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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

THE ESSEX HALL LECTURE

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THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
AMONG THE
RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD

CLAUDE G. MONTEFIORE, M.A.
LONDON
5 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1918

ITHE.-LIND5EY-PRE33

PRINTED BY ELSOM AND CO.,
MARKBI PIACE, HULL

PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The Essex Hall Lecture was established with
the object of providing an opportunity for the
free utterance of the thoughts of a selected
speaker on some religious theme of interest to
serious minded people.
The first lecture was delivered in 1893 by the
late Rev; Stopford A. Brooke, on ' The Develop
ment of Theology, as illustrated in English Poetry
from 1780 to 1830.' * The Relation of Jesus to
his Age and our own ' by Dr. J. Estlin Carpenter ;
' The Idea and Reality of Revelation,' by Pro
fessor H. H. Wendt ; ' The Immortality of the
Soul in the Poems of Tennyson and Browning,'
by Sir Henry Jones ; ' Religion and Life,' by
Professor Rudolf Eucken ; ' Heresy, its Ancient
Wrongs and Modern Rights,' by the Rev. Alex.
Gordon ; ' The Religious Philosophy of Plotinus,
and some Modern Philosophies of Religion,' by
the Dean of St. Paul's — these are a few of the
subjects of the lectures in past years.
The lecture by Mr. Claude G. Montefiore when
delivered evoked warm appreciation in the
audience ; and it is beheved that a wider public
will read with deep interest what he has to say
on ' The Place of Judaism among the Religions
of the World.'
Essex Hall, London,
June, 1918.

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM AMONG
THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
' I ^HIS lecture is to be about Judaism;
not about the Jews. It has to
concern itself with the place and the
prospects of a religion, and not with the
place and the prospects of those who, at
the present time, may be the adherents
of that religion. There is, indeed, a
connexion between the two subjects,
and it will not always be possible, in
dealing with Judaism, to avoid saying
something now and then about the
Jews. But, so far as possible, I shall
keep to Judaism, and avoid the Jews.
Judaism is quite big enough, and even
7

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
inconveniently big, for one lecture, and
the amount that must be left unsaid of
it will still be extremely large.
I have a special difficulty which I
must mention at once. My subject is
Judaism. But there is more than one
Judaism, as there is more than one
Christianity. For our purpose it will
suffice to say that there are two main
varieties, and that of each variety there
are many shades. There is Orthodox
Judaism, on the one hand ; there is
Liberal Judaism, upon the other. And
here is the difficulty of which I spoke.
I am, I fear, a party man. I am a
believer in, and an adherent of, Liberal
Judaism ; moreover, that Liberal Juda
ism is of a pretty advanced tj»pe.
Hence my conception of the place of
Judaism among the religions of the
8

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
world, my conception of its prospects, its
aspirations, its future, is not the same
as the conception of an Orthodox Jew.
This lecture should, perhaps, have
been clelivered by a man who could say
that he believed in Judaism without an
adjective. But, after all, what sort of
person would he be ? If he repudiates
both adjectives, and stands beautifully
balanced in the centre, he would speak
for a small minority. Or his Judaism,
however admirably central, would, I
think, tend to be somewhat flabby,
vague, invertebrate. Or, again, if he
claims that his Judaism is the right
Judaism, and the only Judaism that
deserves the name, so that all adjectives
are superfluous, you might not greatly
care to listen to so dogmatic and
exclusive an individual. And thus I
9

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
take heart of comfort in spite of my
difficulty. I want to start by putting before you
what I take to be the average Christian
view about Judaism and its place
among the religions of the world. Then
I shall try to state how far Orthodox
and Liberal Jews accept or challenge
this average Christian view concerning
their religion.
Would it not, then, be true to say
that the religious contribution of Juda
ism to the world is usually considered
to be that it produced the Old Testa
ment Scriptures, with all their nobili
ties and all their defects, and that it
gave birth to Christianity ? It has not
made any further religious contribution
to the world, nor is it likely to do so in
the future. To put it candidly, few
10

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
people believe that Judaism has any
part still to play in the world's religious
development. The interest of Chris
tians, I take it, is much more concen
trated upon the Jews than upon
Judaism. The Jews, for one reason or
another, as a problem, or as a romantic,
or as a disagreeable, fact, attract atten
tion much more than their small num
bers would justify, and much more,
may I add, than is often either pleasant
or good for them, but Judaism, the
religion, is, generally speaking, re
garded as somewhat of a negligible
quantity. Of the two main types of Judaism,
Orthodox and Liberal, the former is
looked upon as a picturesque and
curious survival, the disappearance of
which would be regretted, as people
n

