Chapter IV: That in All Those Points Where the Oral Law Is Weak, the New

TESTAMENT IS STRONG. In the first place, it is entirely free from all fabulous additions to the Old Testament history. It recognises the authority, and frequently cites the writings, of Moses and the Prophets, but it is never, like the Talmud, guilty of forgeries. Neither Jesus nor his disciples pretended to have an oral interpretation of the law, unknown to the people at large, and therefore capable of being twisted to their own purposes. They referred simply to the written word, and by it desired to have all their doctrines judged. In the second place, it is free from all superstitious doctrines concerning magic, astrology, and other heathenish arts. It does not allow absolution from oaths, nor mark out any class of society as the lawful victims of fraud and violence. It is merciful to the poor and to slaves. It teaches that the souls of women are as precious in the sight of God as those of men. It forbids polygamy, and allows divorce only in one case where it is necessary, and thus protects the weaker sex, and guards the sacredness and the happiness of domestic life. It differs especially from the oral law in its estimation of external rites, and thus gives the strongest evidence of its Divine origin. If there be one sign of true religion more satisfactory than another, it is the placing of holiness of heart and life as the first great requisite, at the same time that it does not undervalue any of God’s commands. Now this mark Christianity has, and Judaism wants. The former teaches expressly, That without holiness no man shall see the Lord, and that for the want of it no external ceremonies can compensate. Further, Christianity knows of no violent methods of propagating the truth. It nowhere tells its followers, when they have the power, to compel all men to embrace its doctrines, or to put them to death if they refuse. It has not a criminal code written in blood, and prescribing floggings of rebellion, or even death, for a mere ceremonial offence. It does not allow each individual teacher to torment the people by excommunication and anathema at his pleasure. And lastly, it does not misrepresent God as an unjust and partial judge, who confines the benefits of revelation to one small nation, and sentences the overwhelming majority of mankind to unholiness and unhappiness. If ever Judaism should attain to universal dominion, and the principles of Judaism be brought into action, the whole Gentile world would be doomed to misery and ignorance. By pronouncing that amongst Gentiles there is no marriage-tie, it would rob them of all domestic peace. By sentencing every Gentile reader of the Bible to death, it would deprive them of all the consolations and instructions of the Word of God, and by forbidding them to keep a Sabbath, it would, so far as it could, annihilate every token of God’s care and loving-kindness. The triumph of Christianity, on the contrary, and the full development of all its principles, would fill the world with peace, and joy, and happiness. The fundamental principles of Christianity, namely, that the Messiah has died for the sins of the whole world, sets forth God as the tender father who cares for all his children, and therefore teaches all men to regard one another as fellow-heirs of the same eternal salvation. It does not deny that Israel has peculiar privileges as a nation, but fully acknowledges that “they are still beloved for the fathers’ sakes,” and that they are yet to be the benefactors of the human race as they were of old. But it asserts, at the same time, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, and thus makes it possible for Jew and Gentile to love each other. The only foundation for the peace and unity of all nations is the recognition of God as the Father of all, and this foundation is the very corner-stone of Christianity, whilst it neither does nor can form any part of the fabric of Judaism. Christianity teaches that the first and great commandment is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and the second is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; and teaches, at the same time, that all men are our neighbours. Judaism teaches that circumcision is the greatest of all the commandments, and that none but Jews and proselytes are neighbours. Thus Judaism divides, whilst Christianity tends to unite, all the children of men in the bands of peace. It has only one principle of God’s dealings to men, and that principle is love; and one principle for the guiding of man’s conduct to men, and that is love also. Let not the Jewish reader think that we Gentiles wish to ascribe any merit to ourselves, as if by our own wit or wisdom we had found out a religious system superior to anything that Israel had been able to devise. Far from it; we acknowledge again, as we did in the first number, that we are only disciples of one part of the Jewish nation. From the Jews Christianity came to us. It has been a light to lighten us Gentiles, but we acknowledge its Divine Author as the glory of his people Israel. All we mean by instituting the comparison is, to show those who still adhere to the oral law, that there is another Jewish religion infinitely superior, and more like that of Moses and the Prophets. And we appeal confidently to every reader of these papers to decide whether the New Testament or the Talmud is the better book, and to say which is the most agreeable to the will of God as revealed to their forefathers. We earnestly call upon them to make the decision, and to deliver themselves from that unmerited weight of odium which has rested upon them for centuries; and from that still more dreadful evil, the displeasure of Almighty God, which has followed them ever since they forsook the Old Paths wherein their fathers walked.

