Excerpts from
of Jewish Quotations",
Bantam Books, 1972.
Topic:
Monotheism
Editor's note:
However
the history
of
man
is written
in the future,
one thing
seems to me
certain:
the
Hebrew concept
of monotheism
represented
a
most profound
intellectual,
no less than
religious,
revolution:
(1) It freed
men
from
a fearful subordination
to
the forces of nature,
by
positing a loving
(or punishing)
supranatural
cosmic power;
the idea of one God
emancipated men
from their terror
of many evil demons,
supernatural apparitions,
fiendish hobgoblins,
animistic cacodemons,
etc.
(2) Monotheism
fused
religion and morality:
ethical conduct
became
a duty to the deity;
morality
now partook
of the divine.
(3) The love of God
was a novel
and
immense
contribution
(the Hebrews'
predecessors
and
contemporaries
feared,
placated,
or made sacrifices
to
a gallery of gods
who
were
unloving,
willful,
vain,
jealous,
angry,
petulant --
in short,
oddly undivine;
the Iliad
is a marvelous chronicle
of
the
curious intramural feuds
that raged
on
lofty Olympus).
(4) The concept
of One God
ultimately became
a stimulus to science
(even though the rabbis
were opposed
to the secular
and the scientific),
because
it suggested a unitary,
consistent pattern
within which
everything in nature
functioned.
Monotheism
offered
the idea of order,
consistency,
and
meaning
in the universe --
all
waiting for man
to explore
and
understand.
(5) The idea
of One God
contained
within itself
the concept
of
a central cause,
a
prime reason
for things;
and
the searches
for that reason,
whether
in the analysis
of sacred writings
or
experimental ventures
or
the cool observation
of
physical phenomena,
became
a
systematic enterprise.
For
once
cosmic unity
is accepted,
universal consistencies,
regularities,
and
interrelations
follow;
and
each new discovery
adds weight
to the view
that
behind all
of the multifarious,
mystifying
phenomena
of the world,
there is
one
final
and
consistent
set of principles.
(I am
by no means
downgrading
the
surpassing brilliance
of
polytheistic Greece.)
Von Humboldt
shrewdly observed
that
the love of nature,
to say nothing
of
the sympathetic
study of it,
could only begin
after
superfluous pagan gods
had been
removed
from
man's
intellectual apparatus.
And Einstein,
in one of his
most famous asides
about quantum physics,
said that he
could not believe
that God
"threw dice" --
i.e.,
that the laws
of the universe
are random.
[p. 330 - 331]
+++
Topic:
God: Complaints About
Editor's note:
One of
the most interesting,
surprising,
and (to me) endearing
aspects
of the attitude
of Jews
to the Lord
is the candor
of their complaints
about Him:
grievances
phrased with such tact,
felicity,
irony
or
wit
that they
manage to stop
just this side
of
the sacrilegious.
To be
both
pious and critical,
loving and sardonic,
fearful and unafraid,
respectful and indignant,
represents
a most delicate
and
sophisticated feat.
I think
that
the complaints
against the Lord
are managed
without guilt,
which
is the most
remarkable
aspect of all,
because
believing Jews
hold that:
(a) God
made a covenant
with
the Hebrews,
according to
the Holy Torah;
(b) a contract
requires
responsible
performance
from both sides,
however vast
the disparity
in the status,
virtue
or power
of
the
contracting parties;
(c) reciprocal
responsibility
justifies
a complaint
by
either party
about
the imperfect conduct
or
non-performance
of
the other;
(d) the relation
between
a Jew and the Lord
is one-to-one,
since
the entire structure
of
the Jewish faith
rests
on the assertion,
in the Talmud,
that
there are
no mediators,
no intermediaries,
between
God and man
(rabbis
are not
agents
of the Lord);
(e) since the Jews
hold
that God gave
each man
a Conscience,
by which
to decide for himself
whether
to
observe
His commandments
or not;
and
Reason,
through which
to analyze
everything
under the sun;
and
Free Will,
which
contains
the capacity to err,
sin
or
blaspheme
(and take
the consequences),
Jews
simply
exercise
these
God-given gifts
to the full;
(f) the Lord
of the Universe
is surely
far too great,
kind,
just
and
all-knowing
to mind
little man's efforts
to
lighten life's
burdens
by
the play
and
pleasure
of levity,
for --
(g) it would be
a humorless,
therefore
imperfect,
God
who did not
understand
the preciousness
of laughter
in a world
so laden
with
suffering and tragedy.
What I am
trying to explain
may come down to
the simple fact
that
a robust people,
if not
their solemn pedants,
simply
take it
for granted
that
God
has
a sense of humor,
too.
How else
could
He
put up
with
His problems?
