:K ANNEX 
 
 500 
 8175
 
 a Man 
 
 By 
 RABBI MARTIN ZIELONKA 
 
 TEMPLE MT. SINAI 
 EL PASO, TEXAS
 
 Stack 
 Annex
 
 7 
 ^ CQ 
 
 What Can a Mangy 7, 
 Believe? 
 
 BY RABBI MARTIN ZIELONKA 
 
 Based on the Book, "What Can a Man 
 
 Believe," by Bruce Barton. 
 
 It was in a Pullman car I noticed 
 a man reading a book and he, in 
 turn, noticing my interest in what 
 he was reading said, "There ought 
 to be more books like this; it hits 
 the bull's-eye at every point: it is 
 what we need today." I looked at 
 the book and it was Bruce Barton's 
 "What Can A Man Believe." Noting 
 the enthusiasm of this man, who 
 seemed an average successful busi- 
 ness man, I deemed it best to read 
 the book and to see what appealed 
 so strongly to the average man. 
 
 Religion is a favorite topic of con- 
 versation wherever men forgather. 
 They love to show their liberalism, or 
 at least the veneer of liberalism. 
 They love to point out the places in 
 the Bible in which they do not be- 
 lieve, where moral standards seem 
 to be lower than our present stand- 
 ards, and to pick flaws in the life 
 story of Bible heroes, forgetting or 
 probably not knowing, that the sub- 
 limity of the Bible rests on its splen- 
 did human characteristics. In the 
 Bible no one is a goody-goody, each 
 one sins in some particular way and 
 the good of the completed life so 
 overshadows the slip from settled 
 standards of morality, that we rec- 
 ognize brethren, fellow workers, in 
 the fields of human endeavor. Not 
 even a Moses, was sinless. He was 
 not granted the right to enter the 
 Promised Land. Judaism knows no 
 perfect man at any time in the his- 
 tory of the world. Thus in these 
 conversations we gain an insight into 
 Mr. Average Man and Mr. Average 
 Man feels that this book of Bruce 
 
 i 5308175
 
 Baton's is just about the last word 
 on his favorite theme 
 
 Some one in reviewing the works 
 of Bruce Barton said; as the author 
 of "Book That Nobody Knows" he 
 presented the Bible as only he knew 
 it: that as the author of "The Man 
 Nobody Knows" he presented a 
 sketch of the founder of Christian- 
 ity who was only known to him. If 
 I might carry this suggestion a lit- 
 tle further, I would say that in pre- 
 senting "What Can A Man Believe," 
 he really presents a work on "The 
 Religion Nobody Knows." And in 
 saying that I am epitomizing my 
 comment on the book. 
 
 The author traces the origin of 
 faith, he shows the accomplishments 
 of faith and then in his own words 
 "The plea of this book is for a frank 
 recognition of the truth that the 
 faith which begets great Achieve- 
 ments and the faith which worships 
 are both of the same spirit: that re- 
 ligion is as natural and normal a part 
 of human experience as birth and 
 growth and hope and love. We say 
 that it is time to take religion out of 
 the hush-hush class: to recognize 
 frankly and normally that every 
 worth while enterprise is an act of 
 faith that: 
 
 There is no unbelief 
 Whoever plants a seed beneath the 
 
 sod 
 
 And waits to see it push away the 
 clod 
 
 He trusts in God." 
 
 This is splendid. As also is splen- 
 did his criticism of the use to which 
 the religious forces are put today 
 "And the great forces of its organ- 
 ized power are exerted for what? To 
 keep people who like wine and who 
 consider there is no moral wrong in 
 drinking it, from having it. To sup- 
 pi ess Sunday games. To be very bit- 
 ter and unforgiving toward the girl 
 who yields to the impulses of hot 
 blood. These things which Jesus re- 
 garded as of less importance have 
 become the law and the prophets. And 
 the other and greater sins go usually 
 unrebuked."
 
 Credit also must be granted for 
 pointing out to the average man 
 that "education in America did not 
 start with some millionaire donat- 
 ing a stadium: it started with a sin- 
 cere hope that learning and religious 
 leadership might be preserved." Not 
 the men of wealth are responsible for 
 Harvard, but the humble preachers 
 and teachers who gave their libraries 
 and donated their time and talent. 
 This ought to be emphasized in this 
 age where we believe that millions 
 are absolutely needed and that mil- 
 lionaires present the only saviors of 
 our schools and our public works. At 
 the same time we want to recognize 
 that "if democracy and modern ed- 
 ucation are the gifts of the church, 
 so also are hospitals for the sick and 
 insane, and all the multitude of ag- 
 encies for social forces in which our 
 civilization has so much pride. 
 
 The word church must be under- 
 stood in the broadest sense. For the 
 synagogue and Temple have been 
 leaders in these humanitarian ef- 
 forts and they have received their in- 
 spiration from the teaching of the 
 Old Testament. Jewish hospitals and 
 orphanages are the leaders in this 
 line of endeavor and the Jew has giv- 
 en to social service not only its tech- 
 nique but also its method of raising 
 funds. 
 
