THE JEWISH CHARACTER. [TO THE EDITOR OP THE .spsersTomi SIR,—It
is strange with what apparently small equipment of knowledge it is considered reasonable to write about Judaism and the Jews. If a man had no intimate acquaintance with English literature and history after 1066, he would hesitate to write, with even patronising bestowal of praise or blame, about the English character and religion. But people with only the Old Testament in their hands, to whom the gigantic literature of the Jews, from the Christian era till our own times, is a sealed book, seem to have no hesitation in writing about Judaism and the Jews. Thus the writer of the article, " A Dual People," in last week's Spectator, seems to rely upon the Old Testament, and especially upon the Book of Proverbs, as his sole literary sources for his estimate of Jewish character. He shows no sign of an even elementary knowledge of the all-important Rabbinical litera- ture, or of mediaeval Jewish writings. If he possessed such a knowledge, he would be aware that the Book of Proverbs is in many ways peculiarly uncharacteristic of Jewish thought, Jewish character, and Jewish religion. For one thing, it was compiled before the belief in the Resurrection and the Future Life had profoundly altered the entire Weltanschauung of the Jews. As Gunkel rightly observes, the rise of that doctrine, already prevalent and official in the age of Jesus, marks a big dividing-line. This life, its pleasures, successes, contents, and aims, were never again interpreted in the same light as in the old days when it was believed that death was the end. Secondly, the Proverbs are in large part a collection of worldly sayings which can be paralleled in the literatures of many races; the lower adages are not specially characteristic of the Jews, and were little thought of, cared for, or quoted in later literature. When they are used they are (as so often happens with the unsatisfactory portions of sacred books) idealised and explained away. Is the writer of the article even well acquainted with the Daily Liturgy of the Jews ? How utterly different it is in tone and spirit from the Book of Proverbs ! And yet this Liturgy is the real expression of Judaism and the Jews. Has the writer a good knowledge of the Ethics of the Fathers which are incorporated in .the Liturgy ? Does he know that these are far more characteristic of, and have had far greater influence upon, Judaism and the Jews than all the worldly sayings of the Proverbs ? What sort of sayings do we find there ? " This is the way that is becoming for the study of the Torah: a morsel of bread with salt thou must eat, and water by measure thou must drink, thou must sleep upon the ground, and live a life of trouble the while thou toilest in the Torah. If thou doest thus, happy shalt thou. be, and it shall be well with thee ; happy shalt thou be in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to come." "Be not like servants who minister to their masters upon the condition of receiving a reward; but be like servants who minister to their masters without the condition of receiving a reward ; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you." " R. Jacob said, This world is like a vestibule before the world to come : prepare thyself in the vestibule, that thou mayest enter into the hall. He used to say, Better is one hour of repentance and good deeds in this world than the whole life of the world to come ; but better is one hour of blissfulness of spirit in the world to come than the whole life of this world." These sayings are unlike Proverbs, but they are much more Jewish than Proverbs. The Jewish character is more complicated than the writer of the article supposes. It has been produced by more complicated causes. The Jew, when he abandons religion and loses a living faith in God, tends to become a materialist. That is freely admitted. But his true religion is not the Book of Proverbs : the worldly adages of that book do not reflect any element of Judaism as Judaism has existed for nineteen hundred years. Judaism is far superior to them. It is compact of the purest idealism.—I am, Sir, &c.,
12 Portman Square, W. CLAIrDE G. MONTEFIORE.
[We think that the animadversion contained in this letter should more fairly be addressed to Mr. Zangwill than to us. The duality of the Jewish race was in its origin his con- ception, not ours.—En. Spectator.] ETON.
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