Part 3

Charity is the main foundation of Israel’s pre-eminence, and the basis of the Law of Truth. As the prophet says unto Zion: ‘By _Zedakah_ shalt thou be established’ (Isaiah 54. 14). Its practice will alone bring about Israel’s redemption: ‘Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and they that return of her with _Zedakah_’ (Isaiah 1. 27). Charity is greater than all sacrifices, says Rabbi Eleazar; even as it is written, ‘To do _Zedakah_ and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice’ (Proverbs 21. 3).

Whoso pities the poor shall himself receive compassion from the Holy One, blessed be He. Let man further reflect that as there is a wheel of fortune revolving in this world, perchance some day either he himself, or his son, or his son’s son, may be brought down to the same lowly state. Nor let it enter his mind to say: ‘How can I give to the poor and thus lessen my possessions?’ For man must know that he is not the master of what he has, but only the guardian, to carry out the will of Him who entrusted these things to his keeping.

Whosoever withholds alms from the needy thereby withdraws himself from the lustre of the Shechinah and the light of the Law.

Let man therefore be exceedingly diligent in the right bestowal of charity.

JACOB BEN ASHER, 1320. (_Trans. A. Feldman._)

ZEDAKAH――JUSTICE.

_‘NEITHER shalt thou favour a poor man his cause’_ (Exodus 23. 3). It is one of the deep and fundamental traits of Judaism that whilst presupposing sympathy and commiseration with the poor and the hapless, it nevertheless fears that in a suit-at-law justice might be outraged _in favour of the poor man_ even when he is in the wrong――outraged just because of his very distress. Sympathy and compassion are emotions that have their proper place and use, but even these noble feelings must be silenced in the presence of Justice. In this Scriptural command there is a height of conception, a sublimity of moral view, which compels the reverence of all.

A. GEIGER, 1865.

THE JEWISH POOR

THE Kingdom of God――the Rabbis held――is inconsistent with a state of social misery. They were not satisfied with feeding the poor. Their great ideal was not to allow a man to be poor, not to allow him to come down into the depths of poverty. They say, ‘Try to prevent it by teaching him a trade. Try all methods before you permit him to become an object of charity, which must degrade him, tender as your dealings with him may be.’

S. SCHECHTER, 1893.

* * * * *

IT is an arduous task to think for the Jewish poor. He has a rooted notion that he is the best, the only judge, of what is good for you to do for him. And the fact is that these self-confident recipients of your generosity really are often your betters in many qualifications. Large-mindedness is needed here. We must respect old habits; we must fathom the deep moral springs of life. We must beware that our brothers do not divest themselves of their best, and assume our worst.

I. ABRAHAMS, 1896.

AT ‘THE OLD PEOPLE’S REST’, JERUSALEM

A SCORE or so of old men with white beards seated at a long table covered by open books of the Talmud. The sacred scroll of the Law is enshrined at their left, and behind them we see ponderous old tomes, tight fitted into the alcove of a vault-like chamber, with quaint curves and angles. Is not this some souvenir from the brush of an old master? No, it is a group of inmates of the ‘Old People’s Rest’ at Jerusalem.

What strikes one most about the inmates is the refinement and intellectuality of their features. It is a workhouse where aged failures in the struggle for existence are permitted to pass away in peace. Not here will we meet with degraded types of the European inebriate or jailbird. They are all representative of one very fascinating aspect of Judaism which it is the fashion to doubt or decry. It is not only in India that the Yogi, or contemplative Sage, is to be met with, who, having fulfilled his whole duty as a man, retires from active life to meditate on the here and the hereafter. We have our Jewish Yogis even outside the dazzling effulgence which emanates from the Zohar. They work not, neither do they spin, but the world is better for their being in it, even if not of it. It is refreshing to think that not everybody is in a hurry, not everybody busy money-making or money-spending, and that a few there are who are survivals of more tranquil ages.

E. N. ADLER, 1895.

SHARING THE BURDEN

I

WHEN trouble comes upon the congregation, it is not right for a man to say, ‘I will eat and drink, and things will be peaceful for me’. Moses, our Teacher, always bore his share in the troubles of the congregation, as it is written, ‘They took a stone and put it under him’ (Exodus 17. 12). Could they not have given him a chair or a cushion? But then he said, ‘Since the Israelites are in trouble, lo, I will bear my part with them, for he who bears his portion of the burden will live to enjoy the hour of consolation’. Woe to one who thinks, ‘Ah, well, I will neglect my duty. Who can know whether I bear my part or not?’ Even the stones of the house, ay, the limbs of the trees shall testify against him, as it is written, ‘For the stones will cry from the wall, and the limbs of the trees will testify’.

