Rabban Gamaliel said, “Provide thyself a teacher, and be quit of doubt” (Aboth i. 16). The rule laid down in these words for every individual applies also to the whole community. Questions like those mentioned in the preceding note frequently arise in Jewish congregations, and cause dissension where union is so much needed. A teacher must be appointed in every community, who shall be able to guide and to instruct it as to what is right and wrong. In fact, such a teacher has, as a rule, been appointed in Jewish congregations; he is known by various names: Haham (‏חכם‎), Rav (‏רב‎ “Teacher”), Rabbi (‏רבי‎ “My teacher”), Teacher of righteousness (‏מורה צדק‎), and Judge (‏דין‎). The weight of his authority is less to be determined by the nature of his office or by written conditions than by his learning, piety, and personal influence. According to the rule, “Judge not alone” (ibid. iv. 8), he is generally assisted by two councillors (dayganim), with whom he forms a court of judgment—Beth-din—when questions of more than ordinary importance have to be decided. The congregation must accept his decisions as final, and must have confidence that he, like the high-priest of old, will give his answers according to “light and integrity.” VI. THE DIETARY LAWS. “Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing” (Deut. xiv. 3); that is, according to our traditional explanation, everything that the Word of God declares to be abominable (Sifre, ad locum). One of the sections of the Dietary Laws concludes thus: “For I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. xi. 45). Holiness is therefore the only object of these laws that is distinctly mentioned in the Pentateuch. But what is the nature of the holiness which they are intended to produce or to promote? “The Dietary Laws,” says Maimonides, “train us in the mastery over our appetites; they accustom us to restrain the growth of desire, the indulgence in seeking that which is pleasant, and the disposition to consider the pleasure of eating and drinking the end of man’s existence” (“The Guide,” III., chap. xxv. p. 167). And, indeed, wherever the Law commands restraint of some bodily enjoyment, or restriction of any of our appetites, such commandment is followed or preceded by the exhortation to be holy, or the warning not to defile oneself.