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 — John Shaqi
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
שלשה הן הכופרים בתורה האומר שאין התורה מעם ה׳ אפילו פסוק אחד אפילו תיבה
אחת אם אמר משה אמרו מפי עצמו הרי זה כופר בתורה וכן הכופר בפירושיה והיא
תורה שבעל פה והמכחיש במגידיה כנון צדוק וביתום והאומר שהבורא החליף מצוה
זו במצוה אחרת וכבר בטלה תורה זו אף על פי שהיא היתה מעם ה׳ כנון הנוצרים
וההנרים כל אחד משלשה אלה הוא כופר בתורה ׃
“_There are three classes of the deniers of the law. He who says that
the law is not from God, yea, even one verse or one word: or if he says
that Moses gave it of his own authority. Such an one is a denier of the
law. Thus, also, he who denies its interpretations: that is, the oral
law, and rejects its Agadoth as Sadok and Baithos: and he who says that
the Creator has changed one commandment for another, and that the law
has long since lost its authority, although it was given by God, as the
Christians and Mahometans, each of these three is a denier of the
law._”—Hilchoth T’shuvah, c. iii. 8.
In the first extract we see that those persons called “deniers of the
law,” are, according to the doctrine of modern Judaism, shut out from a
hope of salvation. In the second extract we see that Christians are by
name included in that class: from the two together it inevitably follows
that modern Judaism teaches that Christians cannot be saved. We do not
find any fault with modern Judaism for pronouncing this sentence; we do
not tax the Jews either with uncharitableness or intolerance because of
this opinion. On the contrary, we honour those who, conscientiously
holding this opinion, have the honesty and the courage to declare it. If
they consider us as deniers of the law, they must, of course, believe
that our state is far from safe; and if this be their conviction, the
best proof which they can give of true charity, is to warn us of our
danger. But, at the same time, when a religious system condemns us by
name, and pronounces sentence concerning our eternal state in so decided
a tone, and that simply because we dissent from some of its tenets, we
not only think that we have a right to defend ourselves and our
religion, but consider it our bounden duty to examine the grounds on
which a system of such pretension rests, and honestly, though quietly,
to avow our reasons for rejecting it. We know, indeed, that there are
some Rabbinical Jews, who think this sentence harsh, and consider
themselves justified in denying it, because there is another sentence in
this same oral law, which says, “that the pious amongst the nations of
the world have a part in the world to come.” But can they prove, by any
citation from the oral law, that Christians are included “amongst the
pious of the nations of the world?” If they can, then they will prove
that in one place the oral law denies, and in another place affirms the
salvability of Christians; that is, they will prove that the oral law
contains palpable contradictions, and therefore cannot be from God. If
they cannot produce any such citation, then the general declaration that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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