It is time for those, at least, who profess to abhor certain parts of the Talmud and oral law, to justify their professions by consistent conduct. If they wish people to believe them when they profess love and charity towards all men, they must begin by repudiating the authority of the oral law, and renouncing the worship of the synagogue. How can we possibly believe that those are sincere in their professions to men, who declare that they are insincere in their worship of the heart-searching God? Every man who uses the prayers of the synagogue, there confesses himself to God as a believer in the oral law, and consequently ready to execute all its decrees of cruelty, fraud, and persecution—ready, when he has the power, to convert all nations with the sword. That is his profession in the synagogue; when, then, he comes forth from the solemn act of Divine worship, and tells me that he is liberal and charitable, and that he abhors persecution, how can I possibly believe him? There is falsehood somewhere, and the only possible mode of removing this appearance is by a public renunciation of the oral law, and an erasure of those passages in the public prayers which affirm its Divine authority. This all truly liberal-minded Jews owe to themselves, to the Christian public, to their brethren, and, above all, to their God. To themselves they owe it, because so long as their words and their deeds contradict each other, a mist hangs over them. To the Christian public they owe it, for they must naturally desire to know the principles of those with whom they are connected. To their brethren they owe it, for this is the only way of delivering the nation from the calamities of centuries. To their God they owe it, for by the blasphemies of the oral law, His character is misrepresented, and His name blasphemed.

THE END.

Footnote 37:

“A Manual of Judaism,” by Joshua Van Oven, Esq., M.R.C.S.L., London,
1835. Page 22.

INDEX.

Abarbanel, 124

Aben Ezra, 123

Abraham at the door of hell, 450

Adam, 136

Agadah, recognized in Jewish Prayer-book, 3

Ahijah, the Shilonite, fable about, 352

Almsgiving, Rabbinic, 302
merit of, 307

Amhaaretz, meaning of the word, 458
disqualifications of, 459
may be robbed and slain with impunity, 461
lawful to kill, 6

Amulets, virtues of, 183

Angels carry up the sound of the horn at new year, 267

Angels, of the waves, 197

Angel, evil, 229

Angels ministering, 164

Apostates, to be killed, 36

Arbah, Turim, 112

Astrology, taught and practised, 175

Atonement, day of, 279
itself an atonement, 279
repentance an, 279
a cock killed as an, 283
death an, 299

Baptism necessary to a proselyte, 304

Bar Kochav, 222

Bechai, 142

Behemoth, legend of, 128, &c.

Bither, the city of, 216

Cain, 138

Catechism, Bavarian Jewish, 25
gives a false view of Judaism, 26

Charity, Rabbinic, 112

Charm, Rabbinic, for a bleeding of the nose, 192
for the bite of a mad dog, 193
for a storm at sea, 196
for the bite of a scorpion, 200

Charms allowed on the Sabbath-day, 200

Charm for bed time, 201

Christianity, a Jewish religion, 1

Christianity, the religion of the New Testament, 2

Christians considered as idolaters, 419
not counted amongst the pious of the nations, 4
not in a state of salvation, 4

Circumcision equivalent to all the commandments, 451
meritoriousness of, 450

Cock, killing a cock as atonement, 283

Commandments, 442; 162

Cruelty, Rabbinic, 8, 99, 209
to women, 377

Dead, Rabbinic mourning for, 428
prayers for the, 295

Death, an atonement, 299

Demons, asking counsel of, 203

Deniers of the law, three classes of, 4

Deputies, French Jewish, 24

Deuteronomy xvii. 8, &c., explained, 11

Dispensation, Rabbinic, from oaths, 434

Divorce, Rabbinic, doctrine of, 373

Drunkenness allowed on feast of Purim, 47

Edomites, Christians called, 123

Eleazar, Rabbi, 6

Elijah, the Prophet, conversation of, with R. Jose, 323

Epicureans, 4
to be killed, 36

Epicurean, reader in synagogue suspected of being, 127

Evasion, Rabbinic, 80, 83, 107, 225, 235

Excommunication for not washing hands, 75
Rabbinic, 239
laws concerning, with respect to the unlearned and learned, 239
injustice of, 239

