IN rabbinical ethics, holiness is the highest ideal. The entire system of the Jewish law has the hallowing of life as its aim, to be reached through good works, through observance of the Sabbath and Holy-days, and through the sanctification of God’s name (Kiddush Hashem). Holiness became for rabbinical Judaism synonymous with purity of life, purity of action, and purity of thought; and under its influence personal purity in Judaism became the highest standard and maxim of ethics found in any religious system.
K. KOHLER,[79] 1904.
‘CLEANLINESS is next to Godliness.’—Carefulness leads to cleanliness; cleanliness to purity; purity to humility; humility to saintliness; saintliness to fear of sin; fear of sin to holiness; and holiness to immortality.
TALMUD.
THE CITY OF GOD
DO not seek for the City of God on earth, for it is not built of wood or stone; but seek it in the soul of the man who is at peace with himself and is a lover of true wisdom.
If a man practises ablutions of the body, but defiles his mind—if he offers hecatombs, founds a temple, adorns a shrine, and does nothing for making his soul beautiful—let him not be called religious. He has wandered far from real religion, mistaking ritual for holiness; attempting, as it were, to bribe the Incorruptible and to flatter Him whom none can flatter. God welcomes the genuine service of a soul, the sacrifice of truth; but from display of wealth He turns away.