The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1901-11-24
DIR. CALISCH ON
HUMANITY DEIFIED.
Eloquent Discourse Preached Friday
Night at Beth Ahaba.
THE TRADITIONS OF JUDAISM.
Jews Never Defled Their Heroes, Warriors,
Statesmen and Leaders as Did Other
Ancient Natlons-O1Iy 0nc
God of Israel.
THE TRADITIONS OF JUDAISM.

God of Israel.
Rabbi Calisch had as his subject at
Beth Ahaba Syna gogue Friday night
Humanity Deified." His text was from
Genesis xviii. IS. And behold, the Lord
stood above it (the ladder of jacob ana
said. I am the Lord, the God of Abra-
ham. thy father. and the God of Isaac.
Rabbi Cali5Ch said in part:
This expression and the one very
similar to it, with the name OF JACOB
himself added, is found very frequently
In the Bible. It is given, perhaps, most
emphasis IN the revelation to Moses
(EXadus i'll. 15), where it is used in con-
nection with that most majestic or
phrases. wherewith God replies to the
question of Moses as to who sent him.
and he is to say. I am that i am, IS
the authority and the impulse of his mis-
SION And as far as + am able to dis
cover, this phrases is peculiar to Judaism
and its literature.
ut has q significance far deeper than
a casual repetition of it conveys. There
is beneath it a thought that is Jewish.
purely Jewish, and enthusiastically
Jewish. 1t is the emphasis upon that
sole, undivided and indivisible Unity
which is the supreme concept Of Deity.
and which is, further, Israel's message
and mission in the world. This phrase.
ana the many others like il, are OF the
| notes of that melody sung the ages
! through and the world over, mid tears
| and triumph, in defeat and disaster, by
young and old that melody that has but
| one refrain Hear, Oh Israel, God IS
| One" This phrase speaks even in earliest
days of Gods unity ilninvaded, of tho
realm Of His glorious majesty untres-
| passed.
NO DEFIANCE.
s'While the origins OF other religions
| are made to trace back to the appearance
| of the Godhead upon earth among men,
| in the Earb and guise of Il man. the
tea aching sand traditions of Judaism point
for their messengers men, inspired Cod
| intoxicated men, with hearts throbbinS
as with a divine pulse, with ears attemed
! to divine message, with lips touched to
quickennG eloquence by the fiery Goals
OF heaven. with sours assonant with
divine holiness-yet withal men, and only
men. human to the core. The ancient
nations deiEed their heroes. warriors.
statesmen and leaders. The Jews never
did. Tho pantheons Of Greece and Rome
were filled with multiplied gods and god
desses denli-gods, heroes, and super
! human beings. The synagogue has ever
throned but one God. Regard the preva-
lent religions the world boasts to-day,
and read their records. China has dened
It's Confucil.s, India its Buddha, Christ
endom its Christ. Islam its Mohammed,
but never Judaism its Moses or its Abra-
ham. TO Jacob it was not Abraham and
Isaac deifei that appealed, but the deity
of Isaac and Abraham. Nor patriarch
nor prophet nor 1aW-Sivcr nor leader was
apotheosized by Israel. Much as they
might have been and are Venerated ana
honored. they were men. 10 Israel there
L.. 1,1,,-r I .r--l oil
one single, sole and only God, the realm
of whose Godhead is never invaded. me
thought of monotheism is never Elo-
lated.
."rhe doctrine of Judaism is noble in
this, for it upifts and ennobles humanity
by insisting upon the humanity OF us
nob1est individuals. The dedication OF
single men is the degradation OF all men,
For it asserts that man, as man, cannot
lift himself on high. that when one IN
dividual raises himself to the loftlest
SUBMITS of spiritual apprehension or
gains the sublimeSt altitude OF ethical
thought and conduct, that he IS no loh-
ger man. but God. 1t implies thae 1ile
great men are more than men, aI0 that
all other men, the vast, tremendous mass
of men. the great unnumbered ana untold
myrads that are porn ana i've GU w
their work and pass away, are DIT dress
thought and higher life
A FALSE DOCTRINE.
"rt is to this doctrine that Judaism Is
unalterably opposed. 1t emphasizes OH
the contrary, not the divinity OF any one
man, but the divine possibilities OIL an
men. 1t defes not men, but nlahhltid'
not a human being, but humanity. hou
hast created him but little less IMAM
ANGELS, saws the Psalmist 18th PsalnD-
lowered
zinc potency: all men in capacity Tor
Justice. righteousness and truth are
created in the image OF God AS again
IL is said ops. $3.50: II have said ye are
qods-children of the Most high, all OF
You
Indeed this whole eighty-second psalm
&c tho confederation of the theme L nave
mt forward The psalmist appeals 10
the people to be God-likc, because Coo IS
among them. within them. He appeals
TO them to Judge uprishny because the
lust Judge of the universe IS among
them. that in His spirit shall thcy zeal
with their fellow-meu, with the poor, the
fatheriess and the widow.
What a. sublime motive TINS IS 10 us
for noble conduct. What a surfing I'M
pulse for righteousness and justice 1t
should be- How powerful al appeal to
men is; the pride of ancestry. How many
a man and woman will do no lEnoble
deed because they will not shame the
name they hear-wil not stoop to DO any
thing ungentlcmanly and unwomanly be-
cause of the blood that flows within
their veins. How greater then should be
the appeal to us to do no lgnobe deed,
because of the noble spirit that within
our bosom dweIlS-to do 10 mean or base
or sordid act. to be guilty of no injustice
and falsehood, because ours IS a Cody
gift, and because the God-like possible
ties are within our grasp. If may raise
myself to the nights of the divine, shall
7. false to my powers, lower myself to
the level of the brute?
.'-This the appeal and the philosophy OF
Judaism, this noble conception of human
movers and potences, this dedication, not
of human beings, but of humanity. And
for This reason it was that there ap-
naarad to Jacob not Abraham and Isaac
made into God, but the God who had been
Guide and Guardian, unto theni' the same
~ him as to them. as before, as now. as
ever will be-