(p25)
CHAPTER II
A JEWISH HOME
1. Inasmuch as the orthodox Jews are the same
the world over, it will be in place to give the reader a clear idea of a Jewish
home, that he may better understand the social as well as the spiritual
atmosphere which pervades a Jewish house. He will better understand the Jewish
religion, and why it is that the Jews as a people, while claiming to be loyal to
Moses and the prophets, are at the same time bitter against the Christian
religion, especially as it is expressed in the teachings of the New Testament.
2. It should be remembered that there is
nothing, absolutely nothing, which concerns the Jew but what is regulated by the
rabbis. All their teachings have been collected, and, as a result, we have what
is known as the “Talmud.” The Talmud is in reality a commentary on the
Mishna,
and the Mishna is a commentary on the Old Testament. The Mishna contains the
comments which the rabbis and scholars have made concerning
the different parts of the Bible, and the Talmud consists of the comments the
rabbis have made on the Mishna. (a)
3. It is not infrequent, when one desires the
authority of a certain custom, to say that Rabbi so-and-so said in the name of
another rabbi, who heard it from some other rabbi, who was told it by a disciple
of a certain great teacher, or tana. To illustrate:
(p26) In the Talmudic tract, Erubin, mixture, is contained
the following discussion: “Said Rabbi Assi in the name of Rabbi Johannan, ‘A
courtyard must have two enclosures.’ Said Rabbi Zera to Rabbi Assi,’ Did Rabbi
Johannan indeed say so? Didst thou not thyself state in the name of Rabbi
Johannan, that the enclosure of a courtyard must measure at least four
ells? And if thou wouldst explain Rabbi Johannan’s dictum to
signify that the enclosures would have to be four ells on each side of the
angle, did not Rabbi Adar bar Abhimi state before Rabbi Hanima bar Papa?’ ”
etc., etc.
4. To the believing parents, everything that is
taught is true, no matter what it is; and this same principle is inculcated
everywhere. The child from infancy is taught that whatever it is told is right,
and no questions may be asked as to the how or why of things.
5. The father is the priest and ruler of the
household. This is true in the absolute. His word is law, and his authority is
indisputable. He endeavors to train his family in the fear of the Lord, and his
ideas of things are supposed to be accurate. Every one has to be in complete
submission, from the mother to the youngest child; and, while the head of the
family endeavors to make all others happy, happiness must be found in harmony
with what he says and does.
6. The basis for this strict obedience and
mandatory authority is taken from the words of the Lord concerning Abraham: “For
I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and
they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” Gen. 18: 19.
(p28) The rabbis claim that this means that it was God’s will
that Abraham should command his family to do his bidding. Inasmuch as Abraham is
the father of the Jews, it is the bounden duty of every father to see that his
household does as he tells them.
7. The reader can perhaps better appreciate
what the Saviour and John the Baptist meant when they told the Jews not to make
their boast of Abraham, that he was their father, and they were his children. To
be a child of Abraham meant to do as Abraham did. But
this the masses of the Jews did not do.
8. The mother has very little to do in
controlling the family, or in influencing the children, save that she is to do
as the husband says, or as she has been taught by her parents. It should be
remembered that the rabbis have so perverted the teachings of the word of God
that the girl and mother are of very little use save in doing culinary work and
looking after the affairs of the house. This is due largely to the
misinterpretation of the Scripture, and perversion of the truth. Here is an
example or two:
“There are ten sorts of disqualification, and every one in
whom one of them is found, he is disqualified from giving evidence; and these
are they, — women, slaves, children, idiots, deaf persons, the blind, the
wicked, the despised, relatives, and those interested in their testimony.
Behold these are the ten.” — Hilcoth Adus, “Laws of
Witness”
9. We here see that women are placed in the
same class with slaves, idiots, and wicked persons. (p29) This is
entirely contrary to the word of God. But the rabbis seek to free themselves
from embarrassment by saying that the reason “women are disqualified by the law
from giving testimony,” is because the Scripture says that evidence must be
given by the “mouth of two or three witnesses,” and the word
witnesses is in the masculine gender, and not in the feminine. And
they further state that the law says, Thou shalt teach thy children
diligently.
