Jews -- Periodicals; Jews -- United States -- Periodicals
To begin with, the word Judaism, in the English language, stands
exclusively for a religion. It is co-ordinate with the word
Christianity, the word Buddhism, the word Zoroastrianism, with any
word that stands exclusively for a religion. Now in the history of the
Jewish people, there was a time when Judaism did not exist, and if I
understand the gentlemen who represent the Reform sect correctly--I
speak under correction--the intention of the Reform movement is a
reversion in fact to the religious attitude of the pre-Judaistic
period in the history of the religion of the Jewish people. It is
"prophetic" or "progressive Judaism" for which they stand, I gather,
in contrast with the "Talmudical Judaism," of the larger orthodox
sect. But the period of the great prophets is not the period of
Judaism, and strictly speaking, the term Judaism excludes the
prophetic element as an active force in Jewish life. This is
significant, and to me the significance seems tremendous, for so far
as my personal sympathies are concerned they go entirely with the
prophetic aspects of Judaism, or better, of Hebraism.
_Hebraism and Judaism_
Hebraism and Judaism are words now in the English language and their
usage is determined for us entirely by the writers who become
authoritative either by their style or through the weight of their
opinion, and this usage has given the term Hebraism a meaning such
that it stands for the entire spirit of the Jew, not only in religion
but in all that is Jewish; in English the term Hebraism covers the
total biography of the Jewish soul, while the term Judaism stands only
for a portion of it. Now the Jewish soul is the important thing, but
no one has ever met a soul without a body (at least the people who
claim they have met it are still required, for belief, to show
evidence more than they have thus far shown); generally speaking, soul
and body are co-ordinate and mutually imply each other. You cannot
have one without the other. This is even more the case when you are
dealing not with an individual but with a people. Hence it is the
history of the Jewish body-politic with which Hebraism and its
components, including Judaism, co-ordinate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account