II. OUR DUTIES.

Introduction.

The king, in Rabbi Jehudah ha-levi’s Cuzari, anxious to lead a good and religious life, was told by an angel who appeared to him in a dream that his heart was good, but his deeds were not acceptable. The purity and goodness of our heart certainly ennobles our deeds and gives them the stamp of sincerity and holiness, though they may not be marked by absolute perfection. But an inner voice, our conscience, does not allow us to be content with the goodness of the heart; we feel the necessity of seeking also perfection of words and deeds. We wish not only our heart but also our entire self to be good, so that our inner life and outer life, our feeling and thinking, our speaking and doing, may combine into one harmonious whole, which comes as near perfection as possible.

There are persons who question the wisdom and usefulness of the precepts; they call it legalism, and are opposed to the tendency of subjecting every act of ours to the control of the Law. They argue that legalism tends to weaken our regard for the Law, and trains hypocrites rather than true servants of the Lord. It is a bold assertion, but one that rests on imagination and prejudice. Is it possible that such a constant reminder of God’s presence as the Divine precepts supply should not have a beneficent influence over us, by making us feel encouraged by His presence when we are engaged in a good cause, and discouraged when we are about to do wrong? If persons are found who are devout worshippers at one time and criminals at another, it only shows human weakness in the moment of trial in spite of good resolves and genuine devotion; and were it not for the effect of such devotion, the number of crimes would probably be far greater.

A truly pious man will never imagine that he may freely transgress one set of the precepts, if he strictly obeys another set; that he may, e.g., wrong his neighbour, and compensate for his sins by regular attendance at the place of worship, or by a strict observance of the dietary laws, or the laws of Sabbath and Festivals; or that he may freely break the latter, if only he is honest, just, and charitable. The precepts have all the same Divine origin; the all-wise and all-kind God, who has commanded us to walk in the way of justice and righteousness, has also ordained the Sabbath, given the dietary laws, and established the sacrificial service. He who selects some of the precepts and rejects the rest substitutes his own authority for that of the Almighty, and places his own wisdom above the wisdom of Him who gave us the Law.

“Be as zealous in the performance of an unimportant precept as of an important one,” is one of the maxims taught in the “Sayings of the Fathers.” A difference between precept and precept is here admitted, but only in so far as they seem to us more or less important, with regard to the good which their observance produces or the evil which is caused by their neglect. In case of a conflict of two duties we give the preference to that which seems to us more important. In times of religious persecution the question frequently arose how far resistance was necessary, and how far religious practice might yield to physical force. The rule has been laid down, that when our life is threatened we may transgress any precept; but we must not allow ourselves, under any circumstances, to be forced to idolatry, murder, or adultery (‏עבודה זרה גלוי עריות ושפיכות דמים‎); we must prefer death to committing any of these sins. But in times of trouble and persecution the spirit of resistance is as a rule too strong to be kept within the strict lines of demarcation, and life is willingly and heroically sacrificed for any religious duty. This is not surprising, for every religious act which is chosen by the enemy as a test to prove the faithfulness or the faithlessness of the persecuted sect to its own religion, receives thereby the stamp of great importance.

Similar questions are also asked in times of peace, when some of our brethren reject the authority of the Oral Law, while others refuse even to recognise the authority of the Written Law, when some set aside the Divine precepts out of convenience, and others from principle, and still others from ignorance; when some limit their Judaism to the nominal membership of the Jewish race, and others to a negation of other creeds. Are all these Jews? Whatever the answer to this question may be from a practical, political, social, and communal point of view, the fact is that they are Jews. They may have forfeited certain privileges, they may be disqualified for certain religious offices, they may be dangerous to the religious peace of our family or community: they are notwithstanding Jews, and are bound to live in accordance with the Law which the Almighty has given to the Jews and for the Jews. Our Sages say: ‏אף על פי שחטא ישראל הוא‎, “Although a man may have sinned, he is an Israelite still.” No theologian, Rabbi, or teacher, or Beth-din, or Sanhedrin, has the power of granting absolution, or telling those who break or reject any portion of the Divine precepts that they are not doing wrong. No human being has the authority to abrogate laws revealed by God. Why then, some may ask, do prophets and moralists, the Rabbis of the Talmud not excluded, single out ethical principles for special recommendation to their fellow-men, generally observing silence about the rest of the Divine commands? The answer is simple. The ethical principles and the Divine commandments embodying them are different in kind from the rest of the commandments. The latter are distinct, well defined, and the punishment for their transgression is fixed; they are unchangeable, and not capable of expansion.

The dietary laws, e.g., are exactly the same now as they were in the days of Moses. So also the laws concerning Sabbath. What was then prohibited by the Sabbath is prohibited still. The ethical principles, however, are capable of development, and the moral standard rises with the progress of civilisation. Hence the constant dissatisfaction of prophets, preachers, and teachers with the moral principles of their followers. They have a higher standard of morality, and strive to raise the moral consciousness of their generations to their own height.

It is, therefore, no wonder that the prophet Isaiah exhorts his brethren: “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil: learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (i. 16, 17). “He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil, he shall dwell on high,” &c. (Ibid. xxxiii. 15, 16). In the same sense the virtuous man is described by all prophets; also in Ps. xv. and Ps. xxiv.

R. Akiba says: “ ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ (Lev. xix. 18) is an important principle in the Torah,” but at the same time he shows what importance he ascribes to all other principles and precepts of the Law by most carefully examining the details of every one of them alike. The great Hillel told the Gentile who desired to become a Jew: “ ‘Do not to thy neighbour what is hateful to you;’ this is our whole religion;” but that he did not ignore the remainder of the Torah, or consider it as not essential, is proved by the additional words: “The rest is its explanation; go and learn” (Babyl. Talmud, Sabbath, 31a). Hillel only gave the proselyte a lesson which would lead him to obey all the words of the Almighty.

Rabbi Simlai (Yalkut on Micah vi. 8) said: “Six hundred and thirteen commandments were given to Moses on Mount Sinai; David reduced them to eleven (Ps. xv.); Isaiah reduced them to six (xxxiii. 16, 17); Micah (vi. 8) to three; then Isaiah reduced them again to two (lvi. 1); and Habakkuk to one—Faith (ii. 4).” This Rabbi does certainly not mean to say that Isaiah cancelled some of the eleven virtues mentioned by David, or that Habakkuk only demanded Faith, and did not consider it essential that man should be righteous, truthful, &c. Rabbi Simlai intended only to point out that by training ourselves in the practice of certain virtues, the fulfilment of all Divine precepts will be greatly facilitated.

All the commandments of the holy Torah are equally Divine. Laws concerning justice and humanity, and laws concerning Sabbath and Holydays, are equally introduced by the declaration, “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying.” The commandments, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and “A garment of diverse kinds, of linen and wool, shall not come upon thee,” stand side by side in the same paragraph. The equality of all the precepts as the expression of the Will of the Almighty is clearly set forth in the Law, in the frequent exhortations that the Israelites should obey all the precepts, whatever their nature may be, whether they be of the class of “statutes” or of “judgments,” or of any other class of Divine commands. (Comp. Exod. xv. 25, 26; Lev. xxvi. 15, 43; Num. xv. 39, 40; Deut. iv. 1, 5, 8, &c.)

As to the various terms employed in the Pentateuch to designate the Divine precepts: words (‏דברים‎), commandments (‏מצוות‎), statutes (‏חקים‎), judgments (‏משפטים‎), and laws (‏תורות‎), they may be considered as synonyms signifying similar things. But even synonyms are as a rule distinguished from each other by a certain variation in their meaning, especially when the terms occur in one and the same sentence. A definition of these terms is not given in the Pentateuch or in the Bible; from the context, however, in which they occur the following distinction may be drawn:—

‏חק‎ or ‏חקה‎, “statute,” is applied to those laws which are absolute and do not depend on certain conditions, whilst mishpat, “judgment,” is a law the performance of which varies according to circumstances. Thus the Paschal sacrifice is called chukkah, and must absolutely be performed, whilst the civil laws concerning slaves, damages, &c., are mishpatim, because cases of slavery or damages need not occur, and the respective precepts are then not carried into effect. In a similar manner Jewish theologians divide the Divine precepts into ‏מצות שמעיות‎ and ‏מצות שכליות‎ precepts which our duty of obedience to God makes us perform, and precepts which, without distinct Divine command, our own reason would impel us to do.—The other terms, mitsvah, “commandment,” and mishmereth, “charge,” are used in a general sense, the former in reference to the Giver of the law, and the latter in reference to those to whom it is addressed.

