^(p25)

CHAPTER II

A JEWISH HOME

1. Inasmuch as the orthodox Jews are the same the world over, it will be in place to give the reader a clear idea of a Jewish home, that he may better understand the social as well as the spiritual atmosphere which pervades a Jewish house. He will better understand the Jewish religion, and why it is that the Jews as a people, while claiming to be loyal to Moses and the prophets, are at the same time bitter against the Christian religion, especially as it is expressed in the teachings of the New Testament.[1]

2. It should be remembered that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, which concerns the Jew but what is regulated by the rabbis. All their teachings have been collected, and, as a result, we have what is known as the “Talmud.” The Talmud is in reality a commentary on the Mishna, and the Mishna is a commentary on the Old Testament. The Mishna contains the comments which the rabbis and scholars have made concerning the different parts of the Bible, and the Talmud consists of the comments the rabbis have made on the Mishna. (a)

3. It is not infrequent, when one desires the authority of a certain custom, to say that Rabbi so-and-so said in the name of another rabbi, who heard it from some other rabbi, who was told it by a disciple of a certain great teacher, or tana. To illustrate: ^(p26) In the Talmudic tract, Erubin, mixture, is contained the following discussion: “Said Rabbi Assi in the name of Rabbi Johannan, ‘A courtyard must have two enclosures.’ Said Rabbi Zera to Rabbi Assi,’ Did Rabbi Johannan indeed say so? Didst thou not thyself state in the name of Rabbi Johannan, that the enclosure of a courtyard must measure at least four ells? And if thou wouldst explain Rabbi Johannan’s dictum to signify that the enclosures would have to be four ells on each side of the angle, did not Rabbi Adar bar Abhimi state before Rabbi Hanima bar Papa?’ ” etc., etc.

4. To the believing parents, everything that is taught is true, no matter what it is; and this same principle is inculcated everywhere. The child from infancy is taught that whatever it is told is right, and no questions may be asked as to the how or why of things.

5. The father is the priest and ruler of the household. This is true in the absolute. His word is law, and his authority is indisputable. He endeavors to train his family in the fear of the Lord, and his ideas of things are supposed to be accurate. Every one has to be in complete submission, from the mother to the youngest child; and, while the head of the family endeavors to make all others happy, happiness must be found in harmony with what he says and does.

6. The basis for this strict obedience and mandatory authority is taken from the words of the Lord concerning Abraham: “For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment.” Gen. 18: 19. ^(p28) The rabbis claim that this means that it was God’s will that Abraham should command his family to do his bidding. Inasmuch as Abraham is the father of the Jews, it is the bounden duty of every father to see that his household does as he tells them.

7. The reader can perhaps better appreciate what the Saviour and John the Baptist meant when they told the Jews not to make their boast of Abraham, that he was their father, and they were his children.[2] To be a child of Abraham meant to do as Abraham did.[3] But this the masses of the Jews did not do.

8. The mother has very little to do in controlling the family, or in influencing the children, save that she is to do as the husband says, or as she has been taught by her parents. It should be remembered that the rabbis have so perverted the teachings of the word of God that the girl and mother are of very little use save in doing culinary work and looking after the affairs of the house. This is due largely to the misinterpretation of the Scripture, and perversion of the truth. Here is an example or two:

“There are ten sorts of disqualification, and every one in whom one of them is found, he is disqualified from giving evidence; and these are they, — women, slaves, children, idiots, deaf persons, the blind, the wicked, the despised, relatives, and those interested in their testimony. Behold these are the ten.” — Hilcoth Adus, “Laws of Witness”

9. We here see that women are placed in the same class with slaves, idiots, and wicked persons. ^(p29) This is entirely contrary to the word of God. But the rabbis seek to free themselves from embarrassment by saying that the reason “women are disqualified by the law from giving testimony,” is because the Scripture says that evidence must be given by the “mouth of two or three witnesses,” and the word witnesses is in the masculine gender, and not in the feminine.[4] And they further state that the law says, Thou shalt teach thy children diligently.[5] Here also the word children, la-vo-necho, literally means male children, and not female.