[p. 224 - 225]
+++
Topic:
Editor's note:
The history
and
different connotations
of
"Messiah"
deserve
careful explanation.
The word
comes
from Hebrew:
ha-mashiah:
"the anointed."
The Hebrew
Mashiah
in Greek
became messias;
in translation,
christos;
hence,
messias = messiah;
christos = Christ –
and each
denotes
"the anointed one."
In the
Old Testament,
Meshiah
Was
the title given
to kings
("God's anointed")
and priests,
who were initiated
by
being anointed
with
sacred oil.
Later,
Meshiah
meant a prophet,
or
anyone
with a special mission
from God.
Then
Meshiah
came to mean
the awaited Deliverer
of the Jews
from their bondage
and oppression,
who will restore
the
kingdom of Israel.
Finally,
Meshiah
stood for
the Savior
who
will make
the world of men
acknowledge
God's sovereignty,
and will thus
usher in
the
Day of Judgment.
English translations
of the Bible
tend to separate
the idea
of "the anointed"
from
the "Messiah" –
the first
being used
for
the living,
the second
for
the expected.
But
the
Jewish concept
should be
approached
historically.
The Old Testament
uses the term
meshiah
or
anointed king
for
Saul,
David,
Zedekiah,
and
Cyrus of Persia,
who
was no Hebrew.
King David
established
the dynastic principle
among
the Hebrews.
And
from this
developed
the idea
that
some man,
blessed by God,
would come
from
the House of David
to
end Israel's tribulations,
enforce justice,
and establish peace.
As
a spiritual leader,
the Messiah
would establish
a messianic age –
on earth,
be it noted –
which
the prophets
Isaiah
and
Micah
foretold.
And
in the
new
Age of Righteousness,
all
of
mankind
would be redeemed.
Jews
thus distinguished
the earthly Messiah
from
a heavenly Messiah:
the earthly Messiah,
deliverer of the Jews,
would be a man
born
of the line of David;
but
the heavenly Messiah
lives
in Heaven
"under
the wings
of the Lord"
(Enoch, 39)
and
existed
before
even the sun
and
the stars
were created.
The idea
of
a divine
"Son of Man"
was not understood
by Jews
in
the later
Christian
sense.
The doctrine
of
the Messiah
has been
one of the most
powerful elements
in
the
history of Judaism.
Whenever
catastrophes –
epidemics,
starvation,
pogroms,
wars,
expulsions,
or any
of the torments
visited
upon the Jews –
seemed
unendurable,
the faithful
looked once more
into
their holy books
for
some hopeful,
hidden sign,
some new revelation,
some
miraculous harbinger
of deliverance.
Pious mystics,
astrologers,
cabalists,
and, later,
some Hasidim
even
predicted
the exact time
when the Messiah
would
usher in
the
Kingdom of God.
(So did
Christian Millenarians
throughout
the
Middle East,
Europe,
and England.)
The Romans
feared
messianic predictions
for
political reasons,
considering them
an incitement to,
or a camouflage for,
rebellion
against Rome's rule;
and
messianic movements
often did lead
to
political militancy.
Whenever
an
empire
under which
Jews
suffered
crumbled –
the Persian,
the Byzantine,
the Roman –
the
messianic fervors
were
intensified.
A
memorable statement
on this
tragic-hopeful theme
is that of
Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper:
"... when Popes
and Kings
allied themselves
with
the blind prejudices
of the Church
and
the mob,
such patronage
availed the Jews
no more
than
the Moriscos of Spain
or
the Huguenots of France.
Whither then
were
the
persecuted remnant
to turn
for relief?
Whither indeed
but
to that stock refuge
of the oppressed:
mysticism,
the Messiah,
the Millennium.
As the defeated
humanists of Spain
sank into
private ecstasies,
as the
marabout
on
his African dunghill
promises
a Mahdi
to
the dejected bedouin,
as
the Anabaptists
of the seventeenth century
manipulated
their Scriptural logarithms
to
hasten the Apocalypse,
so also
the
Jews of the Dispersion
deviated
into mystical heresies,
counted the days
to the Millennium,
or
discovered
the Messiah."
[-- Hugh Trevor-Roper ,
"Historical Essays",
Macmillan, London,
1963, pp. 148 - 149]
Messianic ideas
opposed
the
sense of resignation,
the
passive acceptance
of
Israel's fate on earth
that,
some Jews felt,
was encouraged
by
Talmudic law.
A group
called
Neturei Karta,
who today
live in Israel,
refuse to recognize
Israel
as
an independent state,
because
they maintain
that such
a holy sovereignty
could only have been
established
by the meshiah –
and
the meshiah has,
clearly,
not yet arrived.
