The Ethics of Judaism

f LIBRARY I UNIVERSITY OF J CAL*ORNIA I SAN DIEGO presented to the UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO by Y1C2&H' Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/ethicsofjudaism01lazaiala Hbe l£tbics of Judaism BV M. LAZARUS, Ph.D. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY HENRIETTA SZOLD IN FOUR PARTS Part I PHILADELPHIA THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA 1900 Copyright, 1900 BY The Jewish Publication Society op America tfye JSorb Qgfaftttnorc (pree* the friedenwald company baltimore, md., v. s. a. Dedicated To the Memory of My Noble Friend WlLHELM VON GUTMANN The Jewish Publication Society of America, having secured the American and English rights to the Ethik des Juden- tJuims by Professor M. Lazarus, is now enabled to render accessible to its mem- bers and to other English-speaking persons the first portion of this important book. It is hoped that succeeding volumes will fol- low at regular intervals, and that when com- pleted it will serve to make clear the inner life of Judaism, as the History of Graetz portrayed the part which the Jews have played in the world. Doctor Lazarus, now in his 76th year, for a long time Professor in the .University of Berlin, has during half a century been making fruitful researches in various fields of science and Jewish learning. The work now presented in an English dress is his crowning service in the cause of Judaism. PREFACE This book has a history, but it is a history that will engage the interest of those only who have made the acquaintance of the book itself. Therefore I reserve it for the end of the second and last volume. There the reasons, purely internal, will appear why almost fifteen years elapsed between conceiving the plan to produce an " Ethics of Judaism " and its present reali- zation. There, too, honest account shall be rendered of assistance sought and found by the author. Yet I cannot refrain from mentioning here a few at least of my friends and pupils who were good enough to give me their efficient aid especially while the book was passing through the press. Herewith I express my deep grati- tude to Mr. Meyer Friedman, Reader at the x PREFA CE Beth ha-Midrash in Vienna; Professor M. Guggenheim, Ph. D., of Zurich; Mr. I. I. Kahan of Leipsic; Dr. Alfred Leicht, head- master in Meissen; Dr. Tanzer of Hohen- ems, Rabbi of Tyrol and Vorarlberg; and Dr. Unger, Rabbi in Iglau. Of the task and the method of the work, the first chapter gives a minute description. One fact, however, I should like to empha- size here. The reader may expect me, an ethno-psychologist, to institute compari- sons with other modes of thought related racially and philosophically—a method that leads to apologetics as its result, and re- quires polemics as its aid. All such temptations I put behind me with open eyes. Even analogies with the ethical doctrine of other ancient peoples are adverted to only incidentally and cursorily. Naught of apologetics ! —A purely ob- jective statement was aimed at, and it must PREFA CE xi speak and act for itself. An exception was made only in the case of E. von Hartmann. His charge against every system of ethics based on theism is refuted from the point of view of Judaism. As for polemics, nothing could have jus- tified its introduction; "if thou wilt make an altar, thou shalt not wave thy sword over it; for if thou wavest thy sword over it, thou " hast polluted it (Exod. 20:25). Lazarus Meran, Tyrol, September fj, /8g8. PART I Foundation of Jewish Ethics CONTENTS OF PART I FOUNDATION OF JEWISH ETHICS PAGE Chapter I. —On the Sources of Jewish Ethics i Chapter II. —The Principle of Jewish Ethics . 107 Chapter III. —The Character of Jewish Ethics . 189 Appendix 247 CHAPTER I On the Sources of Jewish Ethics §i. The Bible is the text-book of Jewish The literature of Jewish Ethics. Ethics. Next rank the Rabbinical writings, that is, the Talmud, the Talmudic Midrashim, and the later Midrashim, and they, in turn, are followed by religious and philosophic works, which elaborate and continue the ethical thought of earlier times. §2. The Bible in all its parts bears an Biblical teaching by ™eans of '- ethical impress : the legal books contain y** r O ical narratives, b,mcal explicit and definite laws for the regulation discussk.n of man's conduct; the historical books present examples, attractive or repellent, as the case may be,. of deeds good and just, generous and stimulating, or unjust and iniquitous; the Prophets are full of precepts and exhortations looking to the elevation and strengthening of character; and the THE ETHICS OE JUDAISM poetic, philosophic, and proverbial writings inculcate and extol virtue, adduce noble views and noble conduct as exemplars, and make their