The Sunday globe., 1901-06-02
THE JEW CHRIST
Sunday Sermon for Globe Readers
on the Savior.
WHAT EMINENT RABBIS THINK
All Tho Jewish People Learning 10 Love Jesus
OF Nalareh--MS Nordan, LOmbrOSO, Singer.
Dr.. Hirsch, KOher, and Other Great Hebrew
Scholars and Historians Give Their Views
ON His Life, Character, and Teachings

on His Life, Character and Teachings.
The lamented Emma Lazarus in one
of her inspired poems in defense Of
her race and in a burst of indignation
at the Christian prejudice exhibited
against her people exclaimed:
who gave your very Christ to you?
The Jew! the Jew-the hated Jew!"
The modern Jew, however. has been
studying more practically and philos-
ophically the character and life of the
Saviour and with broader depth and
more keen analysis than his forbears.
The once popular novel by George
Croly, entitled "Salathiel" has been re-
Gently revived under the title "Tarry
Thou Till / come the words which
Christ, according to tradition. spoke to
Salathiel on the way to Calvary, and
which have been used as the basis of
number of rOmances on "The Wan.
dering Jew" In an appendix to this
new addition Of Croly's novel appears
an interesting symposium by a number
of Jewish scholars and rabbis in re-
sponse to the question: What is the
Jewish Thought to-day of Jesus Of Naz-
areth?
The first answer is from Dr. Isidore
Singer, managing editor Of the Jew
ish Encyclopedia now in process Of
publication. He says in part:
81 regard Jesus Of Nazareth as a
Jew Of the Jews one whom all Jewish
people are learning to love. His teach
ing has been an immense service to the
world in bringing lsreal's God to the
| knowledge Of hundreds of millions Of
mankind.
THE great change i'm Jewish thought
concerning Jesus of Nazareth ! can NOT
better illustrate than by this fact
When ! was a boy, had my father, who
was very piOus man, heard the name
Of Jesus uttered from the pulpit Of our
| synagog, he and every other man in
the congregation would have left the
building and the rabbi would have
been dismissed at once. Now, it is not
strange, in many synagogs. to hear
sermons preached eulogistic Of this
Jesus, and nobody thinks Of protesting
in tact we are all glad to claim Je-
sus as one Oh our people.
one OF the most stuklng expressions
OIL opinion Is IRON Ur. hautmau hou-
ler, rabbi OF Temple Bethel, New
york. lie writes
| Inc true history OF Jesus is 50
/ wrapped up Ia myJn, the story Of his
Ire Lold In the Gospels 50 replete with
contradictions, thaJ 1t is rather dlth.
CulJ Tor the unbiased reader to arrive
at the true historical facts. Still the
beautiful tales about the things that
happened around the lake of Galilee
| SHOW that there was a spiritual day
break IN that dark corner OF Judea of
i Wnlch official Judaism mad failed to
take sujcient cOgnizance. The stone
that the builders rejected has become
the cornerstone OF new world.
| His whole manner of teaching, the
so-called Lords Prayer the Golden
Rule, the code of ethics eXpounded for
me elect ones in the Sermon on the
| Mount, no less than his miraculous
| cures, SHOW him to have been one Of
the Essenes, popular saint. But he
was more than an ordinary teacher
and healer Of men. lie went to the
| very core of religion and laid bare the
depths of the human soul. As a veri.
table prophet, JesVs, in such striking
| manner, disclaimed allegiance to any
of the Pharisean schools and asked for
no authority but that of the living
voice within, while passing Judgment
on the law, in order to raise life to a
| higher standard lie was a bold reli-
| gious and social reformer, eager to re.
| generate Judaism. True, a large num-
| Der of sayings were attributed TO the
/ dead master by his disciples which had
| been current in the schools Still, the
charm Of true originality is felt in
| these utterances of his when the great
realities of life, when the idea Of Sab
bath the principle Of purity, the value
| of a human soul, of woman. even Of
| the abjeCt sinner are touched upon.
| None can read these parallels and YER
| diets Of the Nazarene and not be thrill
| ed with the joy of a truth unspelled be-.
fore. There is wonderful music in the
voice which stays an angry crowd say
ing, Let him that is without sin cast
the first stone, that speaks the
words, BE like children, and you are
not far from the kingdom of Cody
Did the Jews reject Christi Jesus
anticipated a reign of perfect love, but
centuries Of hatred came. Could the
Jews, victims of Christian intolerance.
| look with calmness and admiration up
on Jesus, i'm whose name all the atroci-
| ties were perpetrated? Still, the lead
| ing thinkers of Judaism willingly rec
] ognized that the founder Of the Chris
| tian Church as well as that of Islam.
| ism, was sent by divine Providence to
prepare the pagan world for the Mes
sianic kingdom of truth and righteous
| ness. The Jew Of today beholds in Ja-
sus an inspiring ideal of matchless
beauty While he lacks the element Of
| stern justice expressed so forcibly in
the law and i'm the Old Testament char
acters, the irmness Of self-assertion 50
necessary to the full development of
manhood, all those social qualities
which build up the home and society,
industry and worldly progress, he is
| the unique exponent of the principle of
redeeming love. His name as helper of
the poor, as sympathizing friend Of the
| fallen. as brother of every sufferer, as
| lover of man and redeemer Of woman,
has became the inspiration. the symbol
and the watchword for the worlds
greatest achievements i'm the field Of
| work of the synagogue the Christian
| Church with the larger means at her
disposal created those institutions Of
| charity and redeeming love that ac-
cOmplished wOndrous things. The very
| sign Of the cross has lent a new mean
ing, a holer pathos to suffering, sick
ness, and sin, so as to offer new prac-
teal solutions for the great problems
of evil which mn the human heart with
new joys Of selfsacrifcing love.
"All this modern Judaism gladly ac-
| kuowledges, reclaiming Jesus as one
Of its greatest sons. But It denies that
one single man or one church, how
ever broad, holds the key to many
sided truth. It waits for the time when
all life's deepest mysteries will have
/ 4 90 ha %