TALMUD.

II[10]

‘IT is high time’, wrote Leopold Zunz, in the days when the emancipation of the Jews in Europe was being constantly postponed, or was being dealt with in a huckstering and grudging spirit, ‘It is high time that instead of having rights and liberties doled out to them, they should obtain Right and Liberty.’ It was well said: ‘Right and Liberty’ are one and indivisible, and belong to all men as such. Well, ‘Right and Liberty’ are ours, if any people on the face of the earth can be said to possess them. Surely we owe something to the land and the people where and among whom our lines are fallen, and of which we are an integral part. We owe it to them to take our share of the national burdens and in the national life, to seek our prosperity in theirs, to respect the law and its representatives, from the humblest officer of justice to the Sovereign upon the throne.

SIMEON SINGER, 1894.

THE DUTY OF SELF-RESPECT

NOTHING is more dangerous for a nation or for an individual than to plead guilty to imaginary sins. Where the sin is real――by honest endeavour the sinner can purify himself. But when a man has been persuaded to suspect himself unjustly――what _can_ he do? Our greatest need is emancipation from self-contempt, from this idea that we are really worse than all the world. Otherwise we may in course of time become in reality what we now imagine ourselves to be.

ACHAD HA’AM, 1891.

ANTI-SEMITISM

I

JEWISH misery has two forms, the material and the moral. In Eastern Europe, in those regions which shelter the vast majority of our race, we see a painful fight for the maintenance of a bare existence. In Western Europe, the Jew has bread; but man does not live on bread alone. His misery is moral. It exists in the constant wounding of self-respect and honour.

MAX NORDAU, 1897.

* * * * *

I REMEMBER when I used to come home from the Cheder[11], bleeding and crying from the wounds inflicted upon me by the Christian boys, my father used to say, ‘My child, we are in Golus (exile), and we must submit to God’s will’. And he made me understand that this is only a passing stage in history, as we Jews belong to Eternity, when God will comfort His people. Thus the pain was only physical; but my real suffering began later in life, when I emigrated from Roumania to so-called civilized countries, and found there what I might call the Higher Anti-Semitism, which burns the soul though it leaves the body unhurt.

S. SCHECHTER, 1903.

II

NOT rarely a Jew is heard to murmur that we must learn from our enemies and try to remedy our failings. He forgets, however, that the anti-Semitic accusations are valueless, because they are not based on a criticism of real facts, but are merely due to the psychological law according to which children, savages, and malevolent fools make persons and things against which they have an aversion responsible for their sufferings.

Pretexts change, but the hatred remains. The Jews are not hated because they have evil qualities; evil qualities are sought for in them because they are hated.

MAX NORDAU.

* * * * *

MY grandmother, the beautiful daughter of a family who had suffered much from persecution, had imbibed that dislike for her race which the vain are too apt to adopt when they find they are born to public contempt. The indignant feeling that should be reserved for the persecutor, in the mortification of their disturbed sensibility, is too often visited on the victim; and the cause of annoyance is recognized not in the ignorant malevolence of the powerful, but in the conscientious conviction of the innocent sufferer.

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, 1848.

III

ANTI-SEMITES accuse the Jewish people of an incapacity for forgiveness and love. Let these preachers of love first practise it. Let them refrain, at least, from incendiary slanders against Israel who, among all the peoples of the world, has agonized and suffered most from hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness at the hands of others. Let such preachers of love remember the Mosaic Law: ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’.

J. H. HERTZ, 1919.

* * * * *

NOT one man alone has risen up against us to destroy us, but in every generation there rise up against us those who seek to destroy us; but the Holy One, blessed be He, delivers us from their hands.

PASSOVER HAGADAH.

* * * * *

NO weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgement thou shalt condemn.

ISAIAH 54. 17.

THE JEW AS A PATRIOT

EVERY student of the Hebrew language is aware that we have in the conjugation of its verbs a mood known as the Intensive (Piel) Voice, which by means of an almost imperceptible modification of vowel points intensifies the meaning of the primitive root. A similar significance seems to attach to the Jews themselves in connexion with the people among whom they dwell. They are the _intensive form_ of any nationality whose language and customs they adopt.

EMMA LAZARUS, 1882.

* * * * *

LOYALTY to the flag for which the sun once stood still, can only deepen our devotion to the flag on which the sun never sets.

Col. A. E. GOLDSMID, 1902.

