As Others Saw Him: A Retrospect, A.D. 54Jacobs, Joseph
Religion
As Others Saw Him: A Retrospect, A.D. 54
Jacobs, Joseph
Bible. New Testament -- History of Biblical events -- Fiction; Biographical fiction; Jesus Christ -- Fiction
Thou must know that among us our Sages are of two kinds, the Halachists
and the Hagadists. The former deal with matters of the Law according to
the tradition they have received from their teacher; but the latter
expound the words of the Scripture, and deal with the moral relations of
man to man. Some of our Sages, indeed, like the great Hillel, who died
when I was a child, have been equally masters both of the Halacha and the
Hagada; and in many ways the teaching of Jesus seems to have resembled, if
it did not follow, that of Hillel. I must tell thee one anecdote about
this Hillel which is well known amongst us. He was distinguished for his
evenness of temper, and men would often in sport try to make him lose it.
A heathen came before him one day, and declared that he would become a Jew
if only Hillel would tell him the whole Law while he stood upon one foot,
hoping thereby to irritate Hillel by his presumption. But Hillel said
only, “What thou wilt not for thyself, do not to thy neighbor. This is the
whole of the Law; all the rest is but commentary thereon. Go and learn.”
Now, among the disciples of Hillel was one who compiled for the heathen a
summary of the Law in the spirit of Hillel; and it seemed to me, from what
I heard of Jesus’ teaching, that he had learnt much from this summary,
which is called “THE TWO WAYS.” I will have a copy written out for thee,
for it is very short.
Now, in all the teaching of Jesus which I heard of about this time, he
seems to have expanded, but in no wise modified, the teaching of “The Two
Ways.” Above all, he seems to have warned men against the evil feelings
within, that lead to sins against the Law, and therein differed somewhat
from the practice of our Sages, who think that by doing the Law and
keeping to it rightful feelings shall grow, and evil thoughts fly away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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