The record-union., 1899-12-24
What the Jem 0mes
to the Christian.

At the Friday evening services at the
Synagogue H. Weinstock delivered q
discourse on the subject, What the
Jew Owes to the Christian" He said;
Last week we pointed out wherein the
Christian is indebted to the Jew. In
doing so we did not hesitate to lay
stress upon the deep and lasting obli-
cation to which the Christian of the
past and the present is indebted to the
Jew. We emphasized the fact that all
that the Christian reveres as sacred
and holy; all that he bows down TO
and worships; much that lifts him
above the low and degraded moral
condition of his more remote heather
ancestry, he owes to the Jew. But we
also intimated last week that the oDn-
cation was far from one sided That
While the Jew has done much for the
Christian, the Christian had done mucn
for the Jew; that while much OF the
Christian civilization now enjoyed by
our Christian brethren is due to the IN
f1uence Of the Jewish faith and the
Jewish teachings adopted by Christi
ahity; that many of the blessings of
Christian civilization have likewise
spread their influence over the Jews
and have in turn, placed them under
deep and lasting obligations to the
Christian.
This week we shall devote ourselves
to- enumerating and dwelling upon the
debts the Jew owes to the Christian
and upon the feeling of obligation
which should animate Jewish hearts
when contemplating pure and spiritual
: Christianity.
God had seemingly chosen from
among all his peoples a handful of Jews
to become his torch bearers of moral
and religious truth. They little realiz-
ed when the burden was placed upon
them how grave and heroic the re-
sponsibility. They little dreamed that
to carry this torch of moral and re-
lisious truth through morally dark
and religiously benighted world, meant
TO become target for ignorance and
unbelief; for hatred and ill will; for
persecution and martyrdom. IT'S well
that we cannot always forsee the dan
gers and the risks, the sorrows and the
sufferings, the pain and the anguish
to be encountered when about to begin
an enterprise. Could we foresee what
we are to undergo and what is to be-
fall us while striving to achieve our
undertaking, how often would we aban-
don our efforts, frightened and discour-
aged
When Jonah was commanded by God
to arise and to go unto Ninevah and
cry against it because of its wickedness,
fearing the grave responsibility and
heavy burden this would place upon
him. he arose and fed from before God,
and instead of going to Ninevah, went
to Joppa and engaged passage on
ship going to Tarsish. So, too, with
the Jew If in the beginning he could
have forseen the centuries of suffering
and sorrow, the scorn,t. the contumely,
the execration and the living hell to
which his mission was to subject him,
how earnestly, like Jonah, might he
have striven to flee in fear and in dis
may from the heavy task to be laid
upon him.
When the Jews accepted the ten COM
mandments from the hands of Moses
and dedicated themselves to their OBJ
servance, how little could they foresee
the potent influence ON untold ages that
these commandments would have, how
little could they foresee that the faith
fui and unbending observance of the
commandant, Thou shalt have no
other god before Me" would for count
less generations make of them a sep
arate and peculiar people, and. for dec
AIDES at time, make life for them a
living he'll. For hundreds of years, be-
ginning with the Exodus and down to
the Christian era, the Jews, as a rule,
not only endeavored to observe the dec
alogue and faithfully to worship the one
and only God. but they aimed to Guilt
vate the truths transmitted to them by
Moses until they understood them bet
ter and practiced them more faithfully
than did any other living people.
Out of fear of contamination with the
people by whom they were surrounded
who worshiped idols and praeticed all
sorts of denominations, the Jews became
most exclusive in their spirit They
neither went out to invite others to
share their spiritual joys, nor did they
even extend open arms to those who of
their own accord knocked for admission
at the doors of Judaism On the con-
trary, converts were in every way dis
eouraged by placing heavy burdens
upon them, by subjecting them to the
observance of rigid forms and ceremo-
MES, by compelling them to undergo the
painful rite of circumcision and by cut
ting them off from living with all for,
mer friends and relatives So exacting
and unbending did the Jews become in
their faith, so futile did all ATTEMPTS
prove on the part of their various con-
querors to change or alter, or even mod
lfy their belief that they won for them
selves the title of the stiff-necked
race title which has chung to them
through all their centuries of sori. W
and suffering, of trials and tribulations
Graetz, the Jewish historian. tells how
Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian tyr
ant issued a decree, commanding the
people OF Judea to renounce the law of
their God and to offer sacrifices only to
\ the Greek gods. Affairs and idols were
10 be erected everywhere for that pur-
pose and unclean animals, particularly
swine should be used at the sacrifices.
The temple in Jerusalem. the only place
OF holiness then on earth, was thor
oughly desecrated and the God of Israel
was apparently unseated by the Hell
1enic Zeus. 1t was a crime, under this
decree. to practice Judaism Death
threatened all who refused to obey the