Part 1
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A BOOK OF JEWISH THOUGHTS
Selected and Arranged
by
THE CHIEF RABBI
(DR. J. H. HERTZ)
Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press London Edinburgh Glasgow New York Toronto Melbourne Cape Town Bombay 5680――1920
TO THE SACRED MEMORY OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR 1914‒1918
PREFATORY NOTE
THIS Book of Jewish Thoughts brings the message of Judaism together with memories of Jewish martyrdom and spiritual achievement throughout the ages. Its first part, ‘I am an Hebrew’, covers the more important aspects of the life and consciousness of the Jew. The second, ‘The People of the Book’, deals with Israel’s religious contribution to mankind, and touches upon some epochal events in Israel’s story. In the third, ‘The Testimony of the Nations’, will be found some striking tributes to Jews and Judaism from non-Jewish sources. The fourth part, ‘The Voice of Prayer’, surveys the Sacred Occasions of the Jewish Year, and takes note of their echoes in the Liturgy. The fifth and concluding part, ‘The Voice of Wisdom’, is, in the main, a collection of the deep sayings of the Jewish sages on the ultimate problems of Life and the Hereafter.
The nucleus from which this Jewish anthology gradually developed was produced three years ago for the use of Jewish sailors and soldiers. To many of them, I have been assured, it came as a re-discovery of the imperishable wealth of Israel’s heritage; while to the non-Jew into whose hands it fell it was a striking revelation of Jewish ideals and teachings. I can pray for no better result for this enlarged Library Edition.
Grateful acknowledgement is due to the authors, translators, and publishers, for their courteous permission to reprint selections from their works; to Dayan H. M. Lazarus, M.A., and Miss Elsa Linde, for various useful suggestions; and to the Revs. J. Mann, D.Litt., S. Lipson, and I. Livingstone for help in the preparation of the Index of Subjects.
J. H. H. London, 1920.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. I AM AN HEBREW YE ARE MY WITNESSES: Isaiah; Jacobs; Aguilar I AM AN HEBREW: C. Adler THE GOOD FIGHT: Eleazar of Worms EVERY ISRAELITE HOLDS THE HONOUR OF HIS ENTIRE PEOPLE IN HIS HANDS: Talmud; Montefiore THE PATHS OF LIFE: Eliezer ben Isaac; Asher ben Yechiel IN THE OLD GHETTO: Philipson; E. G. Hirsch THE JEWISH WOMAN: M. Lazarus; Hertz; Talmud THE JEWISH MOTHER: Szold; Lucas RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Cohen; Book of Morals; Morais THE SACRED TONGUE: Joseph THE HEBREW LANGUAGE: Schechter; Szold WHAT IS CULTURE? Hertz THE STUDENT OF THE TORAH: Jellinek BAR MITZVAH PRAYER: Artom ON THE THRESHOLD OF MANHOOD: Proverbs; Ethics of the Fathers A FATHER’S ADMONITION: Maimonides WHAT MAKES A MAN A JEW? Joseph ‘I BELIEVE’: Margolis JUDAISM A POSITIVE RELIGION: Schechter THE MISSION OF ISRAEL: H. Adler; Kohler TOLERANCE: Gabirol; Midrash; Crescas; Mendelssohn; Talmud OUR HERITAGE: Josephus OUR FATHERS: Ecclesiasticus THE OBLIGATIONS OF HEREDITY: Dubnow; Hertz