[p. 322 - 324]
+++
of Jewish Quotations",
Bantam Books, 1972.
Topic:
Monotheism
Editor's note:
However
the history
of
man
is written
in the future,
one thing
seems to me
certain:
the
Hebrew concept
of monotheism
represented
a
most profound
intellectual,
no less than
religious,
revolution:
(1) It freed
men
from
a fearful subordination
to
the forces of nature,
by
positing a loving
(or punishing)
supranatural
cosmic power;
the idea of one God
emancipated men
from their terror
of many evil demons,
supernatural apparitions,
fiendish hobgoblins,
animistic cacodemons,
etc.
(2) Monotheism
fused
religion and morality:
ethical conduct
became
a duty to the deity;
morality
now partook
of the divine.
(3) The love of God
was a novel
and
immense
contribution
(the Hebrews'
predecessors
and
contemporaries
feared,
placated,
or made sacrifices
to
a gallery of gods
who
were
unloving,
willful,
vain,
jealous,
angry,
petulant --
in short,
oddly undivine;
the Iliad
is a marvelous chronicle
of
the
curious intramural feuds
that raged
on
lofty Olympus).
(4) The concept
of One God
ultimately became
a stimulus to science
(even though the rabbis
were opposed
to the secular
and the scientific),
because
it suggested a unitary,
consistent pattern
within which
everything in nature
functioned.
Monotheism
offered
the idea of order,
consistency,
and
meaning
in the universe --
all
waiting for man
to explore
and
understand.
(5) The idea
of One God
contained
within itself
the concept
of
a central cause,
a
prime reason
for things;
and
the searches
for that reason,
whether
in the analysis
of sacred writings
or
experimental ventures
or
the cool observation
of
physical phenomena,
became
a
systematic enterprise.
For
once
cosmic unity
is accepted,
universal consistencies,
regularities,
and
interrelations
follow;
and
each new discovery
adds weight
to the view
that
behind all
of the multifarious,
mystifying
phenomena
of the world,
there is
one
final
and
consistent
set of principles.
(I am
by no means
downgrading
the
surpassing brilliance
of
polytheistic Greece.)
Von Humboldt
shrewdly observed
that
the love of nature,
to say nothing
of
the sympathetic
study of it,
could only begin
after
superfluous pagan gods
had been
removed
from
man's
intellectual apparatus.
And Einstein,
in one of his
most famous asides
about quantum physics,
said that he
could not believe
that God
"threw dice" --
i.e.,
that the laws
of the universe
are random.
[p. 330 - 331]
+++
Topic:
God: Complaints About
Editor's note:
One of
the most interesting,
surprising,
and (to me) endearing
aspects
of the attitude
of Jews
to the Lord
is the candor
of their complaints
about Him:
grievances
phrased with such tact,
felicity,
irony
or
wit
that they
manage to stop
just this side
of
the sacrilegious.
To be
both
pious and critical,
loving and sardonic,
fearful and unafraid,
respectful and indignant,
represents
a most delicate
and
sophisticated feat.
I think
that
the complaints
against the Lord
are managed
without guilt,
which
is the most
remarkable
aspect of all,
because
believing Jews
hold that:
(a) God
made a covenant
with
the Hebrews,
according to
the Holy Torah;
(b) a contract
requires
responsible
performance
from both sides,
however vast
the disparity
in the status,
virtue
or power
of
the
contracting parties;
(c) reciprocal
responsibility
justifies
a complaint
by
either party
about
the imperfect conduct
or
non-performance
of
the other;
(d) the relation
between
a Jew and the Lord
is one-to-one,
since
the entire structure
of
the Jewish faith
rests
on the assertion,
in the Talmud,
that
there are
no mediators,
no intermediaries,
between
God and man
(rabbis
are not
agents
of the Lord);
(e) since the Jews
hold
that God gave
each man
a Conscience,
by which
to decide for himself
whether
to
observe
His commandments
or not;
and
Reason,
through which
to analyze
everything
under the sun;
and
Free Will,
which
contains
the capacity to err,
sin
or
blaspheme
(and take
the consequences),
Jews
simply
exercise
these
God-given gifts
to the full;
(f) the Lord
of the Universe
is surely
far too great,
kind,
just
and
all-knowing
to mind
little man's efforts
to
lighten life's
burdens
by
the play
and
pleasure
of levity,
for --
(g) it would be
a humorless,
therefore
imperfect,
God
who did not
understand
the preciousness
of laughter
in a world
so laden
with
suffering and tragedy.
What I am
trying to explain
may come down to
the simple fact
that
a robust people,
if not
their solemn pedants,
simply
take it
for granted
that
God
has
a sense of humor,
too.
How else
could
He
put up
with
His problems?
