean teacher who opposed the Essenic custom of fasting and declared it sinful, unless it be for special purposes, would have deprecated even more strongly the ascetic Christian or Hindoo saint who castigated his body as the seat of sin.(1543) As Hillel remarked: ”See what care is bestowed upon the statue of the emperor to keep it clean and bright; ought we not, likewise, keep G.o.d's image, our body, clean and free from every blemish?”(1544)

In regard to our moral and spiritual selves the rabbinical maxim is: ”Beautify thyself first, and then beautify others.”(1545) Only as we first enn.o.ble ourselves can we then contribute to the elevation of the world about us. Our industry promotes the welfare of the community as well as of ourselves; our idleness harms others as well as ourselves.(1546) Upon self-respect rest our honor and our character. Virtue also is the result of self-control and self-conquest.(1547) ”There shall be no strange G.o.d in thee.” This Psalm verse is taken by the rabbis to mean that no anger and pa.s.sion nor any evil desire or overbearing pride shall obtain their mastery over thee.(1548) Man a.s.serts himself in braving temptation and trial, in overcoming sin and grief. Greater still is the hero who, in complete self-mastery, can sacrifice himself in a great cause. Martyrdom for the sake of G.o.d, which the rabbis call sanctification of the name of G.o.d,(1549) is really the a.s.sertion of the divine life in the midst of death. But desertion of life from selfish motives through suicide is all the more despicable. He who sells his human birthright to escape pain or disgrace, though greatly to be pitied, has forfeited his claim and his share in the world to come.(1550)

Not only our life is to be maintained amid all trials as a sacred trust, but also our rights, our freedom, and our individuality, for we must not allow our personality to become the slave or tool of others. Job, who battled for his own convictions against the false a.s.sumption of his friends, was at last praised and rewarded by G.o.d.(1551) The Biblical verse: ”For they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt, they shall not be sold as slaves,” is explained by the rabbis: ”My servants, but not servants to servants,” and is thus applicable to spiritual slavery as well.(1552)