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265 the Jewish point of view this must be denied. Under close analysis, Spinoza does not go beyond the positions maintained on some points by Maimonides,

on more by Crescas. He carries to its furthest consequences the Jewish solicitude to divest the idea of the Godhead of anthropomorphic associations (on this point see Joel, " Zur Genesis der Lehre Spinoza's," Breslau, 1871).

In modern Judaism, as

evinced by printed serAtheism of every kind has found voice and adherents. The influence of the natural sciences, and the unwarranted conclusions now recognized as such by none more readily than by the thinkers devoted to the exploration of na-

mons and other

is

publications,

have also left their mark on Jewry. Both the idle Atheism of conceit and the more serious Atheism of reaction against the dogmatism of anterior days have had exponents in the circles grouped around the synagogues. As elsewhere, evolution was invoked to dethrone God, and therefore, departing from the methods of scholasticism, the arguments based on evolution were not ignored by the defenders of theism in the pulpit. In the discussion two lines were more especially followed. Atheism was tested as to its rationality, and was found of all irrational theories of the world and life the most irrational. Mind presupposes mind. The gap between thought and matter has not been bridged by natural selection Du Bois-Reymond's agnosticism or by evolution. left the domain of faith to religious cultivation. Whatever difficulties from a materialistic point of view the doctrine of God as the Creator and guide of world and of man, as the Author of life, and as the Ultimate Reality underlying the All may present and must present for to know God as He is man would have to be God the divine element in man, his conscience and self-consciousness, his moral power and experiences, are inexplicable and unreadable ridMaterialism has no key for dles to the materialist. ture's domain,

—

—

History, especially the history of their solution. the Jews, witnesses to a will which is not ours, but may be made ours to the potency of purposes which are not ours, but may be followed by us to laws in harmony with which alone man can attain unto happiness and preserve his dignity. To these facts and factors the Jewish theist has pointed in defense of



his theistic interpretation of life and its phenomena, while always ready to modify the symbolism into which he would cast the supreme thought. The old

demonstrations of God's existence indeed, after Kant, can not be said to be cogent. But the moral proof of theism in refutation of Atheism has taken on new strength in the very searching by Kant's master The theism of Israel's religion has been criticism.

by the facts and forces of Israel's history, as the "witness to Yhwh." Bibliography: S. Hirsch, Die HumanitUt alsReligkm, lecture Cincinnati, 1876. ii, Trier 1858; I. M. Wise, The Cosmic God, E. G. H. g verified

i

ATHENIANS in Talmud and Midrash



The

Jewish folk-lore of Palestine was fond of contrasting the inhabitants of Athens and of Jerusalem, and of opposing the Rabbis to the Attic sages. Greek philosophy and esthetics did not greatly impress the Jewish people, who thought themselves far superior to the

Atheism Athenians

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

265

Greeks

in wit

and wisdom.

In the

Haggadah occur a number

of wit-combats

between Jews and Athenians, in which their quickness at repartee and skill in propounding and solving problems are displayed in rivalry. Thus an Athenian arriving at Jerusalem met a child, and, giving him a small piece of money, asked him to buy him something to eat, from which he could satisfy himself and yet have enough left for the rest of his journey. The child brought him salt. Another Athenian coming to Jerusalem and visiting a school found the children in recess, and amusing themselves with guessing riddles. Requested to ask him a riddle, they put to him the following enigma: "Nine pass by, eight come, two pour out, one drinks, and twenty-four serve." The Athenian declared himself unable to solve the riddle, of which the solution is " Nine months of pregnancy, eight days until circumcision, two breasts, the boy's mouth, and the twenty-four months until he is weaned " (Lam. R. to Buber, p. 48). anecdotes of this cycle have passed into the literature of the Arabs, the Persians, and a number The first of these is about an of European peoples. Athenian's one-eyed Jewish stable-boy who, despite his infirmity, could tell what kind of camel was passing at a distance of four miles, and what it was carrying (Lam. R. I.e. 12). The second tells of the wisdom of four men of Jerusalem who came to Athens, and of their acuteness in guessing at the true character of the objects and persons about them These two anecdotes, with the (Lam. R. I.e. 4). details adapted to Arabic taste, occur in many Persian and Arabic works; and the Italians learned them from the Arabs. This latter fact is attested by " the appearance of the anecdotes in " II Novellino " thirof the of stories Novelle, " collection or Cento a Either through the Italians or teenth century. through D'Herbelot they became known to Voltaire, and were used by him for the first chapter of his "Zadig." An Athenian wanted to make sport of a tailor at Jerusalem, and handed him a broken mortar, asking him to sew it. The tailor gave him a handful of sand, asking him in turn to spin thread out of it with which he might sew the mortar (Lam. R. I.e. Again, an Athenian asked a boy of Jerusalem, 8). i.

1,

ed.

Two

who had brought him eggs and

several

balls

of

him which cheese was of the milk of a white and which of a black goat. The boy prom-

cheese, to tell ised to

answer

if

the Athenian, being the older,

would first tell him which was the egg of a white and which of a black hen (Lam. R. I.e. 9; compare also 'Ab. Zarah 176). The last two witticisms, slightly changed, occur also in the Talmud in the account of the disputation between Joshua ben Hananiah and the wise men or " It elders of Athens, " Sabe de-be Atuna (Bek. 8b). " may be assumed as tolerably certain that "be atuna not does and Athens, for form Aramaic is merely an

refer to the

Atheneum

and Berliner

at

Rome,

as Dubsch, Gratz,

believe.

The Talmud (Bek. I.e. et seg.) gives an account of the disputation between these wise men of Athens and Joshua ben Hananiah. The Cfesar (Hadrian), discussing a point of biology with Joshua, mentioned that the sages of Athens held a different

when