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
would be sorry to see the Basque
language die out, or as they deplore
the cessation of some interesting and
peculiar custom. Orthodox Judaism
is regarded as what I may call a
nice museum religion, and it is, in a
way, desirable to have living religious
museums, as well as dead ones, just as
we like to look at queer-shaped animals
alive in the Zoological Gardens as well
as dead and stuffed ones in South
Kensington. Then as to Liberal Judaism. I fear
that is usually regarded as an unpic-
turesque and chilly sort of com
promise : a transitional phenomenon,
without promise or future. Or, rather,
its future must be either to drag on in
definitely as a small and negligible sect
for a few westernized Jews of the
12

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
middle and upper classes, or to end by
being gradually merged into some
modern form of Liberal Christianity.
Now what is the main reason why
this view is taken of Judaism, whether
Orthodox or Liberal ? Why is it re
garded as a survival, an anachronism,
a museum religion ? Why is it sup
posed to have no possible future before
it ? Why is it supposed that it can
exercise no conceivable influence upon,
or be of no conceivable importance in,
the religious development of the world ?
It is not merely because those who
take this view, being Christians, believe
that the world's religious future lies
with Christianity. They may, indeed,
believe that Christianity is ultimately
to be the religion of the whole world,
but they would not necessarily hold
13

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
that every other religion from now
onward is going to contract and wither
away. They would, for instance, not
judge Mohammedanism or Hinduism
or Buddhism as they judge Judaism.
They would not necessarily hold that
these great religions will have no scope
and place in, and no influence upon, the
religious history and religious develop
ment of the world, even though in the
furthest future they may all ultimately
disappear. Partly, no doubt, it is a question of
numbers. The adherents of Moham-
medanism and Buddhism — whether
nominal or ardent — are very many.
The adherents of Judaism are very few.
But even that, I think, is not the
main reason. The main reason is that
Judaism is regarded as the exclusive re-
14

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
ligion of a small race or people. As
such, it neither claims to be, nor can
it be, more than the religion of a single
race, the religion of a single people. It
is not, and it never can be, a universal
religion. It is a national, a tribal,
religion. But the days of national and
tribal religions are over. They are now
only picturesque and antiquarian sur
vivals. It is consistent with its posi
tion as a purely national or tribal
religion that Judaism seeks and makes
no proselytes. So, too, its embodi
ment is purely national. Its religious
usages and ceremonies are national
laws, racial customs. But the religions
of the future must be universal reli
gions ; either one or more of the exist
ing universal religions, or some develop
ment or developments of these. So far
15

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
as the West is concerned, it is very hard
to see how the religion of the future
can be anything else than some form
or development of Christianity. But,
even in the East, no less than in the
West, Judaism, as a national religion,
must be left high and dry by the logical
march of events. It cannot be more,
"just as it does not want to be more, than
the religion of a small race — a peculiar
race, be it admitted, a troublesome,
queer, persistent, inconvenient, even
remarkable race, it may be allowed,
but yet, withal, a single and small race,
whose religion, like all other tribal
creeds, must become less and less im
portant, and more and more ana
chronistic, as the years roll by. '
It is, I admit, a very rash, and
apparently, a very obstinate, thing to
16

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
stand up to these opinions, and to
oppose them. What possible likeli
hood is there that a tiny and interested
minority can v be in the right ? And
who cannot perceive that for the views
of the majority there is clearly a great
deal to be said ? Perhaps, then, all
that I can do is to win from you a bene
volent, if also an extremely sceptical,
smile. But Jews have been so accus
tomed to be in a minute minority that
they have, I suppose, become hardened
to the part. Judaism, for many cen
turies, has been a sort of Athanasius
contra mundum. Yet it does not feel
quite so lonely in its dissidence as, say,
some ten centuries ago. Who in Europe
then rejected the orthodox dogmas of
the Church except the despised and
persecuted Jew ? But, to-day, as the
17 B

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
Jew sees things, there is a considerable
number of Christians whose religious
home seems nearer to Judaism than to
Christianity. Thus the Jew finds solace
for his rashness.
Judaism, then, in both its main
forms, dares to dissent from that view
of itself, and of its function and pros
pects, which has just been set forth.
Both Orthodox and Liberal Judaism
believe that Judaism has still some
place to fill, and even some work to do,
in the religious development of the
world. They have the temerity — and
for myself I use the word deliberately,
and without a particle of sarcasm or
irony — to believe that its work was not
finished and ended when Christianity
was born. Its mission was not, and is
not yet, finally accomplished. Judaism
18