10. Many other texts are used to support their wrong and erroneous theory, till they have convinced the masses of the Jews that woman is not only incapable of bearing testimony, but is irresponsible in religious life. This is evident from the two following prayers, which are offered daily in the synagogue, and from the law which the rabbis have made. Here are the prayers. The man’s prayer:

“Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who hath not made me a woman.”

The woman prays: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God, King of the Universe, who hath made me according to His will.”

Should there be a thousand persons in the synagogue gathered for worship, the service could not begin till there were at least ten males, and each male must be not less than thirteen years old. Here is the law: “It is necessary that all these ten be free and adult men.” (b) — “Laws of Life.”

11. Thus woman not only has been degraded, but has been made unusually irresponsible. ^(p30) So that from the birth of the girl till her marriage, the father is responsible for her; and from her marriage till her death, her husband bears her religious and moral responsibility. Should she,
however, remain unmarried, she is obliged to bewail her virginity.[6]

12. It must be said, however, that the children are taught obedience to the mother, but this is due largely to the influence of the father, enforcing it upon the child. The mother seeks to bring up the child to the best of her ability in the fear of God, so far as she has been orally instructed. The reader must recognize that, in view of the rabbinical teaching concerning women, very few of them are educated in European countries where the rabbis hold sway, and where orthodoxy has preeminence. But the girls are taught, from generation to generation, by oral instruction from the parents. This is faithfully treasured, and the mother does her best to impart it to the child; for the more effectively she performs this labor, the more will be her reward in heaven, and the more will heaven look with favor upon her efforts, and will give her a son who will be of much service in the cause of Judaism.[7]

13. On every hand the effect and influence of rabbinical teaching is seen. When the children awaken in the morning, the first thing they are to do is to wash their eyes and the tips of their fingers. The reason is, the rabbis have taught that little demons are apt to gather at the tips of the fingers during the night, and should these not be washed prior to placing them on the eyes, these little imps might cause blindness. ^(p31) If the child should consider this story rather amusing and esteem it lightly, an impression of some form would certainly follow, either mental or physical, and the matter would never be questioned again.

14. The children are taught from infancy by the mother, and this teaching includes a knowledge of the Messiah. All the prayers are prepared by the teachers, and read from books. While they are filled with texts of Scripture, they simply express the sentiments the rabbis have placed upon them. Hence, the home teaching is of that character that the prayer-books and the parents’ teaching are not only Heaven’s teaching, but the words of the rabbis are placed on an equality with the words of God.

15. The Sabbath and the holidays are periods of very great interest. These are times when the children anticipate something more than on ordinary days, even to the bread and to the wine. At the beginning of the Sabbath, the mother will light the candles known as the Sabbath lights. This is done in order that the Sabbath may bring light and blessing to the house. The children have to remove everything from their pockets. If anything is carried on this day, it is a burden; and the Bible says there must be no burden borne on the Sabbath days.[8] Until the boy is thirteen, he is permitted to carry a pocket-handkerchief for he, too, is not responsible till that age, a reason for which is given in chapter four, paragraph one. After that age, he is not supposed to be burdened even with this necessary article, as it, too, is carrying a burden. ^(p32) The rabbis, however, have explained this command by saying that men may carry it around the waist as a part of the clothing. The women may carry it around their arm, and make it a part of their apparel, (c)

16. In the doing of all this, they believe they are doing the service of God and carrying out the will of the Lord. Nearly always a command in which there is a blessing pronounced, begins like this :

“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hath commanded us,” etc., etc., though the rabbis acknowledge they made the law.