The division of the precepts into ‏שמעיות‎ and ‏שכליות‎ is a vague one, and the line of demarcation will be moved farther to the one side or the other, according to the judgment exercised by the interpreter. Of greater importance is the division into positive and negative precepts, commandments, and prohibitions, ‏מצות עשה‎ and ‏מצות לא תעשה‎. The prohibitions are of two kinds: such as admit of amends being made for their transgression and such as do not admit: ‏שיש בה קום עשה‎ and ‏שאין בה קום עשה‎.

The number of the commandments is, according to Rabbi Simlai, 613 (‏תר״יג‎), and in some editions of the Pentateuch the number of each commandment has been noted in the margin. Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, in the introduction to his Mishneh-torah, enumerates the 613 mitsvoth. They are also contained in liturgical compositions, called ‏אזהרות‎ “exhortations,” or “precepts,” such as are met with in the Machzor for the Feast of Weeks.

Another theologian, Rabbenu Jakob, divided the code of laws into four sections: (1) Divine worship, Sabbath, festivals, and fasts; (2) Things forbidden and things permitted in satisfying our bodily desires; (3) Marriages; (4) Civil laws.

The latter work was recast by Rabbi Joseph Caro, and in the new form, with the new title Shulchan Aruch, it has become the standard work of Jewish law and life, and its authority has been recognised and upheld by Jews in the East and the West. Annotations (‏הגהות‎) were added by Rabbi Moses Isserles, but his opinion, when differing from that of Rabbi Joseph Caro, was only accepted by the Polish and German Congregations, not by the Sephardim.

Rabbi Joseph Caro, Rabbenu Jakob, and Maimonides appear, in their respective codes, not as legislators but as compilers. The Torah and the Talmud were the sources from which they all drew their laws. But laws, minhagim or customs, and institutions (‏תקנות‎) of a post-Talmudic date were not neglected. Questions arising in the course of time, through new and changed conditions of life, are, as a rule, discussed and decided in notes and commentaries on the Shulchan Aruch. There are also numerous special works on such occasional questions; they are called “Responsa” (‏תשובות‎ “Answers,” or ‏שאלות ותשובות‎ “Questions and Answers”), and the importance attributed to them varies according to the reputation of the respective authors.

What is the object of the Divine laws? This is a question that naturally rises in the minds of those to whom they are addressed. But the question has been anticipated by Him “who knoweth the thoughts of the sons of man,” and the answer is found in clear and distinct words in the fountain of living waters, the Torah, that never fails to satisfy our thirst for truth: “Thou shalt keep his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee” (Deut. iv. 40). “And now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul: to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes which I command thee this day, for thy good” (ibid. x. 12, 13). It is for our benefit, for our well-being, that the laws were revealed to us; they serve to make us good and happy; they train us in the mastery over our appetites and desires, in the practice of charity and justice, and in the conception of noble, pure, and lofty ideas, and bring us nearer and nearer in perfection the Being in whose image and likeness we have been created.

What share each individual precept has in the attainment of this end we cannot state with certainty, because in the Torah the reason and purpose of each precept is, with very few exceptions, withheld from us. In many cases our reflection on the nature of a special law, or on the context in which it occurs in the Pentateuch, leads to a discovery of some reason for it. But, whatever reason we may thus discover, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is we who have found it, we whose knowledge is imperfect, and that we or others might in future discover a better reason. If we, e.g., find that certain dietary laws serve to train us in temperance, and see that the virtue of temperance is frequently recommended in the Bible, we may well obey these dietary laws, and strive to be temperate in every respect in accordance with the spirit we detect in them. It would, however, be a gross error if, believing the training in temperance to be their only object, we assumed that we could neglect them, and attain the same object by substituting our own insufficient knowledge and imperfect reason for the Will and Wisdom of the most perfect Being. Moralists, our teachers and preachers of ancient and modern times, have found in these precepts an inexhaustible treasure of lessons exhorting to virtue and warning against vice, and the great variety of inferences thus drawn from the same source proves the error of those who imagine that their own exposition is the only right one. Whatever reason we assign to a religious precept, and whatever wholesome lesson we derive from it, our first duty towards the commandment, and towards Him who commanded it, is strict and unconditional obedience.

Maimonides, who may be considered as the representative of the school which seeks to establish a rational explanation for all precepts, admits that the reason we may assign to any of the commandments cannot affect their validity and immutability, and we are bound to obey them, although the supposed reason may be of a local or temporary character. According to Maimonides, the object of the Law is to promote the well-being of our body and the well-being of our soul; and every commandment has therefore some bearing upon one of the following three things: the regulation of our opinions, the removal of sin, or the teaching of good morals. He does not except the “statutes” from this rule, but confesses that in a few cases he is unable to show clearly the relation of the commandment to any of these objects. He also restricts the principle of rational interpretation to the main element in each commandment, and does not apply it to its details; the latter, as a rule, do not demand an explanation. He says:—

“The general object of the Law is twofold: the well-being of the soul and the well-being of the body” (Guide, iii. 27). “I am prepared to tell you my explanations of all these commandments (the so-called chukkim or “statutes”), and to assign for them a true reason supported by proof, with the exception of some minor rules and of a few commandments. I will show that all these and similar laws must have some bearing upon one of the following three things, viz., the regulation of our opinions or the improvement of our social relations, which implies two things: the removal of wrong-doing and the teaching of good morals” (ibid. xxviii.). “The repeated assertion of our Sages that there are reasons for all commandments, and the tradition that Solomon knew them, refer to the general purpose of the commandments, and not to the object of every detail. This being the case, I find it convenient to divide the six hundred and thirteen precepts into classes; each class to include many precepts of the same kind. I will first explain the reason of each class of precepts, and show their common object, and then I shall discuss the individual commandments and expound their reasons. Only very few will be left unexplained, the reason for which I have been unable to trace unto this day. I have also been able to comprehend in some cases even the object of many of the conditions and details of the laws as far as it can be discovered” (ibid. xxvi.).

“It is also important to note that the Law does not take into account exceptional circumstances; it is not based on conditions which rarely occur.” “We must therefore not be surprised when we find that the object of the Law does not fully appear in every individual case.” “From this consideration it follows that the Law cannot, like medicine, vary according to the different conditions of persons and times. Whilst the cure of a person depends on his particular constitution at the particular time, the Divine guidance contained in the Law must be certain and general, although it may be effective in some cases and ineffective in others. If the Law depended on the varying conditions of man, it would be imperfect in its totality, each precept being left indefinite. For this reason, it would not be right to make the fundamental principles of the Law dependent on a certain time or a certain place. On the contrary, the statutes and the judgments must be definite, unconditional, and general, in accordance with the Divine words: ‘As for the congregation, one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger’ (Num. xv. 15). They are intended, as has been stated before, for all persons and for all times” (ibid. xxxiv.).

In the present treatise our religious duties will be expounded under the following seven heads:—

1. Exposition of the Decalogue.

2. General ethical principles— (a.) Duties towards God. (b.) Duties,, towards,, our fellow-men. (c.) Duties,, towards,, ourselves.

3. Outward reminders of God’s Presence.

4. Sabbath, Festivals, and Fasts.

5. Divine Worship.

6. Dietary Laws.

7. Jewish Life.

I. The Ten Commandments. ‏עשרת הדברות‎

The “Ten Words” are distinguished from all other lessons of the Torah both on account of their intrinsic value and on account of the extraordinary manner in which they have been revealed by the Almighty on Mount Sinai. They form the contents of “the covenant which God made with us” (Deut. v. 3).

But it must not be forgotten that they are not the only Divine commandments. When, therefore, Moses repeated them before his brethren in the plain of Moab, he prefaced it by the exhortation: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak unto you to-day, and learn them and keep them to do them” (ibid. 1); and after he had finished reciting them he reminded the Israelites how they received the Ten Commandments from the midst of the fire, and how they prayed that further commandments should be given to them through Moses; adding that the Almighty, in compliance with their petition, said to him: “Stand thou here with me, and I will tell thee the whole commandment, both the statutes and the judgments which thou shalt teach them” (ibid. 28).

“And God spake all these words, saying:”

First Commandment.