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
is even now something more than a curi
osity, an anachronism, a survival. Its
place is still among the living, and not
merely in the anthropological museum.
Both Orthodox and Liberal Judaism
believe that when the Prophet, some
four to five hundred years before the
Christian era, speaking, as Prophets at
that time ventured to do, in the name of
God, declared that the people of Israel
were the witnesses and servants of the
Lord, he said something that was true
for more than five hundred years, and
which willjbe true for many centuries
to come. It may even be affirmed that
the very hall-mark of Judaism lies in
this belief in a mission, a charge, a
work, an office, a duty, which has not
been conceived, and is not maintained,
without the will and the purpose of God.
i9

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
This strange belief in a mission,
which no one but themselves believes in,
is, I admit, singularly daring. It is all
the more daring, because, as I must also
admit, it is so wanting in proof, so lack
ing in credentials. Whether this belief,
which for two thousand years and more
has continued to haunt the Jewish
brain and heart, and which haunts them
still, is but further evidence of the pro
verbial and historic Jewish obstinacy,
or is only one more instance of the
pathetic deceptions and disappoint
ments, which have dogged the footsteps
of all religions and of all believers, the
future must decide.
In the interpretation of the mission,
in the methods by which it is to be
fulfilled, Orthodox and Liberal Judaism
show considerable divergence.
20

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
It is curious, and not uninteresting,
that Orthodox Judaism does not, by
any means, entirely repudiate that
conception of Judaism and of its
characteristics, which is the conception
of it generally held by the average
outsider, Orthodox Judaism allows
that, in one important aspect, Juda
ism is a national religion. For though
it denies that the God of Judaism is
a national, partial, and therefore im
moral, God, it freely allows that the
institutions, the ceremonials, the wor
ship, of the Synagogue, are intended
for the Jews alone. They were na
tional ; they are national ; they will
remain national. And this, indeed, is
the peculiarity of the Jewish religion,
according to the modern lorthodox
interpretation of it ; this is the
21

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
uniqueness of its place among the
religions of the world.
Its doctrines, or, at any rate, its
salient and most essential doctrines,
are universal in character, and it is be
lieved that the world will ultimately
adopt them. Its ceremonial, and its
religious usages and ordinances, are
reserved for the members of a single
people or race. A universal creed is
wedded to a nationalist embodiment.
Orthodox Judaism, moreover, accepts
the charge of being a non-proselytizing
religion. It takes up the position that
though it sincerely hopes that all the
world will adopt the main principles of
its creed, it is, nevertheless, in no wise
its duty to do anything towards the
diffusion of those principles outside its
own pale. I have no time to explain to
22

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
you how this curious view has his
torically arisen. I have merely to set
it forth. Orthodox Judaism holds that
the conversion of the world to pure,
Jewish monotheism, with all the im
plications which that monotheism in
cludes, lies in the hands of God, who
will bring it about in His own good
time. It has even been argued that
Christianity and Mohammedanism are
two chosen instruments, destined to
bring pagan polytheists, at long last,
into the haven of Judaism — of Jewish
doctrine, that is, minus Jewish rites.
This you see is a turning of the tables
on a still older and more famous theory :
of the Law as the schoolmaster which
should lead men unto Christ. Judaism
is, therefore, content to wait. The
Jewish duty is to believe and to witness;
* 23

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
to endure, to practise, to sit tight. By
mere and sheer fidelity to the Law, and
to the God, who ordained and gave the
Law, the Jews are partners with God
in bringing about that Golden Age,
' when the Lord shall be King over all
the earth, when the Lord shall be One
and His name One.'
Thus the gaze of Orthodox Judaism
is turned rather inwards than out
wards. It has a charge to fulfil, and
this charge is not without relation to
the world. But the nature of the
charge was laid down long ago, once
and for all. The Law was given to
Moses for a perpetual inheritance. The
Jews have but to keep it, and fulfil it.
That is their business ; constant, un
swerving, changeless fidelity ; the rest
is God's business. You will observe
24

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
that- this attitude of Orthodox Judaism
towards the outer world is conditioned
by its attitude towards the Law and the
Old Testament, neither of which atti
tudes Liberal Judaism shares. For
we Liberal Jews look at that Law and
at that great Scripture from the vantage
ground of criticism and of liberty.
Such, then, if I have not misrepre
sented it, is the place of Judaism in the
world, as conceived by Orthodox Jews.
Its peculiarity is obvious. It is, in one
sense, less daring, and more safe, than
the position taken up by Liberal Juda
ism, but in another sense, it is less safe.
It is less daring, and it is more safe,
because it does not chafe and fret at
its nationalist and particularistic em
bodiment. On the contrary, it accepts
it. It does not object to exercising
25

