Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/187

149 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

149

and clearly apprehended conviction concerning the providential purpose in the destinies of earth's inhabitants, and more especially in the guidance of Israel. The Psalms and Wisdom books manifest the predomiTo say that nance of definite religious beliefs. Judaism is a barren legalistic convention, as Mendelssohn avers, is an unmistakable exaggeration. The modicum of truth in his theory is that throughout Biblical Judaism, as in fact through all later phases of Jewish religious thinking and practise, this doctrinal element remains always in solution. It is not crystallized into fixed phraseology or rigid dogma. And, moreover, the ethical and practical implications of the religion are never obscured. This is evidenced by the Biblical passages that, in the opinion of many, partake of the nature of Articles of Faith, or are of great value as showing what, ideas, evince the force of a strong

in the opinion of their respective authors, constitutes

the essence of religion. Among these the most noteworthy are Deut. vi. 4 Isa. xlv. 5-7 Micah vi. 8 Isa. i. 16, 17; xxxrii. 15. Ps. xv. Whatever controversies may have agitated Israel during the centuries of the Prophets and the earlier postexilic period, they were not of a kind to induce the defining of Articles of Faith to counteract the inDogmatic differences fluences of heretical teaching. manifest themselves only after the Maccabean strugBut even these differences gle for independence. were not far-reaching enough to overcome the inherent aversion to dogmatic fixation of principles; for, with the Jews, acceptance of principles was not so much a matter of theoretical assent as of practical conduct. Though Josephus would have the divisions between the Pharisees and Sadducees hinge on the formal acceptance or rejection of certain points of doctrine such as Providence, resurrection of the body, which, for the Pharisees, was identical it is the with future retribution Discusconsensus of opinion among modern sions and scholars that the differences between Dogmatism these two parties were rooted in their Disfavored, respective political programs, and implied in their respectively national





—

—

attitudes, rather than in their philosophical or religious dogmas. If the words of Sirach (iii. 30-23) are to be taken as a criterion, the intensely pious of his days did not incline to speculations on what was beyond their powers to comprehend. They were content to per-

and anti-national

form their religious duties in simplicity of faith. The Mishnah (Hag. ii. 1) indorsed this view of Sirach, and in some degree discountenanced theosophy and dogmatism. Among the recorded discussions in the schools of the Rabbis, dogmatic problems commanded only a very inferior degree of attention ('Er. 13ft: controversy concerning the value of human life Hag. 12a concerning the order of CreaNevertheless, in the earliest Mishnah is found tion). the caution of Abtalion against heresy and unbe;



(Ab. i. 11 [12]); and many a Baraita betrays the prevalence of religious differences (Ber. 12ft; These controversies have left their 'Ab. Zarah 17a). impress upon the prayer-book and the liturgy. This is shown by the prominence given to the Shema' to the Messianic predictions in the Shemoneh-'Esreh lief

Articles of Faith

"Eighteen Benedictions"), which emphasized the belief in the Resurrection and, finally, to the prominence given to the Decalogue though the latter was again omitted in order to counteract the belief that it alone had been revealed (Tamid v. 1 Yer. Ber. 6ft; Bab. Ber. 12a). These expressions of belief are held to have originated in the desire to give definite utterance and impressiveness to the corresponding doctrines that were either rejected or attenuated by some of the heretical schools. But while these portions of the daily liturgy are expressive of the doctrinal contents of the regnant party in the synagogue (see Landshuth, in Edelman's " Hegyon Leb " and Liturgy), they were not cast into the form of catalogued Articles of Faith. The first to make the attempt to formulate them was Philo of Alexandria. The influence of Greek thought induced among the Jews of Egypt the reDiscussion was undoxibtedly active flective mood. on the unsettled points of speculative belief; and such discussion led, as it nearly always does, to a In his work, stricter definition of the doctrines. "De Mundi Opificio," lxi., Philo enumerates five articles as embracing the chief tenets of Mosaism: (2) God is one (3) the world (1) God is and rules was created; (4) Creation is one; (5) God's providence rules Creation. But among the Tannaim and Amoraim this example of Philo found no followers, though many of their number were drawn into con(the



—







troversies with both Jews and non-Jews, and had to fortify their faith against the attacks of contemporaneous philosophy as well as against rising Chris-

Only in a general way the Mishnah Sanh. excludes from the world to come the Epicureans and those that deny belief in resurrection or R. Akiba would in the divine origin of the Torah. also regard as heretical the readers of D'JIVnn D"HSD certain extraneous writings (Apocrypha or Gosand persons that would heal through whispels) pered formulas of magic. Abba Saul designated as under suspicion of infidelity those that pronounce the ineffable name of the Deity. By implication the contrary doctrine and attitude may thus be regarded On the as having been proclaimed as orthodox. other hand, Akiba himself declares Philo and. that the command to love one's neighbor is the fundamental principle of Akiba. the Law while Ben Asai assigns this distinction to the Biblical verse, " This is the book Gen. R. of the generations of man " (Gen. v. i. tianity. xi. 1

—

—





xxiv.).

The

definition of

Hillel

the elder, in his

interview with a would-be convert (Shab. 31a), embodies in the golden rule the one fundamental article A teacher of the third Christian century, of faith. R. Simlai, traces the development of Jewish religious principles from Moses with his 613 commands of prohibition and injunction, through David, who, according to this rabbi, enumerates eleven through

with six; Micah, with three; to Habakkuk, simply but impressively sums up all religious

Isaiah,

who

faith in the single phrase, "The pious lives in his As the Halakah enjoins faith" (Mak., toward end). that one shall prefer death to an act of idolatry,

murder, the inference is plain that the corresponding positive principles were held to be fundamental articles of Judaism.

incest, unchastity, or