“I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

The Israelites who now stood round Mount Sinai and heard the voice of God saying, “I am the Lord thy God,” were the same who a very short time before had been slaves in Egypt; they were delivered from slavery, and saw their cruel taskmasters perish in the waves of the Red Sea. Pharaoh, the king of the Egyptians, and his people had believed that they were the masters of the Israelites, and that they could do with them as they pleased. And Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should listen to his voice? I know not the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” It has now been shown that Pharaoh and his people were not the true masters; that there was a higher Being that ruled over all men, over kings and their peoples. After the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea, they sang with Moses: “This is my God, and I will praise him, the God of my father, and I will exalt him.” They all felt that their liberty was not obtained by human strength and skill; that there must be a higher Being who is All-powerful, All-wise, and All-good; and that it was He who freed them, and punished the wicked Egyptians by whom they had been kept in slavery. What the Israelites at first felt in their hearts they were now, when standing round Sinai, taught by God Himself, in plain, clear, and intelligible words: “I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

This is the first commandment; it is only one commandment, but it contains several important lessons:—

1. God has shown great kindness to our nation; we Jews must therefore more than other people show ourselves grateful to Him, love Him as our Deliverer and Benefactor, and do willingly all that He commands us to do.

2. When we are in trouble we must trust in God, pray to Him, and hope that He will help us when our fellow-men cannot do so. When they give us up as lost we need not despair; for the Almighty can help where human wisdom and power are insufficient.

3. The wicked may for a time succeed in doing wrong, whilst the good and just suffer; but this does not last for ever. There is a Master above all of us, who in due time punishes the wicked and saves the good.

Second Commandment.

“Thou shall have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing loving-kindness to the thousandth generation of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

There are no other gods in existence; it is impossible for us to have other gods. There is only one God, as we repeatedly declare, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” The commandment is nevertheless not superfluous. There have been whole nations, and there are still people, who, in their ignorance and folly, attribute Divine power to things that have no Divine power, and who give the name of god to things that are not gods. Such people are called heathens, idolaters, or idol-worshippers. The second commandment forbids us to do any such thing.

It was the custom in some countries to worship the king, either during his lifetime or after his death, as a Divine being; it is still the custom in some countries to pray to departed saints. All this our holy religion forbids us to do. We must respect our king, we must honour the memory and the name of good men, but only as human beings, not as gods; we may not deify them. As to our prophets, our great men, the Patriarchs, the kings, their names are a pride unto us, their memory a blessing, ‏זכרונם לברכה‎—they are honoured by us as human, mortal beings: they are not worshipped. When we visit the graves of those near and dear to us, and honour their memory by reflecting on their virtues, when we revere those holy men who have devoted their lives to the service of God, or the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for the sanctification of the Name of God (‏קדוש השם‎), we do not endow them with Divine attributes, and do not offer up any prayer to them.

The second commandment, in forbidding all kinds of idolatry, includes the following prohibitions:—

(1.) The worship of sun, moon, stars, animals, human beings, or any part of Nature, as endowed with Divine power.

(2.) The worship of images representing things that exist in reality or in man’s imagination.

(3.) The worship of angels as Divine beings. They are only messengers of God, and we must not pray to them.

(4.) The belief in evil spirits, demons, devils, and the like, and the fear of them.

(5.) The belief in charms, witchcraft, fortune-telling, and similar superstitions.

The words, “For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God,” are to be understood in a figurative sense; we cannot say of God that He is jealous, in the literal sense of the word. It is only because we call a person jealous who is anxious that no one else shall enjoy the same right or privilege as he enjoys, that we apply the term “jealous” figuratively to God, because He does not concede Divine worship and service to any other being. He demands of His worshippers that they serve Him alone and none besides.

Those who break this commandment “hate God,” and will surely receive their punishment. He “visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children upon the third and upon the fourth generation.” The bad example set by a man frequently corrupts his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. In that case they will all receive their punishment, and there is no excuse for them, that they were misled by the bad example of their father or their forefathers. A bad example must not be followed, even if it be set by those whom we love dearly.

The good example of a man should always be followed, and his good deeds bear good fruit and are the source of blessing even long after his death. For to those that love God and keep His commandments God “showeth mercy even to the thousandth generation.”

Third Commandment

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold, him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”

We pronounce the name of God when we read the Bible, when we pray, when we take an oath, or when we speak of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness. We take the name of God in vain when we read the Bible without attention, or pray without devotion, or take an oath without necessity or contrary to truth. When we utter the name of God we must bear in mind that it is the name of the most Holy and most Perfect Being that we are pronouncing; that it is a privilege to us to be allowed and to be able to pronounce it.

The more we meditate on the greatness and holiness of God, the more careful should we be “not to utter the name of God in vain.” We should guard ourselves from falling into the bad habit of uttering it thoughtlessly to no purpose whatever. Many people are heard to exclaim every minute, “O God,” or similar phrases. To them the sacredness of the name is entirely lost, and they are no longer reminded by it of the holiness of Him who is designated by that name. Still greater is the thoughtlessness of those who swear by God without any necessity. In swearing by God we call upon God to bear witness that our words are true. But such a testimony is only required when our statement is not believed. If we swear before we know whether we are believed or not, we indicate that, according to our estimate of ourselves, we are not trustworthy, and it has often been observed as a fact that those who swear most are least to be believed. The worst of all forms of swearing is to swear falsely, that is, to swear that something is the case without knowing that it is true, or knowing that it is not true. This is a terrible crime, and is called “the profanation of God’s name,” ‏חלול השם‎.

There is still another kind of ‏חלול השם‎ “profanation of God’s name:” if we Jews who are called by His name, the people of the Lord, or children of the Lord, bring contempt upon God’s people by disgraceful conduct, we profane the name of God. We sanctify it by noble and generous deeds; by leading a pure and blameless life we cause a ‏קדוש השם‎ “sanctification of the name of God.”

The third commandment forbids us—

(1.) To utter the name of God unnecessarily in our common conversation.

(2.) To read the Bible carelessly, or to pray without attention and devotion.

(3.) To swear otherwise than when required by the law to do so, as, e.g., in courts of law.

(4.) To swear when we are not fully convinced of the truth of our declaration.

The additional sentence, “for he will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain,” is to remind us that it is against God the Omniscient that we sin in breaking this commandment. God knows our innermost thoughts, whether we think of what we utter or not; whether we are convinced of what we declare on oath or not. He will punish us if we break His commandments, although we may be able to conceal our sins from men and escape condemnation by a human tribunal.

Fourth Commandment.

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

The Sabbath day, that is, the day of rest, is to be kept holy. In two ways it should differ from other days; it is to be a day of rest and also a holy day. We keep it as a day of rest by not doing on it any kind of work; we keep it as a holy day by devoting the greater part of it, since we are free from our ordinary occupation, to prayer and to reading the Bible.

We are thankful to God for having commanded us to keep the Sabbath, and give expression to our feeling of gratitude in our prayers, especially at the beginning and the end of the Sabbath; thus, on Friday evening, before the meal, we praise God for sanctifying the Sabbath by a prayer called Kiddush, “sanctification,” and on Sabbath evening, after the close of the Sabbath, we recite the Habhdalah, in which God is praised for the distinction made between Sabbath and the six week-days.

The Israelites were told to remember the Sabbath day; that is, the well-known day of rest, the same day which was instituted as a day of rest in connection with the manna. On five days they collected one omer of the manna, on the sixth day two omers for each person; on the seventh day no manna was collected nor was any found, and the Israelites were commanded to bake and to cook on the sixth day not only for the sixth day, but also for the seventh, on which day baking and cooking was not to be done. This same seventh day we are told in the fourth commandment to remember to keep holy, that we should not forget it, or choose another day instead of it. It is the same seventh day on which God rested after the six days of the Creation, and which “he blessed and sanctified.”

It is to be a day of rest not only for ourselves; we must not have work done for us by our children, or by our servants, or by strangers; even our cattle must rest. After six days of work we enjoy the blessing of one day’s rest, and are rendered more fit to work another six days. The harder we work on six days, the more welcome is the rest of the seventh day to us. When Moses repeated the commandments, he laid special stress on the rest of the servants, reminding the Israelites that they themselves had once been slaves, and must therefore recognise the necessity of granting a day of rest to their servants.

It is not to be a day of mere idleness. Complete idleness leads to evil thoughts and evil deeds. Whilst our body rests our mind should be occupied with holy thoughts; we should commune with God, reflect on His works, learn from them the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, study the Word of God, listen to the instruction of our teachers and preachers, and altogether try to raise ourselves into a loftier sphere.

