Hitherto Judaism was restrained by its two daughter-religions from pursuing its former missionary activity. It was forced to employ all its energy in the single effort for self-preservation. But in the striking contrasts of our age, when the enlightened spirit of humanity struggles so bitterly with the forces of barbarism and brutality, we may well see the approaching dawn of a new era. That glorious day, we feel, will witness the ultimate triumph of justice and truth, and out of the day which is “neither day nor night” will bring forth the time when “the Lord shall be King over all the earth, the Lord shall be One and His name One.”[1417] This will be an auspicious time for Israel to arise with renewed prophetic vigor as the bearer of a world-uniting faith, as the triumphant Messiah of the nations. Through Israel the monotheistic faiths of the world may find a union so that, in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy,[1418] its Sabbath may be a world-Sabbath and its Atonement Day a feast of at-one-ment and reconciliation for all mankind. “He that believeth shall not make haste.”[1419]
Yet just because of this universalistic Messianic hope of Judaism it is still imperative, as it has been throughout the past, that the Jewish people must continue its separateness [pg 446] as “a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” and for the sake of its world-mission avoid intermarrying with members of other sects, unless they espouse the Jewish faith.[1420] Israel's particularism, says Professor Lazarus,[1421] has its universalism as motive and aim.
Chapter LVIII. The Synagogue and its Institutions
1. Every religion, as soon as it attains any degree of self-consciousness, aims to present a convincing form of truth to the individual and to win adherents in increasing numbers. Nevertheless the maintenance of a religion does not rest upon its doctrines, which must differ according to the intellectual capacity of the people and the prevailing views of each age. Its stability is based upon those forms and institutions which lend it a peculiar character, and which express, symbolically or otherwise, definite ideas, religious, ethical, and historical. For this reason many exponents of Judaism would entirely discard the idea of a systematic theology, and insist on the observance of the ceremonial laws as the one essential. In following tradition in this manner, they forget that the forms of religious practice have undergone many changes in the course of time. In fact, the vitality of Judaism lies in its unique capacity for development. Its ever youthful mind has constantly created new forms to express the ideas of the time, or has invested old ones with new meanings.[1422]
2. The greatest and, indeed, the unique creation of Judaism is the Synagogue, which started it on its world-mission and made the Torah the common property of the entire people. Devised in the Exile as a substitute for the Temple, it soon eclipsed it as a religious force and a rallying point for the whole people, appealing through the prayers and Scriptural [pg 448] lessons to the congregation as a whole. The Synagogue was limited to no one locality, like the Temple, but raised its banner wherever Jews settled throughout the globe. It was thus able to spread the truths of Judaism to the remotest parts of the earth, and to invest the Sabbath and festivals with deeper meaning by utilizing them for the instruction and elevation of the people. What did it matter, if the Temple fell a prey to the flame for a second time, or if the whole sacrificial cult of the priesthood with all its pomp were to cease forever? The soul of Judaism lived indestructibly in the house of prayer and learning. In the Synagogue was fanned the holy flame which kindled the heart with love of God and fellow-men; here were offered sacrifices more pleasing to God than the blood and fat of beasts, sacrifices of love and charity.[1423]
3. The Synagogue has its peculiar institutions and ceremonies, but no sacraments like those of the Church. Its institutions, such as the festivals, aim to preserve the historic memory of the people; its ceremonies, called “signs” or “testimonies” in the Scripture, are to sanctify the life of the nation, the family, or the individual. Neither possesses a sacramental power, as does baptism or communion in the Church, in giving salvation, or imparting something of the nature of the Deity, or making one a member of the religious community. The Jew is a member of the Jewish community by his birth, which imposes upon him the obligations of the covenant which God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. Judaism is a religious heritage intrusted to a nation of priests, and is not acquired by any rite of consecration or confession of faith. Such a form of consecration and confession is required only in the case of proselytes.[1424] [pg 449] It is superfluous to state that Confirmation does not bestow the character of Jew upon the young, any more than the former rite of Bar Mizwah did upon the young Israelite who was called up to the reading from the Law in his thirteenth year as a form of initiation into Jewish life.[1425]
4. The rite of circumcision is enjoined upon the father in the Mosaic Code as a “sign” of the covenant with Abraham, to be performed on every son on the eighth day after birth.[1426] Therefore it is held in high esteem, and the father terms the act in his benediction “admission into the covenant of Abraham”;[1427] but in spite of this it is not a sacrament and does not determine membership in the Jewish community. The operation was not to be performed by a person of sacred calling such as priest or rabbi, but in ancient Biblical times was performed by women,[1428] and in the Talmudic period by the surgeon.[1429] In fact, if no Jewish surgeon was at hand, some Talmudic authorities held that a non-Jewish surgeon could perform it. Moreover, where hygienic reasons forced the omission of the rite, the man was still a Jew.[1430] The rite itself underwent a change; it was performed with stone knives in Biblical times, just as in Egypt and even to-day in Arabia and Syria.[1431] It became a mark of distinction for the people during the Exile.[1432] But the act was invested with special religious sanctity during the Syrian persecution, when many Jewish youths “violated the covenant” in order to appear uncircumcised when they appeared in the arena with the [pg 450] heathen.[1433] At this time new methods were introduced to guard the “seal” of the covenant,[1434] while pious mothers faced martyrdom willingly to preserve the rite of Abraham among their children. Later on the rabbis even declared circumcision to be a safeguard against the pit of Gehenna[1435] and made Elijah the guardian of the covenant.[1436] The rite may be traced back to primitive life, when the operation was usually performed at the time of puberty and as a preliminary to marriage,[1437] but in Jewish life it assumed a religious meaning and became endeared to the people as the consecration of the child as the future head of a family. The idea underlying the institution (as Zunz correctly calls it)[1438] is the sanctification of the Jewish household as represented by its male members. The member of a people that is to be holy unto God must bear the seal of the covenant on his flesh; as a potential father of another generation, the sign he bore had a deeper meaning for the future of the people.[1439] The rationalistic view that the Mosaic law is merely hygienic, although found as early as Philo, is quite erroneous.[1440]
5. The same rationalist view[1441] is often applied to the [pg 451] dietary laws of the Mosaic Code, but without any justification from the Biblical point of view. These laws prohibit as unclean various species of animals, or such as have fallen dead or as the prey of wild beasts, or certain portions like blood and suet.[1442] The Holiness Code states its reason for these prohibitions very emphatically: “I am the Lord your God, who have set you apart from the peoples. Ye shall therefore separate between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean; and ye shall not make your souls detestable by beast, or by fowl, or by any thing wherewith the ground teemeth, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. And ye shall be holy unto Me; for I the Lord your God am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be Mine.”[1443] The Deuteronomic Code gives the same reason for the prohibition of the unclean beasts: “For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God.” It seems that these prohibitions of “unclean” foods were intended originally for the priesthood and other holy men, as appears in Ezekiel and elsewhere.[1444] As a matter of fact, the same class of animals from which the Israelites were commanded to abstain were also forbidden to the priests or saints of India, Persia, Mesopotamia, and partly of Egypt.[1445] The natural conclusion is that the Mosaic law intended these rules as a practical expression of its general principle that [pg 452] Israel was to be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”[1446] In other words, Israel was to fill the usual place of the priest among the nations of the ancient world, a priest-people observing the priestly laws of sanctification. Whatever the origin of these customs may have been, whether they were tabu laws in connection with totemism or some other primitive view, the Priestly Code itself admits their lack of an Israelitish origin by recognizing that they were known to Noah.[1447] They were simply adopted by the law-giver of Israel to make the whole people feel their priestly calling.