Here also the word children, la-vo-necho, literally means male
children, and not female.
10. Many other texts are used to support their
wrong and erroneous theory, till they have convinced the masses of the Jews that
woman is not only incapable of bearing testimony, but is irresponsible in
religious life. This is evident from the two following prayers, which are
offered daily in the synagogue, and from the law which the rabbis have made.
Here are the prayers. The man’s prayer:
“Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who
hath not made me a woman.”
The woman prays: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of
the Universe, who hath made me according to His will.”
Should there be a thousand persons in the
synagogue gathered for worship, the service could not begin till there were at
least ten males, and each male must be not less than thirteen years old. Here
is the law: “It is necessary that all these ten be free and adult men.” (b)
— “Laws of Life.”
11. Thus woman not only has been degraded, but
has been made unusually irresponsible. (p30) So that from the birth
of the girl till her marriage, the father is responsible for her; and from her
marriage till her death, her
husband bears her religious and moral responsibility. Should she,
however,
remain unmarried, she is obliged to bewail her virginity.
12. It must be said, however, that the children
are taught obedience to the mother, but this is due largely to the influence of
the father, enforcing it upon the child. The mother seeks to bring up the child
to the best of her ability in the fear of God, so far as she has been orally
instructed. The reader must recognize that, in view of the rabbinical teaching
concerning women, very few of them are educated in European countries where the
rabbis hold sway, and where orthodoxy has preeminence. But the girls are taught,
from generation to generation, by oral instruction from the parents. This is
faithfully treasured, and the mother does her best to impart it to the child;
for the more effectively she performs this labor, the more will be her reward in
heaven, and the more will heaven look with favor upon her efforts, and will give
her a son who will be of much service in the cause of Judaism.
13. On every hand the effect and influence of
rabbinical teaching is seen. When the children awaken in the morning, the first
thing they are to do is to wash their eyes and the tips of their fingers. The
reason is, the rabbis have taught that little demons are apt to gather at the
tips of the fingers during the night, and should these not be washed prior to
placing them on the eyes, these little imps might cause blindness.
(p31) If the child should consider this story rather amusing and
esteem it lightly, an impression of some form would certainly follow, either
mental or physical, and the matter would never be questioned
again.
14. The children are taught from infancy by the
mother, and this teaching includes a knowledge of the Messiah. All the prayers
are prepared by the teachers, and read from books. While they are filled with
texts of Scripture, they simply express the sentiments the rabbis have placed
upon them. Hence, the home teaching is of that character that the prayer-books
and the parents’ teaching are not only Heaven’s teaching, but the words of the
rabbis are placed on an equality with the words of God.
15. The Sabbath and the holidays are periods of
very great interest. These are times when the children anticipate something more
than on ordinary days, even to the bread and to the wine. At the beginning of
the Sabbath, the mother will light the candles known as the Sabbath lights. This
is done in order that the Sabbath may bring light and blessing to the house. The
children have to remove everything from their pockets. If anything is carried on
this day, it is a burden; and the Bible says there must be no burden borne on
the Sabbath days.
Until the boy is thirteen, he is permitted to carry a pocket-handkerchief
for
he, too, is not responsible till that age, a reason for which is given in chapter four, paragraph one. After that age, he is not
supposed to be burdened even with this necessary article, as it, too, is
carrying a burden. (p32) The rabbis, however, have explained this command by saying that men may carry
it around the waist as a part of the
clothing. The women may carry it around their arm, and make it a part of their
apparel, (c)
16. In the doing of all this, they believe they
are doing the service of God and carrying out the will of the Lord. Nearly
always a command in which there is a blessing pronounced, begins like this
:
“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who
hath commanded us,” etc., etc., though the rabbis acknowledge they made the
law.