On the day of rest we reflect on the works of God, on the work of Creation which He completed in six days, and thus by keeping the Sabbath we testify to our belief in God as the Creator of the Universe. On this account it is that the Creation is referred to in this commandment as the reason why rest was enjoined for the seventh day. “For in six days,” &c.

“Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day;” the rest on the seventh day is a blessing to those who have worked hard during the preceding six days; it is a blessing to those who spend the Sabbath in a proper manner. “And he hallowed it” by giving man an opportunity to sanctify himself by more frequent communion with the Most Holy.

The fourth commandment tells us—

(1.) To remember to keep the same day as Sabbath which has been set apart as such from the beginning.

(2.) To abstain on that day from all kind of work.

(3.) To devote part of the day to our sanctification.

Fifth Commandment.

“Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

The strongest desire that animates a father and a mother is to see their children good and happy. From the first day of their existence children are guarded by the watchful eyes of their parents that no evil may befall them. How delighted are father and mother when they notice the progress of their child in health and strength, in heart and soul! What an amount of trouble and anxiety parents undergo when they see their child suffering! No sacrifice is too great for them so long as it ensures the child’s well-being. It is painful to them to be compelled to deny their child anything, or to rebuke or to punish it. To this they are impelled only by the anxiety for the welfare of the child. The mutual affection between parent and child is one which nature has implanted. Without it the home would be the dwelling of misery and misfortune; with it comfort and happiness flourish therein. The loving parents have pleasure in whatever they do for the benefit of the child, and the affectionate child is delighted with the goodness of its parents.

“Honour thy father and thy mother,” says the Almighty to us. How does a child honour father and mother? In the eyes of the child father and mother must be the king and the queen of the house, however small that may be. Every word that comes from their mouth, every desire that they express, must be regarded as of the greatest importance, and be well remembered by the child. When the king or the queen speaks, all present stand and listen respectfully; their words are read by every one with the greatest interest. So it must be with the words of our parents. Whenever they tell us to do or not to do a thing, obedience is a blessing to us; disobedience is the chief cause of all misery and trouble. We feel pleasure and honour in being able to do something that gratifies our parents, and we like to give them at times some material token of our affection. The best present we can give them is a good heart, sincere love that prompts us to avoid everything that would grieve them, and to do everything we can to give them pleasure and to make them happy.

This is one of the few laws the reward of which is distinctly stated, “That thy days may be long upon the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” We can easily understand the good effect of keeping the fifth commandment. Pleasure and contentment contribute a good deal to the health and well-being of man, whilst anger, trouble, and dissatisfaction produce ill-health and weakness. The mutual affection between parent and child is therefore the cause that the days of both the parents and the children are prolonged, and the harmony and happiness of the house firmly established. The blessing attending children’s obedience and love towards their parents does not end here. The whole State consists of small homes and families, and the greater the well-being of the individual homes, the greater is the well-being of the whole country. Thus the child by acting in accordance with this Divine commandment contributes its share towards the prosperity of the whole country.

When our parents are not present, we should, out of love towards them, obey those who take their place, as, e.g., our elder brothers or sisters, our guardians, and our teachers, since all these only do what the parents would themselves like to do were the opportunity granted them.

We are bound to honour our parents not only so long as we are under their care and live in their house, but also when we have left our parents’ home, and have become independent. Even when they have become old, weak, and poor, and we support them, we must not forget the natural relation between parent and child, and the honour due to parents from their children must still be shown to them. When they have departed from this life, and we are no longer able to show our feeling of love and respect in the usual way, we must honour their name and memory, and hold in respect the wishes and commands which they expressed when still alive. Death is no bar to true love and sincere affection.

Thus we obey the fifth commandment—

(1.) By listening respectfully to the words of our parents and obeying what they say.

(2.) By doing that which pleases them, and avoiding that which would displease them.

(3.) By supporting them when they are weak and poor by all our best exertion and with genuine pleasure.

(4.) By honouring their name and memory after their death.

(5.) By being obedient to our elder brothers or sisters, to our guardians, and to our teachers.

Sixth Commandment.

“Thou shalt not murder.”

Murder is a most terrible thing; we shudder at the sound of the word, even at the mere idea of it. We wonder how it is possible that a person should be so wicked, so cruel, and so unnatural as to take the life of another human being! One who can do such a thing must have lost all human feeling, and is rather a brute than a being created in the image of God. But, unfortunately, there have been and there are such wicked people. We read in the Bible that a dispute arose between the two sons of Adam, and the one, Cain, slew the other, Abel. He repented it, but he could not restore to his brother the life which he had taken. The severest punishment is therefore inflicted on those who have committed this crime.

This commandment and those which follow it have their root in the principle, “Love thy fellow-man as thyself,” applied to the life (sixth commandment), the home (seventh commandment), the property (eighth commandment), and the honour of our fellow-man (ninth commandment). We wish to enjoy life as long as possible; it must therefore be our desire to see our fellow-man enjoy the longest possible life. But we must not rest satisfied with the mere desire. An earnest desire is followed by acts dictated by it. We must try our utmost, even as we do with regard to ourselves, to preserve the life of our fellow-man. We have, e.g., seen before how by obeying the fifth commandment we lengthen not only our own life, but also that of our parents, whilst by breaking this law we shorten their life as well as our own.

By supporting the poor and nursing the sick we may be the means of increasing a human life by many days or even years, whilst by neglecting the duty of charity we neglect to save the life of our fellow-man when it is in our power to do so.—Another instance of criminal neglect it would be if a person saw another in actual danger of life, and did not try everything in his power to save him.

Without having directly broken the sixth commandment, without having taken the life of our neighbour by violence, we may still be guilty of having shortened his life and caused his untimely death. Talebearers and slanderers, e.g., often undermine the peace and happiness of an individual, and even of a whole family, and sow the seed of misery and ruin where well-being and prosperity seemed well established.

The sixth commandment enjoins that we should respect the life of our fellow-man, and forbids us therefore—

(1.) To take it by violent means.

(2.) To do anything by which the peace and well-being of our fellow-man might be undermined.

(3.) To neglect anything in our power to save our neighbour from direct or indirect danger of life.

Seventh Commandment.

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

The institution of marriage is of very ancient date. When Eve had been formed out of the rib of Adam, and was brought to him, he exclaimed, “She is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” and the account of the first marriage concludes thus: “Therefore man shall leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. ii. 24). Every married couple, husband and wife, bind themselves by a solemn promise to be true and faithful to each other, to remain throughout life united in love and affection, and to establish a home founded on purity and sanctity. Adultery is the breaking of this promise. That love and affection which unites man and wife cannot be shared by a third person without involving a breach of the seventh commandment.

Jewish homes have always been distinguished by sanctity and purity. In order to retain this distinction it is necessary that we should be trained in this virtue from our childhood. Our language must be pure and holy; unclean and indecent expressions must never be uttered in our homes, either by the old or by the young. The purer our speech is, the more sanctified will our heart be. Bad society often corrupts the heart of the young through bad example in words and conduct. It is therefore essential that immoral persons should not come in contact with our children; that everything that is contrary to the virtue of modesty (‏צניעות‎) should be rigorously excluded from Jewish homes.

The seventh commandment forbids:—

(1.) Faithlessness of a man to his wife, or a woman to her husband.

(2.) The use of improper and indecent language.

(3.) Immodest conduct.

(4.) Associating with immoral persons.

Eighth Commandment.

“Thou shalt not steal.”

We do not like that any one should take a part of our property without our knowledge or consent. An old saying of the Rabbis teaches: “Let the property of thy neighbour be as dear in thy eyes as thine own” (Aboth ii. 12); that is to say, as you do not wish a diminution or destruction of what is yours, so you must not cause a diminution or destruction of what belongs to your neighbour.

By secretly taking anything for ourselves that does not belong to us, we steal, and break the eighth commandment.

This commandment has also a wider sense, and forbids every illegal acquisition of property, whether it be directly by theft or robbery, or by cheating, by embezzlement or forgery. Property acquired by any of these or similar means may be considered as stolen property, and is by no means a blessing to him who possesses it. Even if human justice does not reach the evil-doer, he is watched by an All-seeing Eye, and will in due time receive his full punishment.

This commandment prohibits:—

(1.) Theft and robbery.

(2.) All kinds of fraud and dishonesty.

Ninth Commandment.

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

It gives us pain to hear that others speak ill of us. “Let the honour of thy neighbour be as dear to thee as thine own” (Aboth ii. 10). We must therefore not speak ill of our neighbour. But it is not only the speaking ill of others that this commandment forbids; we must not say of our fellow-man anything that is not true. If we are called as a witness in a court of justice, we must be most careful that every word we utter be perfectly true. We must weigh our words well and guard ourselves against stating as facts things about which we are not quite certain. If we are careless we may become false witnesses, and may even be guilty of perjury.