Fast on the ninth of Av, 216

Fasting, merit of, 264

Fire, not to be extinguished, 102

Flogging of rebellion, 99, 211, 228, 383, 386, 420

Friday, Good, 87

Gentile, who studies the law, guilty of death, 22
who keeps a Sabbath-day, guilty of death, 22
good advice not to be given to, 33
woman not to be helped in child-bed, 33
not neighbour, 34
lost property not to be restored to, 35
Daniel punished for giving good advice to, 33
who wishes to turn Jew, 63
a Jew not publicly to receive alms from, 306
Sabbath not to be profaned to save a Gentile’s life, 212, 214
food regarded as carrion, 383
food not to be eaten, 383, 416
wine unlawful, 419
he that steals from, only to pay the principal, 34
wine, to drink, worse than fornication, 424

Gentiles, idolatrous, to be exterminated, 42
to be converted by force, 42
idolatrous, not to be suffered in the land of Israel, 28

Gentile, drowning, not to be delivered, 30

Gentiles, duties towards, 24
not brethren, 26
not neighbours, 26
not to be greeted except from fear, 10, 26, 28
condemned for transgressing the command about tabernacles, 288
still have the defilement of the serpent, 156
cursing the, on the feast of Passover, 120, 121, 122
no pious, now, 67
marriage of, not binding, 58
and dogs, 107

Gershom, R., anathema by, 366

Hands, laying on of, 328
washing of, 71

Heathen, who are not in a state of salvation, 5

High Priest, an unlearned man, 7

Hilchoth Accum, 28, 33
Avadim, 21
Avel, 428
Berachoth, 71, 73
Deoth, 113
Genevah, 34
Gezelah, 34
Girushin, 375
Gittin, 374
Iom Tov, 116
Ishuth, 366
Issure Biah, 64
Kiddush Hachodesh, 100
Maakaloth Asuroth, 419
Mamrim, 335
Matt’noth Aniim, 304
Megillah, 48
Mikvaoth, 72
M’lachim, 22, 25
P’riah u’r’viah, 7
Rotzeach, 32, 33
Sanhedrin, 172, 342
Sh’vuoth, 436
Taanith, 216
Talmud Torah, 17, 148
T’phillah, 2, 128
T’shuvah, 4, 247

Hillel, the elder, 187

Holyday, how to make fire on, 106

Holydays, additional, prescribed by the rabbies, 98, 101

Jeremiah unjustly condemned, 13

Jewish-German, 283

Jews persecuted in Spain and Portugal, 42

Illegitimate, a learned man takes precedence of High Priest, 7

Intolerance, Talmudic, 28-39

Ioma, 19

Jonathan, son of Uzziel, 187

Jost’s history, 125

Isaac, merit of offering, 271

Jubilee, year of, 66

Judaism the religion of the oral law, 2
and of the Jewish Prayer-book, 2
and Christianity cannot both be true, 3
a false religion, 465
its authors wicked men, 467

Judgment, Rabbinic, idea of the final, 287

Karo, R. Joseph, 17

K’hillath Shlomoh, 282

Kiddushin, 19

Kimchi, 93

Leaven, putting away of, 80

Legends, 127-167

Levi, family of, still known, 312
privileges of, in the synagogue, 313
David, 134

Leviathan, legend of, 128, &c.

Levites, scriptural privileges of, 311

Liberty, religious, first taught by Jesus Christ, 46

Luck, good, 182

Magic allowed by Talmud, 168-174

Maimonides, 25, et passim
intolerance, 26

Meat, lawful and unlawful, 397
in milk, laws concerning, 404
contrary to Scripture, 404, 405

Medrash Rabba, 153

Merit of ancestors, 285

Merit, doctrine of, 247, &c.

Messiah, already come, 387

Miracles, Rabbinic, 203

Mishna, recognised in Jewish Prayer-book, 3

Mixture, Rabbinic, command of, 116

Muktzeh, 103

Napoleon, 24

New Year, Jewish, 247

New Year, judgment at, 247
prayers for, 264
merit and advantage of blowing the horn on, 266

Noachidæ, 25, 41
who they are, 55
seven commandments of, 56
may transgress commandments, 57
murderer of, not to be put to death, 62
unintentionally killing a Jew, to be put to death, 61
when received, 67
how received, 68

Oral law opposed to the Word of God in duty to parents, 9, 10
a mixed system of good and evil, 16
how much time to be devoted to the study of, 16
women and children not to study, 18
perpetual and unchangeable, 53
precepts of, given to Moses, 161

