The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-12
ATHEISTS And ATHEISM.
Rabbi Jacob NietO Defines the Two
Terms.
"MaterialiSm" and "The Jew as a Citizen
Of the World" Discussed in
the Synagogues.

At the Sheriff. Israel Synagoge. Post
and Taylor streets. Rabbi Jacu5 Nieto ad-
dressed large congregation on the sub
ject of ''Ath eIsm" last night In the course
OF his remarks the reverend gentleman
said:
I'm discussing the matter of atheism
my object will be to demonstrate to you
how this term is too often misapplied and
how honest-hearted and good men-men
of undoubted intellectual standing-have
been enormously set down on the blacklist
of atheists"
Continuing, the rabbi said: II will at
tempt, too. to show you and to prove that
there have breathed scarcely ten persons
who had not some well-defined con ception
of higher power, an immanent energy, a
re-creating force-the mind of the universe,
the soul of the world-God.
1.-The ration slis's denial of the miracu-
lous or MS doubt OF the authenticity OF the
records of unusual phenomena does not
warrant our labelling him as an atheist.
The spiritualist who maintains that the
divine spirit exists in all, and that man 8
capacity for credence Is In proportion to
the extent of the divine spirit IN him is u o
atheist. To disavow any particular con-
ception of the deity, supplanting 1t with
Un6 tUdG dDUcdIo tDOIC lOIClO y W OAO D
own nature. does not constitute one an
atheist"
DR.. Nieto quoted the instances OF Paine,
Gibbons, Voltaire, and a host OF other
cele brat ted church. miscreants,
who, openly disavowing any religious be-
lief, were yet upright. moral and intel
lectual men.
Rabbi NJ. S. Levy's discourse at the
Beth Israel Temple, Geary street. Was
based on 'Materalism." In very en-
phatic terms the rabbi denounced the
polish and veneer Of modern society. Il
can assert without fear of cOntradic-
tion," said DR.. Levy, that the highest
standard of religion is based not
upon, materialism. but upon the
broad plane of religion" and he con-
cluded by making a strong plea for the
esta Dli >hment Of Israel as the educator of
mankind. This could only be effected by
the disregard of the doctrine of material
ism. which ignores mans higher gifts and
aspirations and therefore degrades him..
THE Jew as Citizen Of the World.
A Literary Retrospect" was the title of
DR.. Voorsanger's lecture at the Synagogue
Emanu-El last evening. The rabbi in the
course of his remarks asserted that the
Jewish religion would be nothing without
It's literature. which the sages of Israel
have deposited In the storehOuses of the
Jewish mind.
Inc rRDDl tnen repeated Qls SNORT de-
scription of the Talmud, noticed some
weeks ago. Resaid that much uncertainty
exists as TO what the Talmud really is. 1t
has been spoken of as "rrigious" work.
and a celebrated Christian theologian of
the middle ages sageIy quoted: "Thus
speaks RABBI (sIc) Talmud," thinking it
was the name of Jewish preacher.
The Talmud is compilation Of every
saying, opinion or debate of the Jewish
rabbs during verv long period. Then
there also exists the Mishna, cyclopedia
of law that covers a period of al least 500
years. One can but marvel at the extra
ordinary memory of those people who,
simply hearing the opinions of the learned
IA bbiS, were able to reproduce them on d E.
mand, as it were. The magnitude OF the
la Dor can be better understood when 1t is
remem bered that there are SIX books of
the Mishna. These six divisions are SUBJ
divided into sixty-tbree subdivisions, con-
tanning SIG chapters. If the Mishna and
Talmud are taken together they would
occupy 1900 dOuble-folo pages. or 2400
folio pages, or Of our ordinary modern
octave pages the immense numbe of $500.
This work of the Mishna covers every re-
latiou and contingency of daily life. and is
supplemented by another work, the
Gemara, which required about 400 years to
mpile.