The consequences of false evidence are of a very grave nature; it misleads the judge, perverts justice, ruins innocent people; and the false witness himself—whether he sinned with intention or by carelessness—will not escape punishment.

God declared through the mouth of the prophet Zechariah (v. 4): “I will bring forth the curse, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.”

In order to guard ourselves against the possibility of such a crime, we must train ourselves in speaking the exact truth in everything, however trifling it may appear to us. Even in their play children must be careful in what they utter. Idle talk, gossip, frequently leads us to speak of our neighbours what is not in harmony with facts. Though we may believe it to be harmless and to have no evil consequence, it has in reality very pernicious results; for we get into the habit of being careless about our words, and of ignoring the line that parts truth from falsehood, and when we have then to speak on more important things, or even in a court of justice, we may prove ourselves equally careless. There is a proverb (Prov. xix. 5): “A faithful witness is he who doth not lie, but he who uttereth lies will be a false witness;” i.e., the conduct of a witness with regard to truth in ordinary and less important utterances is a test of his trustworthiness in more important matters.

The ninth commandment—

(1.) Forbids us to give false evidence; and

(2.) To utter an untruth of any kind whatever.

(3.) It commands us to be careful in our utterances.

Tenth Commandment.

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.”

The coveting which the tenth commandment forbids is the root from which the crimes forbidden in the four preceding commandments spring. Coveting is a desire to possess what we cannot get in an honest and legal manner. An instance of such coveting is the desire of Ahab to possess the vineyard of Naboth. It must have been more than an ordinary desire, for it led him to most wicked acts (1 Kings xxi.).

It is not every desire that is prohibited. If we see a thing that pleases us, we begin to feel a desire for its possession. Our reason must then step in and tell us whether we can obtain it in an honest way or not. In the latter case we must conquer our desire and suppress it, lest it obtain the mastery over us.

We must work and try to make progress. We cannot be blamed if we are not quite content with our present condition, and wish to improve it. Without such a desire all industry and progress would disappear. But we must consider that the improvement of our material condition, the increase of our property, is not the whole mission of man. We must not forget that we have a higher mission: to improve our heart and our moral conduct, and to make ourselves worthy of being called “the children of God.” The increase of our property must not impede the progress of the purity and goodness of our heart.

The tenth commandment—

(1.) Forbids us to covet that which does not belong to us; and

(2.) Commands us to suppress any such desire when it rises in our heart.

Note 1.—There is another way of enumerating the Ten Commandments, namely, to combine the first and the second into one, and to divide the tenth into two. The Masoretic text seems to point in this direction; for there is no pause between the first and the second commandments, while there is one in the middle of the tenth. The inference from the Masoretic text, however, is not quite certain. It is possible that the first two commandments were joined closely together in order to separate more pointedly those commandments in which God speaks of Himself in the first person from those in which He speaks of Himself in the third person; or, to use the words of the Midrash, to separate the first two, which the Israelites heard directly from God, from the rest, which they heard through Moses. The last commandment was, on account of its great importance, given in two different forms. In the first the general term “house” is employed; in the second the various elements constituting the “house” are enumerated instead. The two forms of the commandment are separated by the sign of a pause, because each of them is complete in itself. Tradition supports our division of the Decalogue. “I am” (‏אנכי‎) and “Thou shalt not have” (‏לא יהיה לך‎) are mentioned in Talmud and Midrash, also in Targum, as two distinct commandments. According to Philo (On the Ten Comm.) and Josephus (Antiq. III. v. 5), the verse, “Thou shalt have … before me” belongs to the first commandment.

The text of the Decalogue, as repeated by Moses in the plain of Moab (Deut. v. 6–8), differs from the original (Exod. xx. 2–14). One of the differences, the first word of the fourth commandment—‏זכור‎, “Remember,” in Exodus, and ‏שמור‎, “Observe,” in Deuteronomy—is pointed out in Midrash and Talmud, and also in the hymn for the Eve of Sabbath, beginning, “Come, my friend” (‏לכה דודי‎). Tradition explains the first expression as referring to affirmative commandments, and the second to prohibitions; it further teaches that “both expressions were spoken by God simultaneously;” that is to say, the fourth commandment in Deuteronomy, though different in form, does not imply anything that has not been revealed by God on Mount Sinai. The same applies to all points of difference.

Why did Moses introduce the alterations? Ibn Ezra, in his Commentary on the Decalogue, is of opinion that the question need not be asked, or answered if asked, because in the repetition of a Divine message the original words may be changed so long as the sense remains intact. But the addition of the phrase, “as the Lord thy God commandeth thee” in two cases, and the reference to the deliverance from Egyptian servitude, substituted (in Deut.) in the fourth commandment for the reference to the Creation (in Exod.), lead us to think that the changes were not introduced unintentionally or without any purpose. The repeated Decalogue is a portion of an address in which Moses exhorted a new generation in the plains of Moab to obey the Divine Law. It is, therefore, not unlikely that he made additions and alterations for the sake of emphasis, where he noticed a certain laxity among those whom he addressed. Having come in contact with heathen nations and observed their rites in connection with their sacred days, the Israelites may have been inclined to imitate them; they were therefore exhorted to sanctify the Sabbath in the way God commanded; hence also the more emphatic “Observe,” ‏שמור‎.—A similar reason may have caused the addition of the same phrase, “as the Lord, &c.,” to the fifth commandment. The participation of a portion of the Israelites in the licentious feasts of the Moabites and Midianites disturbed the peace of their homes and loosened the sacred family tie. Moses therefore points to the Divine origin of the law commanding obedience to parents, and also emphasises the blessings which it will yield by adding the words, “and in order that it may be well with thee.”—The change of circumstances has also caused another alteration in the fourth commandment. During the forty years which the Israelites were compelled to spend in the wilderness, they almost forgot the condition of their former servitude; the new generation did not know it at all, and they grudged their slaves the one day of rest in the week. They were therefore reminded of their servitude in Egypt, and were asked to remember it in order that they might, out of gratitude to the Almighty, keep the Sabbath as He commanded them.

Another indication that changed circumstances caused the alterations is noticed in the tenth commandment. Having arrived at the border of Palestine, the Israelites were about to take possession of houses and fields, and two and a half tribes were already in possession of landed property. The term “house” (‏בית‎), which at first denoted “the home” or “the household,” including the wife, was now in the minds of the people chiefly “a permanent building.” “The wife,” the centre and the chief element in the home, was therefore substituted for “the house” in the first part of the commandment, and vice versâ, “the house” for “the wife” in the second part, where appropriately “nor his field” has been added.—The substitution of “Thou shalt not desire” (‏לא תתאוה‎) for the original “Thou shalt not covet” (‏לא תחמוד‎) may have been intended to teach the Israelites that all kinds and degrees of desire were forbidden, and to remind them of the consequences of desire which they had experienced at “the graves of the desire” (‏קברות התאוה‎ Num. xi.).—One more important alteration is to be noticed, the conjunctive “and” (‏וְ‎) before the seventh and the following commandments, which served to create in the minds of the hearers the idea that the crimes forbidden in the second part of the Decalogue are to some extent connected, and that he who broke one of these commandments was likely to break the others also. We are thus bidden to be on our guard, and to take good care that none of them be violated by us.

Note 2.—Ibn Ezra, in his Commentary on Exodus xx. 9, says: “Rabbi Jehudah ha-levi asked me why it is said in the Decalogue, ‘who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,’ and not ‘who created heaven and earth.’ My answer was as follows: Know that those who believe in God have not all the same kind of faith. Some believe because they were told of His existence by others; those who believe in God because the holy Torah teaches this belief possess a higher degree of faith. If an unbeliever argues with either of these, they are not able to refute his argument. Those, however, who study sciences—Astronomy, Botany, Zoology, and Anthropology—learn to understand the works and the ways of God, and from these the Creator Himself. The words ‘I am the Lord thy God’ can only be understood by the wise and intelligent of all nations. For they all see that God has made heaven and earth. But there is this difference: the Israelites believe that the Creation has taken place five thousand years ago: non-Israelites assume that God has been continually creating from eternity. Now, God wrought signs and wonders in Egypt by which He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, and thus showed them His Divine justice and goodness. In reference to these miracles it is said, ‘Thou hast been shown to know that the Lord is God;’ all Israelites, wise and simple, equally witnessed His miracles. The beginning of the Decalogue, therefore, ‘I am the Lord thy God,’ is well understood by the wise; but for the rest of the nation the words ‘who brought thee out,’ &c., have been added, in order that all without exception should understand it.”