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
no direct influence upon the religious
development of the world. It does not
desire to enlarge its boundaries. It is
quite content to be a minute and
dissident sect with universalist prin
ciples, set to, or accompanied by, a
tribal cult. So long as its adherents
remain faithful to the divine ordinances,
and practise them, it asks, and it aspires
to, no more. It leaves the work of
evangelization — if I may use so in
apposite a word — it leaves the diffusion
of Monotheism (according to the Jewish
conception of Monotheism) to God.
He will bring men to the truth in His
own way and in His own time.
Such a view of the mission is sober,
undaring, and safe. Yet it is also, in
another sense, fraught with danger.
For it depends upon a conception of the
26

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
Old Testament and of the Law, which
has been undermined by modern criti
cism and modern historical investiga
tion. And, therefore, because it de
pends upon a conception, which, how
ever honestly held, is radically unsound,
it cannot be destined to endure. What
ever the sacred book may be, whether
Talmud or Koran, Old Testament or
New Testament, no religion is safe, the
principles or practices of which depend
upon an interpretation, which criticism
and historical investigation have proved,
or shall prove, to be untenable.
Liberal Judaism agrees with Ortho
dox Judaism in the conception of, and
in the belief in, a Jewish mission, a
Jewish duty to be fulfilled. It agrees
with Orthodox Judaism in holding that
the religious work of Judaism in, and for,
27

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
the world did not terminate 1900 years
ago with the birth of Christianity. But
our Liberal conception of Judaism is
more difficult and more daring. It is
more difficult, for one thing, because we
are more conscious of the difficulty.
As our gaze is more turned to the out
side world, as we think of and study
and observe this outside world more
attentively, we realize more fully the
difficulties which inhere in this concep
tion of a mission, in this belief that
Judaism, which has had so little in
fluence upon the religious development
of the world for the last nineteen hun
dred years, is capable of exercising any
influence, or is likely to exercise any
influence, upon it in the future.
We are well aware that if Judaism is
to play any part, even though it be
28

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
still long delayed, in the world's
religious history, it must be a Judaism
in many respects very different from
any Judaism which the world has
hitherto known. It must be a Juda
ism, the rites, as well as the principles,
of which must become suitable for the
men and women of many races, and
not merely for the men and women of
one. And we realize that, to achieve
this universalization, upon the one
hand, and to maintain our historic
continuity, upon the other hand, is a
long, a difficult, and a delicate task.
It may be surmised that, for those
of us who hold these views and aspira
tions, Judaism is essentially a religion,
and the Jews are essentially a religious
community. If we wish, if we feel
ourselves to be, members of a religious
29

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
community, the boundaries and limits
of which are to be found in doctrine
and not in blood, if for us Judaism is a
matter of religious conviction and not
of genealogy, it is clear that any limita
tion of the Jews to a particular place,
any identification of them with a par
ticular nationality, must be repugnant
to all our most cherished dreams and
desires. We Liberal Jews of the west
do not want, or feel ourselves, to be a
picturesque oriental survival ; we are
quite willing to sacrifice the picturesque-
ness, if in the west, at any rate, we can
become a religion for westerners. For
occidentals we are ourselves ; occi
dentals are our children ; a religion for
occidentals we want for ourselves ; a
religion for occidentals we dream of
building up for others. That is also
30

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
why we want Jewish congregations and
Jewish places of worship in all western
lands and in all centres of western
civilization. The dispersion of the Jews
is a condition for the fulfilment of the
mission of Judaism. Or, as an ancient
Rabbi phrased it, ' On the day when
the Temple was destroyed, the Messiah
was born.' Or, as another declared,
' The purpose of Israel's dispersion
was the making of proselytes.' We
want, then, gradually to fashion a
Judaism which, in form as well as
doctrine, shall be not only acceptable to
ourselves, but shall appear to others
as at least something more than a
religion for the museum. In the west,
at any rate, it must be a religion for
the men and women of the west, a
developing religion, moreover, modern
3i

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
and progressive, but yet with roots
which stretch right back into a dim and
a distant past.
Perhaps, at this stage, some one may
be inclined to say : ' A truce to all this
tall talk, which is also vague talk.
Come out into the open, and be precise.
Say what you mean plainly, and
without disguise, and then the full
absurdity of it will be revealed. Do
you mean that, in the far future, you
hope and believe that the religion of
all Europe, America and Australia (to
put Asia and Africa on one side) is to
be Liberal Judaism, and that the
Synagogue is finally to overcome and
extinguish the Church ? '
To this plain question I must then
attempt a plain reply.
I will begin with a question. Must
32

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
not a Unitarian, still keen on the first
three letters of his denomination, be
lieve that his own conception of religion,
however purified, developed, enriched,
must ultimately prevail ? Must he not
believe this, if that very conception of
religion includes the belief that ' Magna
est Veritas et (etiam in terra) prevalebit ' ?
The Liberal Jew is in a precisely
similar position. Nevertheless, I desire
to confess to my rash belief in the
distant victory of Liberal Judaism with
certain important reservations. Like
my hypothetical Unitarian, I, too, can
only picture that distant prevailing
religion as* my own religion, purified,
developed, enriched. It cannot be the
actual Liberal Judaism of to-day or
to-morrow, not my Liberal Judaism or
my son's. And secondly, it seems to
33 c

