the Jews". The axiom of Dina de-Malchuta Dina, "the law of the realm is law" is binding even in cases of exceptional laws for the Jews, or of special Jewish taxes (Choshen Mishpat 369, 6), except only where, in certain places of the East, the Government explicitly permits the Jews to settle their legal disputes according to the Talmudic-Rabbinical law. Only religious ordinances which interfere or clash with the Jewish religion need not be regarded.

Here is another fabrication of Rohling's (The Talmudic Jew 63):

The Talmud says: A Goy thou mayst cheat, and thou mayst take usury from him, but if thou buyest from or sellest to thy neighbour (i. e., a Jew) thou must not cheat thy brother.

He quotes as his authority Megilla 13, 2 and Baba Metsia 61 a, 1. The latter passage was given above in the translation of Nöldeke and Wünsche (Nr. 73). The second passage runs as follows.

It is written (Gen. 29, 12), And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother. But was he her father's brother? Why, he was her father's sister's son. What he did ask her was, "Shall I marry thee?" She answered, “Yes, but my father is a cheat, and thou art not equal to him." Then he said to her,,,I am his brother in cheating." Then she: "Is it permitted to the righteous to cheat?" He answered, "Yes. With the pure thou showest thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward" (Ps. 18, 27).

The essential point of this gloss is to excuse Jacob's conduct. There is no question here of conduct between Jews and nonJews, for Jacob's mother and Rachel's father were brother and sister, and everything occurred among closest relations. The Talmud tries to justify Jacob's conduct. That is intelligible, and the Christian Fathers also tried their hands at the same problem, for the Patriarch Jacob is to the Christians also a venerable personage. St. Chrysostom (Opera omnia, tom. I, de sacerdotio I, 9) does not hesitate to commend well-intentioned deceit. If we considered the means only and not also the purpose, we should be obliged to accuse Abraham of child-murder and Jacob of fraud on account of the way in which he came by his birth right, and Moses, also, who by divine order possessed

himself of the riches of the Egyptians, would have to be condemned. 1

St. Chrysostom goes on to say:

But that is not so, no, not so. Far be such boldness from me! For we say not only that they (Abraham, Jacob and Moses) are guiltless, but we admire them on account of that, as God himself commended them therefor, for he (only) may be rightly called a cheat who makes an unrighteous use of a thing, but not he who does it with a good intention. Often it is necessary to cheat in order to do the greatest good. At the same time, the Talmud is untiring in most impressively exhorting to honesty in business life.

When some day thou wilt stand before God's tribunal the first question to be addressed to thee will be, Wast thou honest in business? Sabbath 31 a.

Let Yea be Yea, thy No be No. Abaya said: Never be that which thou thinkest the opposite of that which thou speakest. Rabbi Simeon says: If the business transaction has not been carried through and thou cancelst it, know that He who punished the generation of the Flood He will punish him who is not true to his word. Even straying from one's spoken word argues want of conscience. Baba Metsia 49 a.

Rabbi Chisdai says: When all the gates of heaven are closed, that gate through which the reports about fraud come before God is always open. Rabbi Eleazar says: God punishes every sin by an agent, but fraud he punishes himself. Rabbi Abahu says: Before three the curtain is never drawn (i. e. three things are always seen by God), fraud, robbery, and idolatry. Baba Metsia 59,9; Yalkut II, Nr. 546.

(1) The conduct of the Patriarch Jacob is not commended, but explained by the character of Laban. Jacob dealt with him as he did, not because the latter was a heretic or an infidel, but only because he was a cheat. In contrast to this, Pope Innocent III. recommended cunning and deception as meritorious apostolic wisdom against heretics. He refers to 2. Cor. 12, 16 where it says, Being crafty, I caught you with guile (Stephani Baluzii epist. Innocentii III., p. 259). The application of such maxims of craft crops up also on other occasions, e. g. Bal. XII, ep. 67,337; ep. 36,394. The conduct of Jesus towards his disciples of Emmaus is made use of to justify guile (Hahn, History of the Heretics I, 205).

In telling the story of how the papal legate, by guileful cunning, brought the heretical Count Richard of Toulouse to his ruin, Peter of Vallum Sarnaii (Vaux Carnay) exclaims: 0 legati fraus pia! O pietas fraudulenta! He calls this deception dispositio divina (E. A. Schmidt, History of France I, 470; Hahn, 1. c. I, 281).

He who borrows an object for use without the owner knowing it is accounted a robber. Baba Metsia 41 a.

He who does not keep a promise given is regarded as if he had committed idolatry. Sanhedrin 92 a.

In commenting on Ps. 15, I "Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart", the Talmud says, What is meant by "speaking the truth in one's own heart"? (Answer) As Rabbi Safra did. Rashi explains: In Sheëltoth we read: Safra had an object for sale and somebody made him an offer while he was at prayer. Although the price suited him he gave no answer because he did not want to interrupt himself. When his devotions were over the man came again and made him a higher offer, but he accepted the first offer because he had mentally agreed to the first.

He (one who came to Rabba and sought enlightenment from him on several points) said to me: Master, one day I sold four cor (bushels) of dates to a Goy and measured them for him in a dark place half a measure each. He said, Only thou and God in Heaven know what measure thou art giving me. He came short of three seah of dates. I took the money, bought a jug of oil for it and put it where I had sold the dates. The jug burst and the oil was spilled. Thereat, I (Rabba) said: Blessed be God who knows no respect of persons (i. e. who does not wink at dishonesty although practised on a Goy). Holy Writ says (Lev. 19, 13), Thou shalt not oppress thy neighbour nor rob him. Robbing a Goy is also actual robbery. Yalkut I, 504.