Oaths, Rabbinic dispensation from, 435, 450

Parable of Good Samaritan illustrated, 29

Parents, if in captivity, to be redeemed after the Rabbi, 9
duty to, according to oral law, 9

Passover, rites of, 79
Christ our, 91
four cups of, 96

Pentecost prayers, 145

Pesachim, treatise, 6

Pharisees, enemies of the Lord Jesus, 9
bad men, 8

Physician, Jewish, not to cure idolaters, 33

Pirke, Eleazer, 137

Planets, 175

Polygamy, allowed, 366

Poor, Rabbinic, oppression of the, 97
Rabbinic religion not for the, 237
Rabbinic cruelty to, 414, 429

Power, Rabbinic, to excommunicate, 239

Prayer-book, Jewish, acknowledges and teaches the authority of the
Talmud, 2, 3
Jewish, full of legends, 127-167

Priests, scriptural office of, 310

Proselytes, sojourning, 26
how to be instructed, 63
baptism of, 304

Purgatory, Rabbinic, 296

Purim, feast of, 47

Rabbi, duty to, goes before duty to parents, 9, 10
fear of, as the fear of God, 11
reverence due to, 15
whosoever despises a, to be excommunicated, 15
not to forgive a public affront, 243
method of creating a, 328

Rabbies not agreed, 399, 400

Rabbinic charity, 112
evasion, 107, 110
order, novelty of, 328
power to excommunicate, 239
acknowledgments that Messiah is born, 389-393

Ramban, 142

Rome called Edom, 123

Rosh Hashanah, 298

Saadiah Gaon, 162

Sabbath, unlawful for a Gentile to keep a, 22
laws of, 104, 114-119
spirits cannot be cited on, 141
damned have rest on, 141

Sabbath-day, amulets on, 184

Sabbath, laws concerning, 285-290
lamp, reward for, 229
moving things on, 232
merit of keeping the, 224
jurisdictions, 232

Salvation, who are excluded from, by the oral law, 4

Sambation, 139

Sanhedrin, not infallible, 8
great council of, 168
members of, magicians, 168
understood seventy languages, 168
all handsome men, 171
pillar of the oral law, 335
a later, may reverse the decision of a former, 335
not a Divine institution, 337
of Greek origin, 341
greater and lesser, 343
business of, 345
death to those who rebelled against, 344
contrary to Scripture, 345
Parisian, 366

Satan deceived by the blowing of the horn in the month of Elul, 266

Scapegoat, 280

Schoolmasters, Rabbinic, 315

Scripture, women not bound to study, 18
not to be studied so much as the Talmud, 16
when not to be studied at all, 17

Sepher Jetzirah, 181

Schulchan Aruch, 7

Sinai, 163

Slaughtering, laws concerning, 380
laws of, 396

Slaves exempt from the duty of studying the law of God, 17
unlawful to teach, 21
regarded as beasts, 431

Souls of all Israel at Sinai, 152

Sotah, 76

Stars, influence of, 175

Study of the law equivalent to all the commandments, 51

Tabernacles, feast of, 287
merit of, 287
prayers for the feast of, 295

Talmud, recognised in Jewish Prayer-book, 3
legends of, 128, 167

Tradition, Rabbinic argument for overthrow, 11
no unbroken train of, 350

Treatise, Avodah Zarah, 291
Bava Bathra, 187
Berachoth, 161
Gittin, 192
Moed Katon, 175
Shabbath, 157
Succah, 180
Z’vachin, 150

Turnus Rufus, 140, 216

Unlearned man, lawful to kill, 6
the wives and daughters of, not to be taken as wives, 6
to be accounted as beasts, 6
man, unlawful for, to eat meat, 7

Van Oven, Joshua, Esq., Manual of Judaism, 465

Venus planet, 177

Washing of hands, 71
to neglect, as bad as fornication, 76
who neglects, excommunicated, 75

Wine, Gentile, unlawful, 419

Woman, insane, to be turned out, 377

Women, exempt from the duty to study the law, 17
do not receive the same reward as a man, 18
not to be taught the law, 18
minds of, not equal to the study of the law, 18
command of Moses, respecting, 21
duties of, prescribed in New Testament, 22
Rabbinic degradation of, 359
cannot give testimony, 360
not regarded as part of the congregation, 361

World to come, who are excluded from, 4
all Israel has a share in, 64
Rabbinic opinions about, 129

Printed at the Operative Institution, Palestine Place, Bethnal Green, London.

● Transcriber’s Notes:
○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the chapters in which they are
referenced.