and also the ten commandments (the Decalogue), that they shall not be like the beasts of the field, and (secondly) he has given them moral precepts, and he has made life much more difficult for them than the Mosaic Law, as we know. Jacob Emden (18th century), Rezen Matthe, fol. 15; N. and W. 15.

Thus we see the literal agreement among all the theological authorities of Judaism with (as said above) the single exception of Maimonides.

Maimonides, born 1135 in Cordova, left Spain and Europe at the age of 15 years; he died 1204 in Cairo. He was the personal physician to the Sultan Saladin, and was greatly honoured by this eminent prince. Sultan Saladin, the conqueror of Jerusalem, was engaged in a continual fight with the crusaders, a fight that was carried on with the unbridled savagery of religious wars. Christians and Saracens called one another "infidel dogs". Maimonides, who always stood faithfully by his princely friend, this heroic sovereign whom history praises not only for bravery and genius but also for humanity, could not but look at the enemies of his masters as his own enemies. He had never lived among Christians and what he may have learned about them from the crusaders was not likely to enlist his sympathies.

All the same he did full justice to Christianity as may be gathered from his writings.

And not only the tribe of Levi (is separated and designated for the divine service and the instruction of the others) but also every one of the inhabitants of the world whom his genius impels and his desire (for insight) urges to separate himself to stand before the Lord, in order to serve him, to worship him, and to know the Lord, who walks straight as God created him, and who, therefore, shakes off the yoke of the many schemes that men strive after:

Such a one is sanctified as most holy, the Lord is his lot, and his inheritance in all eternity, and he attains in this world what suffices. for his sustenance as it fell to the lot of the priests and the Levites. David peace be with him says: "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot" (Ps. 16, 5). Mishne Torah, Hilchoth Shemitta XIII, 13 (N. and W. 124 and "Supplementary Opinion").

Maimonides writes to his disciple Chisdai-ha-Levi:

As to thy question respecting the (non-Jewish) nations, be it known unto thee that God desires the heart, that things are to be judged according to the intention of the heart, and, therefore, there is no doubt

that each (of the nations) that improves its mind by virtues and wisdom in the knowledge of God partakes of the eternal bliss. Letters, p. 23. This, Maimonides could never have written if he had taken the Christians for idolaters. Moreover, he writes concerning the Christians (above mentioned p. 3):

It is permitted to teach the Christians (Nazarenes) the doctrines of the Torah; for they believe that this our Torah was revealed by God through our teacher Moses; it is completely set down in writing, although sometimes they expound it falsely, but so large a number among them deal righteously. Resp. Peer ha - Dor number 58.

Much more interesting is a third passage in which he voices his appreciation of non-Jewish literature.

As these words are proved beyond dispute we do not care who were their authors. For every principle which is based on proper premisses and the proofs of which are clear and correct, is binding on us, and we go by it, no matter who said or taught it, on the strength of the proofs and reasons known to us. Mishne Torah, Kiddusch ha - Chodesh 17, 25.1 Johann Christof Wagenseil, in his book Report about Important Matters concerning Jewry, Leipsic 1705, tells a quaint story:

A wealthy Jew, named David, who enjoyed the favour and respect of a princely bishop was to be converted.

The bishop asked him whether he, the Jew, believed that the bishop could become an inmate of heaven and heir of eternal bliss. When the Jew had answered in the affirmative, adding that he had no doubt whatever about it, the bishop went on: Why, to be sure, there is nothing for it but that thou becomest a Christian too, for thy conscience lays it upon thee; for if I the Christian can attain to eternal bliss thou canst attain to it just the same way in the Christian religion. Then the Jew answered: „My prince and master, this cannot be done. We Jews are bidden to believe in only one God who created heaven and earth. For it is written in Devorim (Deuteronomy): Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

"Therefore, if I, a Jew, act against the commandments of God which we received and if I believe in more than one God, then I am damned and must descend into the Gehinom or Hell. But you Christians have

(1) Isak Arama (1480) in his work Akedah, Gate 6 thus interprets the archaic saying of the Mishna, "All Israelites have a share in the world to come": It would be a case of injustice if only Israelites, on the strength of this quality, would inherit eternal life. But "Israel" means "the righteous one" and every truly pious man is an Israelite; therefore a "son of Israel" is tantamount to a "son of the life to come".

no such commandment. Your forebears never received any commands (directions) from heaven to believe only in one God, as we did. Thus, if you believe in three or even more gods, it is no matter; where there is no commandment there is no infringement, and you may still attain to eternal bliss." The bishop was quite dismayed and expressed earnest doubts whether what the Jew had said really was written in the Bible. He sent for the Latin Bible, but this the Jew did not understand; he pulled out a Chumesch which he always carried about with him, but the bishop did not understand any Hebrew, and thus the discussion came to an end...

