In later times the dietary laws, especially abstinence from the flesh of swine, became a mark of distinction which separated the Jew from his heathen surroundings; and they became a symbol of Jewish loyalty in the Syrian persecutions when pious Jews faced martyrdom for them as willingly as for the refusal to adore the Syrian idols.[1448] In fact, Pharisaism adopted the principle of separation from the heathen in every matter pertaining to diet, and this spirit of separatism was strengthened by the scorn of the Greeks and Romans and afterward by the antinomian spirit of Christianity. While Hellenistic writers, eager to find a universal meaning in these laws, assigned certain physical or psychic reasons for them,[1449] the rabbis of the Talmud insisted that they were given solely for the moral purification of Israel. Thus they were to be observed as tests of Israel's submission to the divine will and not because of personal distaste. In their own words, “We must overcome all desire for the sake of our Father in heaven”; and “Only to those who wrestle with temptation does the kingdom of God come.”[1450] In the course of time these prohibitions were steadily extended, until they encircled the whole life of the Jew, forming an insurmountable wall which secluded him from his non-Jewish environment. Finally, [pg 453] separation from the world came to be regarded as an end in itself.[1451]
Now, it cannot be denied that these laws actually disciplined the medieval Jew, so that during centuries of wild dissipation he practiced sobriety and moderation; as Maimonides says,[1452] they served as lessons in self-mastery, in curbing carnal desire, and keeping him clean in soul as well as body. The question remains whether they still fulfill their real object of consecrating Israel to its priestly mission among the nations. Certainly the priestly character of these laws is no longer understood, and the great majority of the Jewish people who live among the various nations have long discarded them. Orthodox Judaism, which follows tradition without inquiring into the purpose of the laws, is entirely consistent in maintaining the importance of every item of the traditional Jewish life. Reform Judaism has a different view, as it sees in the humanitarianism of the present a mode of realizing the Messianic hope of Israel. Therefore it cannot afford to encourage the separation of the Jew from his environment in any way except through the maintenance of his religion, and cannot encourage the dietary laws as a means of separatism. Its great problem is to find other methods to inculcate the spirit of holiness in the modern Jew, to render him conscious of his priestly mission, while he lives in unison and fellowship with all his fellow-citizens.[1453]
6. The tendency to distinguish the Jew from his non-Jewish neighbor in the course of time found expression in the laws for wearing phylacteries (tefillin) on his forehead and arm, a special sign on the doorpost of his house (mezuzzah) [pg 454] and fringes (zizith) on the four corners of his shawl (tallith).[1454] As a matter of fact, the original Biblical passages had no such meaning, but acquired it through rabbinical interpretation. The Mosaic law said: “And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the doorposts of thy house and upon thy gates.” This refers clearly to the words of God, admonishing the people to keep them in mind, as the preceding verse indicates. Likewise, the precept regarding the fringes upon the four-cornered garment emphasizes rather the blue thread in the fringes, which is to help the people remember the commandments of the Lord, that they may not go astray, “following after the promptings of their own hearts and eyes.” As the name phylacteries shows, these were originally talismans or amulets. True, the law as stated in Deuteronomy may be taken symbolically;[1455] but the corresponding passage in Exodus, which is traditionally referred to the phylacteries, indicates its origin by its close relation to the Passover sacrifice. The blood of this was, no doubt, put originally on the arm and forehead,[1456] which is still done by the Samaritans[1457] and has striking parallels in the practice of the Fellahin in Palestine and Syria.[1458] Originally the sacrificial blood was supposed to ward off evil spirits from men, beasts and houses or tents, and gradually this pagan custom was transformed into a religious precept to consecrate the body, life, and home of the Jew. In more ancient times the phylacteries were worn by pious men and women all day and not merely during the time of prayer, and seem to have served [pg 455] both as a religious symbol and an amulet. This was certainly the case with the mezuzzah on the doorpost and probably with the blue thread at the corners of the tallith.[1459] As both phylacteries and tallith came into use at the divine service in connection with the recital of the Shema and the chapter on the zizith, the symbols assumed a higher meaning. Arrayed in his vestments, the pious Jew offered daily allegiance to his Maker, feeling that he was thereby protected from evil within and without; similarly, the sacred sign upon the door both consecrated and protected his home. Even with this conception the talismanic character was never quite forgotten. Throughout the Middle Ages these ceremonies were observed as divine commandments; and tradition having seemingly fixed them for all time, the Jew took great pride in the fact that he was “distinguished” in many ways, and especially in his forms of worship.[1460] Of course, they distinguished him far more when these ceremonies were practiced for the entire day. Since the modern era has brought the Jew nearer to his neighbors and he has opened the Synagogue to invite the non-Jewish world to hear its teachings, these practices have lost their hold upon the people, becoming meaningless forms. The wearing of these sacred symbols while at prayer seems superfluous as a means of “turning men's hearts away from frivolous and sinful thoughts.”[1461]