THE JEWISH SOLDIER

MOTHER England, Mother England, ’mid the thousands Far beyond the sea to-day, Doing battle for thy honour, for thy glory, Is there place for us, a little band of brothers? England, say!

Long ago and far away, O Mother England, We were warriors brave and bold; But a hundred nations rose in arms against us, And the shades of exile closed o’er those heroic Days of old.

Thou hast given us home and freedom, Mother England, Thou hast let us live again, Free and fearless, ’midst thy free and fearless children, Sharing with them, as one people, grief and gladness, Joy and pain.

For the Jew has heart and hand, our Mother England, And they both are thine to-day―― Thine for life and thine for death――yea, thine for ever! Wilt thou take them as we give them, freely, gladly? England, say!

ALICE LUCAS, 1899.

THE JEW’S LOVE OF BRITAIN[12]

IS it a matter of surprise that so goodly a number of our brethren offered themselves willingly among the people? One of the masterpieces of eloquence bequeathed to us by classic antiquity is the funeral oration delivered by Pericles on those who had fallen in the Peloponnesian War. He dilates upon the sources of Athens’ greatness. He portrays in glowing colours how justice is there equally meted out to all citizens, from the highest to the lowest, how all are under the aegis of freedom, and all equally inspired by obedience to law. And he continues: ‘Such a country well deserves that her children should die for her!’ The members of the House of Israel have always faithfully served the country of their birth or their adoption. But surely England deserves that we, her Jewish children, should gladly live and die for her: since here, as in no other country, the teachings of Holy Writ are venerated and obeyed. Here, as in no other Empire in the world, there breathes a passionate love of freedom, a burning hatred of tyrant wrong.

HERMANN ADLER, _at the unveiling of the Memorial to the Jewish soldiers who fell in the South African War_, 1905.

TO ENGLAND

LINES OF A RUSSIAN JEW

IN childhood I learned to love thee, Thy name was a legend to me; I dreamt of a distant great island, Where men may be strong, yet be free.

And I, who the clatter of fetters Have heard in my childhood and youth, Do bless thee for giving me refuge, And faith in the triumph of truth.

Thou art not my stepmother, England, My sister of mercy thou art; For thee in the hour of thy trial A brotherly love fills my heart.

P. M. RASKIN, 1914.

JUDAISM AND THE JEW IN AMERICA

I

LIKE the river that takes its rise in the distant hills, gradually courses its way through the country, passing alike through sublime landscape and hideous morass, offering its banks for the foundation of great cities, its waters enriched and modified by the tributaries that gradually flow towards it, until it at last loses itself in the ocean: so Judaism, taking its rise among the mountains of Sinai, slowly and steadily has advanced; passing alternately through a golden age of toleration and an iron age of persecution, giving its moral code for the foundation of many a government; modified by the customs and modes of life of each nation through which it has passed, chastened and enriched by centuries of experience――shall I say, as I said with the river, that it, too, at last loses itself in the great sea of humanity? No! rather like the Gulf Stream, which, passing through the vast Atlantic Ocean, part of it, and yet distinct from it, never losing its individuality, but always detected by its deeper colour and warmer temperature, until it eventually modifies the severe climate of a distant country: so Judaism, passing through all the nations of the old world, part of them, and yet distinct from them, ever recognized by its depth and intensity, has at last reached this new world without having lost its individuality. And here it is still able, by the loftiness of its ethical truth and by the purity of its principles, to give intellectual and moral stamina to a never-ending future humanity.

M. H. HARRIS, 1887.

II

WE, more than any other nation on the globe, recall the happy day when the light of promise first dawned in a modern Canaan, overflowing with the milk and honey of humane kindness, in a land symbolized by the torch of the goddess of liberty, whose soft, mild, yet penetrating rays are reflected o’er all the scattered sons of much-tried Israel, whom she so benignantly beckons to these shores.

ALEXANDER KOHUT, _on the 400th Anniversary of the Discovery of America_, 1892.

THE DELUGE OF FIRE

(1914‒1918)

MANKIND craves the conviction that the agony and tears and suffering of these hundreds of millions of belligerents, constituting the vast majority of the human race, are not in vain; that somehow good will come of all this infinite woe.