The Christian scholar Wuelfer, In theriacam jud., p. 250, likewise reports that a learned rabbi whom a princess asked whether he believed that the Christians could attain to eternal bliss gave the answer: God would, indeed, be very cruel if he cast into hell persons who had never undertaken to obey the Jewish laws.

Professor Beyschlag, on the contrary, a member of the Protestant Union, says in his Open Letter to the Right Reverend the Bishop of Trier, D. Korum (p. 13):

Why, this suggests nothing less than that all religions are equally just, even the pagan ones. For to live in the good faith of the truth of his religion, and to keep the commandments of God according to his lights and his conscience, the pagan can do just as well as the Catholic. I confess, Right Reverend Bishop, that this is a little too liberal even for me, the liberal Protestant, for I ask myself: Can anybody observe the commandments of God without the grace of salvation bestowed on us by Jesus Christ? What is your opinion about it, Right Reverend Bishop? If you think: Yes, he can, then you are a Pelagian and a rationalist pure and simple, consequently an arch-heretic which certainly would be somewhat surprising in a Bishop of Trier. Apparently, according to canonical conceptions, a Socrates and a Buddha are inferior to an African cannibal baptized by a missionary.

Abraham, the archetype of Jewish piety, who had acquired a true conception of God, was nevertheless convinced that there were, i. e. pious, righteous peoples among the idolaters for the sake of whom Sodom was to be spared: "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?" (Gen. 18, 23.) He was inspired by the thought which the German writer G. E. Lessing has given the wording, "that our living in God is so absolutely independent of our thinking about God".

CHAPTER V.

THE SHULCHAN ARUCH

ITS ORIGIN,

VALIDITY, AND SIGNIFICANCE.

I. The Campaign against the Shulchan Aruch. The zealous desire to blacken the Talmud and to make it out to be a farrago of nonsense and childish fables, the laughing stock of the literary mob, was the origin of the convert Aron Briman's (Dr. Justus') diatribe Talmudic Wisdom. 400 extremely Interesting Absurd Sayings of the Rabbis taken directly from the Sources and presented to the Christian Public.

However, it looks very much as if Aron Briman (Dr. Justus) made fun of his employers and of the Christian readers, convinced that he was free to palm off anything on them. It is only to an uninitiated public that he dares to speak of “absurd fables and tales of the Talmud" and of "drivelling rabbis".

Eisenmenger, in whom such a thing might have been forgiven, got his answer from the German poet Herder:

To the literary mob, it is true, often the most ingenious parables were, out of hatred and perversity, at one time ridiculous, at another despicable. But why? Because they did not understand the meaning, they wilfully called attention only to the seemingly puerile garb. Where the rabbi was most subtle he was called most stupid, where he exhibited the finest wit, a raging fanatic; when he was not understood at all, he was ridiculed; and as rude hands attacked the brilliant dust on the wing of the butterfly, and even tried to saw and split it, the butterfly and its wings perished, and nothing remained but soiled hands. Herder, The Genius of Hebrew Poetry.

Rector Pressel, author of the article "Talmud" in the Encyclopaedia for Protestant Theology and Church XV, p. 359 adopts a similar view:

The extraordinary sayings of the Talmudic scholars, insofar as they do not concern the Law, are at least of ethical import, also where they are dictated by political circumstances; the Jewish thinkers omit to particularize, and on all problems of life which did not fall directly under the decision of the Law they gave their opinions the setting of short but pertinent generalizations, or of similes, parables, and riddles of greater length; in their preference and aptitude for these they more than once remind us in a felicitous and striking manner of the master of this mode of teaching, Jesus himself.

That Justus actually only makes sport of his employers is evident from a few examples.

Berachoth 47a lays down the following rule:

It is incumbent on man to repeat a teaching in the master's own words (Chayab adam lomar bi-leshon rabbo).

This duty, which the Talmud imposes upon the disciples of a teacher of the law, gives evidence of its circumspection and conscientiousness. For experience teaches how often the meaning of a statement is altered if it is transmitted by various tellers according to their conceptions, and in their own modes of expression.

Now, what translation has Justus made of this Talmudic axiom?

It is incumbent on every Jew to make the language of a rabbi his own!!!

Here is another example.

A modern proverb says, Politics ruins the character. The rabbis understood that the struggle for political power shatters the nerves and shortens life, and gives no pleasure even to the victor; the eternal anxiety caused by fickle Fortune gnaws at the marrow; that is why they deprecate ambition and striving after political power and dignities which, as a rule, keep their owners from lofty tasks and aims, disturb their minds and expose their souls to embittering party struggles. This explains the passage in Pesachim 87b: Woe to political supremacy; it buries its possessors. (Oy lah le-rabbanut she mekkabberet et baäleha). In proof of which they quote the fact that the prophet Isaiah survived four kings all of whom died during his prophetic activity.