ZEDAKAH――CHARITY: Jacob ben Asher ZEDAKAH――JUSTICE: Geiger THE JEWISH POOR: Schechter; Abrahams AT ‘THE OLD PEOPLE’S REST’, JERUSALEM: E. N. Adler SHARING THE BURDEN: Talmud; Singer THE DUTY OF SELF-RESPECT: Achad Ha’am ANTI-SEMITISM: Nordau; Schechter; Nordau; Disraeli; Hertz; Hagadah; Isaiah THE JEW AS A PATRIOT: E. Lazarus; Goldsmid THE JEWISH SOLDIER: Lucas THE JEW’S LOVE OF BRITAIN: H. Adler TO ENGLAND: Raskin JUDAISM AND THE JEW IN AMERICA: Harris; Kohut THE DELUGE OF FIRE: Hertz THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS: Joel; Isaiah; Kings; Daily Prayer Book THE MESSIANIC HOPE: Mendes; Malachi THE VISION OF A UNITED HUMANITY: Isaiah; Joseph TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER: Isaiah
II. THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK ISRAEL IMMORTAL: Jeremiah; Halevi; Ecclesiasticus; Midrash THE ETERNAL RIDDLE: Raskin THE SECRET OF ISRAEL’S IMMORTALITY: Graetz THE BOOK OF BOOKS: Heine THE BIBLE: Levi; Zangwill A JEWISH VERSION OF THE BIBLE: Schechter; Friedländer; Sulzberger; Leeser; H. Adler; Translators’ Preface; Rashi; Ecclesiasticus ISRAEL THE PEOPLE OF REVELATION: Halevi; Geiger THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD AND ISRAEL IS HIS PROPHET: Zangwill MOSES: Heine THE PROPHETS: Jacobs; Shemtob; Darmesteter; J. Lazarus THE TALMUD: Deutsch JEWISH LITERATURE: Abrahams THE WORK OF THE RABBIS: Büchler ISRAEL’S HISTORY NEVER-ENDING: Magnus; Zangwill THE MEANING OF JEWISH HISTORY: Jacobs; Halevi; Gaster THE HALLOWING OF JEWISH HISTORY: Dubnow ISRAEL’S MARTYRDOM: Zunz; Graetz UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS: Josephus; Fuerst IN MEDIAEVAL ROME: Hertz; Steinschneider THE FIRST CRUSADE: Kalonymos ben Yehudah THE SECOND CRUSADE: Ephraim of Bonn JEWISH SUFFERING: Heine THE JEWS OF YORK: D’Israeli THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN: Frankl THE EXODUS: E. Lazarus A SONG OF REDEMPTION: Gabirol SHYLOCK: Joseph ON THE EVE OF THE RE-SETTLEMENT IN ENGLAND: Manasseh ben Israel JEWISH EMANCIPATION: S. R. Hirsch; Rothschild THE JEWISH QUESTION: J. Lazarus; Franzos; Steinschneider; Zunz THE JEWS OF ENGLAND: Zangwill WELCOME OF THE HEBREW CONGREGATION, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, U.S.A., TO GEORGE WASHINGTON BRITISH CITIZENSHIP: Hertz THE RUSSIAN JEW: I. Friedlander YIDDISH: Zangwill; Wiener RUSSO-JEWISH EDUCATION: I. Friedlander PASSOVER IN OLD RUSSIA: Antin THE POGROM: Dymov UNDER THE ROMANOFFS: Wolf; E. Lazarus SOLDIERS OF NICHOLAS: Antin BONTZYE SHWEIG: Peretz THE WATCH ON THE JORDAN: Imber THE TRAGEDY OF ASSIMILATION: Schechter; Achad Ha’am THE VALLEY OF DRY BONES: Ezekiel PALESTINE: Munk THE LAST CORPSES IN THE DESERT: Byalik ZIONISM: Herzl; Wolf; Abrahams THE BRITISH DECLARATION ON PALESTINE: Herzl; Jewish Chronicle; Hertz JUDAISM AND THE NEW JUDEA: Herzl; Saadyah; Schechter; Noah; Hertz; Eichholz