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
me absurd and ridiculous to suppose
that the great drama of Christianity
will pass away, if it ever does pass away,
without leaving deep traces and in
fluences upon the religion of the distant
future. Thus I plead that there is no
inconsistency in believing that Liberal
Judaism has a part to play in the
religious history of the world, and that
its fundamental religious conceptions
(purified, developed, and enriched) will
ultimately prevail, without, at the same
time, dogmatizing, or even having any
opinion, as to the name or names of the
religion or religions of the far future,
or as to the names and the nature of the
buildings in which the public worship
of God may then be carried on. With
that Unitarian, who is keen about the
first three letters of his name, the Liberal
34

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
Jew may hereafter be more closely
allied than now, and from their separate,
yet kindred and complementary, con
ceptions of religion, a larger Theism,
perhaps even the larger Theism, of the
far future may be destined to emerge.
With this fairly plain answer to the
very plain question, I must now return
from distant visions to the present, and
to a future, which is not far but near.
If we ask what is the place of Judaism
among the religions of the world, it is
at once obvious that it is an historical
religion, on the one hand, a Theistic
religion, upon the other. And Liberal
Judaism emphasizes both characteris
tics. In spite of its differences from
Orthodox Judaism, in spite of the
changes and developments which it
has already made, in spite of the puri-
35

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
fixations, developments, and enrich
ments which it may undergo in the
future, it holds, as one element both
of its power and of its essence, that it
is connected with, and related and in
debted to, a long and varied history, a
long and varied past. It derives from
Moses and Isaiah : it is connected with
Hillel and Akiba. .It is indebted to
Maimonides and Mendelssohn. And, if,
for a moment, I may tread on delicate
ground, I would, for my part, also- say
that it is connected with, it is related to,
Jesus; it is even connected with, and
related to, Paul. This does not mean
that Liberal Judaism accepts the entire
beliefs of any of these great men as its
beliefs ; this does not mean that it
does not reject some important, and-
even, perhaps, some, to them, essential
36

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
elements in their respective teachings
and conceptions. But it does mean
that it has learnt something, or that it
has something still to learn, from all of
them. It does mean that it is a religion
with all the strength and the power of a
long inheritance, of a rich and a varied
history, of a long succession of great
personalities. And when sometimes
men say to us, ' Why not be frankly
modern ? If Unitarianism is still too
Christian for you, why not join in
founding, or enlarging, a simple Theistic
church, free from all entanglements and
difficulties which your connexions with
a past, intertwined and interwoven with
religious conceptions so different from
your own, must create for you ? ' we
proudly reply, ' There may be difficul
ties, there may be entanglements ; but
37

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
we prefer gradually to solve and over
come these than to break with our
history, to cut the thread of our develop
ment, to lose our connexion with so
rich and remarkable a past. Wit
nesses to, and servants of, God we were
called two thousand four hundred years
ago ; witnesses to, and servants of,
God we call ourselves to-day. We will
not abandon our historic flag, a flag
entrusted to us, as we believe, by the
divine will ; we should not increase our
strength by joining a new religious
group, which, perchance, may be here
to-day and gone to-morrow. We should
only dissipate and destroy it.'
Judaism, then, is, and must remain, an
historical religion. No less is it, and
must it remain, a Theistic religion.
Monotheism is, indeed, the very essence
38

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
of it. With Monotheism it stands and
falls. Hence Judaism, so far as its place
among the world's religions is con
cerned, is with Christianity and Moham
medanism ; not with Pantheistic sys
tems such as Hinduism, or with non-
Theistic religions, such as Buddhism.
But to say this is $o say what is
obvious. The more important ques
tion is : assuming, as is obvious, that
Judaism, or Liberal Judaism, is one
of the Theistic religions, what is the
peculiarity of its Theism ? What has
it, as regards its conception of God,
to offer to the world ?
There was once a Rabbi who said :
' Every one who renounces idolatry may
be called a Jew.' This paradox must
not be taken too seriously. It is, how-
39

THE PLACE. OF JUDAISM
ever, true that Jews have been some
times too inclined to make their Theism
too meagre. They have been too in
clined to make it consist in a denial of
certain doctrines of orthodox Chris
tianity and in an affirmation of the
Unity of God. But Mohammedans
deny these same doctrines of orthodox
Christianity, and they affirm the Unity
of God. Are then Jews Mohammedans,
or are Mohammedans Jews ? It is not
surprising that, in view of this some
what abstract estimate of the Jewish
faith, outsiders have been apt to regard
Judaism, but more especially Liberal
Judaism, as a thin religion. It asserts
the existence and unity of God, and that
is about aU. If, indeed, that were all,
Judaism, or Liberal Judaism, would
have little to offer to its own adherents,
40

