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[The concluding chapter of Abba Hillel Silver’s MUST READ book for this week. Reformatting and highlights ours.]
DIFFERENCES AND UNDERLYING UNITY
We have dwelt on the great new insights of Judaism which are easily recognizable at all stages of its development and which gave it a distinctive stamp and character: that God is One—
Spiritual
Creator
Ruler of the universe,
Indwelling all nature and yet transcending it;
Near to man in all his needs, and yet beyond man’s full comprehension.
That man, while fashioned out of the earth, is nevertheless made in the spiritual image of God.
That while he is bound by his physical and mental limitations, he is boundless in his moral aspirations and is free to determine his own spiritual progress through his own efforts assisted by the grace of God.
That both body and soul are of God,
That all men are equal in their essential humanity and in the sight of God, and that whole of man—body, mind, and soul—is sacred.
That there is but one moral law for prince and pauper, ruler and subject, native born and stranger.
That life is good and a gracious gift of God.
That the moral ills which exist in the world can be overcome, and that in overcoming them lies the true meaning and the adventure of human life.
That an age of universal justice, brotherhood, and peace awaits the human raceThat there is divine retribution in ways and forms not always clear to man and can be hastened by the efforts of the human race.
That man’s concern should be with life this side of the grave.
These are the basic and enduring ideas of Judaism. Some of the other great religions of mankind possess one or more of them. Some adopted them directly from Judaism. But Judaism wove them all into a single and unique pattern, integrated and correlated them in a religious idealism and an ethical code which have powerfully influenced civilizations in the past and which will continue to mold them in the future.
These great insights are found in the Bible, which has been called the epic of the world, the book of the ages, which is inextricably bound up with the culture, ethics, history, art, and literature of half of the world. It has nourished the hearts and minds of countless generations of men, and has guided, challenged, and inspired the humble and the great, the idealist, the social reformer, the advocate of peace, the champion of freedom and democracy, the dreamers of mankind’s great dreams. The truths of the Bible are inexhaustible and deathless, and, in freshness and relevancy, unaging.
But while the crown jewels of Judaism are found int he Bible, its spiritual treasures are not limited to it. Subsequent ages also produced Sages, Seers, and Rabbis, whose wisdom is embodied in later Jewish writings—in the Apocrypha, the Talmud, the Midrash, and the individual works of scholars, poets, and philosophers which have continued to this day. Their teachings constitute an integral part of the endlessly replenished religious literature of Judaism.
Along with a unique religious literature, Judaism created also a unique type of worship and a unique religious institution which is called the synagogue. The eminent Christian scholar and historian of religion, Robert Herford, wrote: “With the synagogue began a new type of worship in the history of humanity, the type of congregational worship. In all their long history the Jewish people have done scarcely anything more wonderful than to create the synagogue. No human institution has a longer continuous history and none has done more for the uplifting of the human race.” And Professor Moore wrote:
The consequences of the establishment of such a rational worship for the whole subsequent history of Judaism was immeasurable. Its persistent character, and, it is not too much to say, the very preservation of its existence through all the vicissitudes of its fortunes. It owes more than anything else to the synagogue. Nor is it for Judaism alone that it had this importance. It determined the type of Christian worship, which in the Greek and Roman world of the day might otherwise easily have taken the form of a mere mystery; and, in part directly, in part through the church, it furnished the model to Mohammed. Thus Judaism gave to the world not only the fundamental ideas of these great monotheistic religions but the institutional forms in which they have perpetuated and propagated themselves.
It is not argued in these chapters that in all matters in which Judaism differed from other systems of religious belief it was superior to them. In many ways, indeed, Judaism was superior, and as pioneer in the field of ethical religion, Israel did merit the Biblical designation of “first-born” (Ex. 4:22). But qualitative differences are not necessarily competitive assessments. All rivers run to the sea, but their courses and channels differ widely. Each system of thought has its own texture and pattern, and each faith its own perspectives. There are radically divergent views, for example, between Judaism and Buddhism—a faith which in all probability was in no way influenced by Judaism—in regard to basic perspectives of life and human destiny; yet both created noble patterms of life and human destiny; yet both created noble patterns of life for their followers and inspired generations of men. Both Christianity and Islam, which did inherit much from Judaism, but deviated from it in certain essential regards, molded great civilizations and produced men of noblest character and idealism. Differences should not obscure the underlying unity of the human race or the common needs of human life which all institutions and beliefs in mankind aim to serve, or the urgency for their close cooperation to achieve their common purposes.
To draw attention to priorities or to certain superior levels of religious, intellectual, artistic, or technological evolution attained by this or that people is simply to indicate stages in the progress of the human race, which never advances in any fixed, regular, or uniform procession for all peoples alike. No one people has a monopoly on all fields of progress. Excellence in one field may be counterpoised by deficiencies in others. The span of creative achievement of any people is neither unlimited or uninterrupted. Nor are the contributions of any people sufficient for the encompassing life of humanity. Whatever is finally achieved by any people by way of enduring truth, beauty, or utility becomes in the end the grateful possession of all.
No religious body has warrant for complacency, and none should live abstracted from the realities of the present hour and its unfinished tasks, bemused by thoughts of former triumphs and trophies. The humbling thought for all religions is the realization that none has fulfilled its promise and its mission in the world. “We look for justice but there is none; for deliverance but it is far from us” (Isa. 59:11). Mankind has come a long way to be sure. It has indeed perceptibly advanced through the long centuries but how slowly! And how dark and perilous still are our times! How may pay homage only with their lips to the faith they profess, and how often are the fires of these faiths quenched in dank formalism and ecclesiasticism and made the instruments of bigotry and fanaticism. How often are their cups of blessing turned into cups of staggering, turbid with the dregs of hate!
The one universal God does not require one universal church in which to be worshipped, but one universal devotion. In the realms of ascertainable facts, uniformity can be looked for. In the realms of art and philosophy there can be only sincerity of quest and expression—only dedication. Religion is the supreme art of humanity.
Judaism developed through the ages its own characteristic style, as it were, its own view of life, its code and forms of worship. It possesses its own traditions based on Torah and covenant. Its adherents today find inspiration and spiritual contentment in it, as did their fathers before them, and wish to continue its historic identity within the configuration of other religious cultures. Other religions, too, developed their characteristic ways based on their unique traditions and experiences. There is much which all religions have in common which differentiates them. Their common purpose in the world will not be advanced by merger or amalgamation. Were all arts, philosophies, and religions cast into one mold, mankind would be the poorer for it. Unwillingness to recognize differences in religions is no evidence of broadmindedness. To ignore these differences is to overlook the deep cleavages which existed in the past and to assume a similarity of doctrine and outlook which does not exist in the present. The attempt to gloss over these differences as a gesture of goodwill is a superficial act which serves neither the purposes of scholarship nor the realities of the situation. It is far better and more practical to look for ways of working together on the basis of a forthright recognition of dissimilarities rather than on a fictitious assumption of identity. Indifference to one’s own faith is no proof of tolerance. Loyalty to one’s own is part of a larger loyalty to faith generally.
There are great areas of common interests in which all religions can cooperate in mutual helpfulness and respect, influencing one another and learning from one another.
Judaism, which differed and continues to differ from other religions in significant matters of belief and practice, has sought and seeks opportunities of friendly cooperation with them in all things which may contribute to the building of the good society, firm in its own convictions, reverent of others, hoping for the great day of universal reconciliation of all peoples, when “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, and the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.”