III. THE TESTIMONY OF THE NATIONS WORLD’S DEBT TO ISRAEL: Abbott; Cornill ISRAEL AND HIS REVELATION: Arnold ISRAEL, GREECE, AND ROME: Renan; Wagner; Lotze WHAT IS A JEW? Tolstoy THE BOOK OF THE AGES: Harnack; Scott; Whitman THE BIBLE, THE EPIC OF THE WORLD: Frazer; Stevenson; Froude THE BIBLE IN EDUCATION: Huxley; Goethe THE BIBLE AND DEMOCRACY: Wyclif; Huxley; Nietzsche THE HEBREW LANGUAGE: Renan REBECCA’S HYMN: Scott MOSES: George THE BURIAL OF MOSES: Alexander ISRAEL’S PSALTER: Dow; Rhys; Cornill THE PSALMS IN HUMAN LIFE: Prothero THE SPACIOUS FIRMAMENT ON HIGH: Addison O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST: Watts THE LIVING POWER OF THE JEWISH PROPHETS: Jowett; Froude THE BOOK OF JONAH: Cornill; Goethe JOB: Carlyle; Froude ECCLESIASTES: Ellis THE BOOK OF ESTHER: Stanley; Whittier THE TALMUD: Robinson THE HUMANITY OF JEWISH WISDOM: Gorky THE PHARISEES: Huxley; Box; Herford THE JEWISH PRAYER BOOK: Biddle IN A SYNAGOGUE: Eliot THE TORCH OF JEWISH LEARNING: Beaulieu DURING THE CRUSADES: Strindberg THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN AND PORTUGAL: Lecky A PROTEST AGAINST THE AUTO-DA-FÉ OF SEPTEMBER 20, 1761, LISBON: Voltaire THE BIBLE IN ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND: Green FOR THE EMANCIPATION OF THE JEWS: Macaulay IGNORANCE OF JUDAISM: Eliot; Blake ‘THEY ARE OUR ELDERS’: Beaulieu THE JEWISH CEMETERY AT NEWPORT: Longfellow THE JEW AS A CITIZEN: Roosevelt IN THE EAST END OF LONDON: Schreiner THE RUSSIAN AGONY: Milyukov; Lecky; Tolstoy; Schreiner THE BLOOD LIBEL――BRITISH PROTEST JEWISH NATIONALISM: Eliot; Sykes A JEWISH NATIONAL HOME: Balfour ISRAEL’S PRESERVATION: St. Jerome ISRAEL AND THE NATIONS: Twain
IV. THE VOICE OF PRAYER: THE JEWISH YEAR ON PRAYER AND PRAISE: Philo; Zohar ON MORNING SERVICE: Shulchan Aruch AT THE DAWN I SEEK THEE: Gabirol MORNING PRAYERS: Daily Prayer Book; Bachya ADON OLAM: Abrahams; Carvalho ADON OLAM AND MODERN SCIENCE: Haffkine THE SHEMA: Hertz; Zohar ‘THE SOUL THOU HAST GIVEN ME IS PURE’: Kohler THE MERIT OF THE FATHERS: Levy; Abrahams THE KADDISH: Kompert; Wisdom of Solomon; Daniel THE HOLINESS OF HOME: Jacobs; Disraeli KINDLING THE SABBATH LIGHT: Raskin LECHA DODI: Alkabetz; Achad Ha’am SABBATH PRAYER: Zohar THE SABBATH: Salaman PRAYER BEFORE THE NEW MOON: Daily Prayer Book THE SEDER: Raskin ISRAEL’S WATCH-NIGHT: Joseph PASSOVER AND FREEDOM: Hertz; Joseph ‘ADDIR HU’: Gottheil; Talmud THE FEAST OF WEEKS: Psalms A SELF-DENYING GUILD: Joseph; Daily Prayer Book AKDOMUS: Nehoraï THE BIBLE: Rosenfeld THE SEPHER TORAH: Haffkine RELIGION AND MORALITY: Daiches SYMBOLS AND CEREMONIES: Jung CUSTOM IN RELIGION: Gottheil ‘IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TIMES’: S. R. Hirsch FAITH: Singer ODE TO ZION: Halevi THE ETERNAL CITY OF THE ETERNAL PEOPLE: Hertz; Isaiah NEW YEAR: Moïse WRITTEN AND SEALED: Baalshem; Joseph THE SHOFAR: Maimonides; Deuteronomy; Psalms MY KING: Moses ben Nachman THE LORD IS KING, THE LORD WAS KING, THE LORD SHALL BE KING FOR EVER AND EVER: Kalir IF NOT HIGHER: Peretz DAY OF ATONEMENT: Gottheil; Ecclesiasticus THE MESSAGE OF YOM KIPPUR: Hertz ‘FORGIVEN’: Yomtob of York CONFESSION: Gabirol YOM KIPPUR MEDITATIONS: Bachya; Gabirol THE INFINITE MERCIES OF GOD: Exodus; Talmud BROTHERHOOD: