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JUDAISM ‘TODAY
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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.
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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
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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.
_
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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
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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.