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Us . - 0 o ' - . . . _ I LE 0 BAEC w{ JUDAISM ‘TODAY . .. {s-. m COLE“? \\‘>_!LIE31Q1§;g§z_ 9 Z _“J‘” have been asked to talk about Judaism today. ‘Buf in order to understand Judaigm today, we must first take a look at Judaism I yesterday. ' About three millennia ago, within a small nation called HebreWS, later Israelites and ultimately Jews, there occurred a revolution.' Not a political revolutién, but an intellectual revolution: a majof break-through in human thought. As a result of that revolution there emerged a new way of looking at the World; at nature, at man, at human society, at the history énd destiny of mankind.' The best term for this new outlook is Hebnaism, the outlook exbressed in the Hebrew Bible, known to Christiansuae the 01d iéétament. What is Hebraismfi It is, of course, ethical monotheism. But let Hebraiam is the belief that the entire ufiiverse is the creation of one God. This God is therefdre greater than, and different from, the universe or any fiart of the universe. He is us be more preogse. immeasurably greater even than thaflgreétest phenomenon_within the pniverae, man. "Eor my thoughts are not your thohghts, neither are [four ways my ways, sayé the Lord." objevtionable. Idolatry is therefore absurd and It makes God smal;.fi But God is_not only the Creator. For he is a moral God, a God of justice and mercy, and he demands that men practise justice and mercy inwards ong another. To this end he communicated with chosen individualq, made He is also the Lawgfiver. “:L‘wiuy known to them his will, gave them Fboth genei‘al and detailed“ which to order their lives: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Moseand'Aaron; the assembled Israelites at Mount Sinai; and the prophets of thé 8th / and subsequent pne-Ch?i&%&an centuries; These diVine teaChinQE; or O _ 2 _ revelations, are collectively called Torah, a Hebrew word which means teaching. As well as being the Creator and the Lawgiver, God is also the Redeemer. He delievered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage; he chose them to be his servants and witnesses; he guides‘the destinies of the nations; he has a plan for human history, which is destinéd to culminate in a perfect age,when all men will acknolwédge and obey God, and therefore live together in brbther— hood add peace. Although Hebraism is God—centred, it assigns to man a place of great importance and dignity in the_scheme of things. He is the crown of Creatiom, the master-piece of the Creator, created in the image of God. He possesses an immortal soul. be creative himself. He possesses free will, and the ability to He is able to communicate with God in prayer, and to respond.to God's demands. He is able to co-opérate with God, to use his ’conscience and his reason to perfect himself and to perfect the world. Theae are the basic elements of Hebraism. They are the common background of Judaism and Chriatianity; the raw material out of which Judaism and Christianity were fashioned. But each was the result of a further revolution Judaism resulted from the Pharisaic Revolution in the 2nd century-B.C. ‘ Until then the fundamental concepts and ideals of Hebréism had been cqmbined with a form of worship which, though free from idolatry and generally dignified, directed to the one, supreme; invisible God, nevertheless did not differ absolutely from other ancient_forms of worship. It was centred in the national shrine, the Temple in Jerusalem; ifi consisted of the offering of animal sacrifices twice daily and especially on the Sabbath and Festivals; and it was administered exclusively by the hereditary priesthood. The ordinary Jew, therefore, approcahed God through the Tenmle and thrnugh the'priests. 'The Pharisees rebelled against that system, and created a new .form of worship more in consonnance with Hebraism; They established synagogues — thousands of them — wherever Jews lived. means 'hpuse of assembly' and indicates that it was a The word synagogue democratic institution. in the synagogue the priests had no special privileges. In the synagogue all were equal; and the worship which took place in the synagogue twmce daily (later three times daily)-involved no sacrifice at all; it consisted entirely of prayer and study — the study of Scripture. From this fact many consequences followed. a The Jewish community became democratic community and an educated community, and its leadership was entrusted to men of learning, men who could expomnd the Scriptures and teach the people God's laws, men who became known as rabbis. must be remembered, is not a priest; he is a XKHE teacher. A rabbi, it And yet the ordinary Jew, because he was required to know the Bible and because he belonged to right. a community of equals, became something of a priest in his own He could b? called upon to lead the congregation in worship, and he performed religious ceremonies in his own home. cemrefi in the Temple. ’ Religion was no longer It was centred in the synagogue and in the home. It waa, so to speak, domesticated and individualised. The Pharisees also accomplished many other things. For example, they evolved the doctrine of the twofold Torah. n had They taught that revealed to Moses not only the written Térah, which was recorded in the Bible, but also a body of oral teachings which were handed down by word of mouth through Joshua, the Elders, the Prophets and ultimately the Rabbis. Whereas the written Torah is fixed and unalterable; the oral Torah is constantly in a state of growth and development. It can always be reinterpreted to take account of changing circumstances. _ g _ These two achievements of the Pharisees, the creation of the synagogue and the conceptmof the twofomd Torah, enabled Judaism to survive when, ' in the year 70 A.D., the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were scattered all over the Roman world. Christianity resulted from a third revolution, which occurred innthe 1st cgntury A.D. It, too, took the hfiic elements of Hebraism, together with some non—Hebraic elements, and fashioned out of them a new religion: a religion which substituted for the Torah and for the Temple a §§§§§gh fifiXflg who had died on the cross to atone for the sins Of the world, which substituted for obedence to the Torah faihhlin this same Saviour, at once hufian and divine; and which substituted for the Jewish people a new community of individual believefis drawn from all nations. But the great majofity of the Jews were not convinced by the claim of the new religion that it was superior to their own, Pharisaic or Rabbinic Judaism. They therefore continued to live according to the dictates of the twofo¥d Torah. Infieed, Rabbinic Judaism proved to be extraordinarily viable as well as creative. It survived for many centuries, in spite of almost incessant persecution, and it generated a vast literature. However, in the 18th century Rabbinic Judaism began to 10$e its hold §§§§E the Jewish people. For the world—view of the Rabbis could not easily be reconciled with the modern world—view, and the stringent devotional discipline which Rabbinic Judaism required equld not eagily be practised unqer modern social conditions. _Many Jews, of course, clung to Rabbinic Judaism nevertheless, anfi they became known as Orthodox Jews. Others believed that it was neceseary to reconstruct Judaism; They became known as Reform Jews or Liberal Jews. Liberal Judaism has made _ 5 _ many changes in Jewish practice and to a lesser extent in Jewish belief. But it maintains that it has only changed the forms; the substance Liberal Judaism is, if you like, a new remains more or less unchanged. form of Judaism; but it maintains all the easemtial ideas and values, not only of Heoraiem, but also of Phariséism. Today there are about 13 million Jews in the world, concentrated chiefly in America, Russia and Israel, but to be found in almost every country of the World. In England there are about u50,000 Jews, so that In this secukar they constitdye rather less than 1% of the population. age many of them, of course, are not religiously observant at all. Of the rest, the majprity still clifig, though not always very consistently, to Orthodox Judaism. But Liberal and Reform Judaism is making much headway and looks like becoming thé norm within a generation or two. To conclude: if you were to ask me why inclined to give two anawers. I was brogght up as a Jew; and Judaism for any other religion; individual. Secondly, I see in First: I I I am a Jew, I should be was born of Jewish parents; have not gelt any urge to exchange it satisfies my religious needs as an Judaism the most faithful embodiment of the values of Hebraiem; and Hebraism seems to me to be the one great force in human history which makes fbr enlightenment and redemption, which is capable of conquering Paganism and establishing the Kingdom of God on earth.