Hertz; Ezekiel ATONEMENT PROMISE AND ADMONITION: Isaiah LORD, THINE HUMBLE SERVANTS HEAR: Yehudah GOD THAT DOEST WONDROUSLY: Mosheh TABERNACLES: Halevi PSALMS AND MYRTLES: Kalir THE HARVEST FESTIVAL: Joseph; Disraeli JOYOUS SERVICE: Abrahams; Talmud REJOICING OF THE LAW: Festival Prayer Book SIMCHAS TORAH: Gordon THE MACCABEAN WARRIORS: Maccabees THE FEAST OF LIGHTS: E. Lazarus THE MENORAH: Herzl THE STORY OF THE MACCABEES: Joseph CHANUCAH HYMN: Gottheil PURIM: Book of Esther SERVANT OF GOD: Halevi HYMN OF GLORY: Judah the Pious
V. THE VOICE OF WISDOM GOD, WHOM SHALL I COMPARE TO THEE! Halevi GREAT IS TRUTH: Esdras; Talmud THE RIGHT LIFE: Micah; Isaiah; Spinoza THE GOODNESS OF GOD’S WORK: Maimonides THE TWO NATURES IN MAN: Moses of Coucy FREEDOM OF THE WILL: Maimonides THE WICKED SAITH IN HIS HEART: Wisdom of Solomon REPENTANCE OF THE WICKED: Wisdom of Solomon WISE COUNSEL: Maimonides; Benedict of Oxford; Ethics of the Fathers THE DUTY OF HOLINESS: Leviticus; Kohler; Talmud THE CITY OF GOD: Philo; Maimonides; Zohar HUMILITY: Bachya; Daily Prayer Book; Ibn Ezra SAYINGS FROM THE TALMUD THE DEDICATED LIFE Philo GOD AND MAN: Ethics of the Fathers GOLDEN RULES: Leviticus; Talmud; Achaï DEEDS THE BEST COMMENDATION: Talmud; Ethics of the Fathers A MEDIAEVAL JEWISH MORALIST: Eleazar of Worms THE MYSTERY OF PAIN: S. A. Adler MEETING ADVERSITY: Hertz THE CONTEMPLATION OF DEATH: Montefiore; Ecclesiasticus LIGHT IN DARKNESS: Talmud WHENCE AND WHITHER: Ethics of the Fathers; H. Adler TIME AND ETERNITY: Yedaya Penini; Ecclesiastes; Derech Eretz Zutta TALMUDIC PARABLES AND LEGENDS ALMIGHTY, WHAT IS MAN? Gabirol RESIGNATION: Green IMMORTALITY: Talmud; Ethics of the Fathers ETERNAL HOPE: Psalms TRUE WISDOM: Job; Ethics of the Fathers
NOTES
INDEX OF AUTHORS AND SOURCES
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
_BEHOLD, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord._
AMOS 8. 11.
I
I AM AN HEBREW
_THEN said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, ... what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?_
_And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land._
JONAH 1. 8, 9.
אַתֶּם עֵדָי
YE ARE MY WITNESSES
YE are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen.
ISAIAH 43. 10.
* * * * *
THE history of Israel is the great living proof of the working of Divine Providence in the affairs of the world. Alone among the nations, Israel has shared in all great movements since mankind became conscious of their destinies. If there is no Divine purpose in the long travail of Israel, it is vain to seek for any such purpose in man’s life. In the reflected light of that purpose each Jew should lead his life with an added dignity.
JOSEPH JACOBS, 1897.
* * * * *
EVERY Hebrew should look upon his Faith as a temple extending over every land to prove the immutability of God and the unity of His purposes. He should regard himself as one of the pillars which support that temple from falling to the ground; and add, however insignificant in itself, to the strength, the durability, and the beauty of the whole.