Prohibition 2 is not to desecrate the name of God. I have been preaching to the Israelites in exile that they who lie to and cheat Akum are of those who desecrate the name of God, for they cause the Akum to say, The Israelites have no Torah (no religion), and yet it is written (Zephaniah 3, 13), The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth.

And in Aboth (4, 4) we read: 'Whoever desecrates the name of God in secret will be punished in public whether he does it in error (from carelessness) or deliberately.' There is no respite (of punishment) given for the desecration of the Divine Name.' And in the treatise Kiddushin 40 a it says, If (man's) offences counterbalance his merits but it be that the desecration of the Divine Name is among the offences these overbalance the merits. Mose de Coucy, Sefer Mitzwoth Gadol, Prohibition 2; N. and W. 64.

If an Israelite and a Nochri are together and the Nochri says to the Israelite, 'I will depart for such and such a place; there are Jews there but I am afraid they will oppress me. Tell me who is honest and who dishonest', the Israelite is to say to him, "Do not enter into business with such and such". Sefer Chassidim Nr. 1086; N. and W. 63.

If a non-Jew observes the seven Noachian commandments, thou must beware of taking advantage of his error, for an object erroneously given or lost by him must be restored. Thou must not disesteem him, but must the rather honour him above a Jew who does not busy himself with the Torah. ibid. Nr. 358.

Whoever has intercourse with us must be accounted a brother; over reaching a non-Jew is, therefore, forbidden. Tane debe Eliahu, chap. 15.

If thou sellest or buyest, overreach nobody! Do not desecrate thy word, and the utterance of thy lips do not alter. But he who does think more lightly of defrauding a non-Jew he is a teller of lies, he is accounted one of the wrong-doers who are an abomination to the Lord. For this is the peculiarity of truth it endures and gives permanence, just as it is the peculiarity of the lie to perish and to destroy. The Lord is a God of truth; he loves its friends and curses its enemies. Rabbi Salomo Al' Ami in a Missive to a Disciple in Portugal 1415.

The exhortation in the Bible (Deut. 19, 20) to follow that which is altogether just must be practised both towards Jews and non-Jews. Rabbi Bechai ben Asher 14 th century—, Kad Hakkemach 17 a.

And perhaps thou sayest, I behave honestly towards the Israelite because he behaves in a brotherly way towards me, but it is otherwise

with the Goy. But the Sages blessed be their memory have said,

It is forbidden to rob a Goy. And if the Goy relies on thy words and on thy dealings with him thou must deal honestly and fairly by him that the name of God may be sanctified through thee. We read in Tana debe Eliahu, Through four things the world is brought to prosperity, through justice, right, truth, and peace. One day a man came and said, Rabbi, I sold a Goy four cor of dates, etc. (See above p. 116). Presently I said to him, My son, Holy Writ (Lev. 19, 13) says, Thou shalt not oppress thy fellow-man, for he is like thy brother and thy brother is like thy fellow-man. From this thou hast learned that robbing a Goy is robbery and obviously it is the same with robbing a brother. He, therefore, used to say, Man, be ever Godfearing, also in secret; let him confess the truth and speak the truth in his heart. Jechiel ben Jekutiel, Ma'aloth Hammidoth. Cremona 1556. Fol. 38 a.

Love the stranger as you love your neighbour, show good will to him, speak well of him, do not search for his faults, but instruct him privately

if he does wrong in your presence. A Sage says, He who sows hate will reap repentance. If you would take revenge on your enemies let it consist in your becoming better. Aristotle taught Alexander: Most of all I recommend thee not to hate any man, for next to the knowledge of God there is no higher truth than this, to love all men, good and bad. Be humble and modest! He who makes light of himself will be honoured by men. Humility requires you to suffer wrong without retaliating, to tame anger, and to live in peace with your neighbours. This conduct you must practise also towards non-Jews ibid. 28.

For a long time it has been the ordinance and the custom for the heads of communities to watch that there be no fraud and no wrong done to the Goyim, and it is cried and published and told to the Goyim which people borrow on credit and take loans with the intention of not paying back. All this is done by order of the heads. Rabbi Moses Ribkes, Beer Ha-Golah on Choshen Mishpat 388, 12.

XI. The Property of the Akum is No Man's Property. Rohling in My Answer to the Rabbis says:

In accordance with this the money of the Akum is 'derelict' so as to give the Jew every right of taking it into his possession.

He quotes as his authorities Baba Bathra 54; Choshen Mishpat 156, 5.

Justus (Laws 22 and 24):

The property of Christians is derelict to the Jew. Wahrmund (Laws of Nomadism 54):

The Talmud teaches that God declares the property of pagans to be derelict and that he has given the first Jewish seizer a right to it, nay, it is said explicitly that the possessions of the Goyim may be dealt with as with a desert or the sand of the sea; the first Jew who takes possession is to be the owner. Therefore, according to Talmudic-Rabbinical views the procession of the Jews across the globe is nothing less than a campaign for the conquest of it.

Wahrmund copied this from Rohling, his trusted authority. After the numerous ordinances against overreaching the idolater, after all the exhortations to honesty in business life towards idolaters quoted literally above, it is evident that these. allegations of Rohling and Justus could be nothing else than deliberate fabrications. We shall explain the quoted authori ties as plainly as possible.