THE JEWISH RELIGION.
INTRODUCTION.
“Man is the most privileged of creatures; he has been made in the image of God. His privilege is still further enhanced by the fact that he has been made aware of his distinction” (Aboth iii. 14). There is in man a consciousness or feeling of a certain relation between him and a superior Being, on whose Will his own existence depends. This consciousness is the basis of religion, but is not religion itself. It is the influence which this feeling exercises over man’s actions and conduct in life that forms the essence of religion. When man begins to feel that he is responsible for his actions to a higher Being, and forms his actions in harmony with this feeling, he may be called religious. Two elements must therefore be distinguished in religion: the notion of man’s dependence on and responsibility to a superior Being, and the influence of this notion on his actions: religious belief and religious practice, or faith and duty. Religious belief or faith, in its most simple and most general form, may be said to be common almost to all mankind; and in the great variety of faiths, produced by [[2]]various circumstances and experiences, this simple idea may easily be detected as the fundamental principle of all of them. The same can be said with regard to religious practice. There are certain fundamental principles of duty which are recognised and adopted by the most diverse religious sects; they form, as it were, the common stem from which a large number of branches spring forth in all directions. These branches diverge more and more the larger they grow and the more numerous they become.
Judaism is one of these various religions. It has been the source of most of the religions of the civilised world, and is destined to become, in its simplest principles, the universal religion.
What is Judaism? or what does Judaism teach its adherents to believe, and what does it teach them to do? The answers to these two questions form the main subject of every book on our holy religion. The answer to the first question must include our doctrine about God, His attributes, His relation to the material world, and especially to man; the mission of man, his hopes and fears. The answer to the second question must include our duties toward God, toward our fellow-men, and toward ourselves. Both answers must be based on that which we are taught in the Holy Writings, and especially in the Torah. Recourse may be had to philosophic speculation, to which, indeed, the first question peculiarly invites, but the result must be rectified by the teaching of the Torah.
In accordance with the maxim, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for [[3]]ever: that we may do all the words of this Law,” abstruse metaphysical disquisitions about the essence and the attributes of the Divine Being will be avoided in the present work, as also every attempt at proving, philosophically or mathematically, truths which have been revealed unto us in a supernatural way.[1] But the simple truths taught in the Holy Writings and explained by our sages will be expounded, the different opinions about them will be examined, and it will be shown that these truths are not contradicted by common sense or by the results of scientific research.
The second question, however, What does Judaism teach us to do? refers to “the things which are revealed,” and must be treated more fully. Care will be taken, as far as possible, that nothing be omitted that is required for the right understanding and the correct estimate of our religious duties. [[4]]
Religion therefore includes two elements: faith and practice. In religious life, as well as in the teaching of religion, both elements are equally essential; faith without religious practice does not suffice, nor the latter without faith. We are accustomed to look upon certain dogmas as fundamental, and certain practices as essential, and are therefore prone to renounce beliefs which are not fundamental in our eyes, and to abandon such religious practice as seems to us less essential. Hence the frequent inquiry as to what is the minimum of belief, and what the minimum degree of conformity to the Law, that Judaism demands. But in reality there can be no compromise in religion, whether in matters of faith or of practice. Convinced of a certain number of truths, it is impossible for us to abandon any of them without being false to ourselves; being convinced of the binding character of certain religious commands and prohibitions, it would be perverse to pronounce at the same time part of them as superfluous. Judaism is the adherence to the truths taught in the Holy Law, and the faithful obedience to its precepts.
The principal Hebrew equivalents for the modern term “Religion,” תורה and אמונה, confirm this view. In the Bible תורה signifies “instruction,” and is applied to the teaching of religions truth, as well as to that of religious precepts. The same is the case with the second term אמונה which signifies “firmness,” “perseverance,” or “permanence,” and is used of “consistency” in faith as well as of conscientiousness in the practice of the Divine ordinances.[2] [[5]]