The Maccabaean

JUDAISM cannot be confined within the narrow bounds of a religion as ordinarily defined. It differs from Catholicism and Protestantism, and is unlike any other religious creed, for Judaism is far more than a mere faith supplemented by rules and regulations for the observance of prayers and holidays. Indeed, in its genesis and history, Judaism is a peculiar religion even as the Jews are peculiar people. In our own day, religion has become such a necessary convenience for easing the conscience and “uplifting” the soul, that Judaism cannot be classified as a religion at all, without doing violence to its full significance. Judaism is a whole system of law—The Jewish Law of Life—in which the attempt is made to regulate the whole life—conduct of the individual with the avowed purpose of building his character, shaping his activities and promoting the community life of the people who follow its precepts. In modern life, religion is assigned to an honored but restricted sphere of influence with the injunction not to wander into secular fields. But in Jewish history there is no sharp line of distinction between the religious and the secular, for the very simple reason that the whole life of the Jew is viewed as religious.

The Orthodox Jew is commanded by his religion to wash before each meal, to prepare his food in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Rabbis, and, in his prayers, to repeat that, in the future, “from Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” These and many other Jewish rites cannot be construed as religious precepts unless we include in the word “religion,” the whole “conduct” of man—his habits, his relation to his fellowmen and the aspirations for community life in the future. The major part of the intricate pages of the Talmud is devoted to discussions and debates, not over metaphysical concepts of the Godhead and “faith” and “creed,” but to an explanation and elucidation of the relationship between man and man—the laws of marriage and divorce, contractual rights, tort, criminal law and the rights of property. Judaism may be compared to Catholicism and Protestantism only if we add to these religious institutions all the codes of civil and criminal law of the states in which Catholics and Protestants reside, and supplement such statutes by all the decisions of the appelate courts in such countries. If the Catholic Church of Mediaval Europe, in its struggle with the Holy Roman Empire, had succeeded in abolishing all political lines in Europe, so that all Christians would have become the citizens of a Catholic Empire, with the Pope as the temporal as well as the spiritual head, we might then have had a religion comparable to Judaism. As a matter of fact, Judaism, in the olden days, was inextricably bound up with a government and territorial interests—in the Holy Land. Despite the loss of statehood and the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, Judaism has succeeded in surviving as a whole system of law, without, however, the coercive power of the state.

ke erh File rl he A ren ee ei De N it A Ban er te Er ae So In a very real sense, Judaism is the “Common Law” of the Tews. Students of English and American

legal history appreciate the full significance of such a "Common Law"—developed slowly, through many ages, by the decisions of Judges, each judgment resting upon the precedents of earlier opinions and deriving its binding force mainly from the sanction of the community in support of its own recognized customs and the accepted "rules of right" of the Common Law. The Common Law of the Anglo-Saxons represents a gradual growth of precedents upon precedents, showing the constant harmonization between law and the customs, practices and conditions of each age. In this respect, Jewish Law or Judaism bears a close analogy to the Common Law, and when we review the efforts of famous judges to ascertain the opinions of Coke, of Mansfield and of Marshall we are constantly reminded of the great Rabbis who seek for their sanction in the views of Hillel, Jochanan Ben Zacai and Akiba.

In this larger sense, Judaism is not a religion, or not merely a religion, but a legal system. And yet, for centuries, because of unfavorable external conditions, the Jewish people has been unable to continue the normal development of the Jewish Common Law known as Judaism. Picture to yourself the condition of Englısh Law if its development had ceased with the legal opinions of Lord Mansfield! And yet, there has been no appreciable development in Jewish Law for centuries—its normal course having been interrupted since the compilation of the Talmud.

The vast majority of Jews, mindful of the traditions that are part and parcel of Judaism, and responsive to the whole trend of Jewish history, see in Judaism a whole theory of life and a complementary system of laws to regulate such life. Such a religion cannot be contrasted with "secular," for both the religious and secular activities of Jews constitute part of the wide domain of Judaism.

Matthew Arnold correctly interpreted the Hebraic spirit by insisting that "conduct" represents the Hebrew concept of life—and the apostle of culture was constrained to admit that "conduct" comprises three-quarters of all life-activity. It is just this "conduct" that is the keynote to a proper understanding of the Hebrew spirit and Jewish life throughout the Ages. Not "what does a man believe, not what is his creed, but what does he do, what are his habits and conduct in everyday life"—this is the supreme question which prompts the answering words of the prophets of Israel, invokes the reasoning power of the Talmudists of the olden days, and arrests the attention of the Rabbis of our own time.

Because Judaism is largely a system of laws of conduct, intended to regulate the life activity of its members, it is necessary that some authoritative body should exist, at all times, to interpret these laws and to modify these living rules in accordance with the ever changing conditions of a world in evolution. In early Hebrew history, the prophets, speaking in the name of the Lord, proclaimed the “rule of right” in a Hebrew Commonwealth, and through that means afforded an opportunity for harmonizing the Jewish Law with the proper demands of each generation. At a later neriod. the Talmudists—partilv throuoh the Sanhedrin