17. The Jews do not perform any work on the
Sabbath. It is true they are obliged to have fires, especially in cold weather;
but this obstacle is overcome by securing a Sabbath Gentile. The business of
this Gentile is to take care of the fires, extinguish all lights, and perform
all things necessary to be done on the Sabbath for the comfort of the home,
which a Jew may not do. Should you ask for an explanation, you will be informed
that the Bible says concerning the Sabbath, “In it thou shalt not do any
work.”
Should
you ask, however, why the Gentile works when the same law says, neither thou,
thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, nor thy stranger; that
is, a Gentile, shall do any work, you are answered in a manner very effective.
Of course the parents will seek to convince you that it must be so because the
Bible says so; and what the Bible does not say the rabbis have said.
(p33) Inasmuch as we are taught to have the same respect for
the rabbis as we have for God, the word of the one is as binding as the word of
the other. It is absolutely necessary that we believe what the parents say, for
the law says, Honor thy mother and thy father. Therefore the question is
answered, and it must settle it forever.
18. While the children are taught many things
from the Scripture by the parents, as contained in the prayer-books, there are
many stories which are told the children against the gospel of Christ, in such a
manner as to make the child believe that the one is as true as the other. Many
of these tales are so awful that they could not be put on paper. They used to be
written in the Talmud many centuries ago; but in the fifteenth century some of
the readers of the Talmud among the Gentiles, discovered
these sayings. As a result, this edition of the Talmud was destroyed; and there
are but two copies in existence which contain these vile and bad stories. (d)
19. It is clearly impressed on the mind of the
child that Jesus not only was a bad man, but was really an improper child
[conceived out of wedlock]. This is taught to so impress the
child that it will be impossible ever to get his attention to any of the true
claims of the Messiahship of Jesus, from the fact that the Bible does not allow
such a person to come into the congregation of the Lord, not even to the tenth
generation.
All the miracles of Christ are explained by a lot of fairy tales and anecdotes,
such as, Jesus went into a dye shop and threw a lot of clothing into a vat, and
each piece came out a different color.
(p34) The miracle of the
resurrection is overcome by a story that Jesus went into the temple and learned
the name of Jehovah and the letters of the name. Finally He cut out a piece of
flesh from under his knee, and there deposited the card with the holy name on
it. After three days He was reminded of His having taken that card with the
name, which He then removed. After He learned the letters He was able to do
great wonders, even to fly in the air. These and many similar tales are taught
the children as part of their religious life, and this breeds within them such hatred and contempt for the
Christian religion. At the same time they are taught to love and respect Moses
and the prophets.
20. In a book called, “Ethics of the
Fathers,” chapter I, is found the following:
“Moses received the law from Sinai, and delivered it to
Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, the prophets to
the men of the Great Synagogue. They said,” etc., etc.
In this way, the rabbis are connected with Moses and the prophets, and the words of
one are as true as those of the other. The words of the oral law, the law
of the rabbis, are as sacred and as holy as the law of Moses.
21. On the walls of the room in nearly every
orthodox Jewish house is found a picture of Moses with the scrolls of the law in
his hands, and various pictures of great rabbis, that reverence for the one may
be taught as much as for the others. The groundwork is well laid, and the
foundations are built strong and deep. The more pious the parents, the more the
teaching will be impressed, and the more the child will have his mind fixed
with such things.
(p36) 22. This
was the lot of the early years of the writer at his home with his parents and
relatives. Judaism was everything beautiful and sacred, and the future was
looked forward to with much pleasure, when the rabbinical school would be
entered and more of the teaching be received.
On to Chapter
Three
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EXPLANATORY NOTES.
PARAGRAPH 2 (a). — See “Practical Lessons," chapter 2.
Back
PAR.
10
(b). —
The writer well remembers when a boy he was obliged at times to wait at the street corners near the synagogue and hail
men to come to the service, in order that there might be ten grown male
adults present that the service of God might be conducted. Back
PAR.
15
(c). —
Such teachings fully justify the actions of the Saviour as recorded in Matt. 23
:13-38. Back
PAR.
18 (d). — The best information the author can gather is that one copy
of the Amsterdam Talmud
which contains these statements is in England and one copy in the United States. Back
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