17. The Jews do not perform any work on the Sabbath. It is true they are obliged to have fires, especially in cold weather; but this obstacle is overcome by securing a Sabbath Gentile. The business of this Gentile is to take care of the fires, extinguish all lights, and perform all things necessary to be done on the Sabbath for the comfort of the home, which a Jew may not do. Should you ask for an explanation, you will be informed that the Bible says concerning the Sabbath, “In it thou shalt not do any work.”[9]

 Should you ask, however, why the Gentile works when the same law says, neither thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, nor thy stranger; that is, a Gentile, shall do any work, you are answered in a manner very effective. Of course the parents will seek to convince you that it must be so because the Bible says so; and what the Bible does not say the rabbis have said. ^(p33) Inasmuch as we are taught to have the same respect for the rabbis as we have for God, the word of the one is as binding as the word of the other. It is absolutely necessary that we believe what the parents say, for the law says, Honor thy mother and thy father. Therefore the question is answered, and it must settle it forever.

18. While the children are taught many things from the Scripture by the parents, as contained in the prayer-books, there are many stories which are told the children against the gospel of Christ, in such a manner as to make the child believe that the one is as true as the other. Many of these tales are so awful that they could not be put on paper. They used to be written in the Talmud many centuries ago; but in the fifteenth century some of the readers of the Talmud among the Gentiles, discovered these sayings. As a result, this edition of the Talmud was destroyed; and there are but two copies in existence which contain these vile and bad stories. (d)

19. It is clearly impressed on the mind of the child that Jesus not only was a bad man, but was really an improper child [conceived out of wedlock]. This is taught to so impress the child that it will be impossible ever to get his attention to any of the true claims of the Messiahship of Jesus, from the fact that the Bible does not allow such a person to come into the congregation of the Lord, not even to the tenth generation.[10] All the miracles of Christ are explained by a lot of fairy tales and anecdotes, such as, Jesus went into a dye shop and threw a lot of clothing into a vat, and each piece came out a different color.

^(p34) The miracle of the resurrection is overcome by a story that Jesus went into the temple and learned the name of Jehovah and the letters of the name. Finally He cut out a piece of flesh from under his knee, and there deposited the card with the holy name on it. After three days He was reminded of His having taken that card with the name, which He then removed. After He learned the letters He was able to do great wonders, even to fly in the air. These and many similar tales are taught the children as part of their religious life, and this breeds within them such hatred and contempt for the Christian religion. At the same time they are taught to love and respect Moses and the prophets.

20. In a book called, “Ethics of the Fathers,” chapter I, is found the following:

“Moses received the law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, the elders to the prophets, the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue. They said,” etc., etc.

In this way, the rabbis are connected with Moses and the prophets, and the words of one are as true as those of the other. The words of the oral law, the law of the rabbis, are as sacred and as holy as the law of Moses.

21. On the walls of the room in nearly every orthodox Jewish house is found a picture of Moses with the scrolls of the law in his hands, and various pictures of great rabbis, that reverence for the one may be taught as much as for the others. The groundwork is well laid, and the foundations are built strong and deep. The more pious the parents, the more the teaching will be impressed, and the more the child will have his mind fixed with such things.

^(p36)  22. This was the lot of the early years of the writer at his home with his parents and relatives. Judaism was everything beautiful and sacred, and the future was looked forward to with much pleasure, when the rabbinical school would be entered and more of the teaching be received.

On to Chapter Three

 

^(p37)                                 EXPLANATORY  NOTES.

PARAGRAPH 2 (a). — See “Practical Lessons," chapter 2.   Back

PAR. 10 (b). — The writer well remembers when a boy he was obliged at times to wait at the street corners near the synagogue and hail men to come to the service, in order that there might be ten grown male adults present that the service of God might be conducted.  Back

PAR. 15 (c). — Such teachings fully justify the actions of the Saviour as recorded in Matt. 23 :13-38.  Back

PAR. 18 (d). — The best information the author can gather is that one copy of the Amsterdam Talmud which contains these statements is in England and one copy in the United States.  Back