GRACE AGUILAR, 1842.
I AM AN HEBREW
I WILL continue to hold my banner aloft. I find myself born――ay, born――into a people and a religion. The preservation of my people must be for a purpose, for God does nothing without a purpose. His reasons are unfathomable to me, but on my own reason I place little dependence; test it where I will it fails me. The simple, the ultimate in every direction is sealed to me. It is as difficult to understand matter as mind. The courses of the planets are no harder to explain than the growth of a blade of grass. Therefore am I willing to remain a link in the great chain. What has been preserved for four thousand years was not saved that I should overthrow it. My people have survived the prehistoric paganism, the Babylonian polytheism, the aesthetic Hellenism, the sagacious Romanism, at once the blandishments and persecutions of the Church; and it will survive the modern dilettantism and the current materialism, holding aloft the traditional Jewish ideals inflexibly until the world shall become capable of recognizing their worth.
CYRUS ADLER, 1894.
THE GOOD FIGHT
IF thou hadst lived in the dread days of martyrdom, and the peoples had fallen on thee to force thee to apostatize from thy faith, thou wouldst surely, as did so many, have given thy life in its defence. Well then, fight now the fight laid on thee in the better days, the fight with evil desire; fight and conquer, and seek for allies in this warfare of your soul, seek them in the fear of God and the study of the Law. Forget not that God recompenses according to the measure wherewith ye withstand the evil in your heart. Be a man in thy youth; but if thou wert then defeated in the struggle, return, return at last to God, however old thou mayest be.
ELEAZAR (ROKËACH) OF WORMS, c. 1200. (_Trans. M. Joseph._)
EVERY ISRAELITE HOLDS THE HONOUR OF HIS ENTIRE PEOPLE IN HIS HANDS
I
‘ALL Israelites are mutually accountable for each other.’ In a boat at sea one of the men began to bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. On being remonstrated with, he answered: ‘I am only boring under my own seat’. ‘Yes’, said his comrades, ‘but when the sea rushes in we shall all be drowned with you.’ So it is with Israel. Its weal or its woe is in the hands of every individual Israelite.
TALMUD. * * * * *
II
WE Jews have a more pressing responsibility for our lives and beliefs than perhaps any other religious community.
Don’t shelter yourself in any course of action by the idea that ‘it is _my_ affair’. It is your affair, but it is also mine and the community’s. Nor can we neglect the world beyond. A fierce light beats upon the Jew. It is a grave responsibility this――to be a Jew; and you can’t escape from it, even if you choose to ignore it. Ethically or religiously, we Jews can be and do nothing light-heartedly. Ten bad Jews may help to damn us; ten good Jews may help to save us. Which _minyan_ will you join?
C. G. MONTEFIORE, 1900.
THE PATHS OF LIFE
I
MY son, give God all honour and the gratitude which is His due. Thou hast need of Him, but He needs thee not. Put no trust in thy mere corporeal well-being here below. Many a one has lain down to sleep at nightfall, but at morn has not risen again. Fear the Lord, the God of thy fathers; fail never at eventide to pronounce the great word wherein Israel is wont to proclaim that He is, and that He is One, and One only; at dawn fail never to read the appointed prayer. See that thou guard well thy soul’s holiness; let the thought of thy heart be saintly, and profane not thy soul with words of impurity.
Visit the sick and suffering man, and let thy countenance be cheerful when he sees it, but not so that thou oppress the helpless one with gaiety. Comfort those that are in grief; let piety where thou seest it affect thee even to tears; and then it may be that thou wilt be spared the grief of weeping over the death of thy children.
Respect the poor man by gifts whose hand he knows not of; be not deaf to his beseechings, deal not hard words out to him, and give him of thy richest food when he sits at meat with thee.
From a wicked neighbour, see that thou keep aloof, and spend not much of thy time among the people who speak ill of their brother-man; be not as the fly that is always seeking sick and wounded places; and tell not of the faults and failings of those about thee.