 I shall not discuss all the questions 
 that Bruce Barton claims are the 
 inspiration for his work. The first 
 two questions he has not answered 
 satisfactorily. He has often begged 
 the question. But when he tries to 
 answer "Of the various religions 
 now extant which is the best?" 
 "What few simple things, if any, can 
 a business man believe" and "If there 
 is to be a faith of the future, what 
 kind of a faith will it be?" then I 
 want the right to question every 
 statement that he has made. 
 
 He discusses Buddhism, Confu- 
 cianism and Mohammedanism and 
 naturally sets these aside for Chris- 
 tianity. Just where he got his in- 
 formation about these foreign relig- 
 ions, I do not know, but judging 
 from his statements they were de-
 
 rived from biased sources, whose ob- 
 ject was to prove the inferiority of 
 these religions to that of his own. 
 And in doing so he naturally magni- 
 fies his own. I do not know how many 
 followers of these faiths Bruce Bar- 
 ton knows, so that by his examina- 
 tion into their lives he might deduce 
 the effect of the teaching upon their 
 conduct? Probably very few, if any! 
 But he surely knows some Jews, he 
 knows of the activities of Jews in 
 every form of human endeavor, he 
 could easily verify Jewish facts in 
 the large centers of American life 
 and yet he has not a line about Ju- 
 daism and its teachings or about the 
 possibility that it may contain those 
 fundamental truths that a man can 
 believe, because it is the foundation 
 of all Christian teaching. It is 
 strange that in searching for truth, 
 for fundamentals by which the mod- 
 ern man can live, he should go far 
 afield, to Buddhism, Confucianism 
 and Mohammedanism, when there ex- 
 isted at his side a faith, from which 
 his own faith has developed which 
 still shows vitality and ability to ad- 
 just itself to its surroundings. 
 
 Thus for instance, he ascribes to 
 his form of faith those cardinal doc- 
 trines that belong primarily to Ju- 
 daism and because the sister relig- 
 ions have not accepted them are 
 still emphasized by that veteran of 
 faiths, Judaism. For instance, he 
 tells us that the message of Jesus 
 was "God is a Father, who may be 
 approached directly by any of His 
 Children without mediation of tem- 
 ple or priest." Now . s a matter of 
 fact the churches that have been 
 founded in the name of Jesus, em- 
 phasize at all times that God can best 
 be approached, or only approached, 
 through the mediatorship of Jesus: 
 while accepting God as the Father, 
 they feel that it is through his son 
 that salvation will come. At the same 
 time the author is ignorant of the 
 fact that even within the ancient 
 temple walls, where priests offered 
 sacrifices, there were special places 
 where prayer alone was offered, and 
 that prayer was directed directly to
 
 God. As early as in the days of Eli, 
 the priest, Hannah answers "No, 
 my lord, I am a woman of a sorrow- 
 ful spirit: I have drunk neither wine 
 or strong drink, but I poured out 
 my soul before the Lord", for Han- 
 nah had "prayed unto the Lord and 
 wept sore." The Jew has always 
 taught and is still teaching today 
 that God is the Father who may be 
 approached directly at all times. That 
 is the message of our holy-day sea- 
 son God, the Father, offering a 
 means of redemption unto his child- 
 ren. 
 
 And if he examines "the various 
 religions now extant" in order to 
 reach some reasonable conclusion as 
 to "which is best" then out of fair- 
 ness to his readers, out of fairness to 
 the struggle that Judaism has car- 
 ried on all these centuries, he ought 
 to have included that faith in his 
 survey. If he had done this, then he 
 might have found an easier answer 
 to the other two questions. He might 
 not have offered forced explanations 
 for miracles and other things that 
 need so much explaining and he may 
 have found the reason why "it is 
 likewise true that Jesus of Nazareth 
 might feel uncomfortable in some of 
 the temples erected in His name." 
 
 And then when he answers the 
 questions concerning religion he pre- 
 sents a diluted Christianity that can 
 hardly be accepted by any organized 
 Christian Church. He presents a 
 faith that approaches nearer and 
 nearer to that faith from which Chris- 
 tianity sprang and which this house 
 of God is proclaiming year in and 
 year out. 
 
 "What are the simplest things we 
 can write down?" he says. He places 
 them in this order, 1. I believe in my- 
 self (and no one who reads the book 
 can have any doubt that Bruce Bar- 
 ton believes in himself). 2. I know 
 that I am intelligent. 3. Because I 
 am, I believe in God. 4. Immor- 
 tality of some sort is a necessary 
 compliment t^ the existence and na- 
 ture of God." 
 