Note 3.—Don Isaac Abarbanel, in his Commentary on Exodus xx., says: “The Ten Commandments are distinguished from the other Divine precepts in three things: they were directly communicated by God to the Israelites, not through a prophet; they were revealed to a whole nation at once; and they were written on the two tables of stone by the finger of God. Such distinction necessarily indicates a greater intrinsic value of the Ten Commandments. My opinion is therefore that they are laws of a general character, and principles including all the 613 precepts which the Holy One, blessed be He, gave to His people. E.g., love and worship of God. sanctification of His Name, submission to His judgment, fear of God, reverence of His sanctuary, and other duties towards God; Passover, Tabernacles, Tefillin, Mezuzah, and such other precepts as are ‘a memorial of the departure from Egypt;’ the separation of the first-born, tithes, &c.—all these duties are implied in the first commandment. Also Rabbi Levi ben Gershon and the Gaon Saadiah assume that all the 613 precepts are implicitly contained in the Decalogue. Although all precepts involving practice (‏מצוות מעשיות‎) are implied in the Decalogue, and even allusions to each one of the thirteen principles of faith may be discovered in it, there is no precept concerning our faith. It has already been proved by Rabbi Chisdai that by the Divine commands we are either told to do a certain thing, or told not to do a certain thing; but what we have to believe or not to believe the Almighty taught us through signs, wonders, and revelation. The words ‘I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage,’ teach a certain truth, a principle from which many of the 613 precepts may be derived, but which is in itself no commandment.—The Decalogue (‏עשרת הדברים‎) must therefore not be understood as designating ten commandments, but ‘ten words’ or ‘ten paragraphs’ indicated in the Hebrew text by the pauses, or spaces left between two paragraphs.

“The ‘ten words’ were written on two tables, five on each. The first five, containing positive and negative precepts, with the announcement of reward and punishment, were exclusively addressed to the Israelites. The latter five are simple prohibitions without any mention of punishment; because they were addressed to man as man, and include only such laws as are also suggested to him by human reason, without direct revelation.”

Rabbi R. S. Hirsch, in his Commentary on Exodus xx., says in reference to the first commandment: “As this verse is not understood as a mere declaration, but as a commandment (‏מצוה‎), it does not say ‘I am thy God,’ but ‘I, the Lord, shall be thy God,’ and thus contains as the foundation of all our duties towards God an exhortation to acknowledge the sovereignty of God, ‏קבלת עול מלכות שמים‎.

“The so-called ‘belief in the existence of God,’ as ancient and modern theologians generally express this idea, differs widely from that which underlies this fundamental doctrine of Judaism. The truth which affords me the foundation of a Jewish life is not the belief that there is a God, or that there is only one God, but the conviction that this One, Only, and true God is my God; that He has created and formed me, has placed me here, and given me certain duties; that He constantly makes and forms me, preserves, protects, directs, and guides me; not the belief that I, an accidental product of the Universe whose First Cause He was millions of years ago, am through a chain of thousands of intervening beings related to Him, but the belief that every moment of my existence is a direct personal gift from the Almighty and All-good, and that every moment of my life ought to be spent in His service; not the knowledge that there is a God, but the recognition of God as my God, as the sole Cause of my fate, and my sole Guide in all that I do, gives me the foundation for my religious life. The response to the exhortation, ‘I shall be thy God,’ is ‘Thou art my God.’ ”

Note 4.—The importance attached to the Decalogue may be gathered from the various attempts made, on the one hand, to classify the Divine laws according to the Ten Commandments, showing that the latter contain all the 613 precepts; and, on the other hand, to find in such important passages as the Shema and Leviticus xix. a parallel for each of the Ten Commandments. (Jerus. Talm. Ber., chap. i.; Rabboth, Vayyikra ad locum.)

II. General Moral Principles.

The Ten Commandments, flowing as it were from the one source, “I am the Lord thy God,” branch off in all directions, and penetrate all man’s relations, guide him in his conduct towards God, towards his fellow-men and towards himself, and teach him how to rule his thought, his speech, and his actions. When the Almighty proclaims to us, “I am the Lord thy God,” we willingly respond, “Thou art my God.” But this declaration involves also duties on our part, the fulfilment of which is the natural consequence and the verification of our response. If our words, “Thou art my God,” come from our hearts, and are not empty sounds, uttered merely by the lips, we must be conscious of the duties they impose on us. These are:—

A. Duties towards God, as our Master, Creator, and Father.

B. Duties towards our fellow-men, as children of one God.

C. Duties towards ourselves, as the object of God’s Providence.

A. Duties towards God.

(a.) Duties of the Heart.

1. Fear of God. ‏יראת השם‎—The true knowledge of God, of His Wisdom and Greatness, as visible in His works, leads us to fear God; that is, to fear doing anything that might displease Him and make us unworthy of His love. It is not a fear that terrifies us and drives us away from His presence; on the contrary, it draws us nearer to Him, and causes us to try to become more and more worthy of His love.

“And now, O Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God?” (Deut. x. 12).

“If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this name which is to be honoured and revered, the Lord thy God; then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful” (Deut. xxviii. 58).

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. i. 7).

“The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord” (Ps. cxi. 10).

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil” (Prov. viii. 13).

“The fear of the Lord prolongeth days” (Prov. x. 27).

“Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man” (Eccles. xii. 13).

“He who possesses learning but is without fear of God, resembles a treasurer who has the key for the inner door, but not for the outer one” (Babyl. Talm. Sabb. 31b).

2. Love of God. ‏אהבת השם‎—The true fear of God is associated with the love of God. The latter means the constant longing for communion with Him, feeling happy and joyful when with Him, but unhappy and miserable when without Him. Love of God creates in us an anxiety to do everything in our power that might please the Almighty. He who is filled with love of God is ‏חסיד‎, pious; he does not rest content with doing what he is commanded, but anxiously seeks the opportunity of fulfilling a Divine command; he is ‏רודף אחר המצות‎, “eager in the pursuit of Mitsvoth.” The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, but love of God is the aim and end of all our religious thinking and striving.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut. vi. 5).

“The Lord preserveth all those who love him (Ps. cxlv. 20).

“Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fulness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. xvi. 11).

“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Ps. xlii. 2).

“Blessed are they who dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee” (Ps. lxxxiv. 5).

“The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee” (Isa. xxvi. 8).

“I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Hab. iii. 18).

3. Gratitude towards God.—All that we possess, the very breath we breathe, is a present received at the hands of the Almighty. Whatever success we desire to achieve, whatever undertaking we desire to accomplish, we must ourselves first strive for it to the utmost of our power, and this done, we may hope for the Divine blessing. When we have attained what we sought, we are warned against believing that “our power and the strength of our hand hath gotten us this wealth.” We are to “remember the Lord our God, for it is he that giveth us power to get wealth” (Deut. viii. 17–18).

“For all things come of thee, and of thine own hand have we given thee” (1 Chron. xxix. 14).

“Whoso offereth the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifieth me” (Ps. l. 23).

“Though all sacrifices should cease, the sacrifice of thanksgiving will never cease” (Vayyikra Rabba ix.).

4. Reverence for His Name.—The more we fear and love God, the deeper and the more intense is our feeling of reverence for everything which is connected in our thoughts with the name of the Almighty. Whenever we enter a place dedicated to His worship, or open the Book that bears His name, or celebrate the days set apart as “seasons of the Lord,” this feeling of reverence overcomes us, and finds expression in our conduct. The reverence for the name of God impels us also to respect ministers and teachers who spend their life in spreading the knowledge of God and His Will.

“How awful is this place! this is none other but the house of God” (Gen. xxviii. 17).

“I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple” (Ps. v. 8).

“When I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God” (Deut. xxxii. 3).

5. Obedience to the Will of God.—Whatever the Almighty, whom we love and fear, bids us do, we not only do, but find pleasure in doing.

“To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. xv. 22, 23).

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Jer. vii. 23).

“Thy statutes have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage” (Ps. cxix. 54).

“Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart” (Ps. cxix. 111).

“Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened; burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come with the volume of the book written for me: I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is written within my heart” (Ps. xl. 7–9).