[p. 224 - 225]
+++
Topic:
The Messiah
Editor's note:
The history
and
different connotations
of
"Messiah"
deserve
careful explanation.
The word
comes
from Hebrew:
ha-mashiah:
"the anointed."
The Hebrew
Mashiah
in Greek
became messias;
in translation,
christos;
hence,
messias = messiah;
christos = Christ –
and each
denotes
"the anointed one."
In the
Old Testament,
Meshiah
Was
the title given
to kings
("God's anointed")
and priests,
who were initiated
by
being anointed
with
sacred oil.
Later,
Meshiah
meant a prophet,
or
anyone
with a special mission
from God.
Then
Meshiah
came to mean
the awaited Deliverer
of the Jews
from their bondage
and oppression,
who will restore
the
kingdom of Israel.
Finally,
Meshiah
stood for
the Savior
who
will make
the world of men
acknowledge
God's sovereignty,
and will thus
usher in
the
Day of Judgment.
English translations
of the Bible
tend to separate
the idea
of "the anointed"
from
the "Messiah" –
the first
being used
for
the living,
the second
for
the expected.
But
the
Jewish concept
should be
approached
historically.
The Old Testament
uses the term
meshiah
or
anointed king
for
Saul,
David,
Zedekiah,
and
Cyrus of Persia,
who
was no Hebrew.
King David
established
the dynastic principle
among
the Hebrews.
And
from this
developed
the idea
that
some man,
blessed by God,
would come
from
the House of David
to
end Israel's tribulations,
enforce justice,
and establish peace.
As
a spiritual leader,
the Messiah
would establish
a messianic age –
on earth,
be it noted –
which
the prophets
Isaiah
and
Micah
foretold.
And
in the
new
Age of Righteousness,
all
of
mankind
would be redeemed.
Jews
thus distinguished
the earthly Messiah
from
a heavenly Messiah:
the earthly Messiah,
deliverer of the Jews,
would be a man
born
of the line of David;
but
the heavenly Messiah
lives
in Heaven
"under
the wings
of the Lord"
(Enoch, 39)
and
existed
before
even the sun
and
the stars
were created.
The idea
of
a divine
"Son of Man"
was not understood
by Jews
in
the later
Christian
sense.
The doctrine
of
the Messiah
has been
one of the most
powerful elements
in
the
history of Judaism.
Whenever
catastrophes –
epidemics,
starvation,
pogroms,
wars,
expulsions,
or any
of the torments
visited
upon the Jews –
seemed
unendurable,
the faithful
looked once more
into
their holy books
for
some hopeful,
hidden sign,
some new revelation,
some
miraculous harbinger
of deliverance.
Pious mystics,
astrologers,
cabalists,
and, later,
some Hasidim
even
predicted
the exact time
when the Messiah
would
usher in
the
Kingdom of God.
(So did
Christian Millenarians
throughout
the
Middle East,
Europe,
and England.)
The Romans
feared
messianic predictions
for
political reasons,
considering them
an incitement to,
or a camouflage for,
rebellion
against Rome's rule;
and
messianic movements
often did lead
to
political militancy.
Whenever
an
empire
under which
Jews
suffered
crumbled –
the Persian,
the Byzantine,
the Roman –
the
messianic fervors
were
intensified.
A
memorable statement
on this
tragic-hopeful theme
is that of
Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper:
"... when Popes
and Kings
allied themselves
with
the blind prejudices
of the Church
and
the mob,
such patronage
availed the Jews
no more
than
the Moriscos of Spain
or
the Huguenots of France.
Whither then
were
the
persecuted remnant
to turn
for relief?
Whither indeed
but
to that stock refuge
of the oppressed:
mysticism,
the Messiah,
the Millennium.
As the defeated
humanists of Spain
sank into
private ecstasies,
as the
marabout
on
his African dunghill
promises
a Mahdi
to
the dejected bedouin,
as
the Anabaptists
of the seventeenth century
manipulated
their Scriptural logarithms
to
hasten the Apocalypse,
so also
the
Jews of the Dispersion
deviated
into mystical heresies,
counted the days
to the Millennium,
or
discovered
the Messiah."
[-- Hugh Trevor-Roper ,
"Historical Essays",
Macmillan, London,
1963, pp. 148 - 149]
Messianic ideas
opposed
the
sense of resignation,
the
passive acceptance
of
Israel's fate on earth
that,
some Jews felt,
was encouraged
by
Talmudic law.
A group
called
Neturei Karta,
who today
live in Israel,
refuse to recognize
Israel
as
an independent state,
because
they maintain
that such
a holy sovereignty
could only have been
established
by the meshiah –
and
the meshiah has,
clearly,
not yet arrived.
[p. 322 - 324]
+++