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
let alone to the world. It can only be
regarded as all, if we take everything
else as implied in, and deducible from,
the conception of the divine unity, or*
if we press and illustrate that noble
saying of the apostle : ' O the depth of
the richness of God.'
Judaism, then, has a much larger
table of contents than the single
heading, ' the Unity of God.' Nor is
Jewish Theism summed up by some
such merely negative assertion as that
it is a rejection of the Trinity. Judaism
teaches a rich and positive Theism ; but
also, at least so far as Liberal Judaism
is concerned, a growing Theism. We
are fully conscious that we are by no
means at the end of its development.
It has still — for must not a human
doctrine of God always be imperfect
4i

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
and inadequate ? — its gaps, roffgh edges,
inconsistencies, and these have to be
progressively overcome, smoothed out
and filled in.
Now it is clearly impossible to give
any analysis of Jewish Theism, even if
I were fully competent to do so. Time
fails. The Jewish conception of God's
relation to man and of man's relation
to God, the Jewish conception of
morality as coloured and conditioned
by religion, must be omitted and
ignored. But what I want to point out is that
Jewish Theism is, or, at any rate, seeks
to be, a religion of reconciliation, of
balance. Judaism, in many respects,
is a religion of the mean, of the ' just
middle,' and this characteristic con
stitutes its merit and its difficulty. Its
42

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
merit, because it prevents one-sided-
ness ; its difficulty, because it some
times tends to diminish passion and
enthusiasm. Liberal Judaism, not unwisely, as I
think, is inclined to use this capacity of
Judaism for rich balance and many-
sidedness in more ways than one. , This
does not mean that we are out for
an incoherent eclecticism, borrowing
titbits from every source. But so far
as the, Jewish conception of God is con
cerned, it does mean that this concep
tion is, in our eyes, capable of enlarge
ment and of growth.
No phase of Judaism could claim
the title which did not press and cling
to the doctrine of the divine unity and
the divine fatherhood. That God is per
fect, and that all men, past, present, and
43

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
to come, were, are, and will be imperfect ;
that He is the source and guarantee of
truth and of goodness ; that He loves
and can be loved ; that there is mean
ing and reality in prayer and commun
ion ; that the divine unity is flawless and
complete ; that there is both kinship and
eternal distinction between man and
God — these, and similar, doctrines must
surely always form part of any religion
which calls itself by the Jewish name.
And what does all this imply ? It cer
tainly implies that all forms of Judaism
take their Unitarian doctrine very
seriously. It means also that Judaism
is very serious in its assertion of what
is often called the divine transcendence
and the divine personality. If there is
one direction, if there is one religious
chapter, in which it is one-sided, and in
44

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
whiclf it must, perhaps, remain one
sided, it is here — in a certain bias
against Pantheism. And I can im
agine that, as the fullest doctrine of
God is very difficult for any one human
being to grasp, one of the duties and
functions of Judaism — its ' place ' in
the religions of the world — might for
long ages be just to press and maintain
this fundamental conception, that God
is other than man, that He is ' without "•
as well as ' within,' transcendent as well
as immanent, our Father and our King,
our Saviour and our Lord.
But, within these limits, Judaism is
free, even in its doctrine of God, to seek
to attain to that balance and many-
sidedness which is characteristic of it
in its conceptions, for instance, of this
world and of the next world, or of law
45

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
and of duty. We can improve, enlarge,
and enrich our conception of the divine
immanence. We can take care to
allow room for a pure religious mysti
cism. I have no doubt that, in these
directions, there is much for us to
learn and to appropriate from the
mystics, and the mystical literature,
both of Christianity and of other
religions as well. How utterly foolish
it would be to suppose that the im
mense travail of the ages as regards the
fuller conception of God, or the im
mense experience of the ages as regards
a deeper communion with Him, are only
of value within the limits of a single
religious community. One of the merits
of Liberal Judaism is its freedom, on the
one hand, its willingness to absorb, on
the other — always, no doubt, within the
46

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
condition of remaining faithful to the
Tundamental principles of any and
every Judaism whatsoever. It is free
as regards its own sacred scriptures.
It is not bothered by miracles or
authorships or dates. It is not bothered
by human imperfections in the sayings
of any of its prophets or teachers.
And it is also able and willing to learn
and to expand. It has not to assume
that no light has come into the world
except through Jewish windows.
Suppose, now, some one were to say ;
' Let us assume that you have a certain
body of religious and ethical doctrine,
forming a fairly consistent whole, though
capable of growth and adjustment, yet
surely this doctrine is still wedded to a
purely national form. Even if your
continued existence may help the
47