7. The most important institution of the Synagogue, and the one most fraught with blessing for all mankind, is the Sabbath. Although its name and existence point to a Babylonian [pg 456] origin,[1462] it is still the peculiar creation of the Jewish genius and a chief pillar of the Jewish religion. As a day of rest crowning the daily labor of the week, it testifies to the Creator of the universe who made all that is in accordance with His divine plan of perfection. The underlying idea expressed in Scripture is that the Sabbath is a divine institution. As God himself worked out His design for the world in absolute freedom and rested with delight at its completion, so man is to follow His example, working during six days of the week and then enjoying the rest of the Sabbath with a mind elated by higher thoughts. Moreover, the day of rest observed by Israel should recall his redemption from the slavery and continual labor of Egypt. Thereby every creature made in God's image, the slave and stranger as well as the born Israelite, is given the heavenly boon of freedom and recreation to hallow the labor of the week. There are thus two explanations given for the Sabbath, one in the Decalogue of Exodus, the Holiness Code and Priestly Code,[1463] the other in the Decalogue of Deuteronomy and the Book of the Covenant.[1464]
These two views, in turn, gave rise to different conceptions of the Sabbath laws. Many ancient teachers laid chief stress on the letter of the law which bids men cease from labor. Others, who penetrated farther into the spirit of Deuteronomy and the Covenant Code, emphasized the human need for relaxation and refreshment of soul. The older school, especially the Sadducees, demanded absolute cessation of labor on pain of death for any work, however insignificant, and even for the moving from one place to another. They thought of [pg 457] the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel, and hence held that it should be observed as punctiliously as possible.[1465] In the same measure as the Pharisees, with their program of religious democracy and common sense, obtained the upper hand, the Biblical strictness of the Sabbath law was modified. The term labor was defined by analogy with the work done for the tabernacle, and so restricted as to make the death penalty much more limited.[1466] Moreover, the Pharisees held that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;[1467] so, although they adhered strictly to the prohibition of labor, the Sabbath received at their hands more of the other element, and became a day for the elevation of the soul, “a day of delight” for the spirit.[1468] The whole man, body and soul alike, should enjoy God's gifts more fully on this day; he should cast off care and sanctify the day by praise offered to God at the family table. At a very early period in Israel the Sabbath was distinguished by the words of instruction and comfort offered by the prophets to the people who consulted them on the day of rest.[1469] During the Exile and afterward the people assembled on the Sabbath to hear the word of God read from the Torah and the prophets and to join in prayer and song, which soon became a permanent institution.[1470] Thus the Sabbath elevated and educated the Jewish people, and afterward transferred its blessings also to the Christian and Mohammedan world. Especially during the Middle Ages the Sabbath became an oasis, a refreshing spring of water for the Jew. All through the week he was a [pg 458] Pariah in the outside world, but the Sabbath brought him bliss in his home and spiritual power in his Synagogue and school. Cheerfully he bore the yoke of statutes and ordinances that grew ever heavier under the rabbinical amplification; for he hailed the Sabbath as the “queen” that raised him from a hated wanderer to a prince in his own domain.[1471]
Modern life has worked great changes in the Jewish observance of the Sabbath. Caught up in the whirl of commercial and industrial competition, the Jew, like Ixion in the fable, is bound to his wheel of business, and enjoys neither rest for his body nor elevation for his soul on God's holy day. True, the Synagogue still preserves the sanctity of the ancient Sabbath, however small may be the attendance at the divine service, and in many pious homes the family still rallies around the festive table, lighted by the Sabbath lamp and decorated by the symbolic cup of wine. But for the majority of Western Jews the Sabbath has lost its pristine sanctity and splendor, to the great detriment of Jewish religious life. Therefore many now ask: “Is it sufficient to have a vicarious observance of the historical Sabbath, the ‘sign between God and Israel,’ by an hour or two in the Synagogue, but without rest for the entire day? Or shall the civic day of rest, though Christian in origin and character, take the place of the Jewish Sabbath with its sacred traditions, so that possibly at last it may become the Sabbath day predicted by the seer upon which ‘all flesh shall come to worship before the Lord’?”[1472] In the halcyon days of the reform movement in Germany this view was often expressed when the radical reformers celebrated the civic day of rest as the Jewish Sabbath, not in the spirit of dissension, but for the sake of giving Judaism a larger scope and a wider outlook. In America, too, the idea [pg 459] of transferring the Sabbath to Sunday was broached by some leading Reform rabbis and met with hearty support on the part of their congregations. Since then a more conservative view has taken hold of most of the liberal elements of Jewry also in America. While divine service on Sundays has been introduced with decided success in many cities and eminent preachers bring the message of Judaism home to thousands that would otherwise remain strangers to the house of God and to the influence of religion, the conviction has become well established that the continuity with our great past must be upheld, and the general feeling is that the historical Sabbath should under no condition be entirely given up. It is inseparably connected with the election of Israel as a priest-people, while the Christian “Lord's Day” represents views and tendencies opposed to those of Judaism, whether considered in its original meaning or in that given it by the Church.[1473] The Jew may properly use the civic day of rest in common with his Christian fellow-citizen for religious devotion and instruction for young and old; it will supplement his neglected Sabbath service, until conditions have changed. Perhaps the Jew in Mohammedan countries may even at some time observe Friday as is done by the Mosque, and accordingly consecrate this day in common with his fellow-citizens. Still, between the Sabbath observed by the Church and the one of the Mosque stands the Jewish Sabbath in solemn grandeur and patriarchal dignity, waiting with Israel, its keeper and ally, for the day when all humanity will worship the one holy God of Abraham, and when our ancient Sabbath may truly become the Sabbath of the world.
