The old paths, or the Talmud tested by Scripture: Being a comparison of the principles and doctrines of modern Judaism with the religion of Moses and the prophetsMcCaul, Alexander
Religion
The old paths, or the Talmud tested by Scripture: Being a comparison of the principles and doctrines of modern Judaism with the religion of Moses and the prophets
McCaul, Alexander
Judaism -- Works to 1900
sense to that one particular class. “We are bound, says a Talmudist, to
love as brethren all those who observe the _Noachides_, whatever their
religious opinions may otherwise be.” Here, then, on the showing of the
Jewish deputies themselves, the Talmud does not teach that all men are
to be loved as brethren, but only those who keep the seven commandments
of Noah. How, then, are we to regard the idolater and the heathen, who
have not embraced these seven commandments, and how are we to treat
them? This leads us to notice,
2dly, The important _omission_ made by the Bavarian Catechism. In citing
the words of Maimonides, the compilers have omitted the whole sentence,
“As to the saying of our wise men not to return their salute, it refers
to the Gentiles, not to the proselytes allowed to sojourn.” To this
sentence, the French Jewish deputies have also made no allusion; and yet
this sentence is found in the very middle of the passage quoted. What
goes before and what follows is quoted by both, but both have with one
common consent omitted this passage. Now this mere fact of omission is,
in itself, sufficient to excite the suspicions of Israelites not
acquainted with the oral law. The Jewish deputies in Paris, and the
compilers of the Jewish Catechism in Bavaria, had one common object—they
wished to prove, or to intimate, that the Talmud teaches us to love as
ourselves all our fellow-men, without any respect to religious
differences. In order to prove this, they both refer to one and the same
passage—and from the middle of that passage they both omit one important
sentence. What conclusion will be drawn by any man of common
understanding? Just this, that as they both quote one and the same
passage, there must be a great scarcity of proof from the Talmud: and
that; as they both make the same omission, the sentence omitted must be
unfavourable to that proof; and that, therefore, this one passage does
not prove that the Talmud teaches any such doctrine. Such is the
conclusion to which we are led by considering the facts of the case. An
examination of the omitted passage will show that this conclusion is
most just—“As to the saying of our wise men, not to return their salute,
it refers to the Gentiles, not to the proselytes allowed to sojourn.”
Had this passage been inserted in its place, the Bavarian Catechism
could not have been translated גרי תושב (sojourning proselytes)
“non-Israelites,” for from this passage it appears that these
_sojourners_ are different from the “Gentiles,” whose salute is not to
be returned. In plain English, this passage restricts “the courtesy and
benevolence” to those proselytes who, by taking upon them the seven
commandments of Noah, obtained the privilege of sojourning in the land
of Israel; and consequently excludes “the Gentiles”—and consequently
disproves the assertion that the Talmud teaches us to love as ourselves
all our fellow-men without any respect to religious differences. On the
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account