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
maintefiance and the possible diffusion
of the doctrine-, the whole framework
of your faith prevents Judaism being
more- than this unfortunate incon
sistency. It is a mongrel religion. A
catholic doctrine is linked to a national
form.' I have alluded to this difficulty
before, and now it meets us again. I
fully admit that it is constantly making
its appearance. We have seen how it
is met by Orthodox Judaism. It meets
it by full admission, and it declares that
this mongrel or piebald character of
Judaism is of its essence. And as
things were in this regard, so must they
remain. Liberal Judaism takes a dif
ferent line. Or, perhaps, it is here safer
to say, the lecturer takes a different line.
He does not regard the mongrelness as
a beauty. He does not specially desire
48

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
to be a pied piper to the end of time.
Nor does he think that it is yet proved
and certain that one stocking may not
ultimately be made to match the other.
He fully admits the difficulties — the
greatest being possibly so external, and
yet scTdericate, a matter as the difference
of Saturday and Sunday. But it is yet
curiously true, that the outward wor
ship of the Liberal Synagogue is
gradually becoming more catholic and
universal, while, at the same time, pre
serving its distinctively Jewish charac
ter. It may be that I am heretic and
venturesome enough to believe that it
is not true that you can never success
fully pour new wine into old bottles.
It depends upon the bottles : it depends
upon the pouring — sudden or gradual ;
clumsy or skilful. It also depends
49 D

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
upon the wine, which may, perchance,
be something not contemplated in the
utterance, namely, an harmonious and
historic commingling of old and new.
It is also curious how catholic and
universal many of the festivals of the
Synagogue can become ; how they can
be made to celebrate, how they actually
do celebrate, certain broad human con
ceptions which are not limited by race
or nationality ; how, finally, the holiest
day of the Jewish calendar is certainly
also its most broadly and essentially
human holy day, and is, perhaps, even
second to none among the holy days
of any religion in its independence of
historic incident and in the universality
of its appeal.
The function of Judaism among the
religions of the world is, then, as I con-
50

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
ceive it, to preserve, and, as occasion
may serve, to proclaim and make '
known, an ethical Monotheism, historic,
upon the one hand, yet independent of
criticism, upon the other ; already
rich, yet capable of becoming richer.
This Monotheism of reconciliation and
balance, while subject to peculiar
difficulties, is also possessed of peculiar '
qualities. I would not for a moment
aver that the most orthodox Trinit
arian cannot love God as keenly and as
profoundly as the most convinced
Jewish Unitarian. I would not for a
moment deny that many such Trinit
arians may love Him a great deal better
than many such Unitarians. But I do
believe that it is true to say that the
full resources of the Father are only
known to those for whom all that Son
51

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
and Spirit may be to others are for them
concentrated in Him. In other words,
the God of Judaism may be — I quite
admit — a thin God, a poor God ; but
He can be also amazingly rich. And if
one is to judge the real value of a reli
gion, one must take its God idea, not at
its poorest, but at its best.
At this awful moment of the world's
history, we see many grave reasons for
remaining true to our charge, for main
taining our religious separateness *and
identity. It is a time in which our
Monotheism of the centre, sane, bal
anced, independent, simple but full,
reasonable yet earnest, appears to us to
need all who can believe in it and live
by it. Many dangers lie before it ;
dangers of various kinds, and proceed
ing from various quarters. Atheism
52

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
and despair, upon the one hand; differ
ent kinds of reaction, upon the other.
False affirmations of the world, false
conjunctions of God with power or
success. But also false denials of the
world ; false turnings away from it, or
one-sided seekings of religion and God
outside it. Democracy, too, will be on
its trial, and a religionless democracy
may become something more than a
visionary peril. Combating material
ism and atheism, upon the one hand,
yet also opposed to the vision of God as
Judaism sees it, there may offer them
selves for the world's acceptance many
curious phases of pantheism, strange
mysticisms and theosophic speculations,
upon the other. In the middle, firmly
planted upon earth, yet unforgetful of
heaven, Judaism holds that it must
53

THE PLACE Off JUDAISM
keep true to its simple, yet profound,
teaching of the divine Father. It must
seek to maintain a Monotheism which
shall satisfy both the reason and the
heart. Moreover, from the days of Amos to
our own — f or two thousand six hundred
years and more — this Monotheism could
justly be called an ethical Monotheism.
Now every cultivated person knows how
the Prophets were succeeded by the
Law, and how Judaism became more and
more riveted to, and identified with, the
Pentateuchal Code. Judaism is gener
ally regarded as a religion of law, and
in that description of it its condemna
tion is contained. It is not merely that
Judaism means the supremacy of a
particular Code, though that code, an
odd mixture of many periods, a con-
54