Take no one to wife unworthy to be thy life’s partner, and keep thy sons close to the study of Divine things. Dare not to rejoice when thine enemy comes to the ground; but give him food when he hungers. Be on thy guard lest thou give pain ever to the widow and the orphan; and beware lest thou ever set thyself up to be both witness and judge against an other.
Never enter thy house with abrupt and startling step, and bear not thyself so that those who dwell under thy roof shall dread when in thy presence. Purge thy soul of angry passion, that inheritance of fools; love wise men, and strive to know more and more of the works and the ways of the Creator.
ELIEZER BEN ISAAC, 1050.
II
BE not ready to quarrel; avoid oaths and passionate adjurations, excess of laughter and outbursts of wrath; they disturb and confound the reason of man. Avoid all dealings wherein there is a lie; utter not the name of God superfluously, or in places dirty or defiled.
Cut from under thee all mere human supports, and make not gold the foremost longing of thy life; for that is the first step to idolatry. Rather give money than words; and as to ill words, see that thou place them in the scale of understanding before they leave thy lips.
What has been uttered in thy presence, even though not told as secret, let it not pass from thee to others. And if one tell thee a tale, say not to him that thou hast heard it all before. Do not fix thine eyes too much on one who is far above thee in wealth, but on those who are behind thee in worldly fortune.
Put no one to open shame; misuse not thy power against any one; who can tell whether thou wilt not some day be powerless thyself?
Do not struggle vaingloriously for the small triumph of showing thyself in the right and a wise man in the wrong; thou art not one whit the wiser therefor. Be not angry or unkind to any one for trifles, lest thou make thyself enemies unnecessarily.
Do not refuse things out of mere obstinacy to thy fellow-citizens, rather put thy will below their wishes. Avoid, as much as may be, bad men, men of persistent angry feelings, fools; thou canst get nothing from their company but shame. Be the first to extend courteous greeting to every one, whatever be his faith; provoke not to wrath one of another belief than thine.
ASHER BEN YECHIEL, 1300.
IN THE OLD GHETTO
IN the narrow lanes and by-ways of the old Jewish quarter of many a European town there grew up that beautiful Jewish home-life which, though its story is seldom recorded, is more important than the outer events and misfortunes that historians have made note of. And as we look upon the unsightly houses, the wretched exterior seems to float away and the home-scenes of joy and love and religious constancy shine brilliantly forth――perpetual lamps――and explain how, in spite of woe and misery such as have fallen to the lot of no other people, the Jews have found strength to live and hope on.
D. PHILIPSON, 1894.
* * * * *
SAY what you will of the Judaism of the Middle Ages; call it narrow; deride it as superstitious; unless lost to all sense of justice, or without power to dive beneath the surface of the seeming to the roots of the real, you cannot but witness to the incontrovertible fact that for sweetness and spirituality of life, the Jew of the Ghetto, the Jew of the Middle Ages, the Jew under the yoke of the Talmud, challenges the whole world.
E. G. HIRSCH, 1895.
THE JEWISH WOMAN
IN the days of horror of the later Roman Empire, throughout the time of the migration of nations, it was not war alone that destroyed and annihilated all those peoples of which, despite their former world-dominating greatness, nothing remains but their name. It was rather the ensuing demoralization of home life. This is proved――it cannot be repeated too often――by the Jews; for they suffered more severely and more cruelly by wars than any other nation; but, among them, the inmost living germ of morality――strict discipline and family devotion――was at all times preserved. This wonderful and mysterious preservation of the Jewish people is due to the Jewish woman. This is her glory, not alone in the history of her own people, but in the history of the world.
M. LAZARUS.
* * * * *
THE Jew’s home has rarely been his ‘castle’. Throughout the ages it has been something far higher――his sanctuary.
J. H. HERTZ.
* * * * *
BE careful not to cause woman to weep, for God counts her tears. Israel was redeemed from Egypt on account of the virtue of its women. He who weds a good woman, it is as if he had fulfilled all the precepts of the Law.
TALMUD.
THE JEWISH MOTHER