In old Jewish books there is a wondrous legend of a second Deluge, a Deluge of Fire, that would sweep over the earth. In anticipation of it, the children of men were bidden to write the story of man on tables of clay, as such tables would not only escape destruction, but would become the more enduring. We to-day are the eyewitnesses of such a fire-deluge dreamt of by the ancients. Let us not, however, fear that civilization and religion will perish from the earth. Quite other will be its far-reaching results for mankind. Right and humanity will emerge stronger than ever from this world-conflagration. Before this war we saw that the laws of God and man were written as it were on mere tables of clay, breakable and effaceable at will. This very world-conflagration, however, will yet render the Law of Nations indestructible and for ever unassailable by insolence or power. The behests of humanity, which so far have been but pious wishes, will be converted into regulative principles in international dealings.

J. H. HERTZ, _to a congregation of Jewish soldiers at the Front, France_, 1915.

THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS

THE sun and the moon are become black, And the stars withdraw their shining ... And the heavens and the earth shall shake; But the Lord will be a refuge unto His people.

JOEL 4. 15, 16.

* * * * *

AND the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; And the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away.

ISAIAH 2. 17, 18.

* * * * *

AND, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

1 KINGS 19. 11, 12.

* * * * *

HEAL us, O Lord, and we shall be healed; save us, and we shall be saved; for Thou art our praise. Vouchsafe a perfect healing unto all our wounds; for Thou, almighty King, art a faithful and merciful Physician.

DAILY PRAYER BOOK.

THE MESSIANIC HOPE

WHEN the harp of Judah sounded, thrilled with the touch of inspiration Divine, among the echoes it waked in the human heart were those sweet sounds whose witcheries transport the soul into the realms of happiness. That melody has been our source of courage, our solace and our strength, and in all our wanderings we have sung it. It is the music of the Messianic age, the triumph-hymn to be one day thundered by all humanity, the real psalm of life as mankind shall sing it when Israel’s world-task of teaching it shall have been accomplished. Its harmony is the harmony of the families of the earth, at last at peace, at last united in brotherhood, at last happy in their return to the One Great Father.

H. PEREIRA MENDES, 1887.

* * * * *

HAVE we not all one father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, Profaning the covenant of our fathers?

MALACHI 2. 10.

THE VISION OF A UNITED HUMANITY

AND it shall come to pass in the end of days, That the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow unto it, And many peoples shall go and say: ‘Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; And He will teach us of His ways; And we will walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations, And shall decide for many peoples; And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, And their spears into pruning-hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war any more.

ISAIAH 2. 2‒4.

* * * * *

THE Jew who is true to himself will labour with especial energy in the cause of peace. His religion, his history, his mission, all pledge him to a policy of peace, as a citizen as well as an individual. The war-loving Jew is a contradiction in terms. The ‘Man of Sorrows’ must beware of helping, however remotely, to heap sorrow upon others.

MORRIS JOSEPH, 1903.

TRUST YE IN THE LORD FOR EVER

THOU wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee; because he trusted in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for the Lord is God, an everlasting Rock. The way of the just is straight: Thou, Most Upright, makest plain the path of the just. Yea, in the way of Thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for Thee; to Thy name and to Thy memorial is the desire of our soul. With my soul have I desired Thee in the night; Yea, with my spirit within me will I seek Thee early: for when Thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. Let favour be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal wrongfully and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, Thy hand is lifted up, yet they see not: but they shall see Thy zeal for the people, and be ashamed; yea, the fire of Thine adversaries shall devour them. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou hast also wrought all our works for us.

ISAIAH 26. 3, 4, 7‒12.

II

THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

_NOW the Lord said unto Abram: ‘... I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’_

GENESIS 12. 1‒3.

_THUS saith God the Lord ... I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and have taken hold of thine hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house._

ISAIAH 42. 5‒7.

ISRAEL IMMORTAL

THUS saith the Lord, Who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, Who stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: If these ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for ever.

JEREMIAH 31. 35, 36.

* * * * *

THE sun and moon for ever shine――by day And night they mark the Eternal’s high design. Changeless and tireless, speeding on their way, The sun and moon for ever shine.

Symbols are they of Israel’s chosen line, A nation still, though countless foes combine; Smitten by God and healed by God are they: They shall not fear, safe ’neath the Rock divine, Nor cease to be, until men cease to say, The sun and moon for ever shine.

YEHUDAH HALEVI, 1150. (_Trans. Alice Lucas._)

* * * * *

THE life of man is numbered by days, The days of Israel are innumerable.

ECCLESIASTICUS 37. 25.

* * * * *

KINGDOMS arise and kingdoms pass away, but Israel endureth for evermore.

MIDRASH.

THE ETERNAL RIDDLE[13]

ISRAEL, my people, God’s greatest riddle, Will thy solution Ever be told?

Fought――never conquered, Bent――never broken, Mortal――immortal, Youthful, though old.