8. In all lands time was originally regulated by the movements of the moon, which are within the observation of all. The alternation of its increase and decrease divided the month into two parts, which were then subdivided into four. Therefore [pg 460] the original month among both the Babylonians and the Hebrews consisted of four weeks of seven days each, the last day of each week being the Sabbath, the “day of standstill,” and two days of the new moon.[1474] Both the new moon and full moon were special days of celebration,[1475] and later two other Sabbath days were added between them to correspond to the four phases of the moon. Still later the week was detached altogether from the moon and made a fixed period of seven days, solemnly ended by the Sabbath. Thus Judaism raised the Sabbath above all dependence on nature and into the realm of holiness. The Jewish Sabbath became the witness to God, the Creator ruling above nature in absolute freedom.[1476]
Still the ancient festival of the new moon was preserved as an observance in the Temple, and it afterward survived only in the liturgy of the Synagogue. While ancient Israel had observed the New Moon as a day of rest even more sacred than the Sabbath,[1477] the Priestly Code placed it among the festivals only as a day of sacrifice, but as neither a day of rest nor of popular celebration.[1478] Beside the recital of the Hallel Psalms and the Mussaf (“additional”) prayer in the Synagogue no religious significance was attached to it in the daily life of the people. Still the fact that the Jewish calendar was regulated by the moon, while that of other nations depended on the solar year, led the rabbis to compare the unique history of Israel to the course of the moon. As the moon changes continually, waxing and waning but ever renewing itself after each decline, so Israel renews itself after every fall; while the proud nations of the world, which count their year by the course of the sun, rise and set, as it does, with no hope of [pg 461] renewal.[1479] At the same time, assurance was found in the prophetic words that “the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of the seven days” and “thy (Israel's) sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light.”[1480]
9. The various Jewish festivals, like the Sabbath, were detached from their original relation to nature and turned into historical memorials, eloquent testimonies to the great works of God and of Israel's power of rejuvenation. The Passover was originally the spring festival of the shepherds when they hallowed the thresholds,[1481] but was later identified with the agricultural Feast of Unleavened Bread in Palestine, and at an early period was further transformed into a festival of redemption. The former rites of consecration of tent and herd were taken as symbols of the wondrous deliverance of the Hebrews from the Egyptian yoke. The sacrifice of the “passing over the threshold,” with the sprinkling of the blood on the doorposts and lintels of each house, observed each spring exactly as is still done among the semi-pagan inhabitants of Syria and Arabia, was reinterpreted. According to the Mosaic code it indicated the wondrous passing of the angel of death over the thresholds of the Israelites in Egypt, while he entered the homes of the Egyptians to slay the first-born and avenge the wrongs of Israel.[1482] Likewise the cakes of bread without leaven (the Mazzoth) baked for [pg 462] the festival were taken as reminders of the hasty exodus of the fathers from the land of oppression. Thus the spring festival became a memorial of the springtime of liberty for the nation and at the same time a consecration of the Jewish home to the covenant God of Israel. God was to enter the Jewish home as He did in Egypt, as the Redeemer and Protector of Israel. Young and old listened with perennial interest to the story of the deliverance, offering praise for the wonders of the past and voicing their confidence in the future redemption from oppression and woe.
However burdensome the Passover minutiæ, especially in regard to the prohibition of leaven, became to the Jewish household, the predominant feature was always an exuberance of joy. In the darkest days of medievalism the synagogue and home resounded with song and thanksgiving, and the young imbibed the joy and comfort of their elders through the beautiful symbols of the feast and the richly adorned tale of the deliverance (the Haggadah). The Passover feast with its “night of divine watching” endowed the Jew ever anew with endurance during the dark night of medieval tyranny, and with faith in “the Keeper of Israel who slumbereth not nor sleepeth.”[1483] Moreover, as the springtide of nature fills each creature with joy and hope, so Israel's feast of redemption promises the great day of liberty to those who still chafe under the yoke of oppression. The modern Jew is beginning to see in the reawakening of his religious and social life in western lands the token of the future liberation of all mankind.[1484] The Passover feast brings him the clear and hopeful message of freedom for humanity from all bondage of body and of spirit.