A Book of Jewish Thoughts. Various
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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