 We will not quarrel with the order 
 in which these axioms are placed :
 
 we would simply point out that there- 
 in is said nothing of the great body 
 of doctrine that is essential to Chris- 
 tianity. Nor is such a statement a 
 satisfactory one for the religion of 
 today. If this is the order of the 
 credos of modern belief then has 
 man m:.de God in his own imagt and 
 he believes as Barton says that "In- 
 telligence is God." Surely there is 
 not found in such a statement the 
 sanctions and urge for further en- 
 deavor along these lines which he 
 previously pointed out as the gifts 
 of religion to the civilization of all 
 times education, hospitals, orphan- 
 ages and general recognition of our 
 duty to the lowly. Surely that can- 
 not be the "faith of the futture," it 
 would be a s f erile faith. 
 
 And before giving our answer as 
 to "What Can a Man Believe," let 
 us note the strictures that he places 
 upon the modern church. Whether 
 they apply to the modern synagogue, 
 I shall let yo.. answer for yourselves. 
 He says First "In one respect the 
 church can learn honesty from busi- 
 ness." He makes this statement with 
 reference to church statistics about 
 which we heard so much a few 
 months ago. I am under the impres- 
 sion that it is the business of relig- 
 ion to tea.h ^onesty to business. At 
 least, I believe that business needs 
 that lesson if the record of a famous 
 lawsuit recently tried in Washing- 
 ton is a criterion as to what is going 
 on in the business world, and if the 
 innumerable lawsuits that crowd the 
 courts of every commuitv in America 
 prove anything. Secondly "It 
 sounds almost shocking, ytet it is 
 true, that in some respects the church 
 does not have as much faith as bus- 
 iness." There is a kernel of truth in 
 this matter. Somehow or another 
 the business man lives day by day 
 through faith and carries on his bus- 
 iness through faith, but when he 
 faces the real issues of life then he 
 lacks that strength of faith that wLl 
 move mountains. As Barton tells us 
 The whole modern commercial 
 structure is built on a foundation of 
 credit. And what is the world credit,
 
 where does it come from? Credo I 
 believe. Business is good or bad, 
 statisticians point out, according to 
 the degree of confidence. What is 
 confidence? Confides, with faith. 
 Such and such a concern is weak be- 
 cause its personnel lacks fidelity.Fi- 
 delity: fidelis: faithful." The same 
 belief, confidence and faith we need 
 in the affairs of our churches and 
 synagogues. 
 
 Third Business is endlessly flex- 
 ible and adaptable: the church is too 
 often rigid and unadaptable. There- 
 in is a valid criticism of many mod- 
 ern churches but it is not valid so far 
 as this temple or its interpretation of 
 religion is concerned. It does adopt 
 itself to the needs of the day; it has 
 set aside the outworn garments of 
 the fathers and is seeking to clothe 
 in greater splendor the strong body 
 of Jewish teachinp-s that is funda- 
 mental to all faith. Fourthly Busi- 
 ness checks up on itself frequently 
 to be sure ihat it is still headed for 
 its original goal. Is there not need 
 for a similar check up on the part 
 of the church?" Yes. and the church 
 or synagogue that fails to do this, is 
 not meeting the demands of a mod- 
 ern church 
 
 I must hasten to a close. If Bruce 
 Barton had been honest in his search 
 for an answer to the question, "What 
 Can A Man Believe" and if he had 
 turned to the teaching of the Reform 
 Jewish Synagogue, he would have 
 found his answer if he were open 
 minded to accept it. Let me place it 
 in the words that our confirmation 
 classes learn each year 
 
 1. "We believe with a sincere and 
 steadfast faith that there is a God, 
 who is one and only one the Crea- 
 tor, Preserver and Ruler of the 
 World." 
 
 2. "We believe with a sincere and 
 steadfast faith that man is created 
 in the image of God, innocent and 
 pure, with the impulse to develop to- 
 ward perfection." 
 
 3. "We believe with a sincere and 
 steadfast faith that the soul of man 
 is immortal, its righteousness brings 
 reward, its wickedness punishment.
 
 4. "We believe with a sincere and 
 steadfast faith in the common father- 
 hood of God and the comrr.on brother- 
 hood of man." 
 
 To the latter we, as Jews, add 
 "To realize this is the great aim and 
 hope the mission of Israel." 
 
 Without this latter phrase, here is 
 a statement of fundamentals, begin- 
 ning with God and not with man, 
 which we feel that every honest man 
 can accept. We have here the teach- 
 ings which have been and will con- 
 tinue to be the inspiration for all the 
 splendid fellowship work for which 
 Barton gives the Church credit. We 
 have here a statement that does not 
 need to apologize for or explain away 
 some of the teachings ascribed to 
 religion. These answer definitely the 
 question of his book "What Can A 
 Man Believe" and we present it to 
 him for consideration. For the re- 
 ligion he presents to the American 
 public is a "Religion that Nobody 
 Knows" and that no Christian Church 
 woul accept arf its teachings and its 
 program.
 
 J1NIV. GE CALIF. LIBRARY, LOS ANGELE!
 
 A 000 075 258 4