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
glomerate of high and low, prophetic
teaching and ancient superstition, is
in itself a heavy burden to any religion.
But Judaism, it is said, means also the
supremacy of law ; Judaism is legalism.
And legalism in religion is as much an
anachronism as nationality. Chris
tianity wrought (so the argument
runs) two permanent religious services.
It overcame Jewish nationalism, and
created a pure religious universalism.
It overcame Jewish legalism, and
created a religion of grace, of faith and
of principles, as against a religion of
merit, of ordinances, and of works.
I have so far avoided this great
question of legalism, nor can I, at the
very end of my lecture, make the
omission good. I can only remark
that the, attack, not by any means, in
55

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
my own judgment, wholly justified or
accurate, applies, so far as it applies at
all, to Orthodox Judaism only. For
only Orthodox Judaism asserts the
supremacy and unquestioned authority
of the Pentateuchal law. The bugbear
of legalism only applies to it. So far
as it is a true bugbear, it is only
Orthodox Judaism which is affected
by it. Liberal Judaism is free and
independent. It can absorb what is
true and right in the catchwords of
' faith ' and ' grace ' and ' principles,'
as opposed to the catchwords of ' merit '
and ' ordinances ' and ' works.' It can
set about a theoretic and a practical
harmony and reconciliation between
them. And this suggested harmony and
reconciliation bring me to the point
which induced me to mention these
56

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
high matters in this particular connex
ion and place. Liberal Judaism is not
frightened by the endless attacks upon
legalism still to vindicate and champion
the principle of law — of law in religion.
It brings in and uses this principle for
the point of contact between religion
and morality. It uses the idea of law
just because it proclaims an ethical
Monotheism. Two things we mean by it. We mean
by it that goodness and righteousness
and love are not mere creations of man,
without relation to, or independent of,
an outside source. That source is God.
He is their origin and He is their guaran
tee. If man did not create God, neither
did he create righteousness. If because
of God he was able to find God, so
because of divine righteousness he was
57

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
able to find his human righteousness.
Secondly, the very essence of human
goodness lies in a recognition that it is
not merely the law of man's own nature,
but that it is God's law ; that it is
without as well as within ; freely
accepted by man as imposed from
without, as well as freely accepted
by him as imposed from within. The
moral law is the law of God. Man
must bow down before it in reverence
and awe ; he "must admit its obliga
tions and its supremacy. It is not
merely superior to the individual ; it
is superior to the race. We have not
merely to sing the praises of moral
liberty and the freedom of the sons of
God ; we have also to sing the praises of
moral bondage and the subjection of
God's servants. It is true that His
58

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
service is freedom. But that is not the
whole truth. Just as Judaism is keen
upon establishing the kingdom of God
upon earth, while yet believing that
earthly life is given its truest value
because death is not the end, just as
Judaism is keen upon happiness and
well-being upon earth, even though the
guarantee of that happiness may be a
higher happiness beyond earth, so does
Judaism believe in the moral freedom
of man, just because there is a divine
freedom beyond him. Man can be free
up to a point, because God is still freer.
Or, in other words, the coalescence of
freedom and bondage is only perfect in
the divine Being. And, therefore, it
is that Judaism still clings to the old
Covenant and to the principle of law.
The new Covenant is the ideal of the
59

THE PLACE OF JUDAISM
Messianic age ; it is the ideal of per
fection. But, meanwhile, till the ideal
is realized, ' thou shalt ' and ' thou
shalt not ' are lasting human necessi
ties. The constraint of duty abides.
Call no man good but God alone.
Commandments are necessities. The
more freely and gladly they are obeyed,
the nobler the result, the finer the
character. But there can never be a
complete and absolute absence of fric
tion, and there must always be the
adoring and humble acknowledgment
of the constraining law, without as well
as within, divine as well as human. It
is the glad recognition and the unques
tioned worship of this constraining law,
majestic, august, divine, which are of
the very essence of Judaism.
A Theism, then, of this particular
60

AMONG THE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD
type, is, as we believe, required by the
world. But a Theism of this particular
type is a difficult Theism ; it is greatly
on its trial. There is still, we believe,
a place for Judaism ; and desertion
from it, abandonment of it, as a
separate and distinct creed, is as little
justified now as it was little justified in
the years gone by. A great inheritance
is ours, but an inheritance, I admit,
fraught with difficulty and responsi
bility, if also with richness and with
glory. But if Judaism withers and
fails ; if it shrinks, and has no influence
in the world, the fault will lie — so a
believer must hold — not with Judaism,
but with the Jews. Our feebleness and
slackness will be the cause ; not the
truths and not the faith which have
been committed to our abiding care.
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