6. Faith and Confidence in God.—God is All-kind, All-wise, and All-powerful. The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all His creatures: He wills that which is good for us. Being All-wise, He knows best what is good for us, and by what means it can be attained; being All-powerful, He can always carry His Will into effect. He is, therefore, the only Being to whom we can safely entrust ourselves everywhere and always. In His words and commands, exhortations and warnings, we have the best and surest guide through life. Our confidence in God causes us to turn to Him for help in time of need, and for comfort in time of sorrow.

“Into his hand I commend my spirit, when I sleep and when I wake; and with my spirit my body also: the Lord is for me, and I shall not fear” (Daily Prayers, Morning Service).

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is” (Jer. xvii. 7).

“Trust in the Lord, and do good” (Ps. xxxvii. 3).

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; and wait on the Lord” (Ps. xxvii. 14).

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Ps. xxiii. 1).

7. Resignation to the Will of God.—Trusting in God’s goodness, we are contented with the lot which He determined for us. When we are prosperous we hope for His protection, lest we become corrupted and unworthy of His goodness; when we fail, faith in God will keep us from despair and encourage us to fresh attempts; when misfortune befalls us which it is impossible for us to remedy, we resign ourselves unto His Will, and say, “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away! blessed be the Name of the Lord!”

“My flesh and my heart failed; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever” (Ps. lxxiii. 26).

“I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercy is great” (2 Sam. xxiv. 14).

(b.) Duties towards God: In Speech.

The feelings of fear and love of God, of reverence, obedience, faith, gratitude, and resignation, must also find adequate expression in our speech. God, the Omniscient, knows our thoughts and sentiments, and there would be no necessity for giving them an outward expression, if we only intended thereby to make them known to the Almighty. But as in our relations to our fellow-men—e.g., to our parents or to our children—we frequently, in obedience to an irresistible impulse, communicate to them in words what we think and what we feel, even when convinced that we only tell them things well known to them already, so we address the Almighty, who is everywhere near unto us, and listens to our speech, although our wishes are known to Him before we utter them, and our innermost feelings are open before Him before we express them in words. We are aware that there is an immeasurable difference between the Divine Being and earthly creatures like ourselves. We know that He is not subject to human weaknesses, and that the audible sound of words cannot move Him more than the thoughts and feelings that prompt the words to come forth. And yet the mere communion of our heart with our Creator does not satisfy us; we feel ourselves impelled by some inner force to give it an outward expression. Besides, there is a constant interaction between our thoughts and our spoken words. Thoughts and feelings that remain unspoken, are seldom permanent: we soon cease to be conscious of them ourselves, and they often disappear without leaving any trace behind them, whilst sentiments and ideas expressed in spoken words become strengthened and take a deeper and firmer root in our hearts. The relationship between our lips and our heart is therefore of mutual benefit to both: the words uttered with the lips receive their value and importance from the heart, and the emotions of the heart derive strength and support from the lips.

1. Prayer.—All our feelings and sentiments towards the Almighty, our love and fear, faith and confidence, gratitude and resignation, find in Divine worship their due expression. When our soul is full of the love of God, and yearns for His presence, we call upon Him in hymns and songs of praise, and He is “nigh to all them who call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth” (Ps. cxlv. 18).

“I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. Let my meditation be sweet unto him: I will rejoice in the Lord” (Ps. civ. 33, 34).

“Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is comely” (Ps. cxlvii. 1).

“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Ps. xxxiv. 2).

“O Lord, open my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise” (Ps. li. 17)

Our desire to please Him whom we love sincerely, our longing for an opportunity to do what is good in His eyes, ought not to remain hidden and silent. The sooner and the more frequently we give expression to these wishes in audible words, the sooner do they become realised, and the sooner are the promptings of our heart followed by deeds.

“With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth” (Ps. cxix. 13).

“How sweet are thy words unto my palate! yea, sweeter to my mouth than honey” (Ps. cxix. 103).

“Let my tongue sing of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness” (Ps. cxix. 172).

We fear lest we offend and displease Him by our words or acts; we recall to our mind the holiness of a God “who has no pleasure in wickedness, and with whom evil shall not sojourn” (Ps. v. 5); we not only meditate on the Holy One, but speak and sing of Him. Our meditation finds expression in songs on the holiness of God, and these songs again supply fresh material for meditation; we thus hope to fence and guard our heart against the intrusion of anything unworthy of the presence of the Most Holy.

“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart” (Ps. xxiv. 3, 4).

“I will wash mine hands in innocency; so will I compass thine altar” (Ps. xxvi. 6).

Our weakness and helplessness in many conditions of life fill us with trouble and care. When we enjoy good health, we fear a change might take place; in possession of wealth, we are in anxiety: it might be taken from us. The pleasures of home and family we know to be but temporary: how soon may sorrow visit us there! From all these fears and anxieties we seek and find refuge in Him, who is “a stronghold to the weak, a stronghold in times of trouble” (Ps. ix. 10). We tell Him confidently all the troubles and cares of our heart, as we would do to a friend who is always willing and ready to help us. We have faith in God, and therefore we approach Him with our petitions; and when we have poured forth our heart before the All-merciful we feel more at ease, and our faith and confidence have gained in strength.

“He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him” (Ps. xci. 15).

“When they have cried unto the Lord in their trouble, he will save them out of their distresses” (Ps. cvii. 6).

“Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. When I find trouble and sorrow, then will I call upon the name of the Lord. When I take the cup of salvation, then will I call upon the name of the Lord” (Ps. cxvi. 2, 4, 13).

“What sufferings may be called chastisements of love? Such as do not prevent us from prayer” (Babyl. Talm. Ber. 5a).

“Even when the edge of the sword touches already a man’s neck, even then he must not abandon his faith in praying to God” (Babyl. Talm. Ber. 10a).

“ ‘I was asleep, but my heart was awake;’ I have no sacrifices, but I have ‘Shema’ and ‘Prayer’ ” (Shir ha-shirim Rabba on v. 2).

“ ‘Hope in the Lord,’ and pray again” (Rabboth, Deuter., chap. ii.).

We give expression to our feelings of gratitude towards our benefactor by acknowledging the fact, that whatever we enjoy, we are enabled to enjoy through His kindness. The various blessings formulated by our Sages serve a double purpose: first, they facilitate the expression of our feelings; secondly, they remind us of the presence of the Almighty, and of His goodness in providing for us and all His creatures. From the time we awake in the morning till the evening when we lie down to sleep, there is not a moment that does not bring to our knowledge some Divine act of kindness towards us. In the morning we perceive the benefit of light, in the evening we have reason to welcome the blessing of repose it brings with it, while the interval between the two periods constantly reveals to him who does not wilfully shut his eyes the hand of Him “who is good, and whose loving-kindness endureth for ever.”

“I will give thanks to thee, for thou hast answered me, and art become my salvation” (Ps. cxviii. 21).

“I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanks giving” (Jon. ii. 10).

“Though all prayers were to be discontinued, prayers of thanksgiving will never be discontinued” (Vayyikra Rabba, chap. ix.).

When things happen which are not pleasant to us, which give us pain and sorrow, we ought to consider that the plans of God are different from our plans, and His ways from our ways, and what He wills is better for us than our own wishes. With resignation, without murmuring, we ought to utter words of praise and thanks to the Almighty.

“The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job i. 21).

“Learn to say, ‘Whatever the Almighty does, is done for our good’ ” (Babyl. Talm. Ber. 60b).

Public Service.—Man has a natural desire to communicate his sentiments to his fellow-men, and finds a certain pleasure or relief in knowing that others share in his joys and sorrows. The same is the case with regard to his sentiments towards the Most High. If, yearning for communion with God, we fervently appeal to Him in solitude, where we are undisturbed by the intrusion of any other person, it will not be long before we shall feel ourselves in the very presence of Him who is “nigh to all those who call upon him in truth.” Standing before the Almighty, the Creator and Master of the whole Universe as well as of ourselves, we should like all nature to join in His praises, and we summon the inhabitants of the heavens above, His angels and hosts, sun, moon, and all the stars of light; and the dwellers on earth below, inanimate and animate, irrational and rational, kings with their peoples, to come and to praise the name of God (Ps. cxlviii.). Such moments of solitary devotion are very precious, and are by no means to be despised. But they are not frequent, and not always successful. Public worship has this advantage, that the object of our meeting, the holiness of the place, and the union in a worship with our fellow-men combine to create, maintain, or intensify our devotion. Although each one has his individual wants, joys, and sorrows, there are many wants, joys, and sorrows which we have all in common, and concerning which we may in common give expression to our feelings in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

“Bless ye the Lord in congregations” (Ps. lxviii. 27).