opposites appear despicable. In the same way the Rabbinical writings present direct teachings, examples, impressive admonitions, and instructive reflections. They expound, and so enrich and invest with deeper meaning, the moral import of Biblical deeds and words, thoughts and motives. Manifold §3- Biblical thoughts become more and application of . .... Biblical more applicable as life vanes its mamfesta- thoughts to life; rr th U tions, as closer, Ts a guide! the relations of men become and the forms and aims of society are differ- entiated. The. words of the Bible are in- terpreted by and for the fulness of life. Thus, on the one side, the Biblical word, considered broadly as the word of God, is entrenched in its dignity, and extended in influence; and on the other side, life secures a guide, a shaping force, an impulse. §4. Human activity, with its motives, ef- THE SO UR CES OF JE WISH E THICS 3 forts, and aims, has its origin in the in- origin of human activity in the stincts, intellec- Ethics the material needs, and the establishes tual demands, which fill and animate the OTderTanTpeace among them. soul of man. The purpose of ethics is to assign definite boundaries to all instincts clamoring for satisfaction, to establish order among contradictory demands, and har- monize the opposing claims that arise in social intercourse. An ideal, moral §5. But . ethics has a more important world results function than securing moderation, order, awakening of « nobler , 1 e T , new and and peace among the instincts of man. It desires. must produce new desires, higher and nobler than his original impulses; must create new needs in his soul, and provide for their satisfaction; must teach individuals and society motives, forms of activity, above all, methods of co-operation, and valid aims removed far beyond the gratifica- tion of elementary cravings. Upon the natural world as a foundation should be reared a second structure, a spiritual and ideal structure—the moral world. THE ETHICS OF JUDAISM its foundation §6. The foundations of the moral world as in the Bible and «?nt > niI » ti 01 in . ? conceived by the Jewish mind are laid in the the Rabbinical J •> W r inte^retauon Bible. The Rabbinical writings continue of the Bible, by the method of the upbuilding of the structure according two rules. tQ a pectl ij ar method, gradually crystalliz- ing into thirty-two rules. By this method a free, an almost unlimited application of Biblical expressions is made, in order to deduce from them, or read into them, ori- 1 ginal and progressive moral ideas. This method §7. Through this persistent and unre- secures homo- strained application of untrammeled the Bible word a development. , . - marvelous spiritual phenomenon is pro- 2 duced. By the interweaving of older thoughts with the intellectual work of the individual, amazing unity is brought about 1 See Appendix No. I, p. 247. 2 This noteworthy circumstance has, to my knowl- edge, not received due attention and historical ap- preciation, despite the fact that the creative activity of other nations offers no parallel. (Suggestions of the same method in the Alexandrian school, and later among the Arabs, are probably of Jewish origin.) The importance of the phenomenon ap- pears only when we turn from the intellectual work —— THE SO UR CES OF JE WISH E THICS 5 in the expressions of the national spirit a uniform, progressive development of tra- ditional ideas, an interpenetration of moral doctrines, ethical convictions, and tenden- cies of conduct. The paradoxical asser- tion may be ventured, that the moral ele- ment in the national spirit is preserved as a homogeneous unit, yet with unrestricted liberty of development. The differences between epoch and epoch, the peculiarity of historical condi- tions, the individuality of thinkers, vanish in the face of the prolific yet uniform development of the triumphant national spirit a development that depends upon the evolution of fundamental thoughts, and draws of the individual, its literary worth, and its place in the history of literature, to take note of the national spirit and its evolution. To consider a psychic pro- duct—for example, the development of a thought as an isolated achievement, or in its relation to the history of literature, is very different from consider- ing it as a contribution to the life and progress of what essentially constitutes a school, religion, state, or race. 6 THE ETHICS OF JUDAISM its strength from the primary source of ideas. The work of the §8. All work, it is true, is done by indi- individual a . manifestation of viduals. We have nothing beyond the the national ° * sp,rlt 1 1 pier"ever dicta of definite (known or unknown) per- monides' truly sons.

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