The B'nai B'rith magazine · 1927-06-01 · 9 (6.1927) · p. Seite 392

The Printed Page m The Crucified Jew. By Max Hunterberg. Bloch Publishing Co. RESSED within the compass of an hour's thoughtful reading is a book on "The Crucified Jew," by Max Hunterberg. It was recently averred that the trial of Socrates was to receive a Twentieth Century Review. A modern study from the legal aspect of the Trial of Jesus was creditably undertaken by Walter M. Chandler and Giovanni Rosadi. We are nearer a sympathetic understanding of the crucifixion in this era of growing tolerance than ever before. Growing out of the author's frequent addresses before Christian audiences on the development of good will and fraternity, this book by Hunterberg has come before the public. It is a fresh statement of the arguments already adduced, logically and impressively presented. He is convincing in his insistance that the people were friendly and loyal to Jesus, that his teachings touched the high water mark of Jewish ethical and religious thought, that Caiphas and his priestly retinue were hostile, and that Jesus was condemned by Roman court, and nailed to a Roman cross by four Roman soldiers. He makes much out of the inconsistencies of two regnant high priests, Caiphas and Annas at one time, and of the Jewish ceremony of the washing of the hands in innocence performed by Pontius Pilate. The book ought to be in the libraries, and in the hands of Christians and Jews alike. I commend its reading to everybody. Abram Simon. Judaism in the First Centuries of the Christian Era. The Age of the Tannaim. By George Foot Moore. Two volumes. Harvard University Press. rTlHERE are so many religious truths in classical form to be found in Professor Moore's work that one is tempted to gather them in an anthology. The history of Judaism, as generally represented, has been colored by certain widely disseminated misconceptions. This has been due not so much to the calculations of modern Bible critics as to the thesis that the whole character of the Jewish religion was changed by the introduction of "Ezra's law-book." In the words of Kuenen: "Before Ezra, spirit ruled; after him the letter. Before Ezra, Judaism was prophetic, universalistic; after him it became anti-prophetic, anti-universalistic." Many Gentile scholars, taking this view as their basis, asserted that Christianity was the successor to prophetic religion and that Judaism became petrified under the dominance of the priests who succeeded in stifling vital religion under a mass of external forms. This view is still too often uncritically accepted as are a priori notions about the Jewish scribes, the Pharisees, the Jewish idea of God, Jewish "exclusiveness" and Jewish ethical concepts and religious institutions in general. In most cases such authors lack first hand acquaintance with Jewish sources; sometimes they are bound by a set idea as to the inferiority of Judaism to the dominant religion. As a result Judaism received unequitable treatment. Professor Moore was eminently fit to undertake the task of presenting a true view of Judaism as it finally shaped itself during the most crucial time of its history, the period of the Tannaim. A scholar of world-wide reputation, with an enviable record in the field of Semitic scholarship, he presents to us in this magnum opus the result of thirty years of painstaking research. He has consulted the entire literature bearing on the subject, has re-examined the sources and has given us a really dependable interpretation of Judaism. There is no space to praise adequately this profound work. The author in a refutation of Kuenen's thesis referred to above, demonstrates that in the time of Ezra, as in ancient times, there existed side by side with the written law, supplementing and applying it, the oral law, a living .growing organism; that therefore there was no incompatibility between the most minute attention to observances and the worthiest conceptions of God; that the Judaism of Ezra was a continuation of prophetic Judaism, that it was the scribes, the scholars and the popular party, the Pharisees and not the priests who became the dominant factor in the development of Judaism. He describes in detail the Synagogue and the School, the unique institutions of Judaism for the education of the people, which have perpetuated themselves to the present day. Through them, study became a method of worship and the fundamentals of monotheism reached Christianity and Mohammedanism. "Torah," which Moore happily renders as "divine wisdom," was accepted by the Jews as their guide and was to be realized in their lives. Torah was for the Gentiles, too. Judaism became the first great missionary religion of the Mediterranean world. Talmudic legislation was inspired by the Biblical command "One law shall be unto you for the native and the stranger"; the unity of mankind was plainly written in the Torah. Freedom of will was assumed; the individual was considered capable of choosing between right and wrong,, the worst consequence of sin was considered its growing power on the sinner and the fact that it could not be confined to one individual. There is no notion that Adam's original constitution underwent any change so that he transmitted to his descendants a vitiated nature. Cain was admonished "to master the sin that croucheth at the door"; evil impulse could be resisted. Repentance, a change in man's attitude towards God and in his conduct of life, was indispensable to the remission of every kind of sin and God freely and fully forgives sins of the penitent. This is the Jewish doctrine of salvation. The power to forgive is a prerogative of God which he shares with no other and deputes to none. Men are bound together not only by common interests or agreement in opinions, but even more strongly by common observances. The rejection of all historical forms itself becomes a formalism of a most rigid type. Professor Moore warns against huddling Jewish observances together under the taboojargon of anthropologists and calling loyalty to them "legalism." Judaism never developed a spiritual and ethical casuistry. It left virtues such as filial piety, philanthropy and charity, without any measure or form but to the conscience of the individual. Love of God was the dominant motive for virtuous conduct. The ideal of the religion of Israel was a society in which all the relations of men to their fellows were governed by the principle "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." M. Jung. 392