“If ten pray together, the presence of God is with them” (Babyl. Talm. Ber. 6a).

“ ‘But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time’ (Ps. lxix. 14): which is the acceptable time? The time of public worship” (Babyl. Talm. Ber. 8a).

2. Study of the Law (‏תלמוד תורה‎).—Another way of employing speech in the service of the Lord is the reading and the study of the Word of God: the Holy Scriptures and their Commentaries. Our love and reverence of God ought to induce us frequently to consult the book which contains His commandments, and which He has given us as a guide and companion. Even if we derived no further benefit than the consciousness of having spent some time in reading His Word revealed to us by the mouth of the Prophets, the time thus spent would not be wasted. But we derive a further advantage. It is impossible to imagine that our devoting a certain time, however short it may be, to the reading of the words of the Most Holy should have no purifying influence upon us, provided we approach the book before us with due reverence, and with the intention to be guided by its teachings.

Joshua, when placed at the head of the nation, is exhorted by the Almighty as follows: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein” (Joshua i. 8).

“As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord: my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.” (Is. lix., 21)

3. Teaching.—The gift of speech is of service also in communicating our thoughts, feelings, and convictions to our fellow-men. They who are able to read the Word of God and to understand it, ought to read and expound it to those who are less favoured; they who feel the presence of God, and comprehend His holiness, goodness, and unity, ought to direct the hearts of their brethren to God, His words and works. It is a special duty and privilege of the Jew to proclaim and teach the Existence and the Unity of God—‏יחוד הבורא‎.

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down and when thou risest up” (Deut. vi. 7).

“Happy are we! how goodly is our portion, and how pleasant is our lot, and how beautiful our heritage! Happy are we who early and late, morning and evening, twice every day, declare, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One’!” (Daily Prayers, Morning Service).

5. The consciousness that we frequently address the Almighty with our lips, and read His Holy Word, ought to make us strive for the utmost purity and holiness in our speech. When the prophet Isaiah, in a Divine vision, perceived the majesty of the Most High, and heard the sound of His ministering angels proclaiming His holiness, a sense of his own failings forced even from this chosen messenger of God the confession, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man, unclean in lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people unclean in lips, for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (Isa. vi. 5).

Duties towards God: In our Actions.

Rabbi Jose teaches, “Let all thy deeds be in the service of heaven,” ‏כל מעשיך יהיו לשם שמים‎ (Sayings of the Fathers, ii. 12).

The feeling of love and fear of God which fills our heart and soul, and to which we frequently give expression in words, must also be visible in our actions. Our whole life must be devoted to His service, and ought to be one continuous worship of God. Every act of ours must aim at the sanctification of His name. He has revealed unto us His Will, and shown us the way in which we should walk; unconditional submission to His guidance and strict obedience to His command should distinguish the people of the Lord. True love of God and faith in His goodness make us “bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a stag, and strong as a lion to carry out the will of our Father in heaven” (Sayings of the Fathers, v. 20). For what could be the value of our professions of love for God, if we refused to listen attentively to His voice, to walk in the way He has prepared for us, or to observe His statutes? From this point of view we may consider all our duties as duties towards God, since their fulfilment implies obedience to His Will. But there are certain duties which chiefly or exclusively concern our relations to God. Such duties are: the observance of Sabbath and Festivals, providing reminders of God’s Presence, establishing and supporting Public Worship, sanctifying God’s Name (‏קדוש השם‎), and imitating His ways. Of these duties, the first three will be fully treated in special sections.

The sanctification of God’s Name is a duty incumbent on all mankind, but it is incumbent on us Jews in a higher degree, for we are called the people of the Lord, the chosen people, a holy nation, and a kingdom of priests. We sanctify the name of God by remaining faithful to Him and to His Word, resisting every kind of force or temptation to turn us away from our faith, making sacrifices for our holy religion, and conducting ourselves in such a manner that our fellow-men may become convinced that the tree of our Law bears good and holy fruit. Every action that brings disgrace upon us as Israelites, and causes our neighbours to despise “the people of the Lord, who profess to be the guardians of the revealed Torah,” is ‏חלול השם‎ “Profanation of the Name of God.” “And ye shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel” (Lev. xxii. 32).

“Profanation of the name of God is a greater sin even than idolatry” (Babyl. Talm. Sanhedrin 106a).

Imitating the Ways of God.—We know that God is perfect, and that all His ways are perfect; we are conscious also of our weakness and of the impossibility of ever becoming perfect. But this conviction must not deter us from seeking perfection as far as our nature permits it, or from setting before us the ways of God as an example for us to follow, as the aim which should direct the course of our life, the balance in which to weigh our actions, and the test by which to determine their value.

“Ye shall be holy; for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. xix. 2).

“I set the Lord always before me” (Ps. xvi. 8).

“ ‘Ye shall walk after the Lord your God’ (Deut. xiii. 5). Is it possible for man to walk after the Lord? Has it not been said, ‘The Lord thy God is a consuming fire’? (ibid. iv. 24). The meaning of the verse, however, is this: Follow the ways of God: He clothes the naked, as we are told, ‘And the Lord God made coats of skin for Adam and his wife’ (Gen. iii. 21); do the same. He visits the sick, as is indicated in the words, ‘And God appeared to him in the plain of Mamre’ (ibid. xviii. 1); you must also visit the sick. He comforts the mourners, as appears from the passage, ‘And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaak’ (ibid. xxv. 11); do the same, and comfort mourners,” &c. (Babyl. Talm. Sotah 14a).

It may happen that we are sometimes disposed to exclude a fellow-man from our brotherly love. It would be against human nature to love those who have hurt or wronged us. But, on the other hand, we are taught that we must keep our heart free from feelings of revenge and hatred. If an offence has been committed against us by our brother, the Law directs us as follows: “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt surely reprove thy neighbour, and not bear sin against him. Thou shalt not revenge, and thou shalt not keep a grudge against the children of thy people, but love thy fellow-man like thyself: I am the Lord” (Lev. xix. 17, 18). The traditional interpretation illustrates revenge and grudge in the following way: If your neighbour, after having been unkind to you, is in need of your assistance, and you refuse it on the ground of his want of kindness towards you, you are guilty of revenge; if you grant him his request, but at the same time remind him of his unkind conduct, you are guilty of “bearing a grudge against your neighbour.” (Sifra, ad locum.)

B.—Duties towards our Fellow-creatures.

(a.) Duties towards our Fellow-men in General.

“Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” (Mal. ii. 10). “Thou shalt love thy fellow-man as thyself” (Lev. xix. 18). These are the sentiments which, according to the Will of God, ought to guide us in our relation to our fellow-men. When, therefore, a Gentile came to Hillel and asked him to explain to him in one moment the duties which Judaism enjoins on its adherents, he replied, “What is displeasing to thee, that do thou not to others. This is the text of the Law; all the rest is commentary; go and learn” (Babyl. Talm. Shabbath 31a). In a different form this idea has been expressed by Rabbi Akiba and by Ben-Azai, who respectively quoted as a fundamental principle of the Law, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” and “This is the book of the generations of man; in the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God” (Yalkut on Gen. v. 1).

From this principle we derive the following general maxims with regard to our neighbour’s (1) life and health, (2) property, (3) honour, and (4) well-being:—

1. Life and Health of our Fellow-man.—Life is a precious treasure which the Almighty has given us; if it is once taken from us, no man is able to restore it. Among the first lessons revealed to man in Scripture is the value of the life of a human being, created by God in His own likeness, and when the first murder had been committed, God said to the murderer, “What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood is heard that crieth unto me from the ground” (Gen, iv. 10). The first commandment in the second section of the Decalogue is directed against this crime: “Thou shalt not murder.” The significance of these words, the general lessons implied in this commandment, and the extent to which a person, though not an actual murderer, may become guilty of having broken this commandment, have already been explained in the chapter on the Ten Commandments (p. 261). It has been shown how the sixth commandment forbade—

(1.) The taking of the life of a fellow-man by violent means.

(2.) The doing of anything by which the health, the peace, and the well-being of our fellow-man is undermined.

(3.) The omission of any act in our power to save our fellow-man from direct or indirect danger of life.

2. The Property of our Neighbour.—The eighth commandment in its wider sense comprehends all our relations to our neighbour’s property. It prohibits, as has been shown above (p. 263), the appropriation of anything that belongs to our neighbour—