The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-08
JUDAISM AND HIGHER CRITICISM
 TEXT OF RABBI A J ME SSlNG, JR

the very existence of Judaism, It Is how. Our Scriptures are the constant object of attack. The Torah, Is, as the rabbis express 1t, the bride of the congregation of Jacob:" but to acquire knowledge of It through. the medium Of Christian commentators Is to love by proxy and never to gain the spirit uai nearness which made lt easy for our ancestors to die and even to live for It. What we need" says Prof mentary to the Bible. but a comm 'n- tary written In the spirit of Jewish and not Christian liberalism"
 How. then. Is Jewish Liberalism to deal with the problems of the Higher Criticism? Criticism stands simply for the application to the biblical writing of the canons. which philolo- gy holds prerequisite to the under standing of any book ancient or mod ern. Stanch. sane. sober Jewish or thodoxy never made the Bible fetich. Bibliolatry Is an achievement of the Protestant reformation. Judaism ere ated the Bible. the Bible did not moth- CT Judaism. For the real Jew the Bi- ble was not the sole channel of reve- lation. Revelation was continuous. intending process. The written work was not final. It was supplemented by the oral law
 If. as biologists tell us. life consis s In the adaptation of internal forces tn the relations of the environment. Jud- aism of all religions has truly lived While Church Father after Church Father was chrystallizing free tn uyht into stony dogma, while doctor after doctor was riveting still clos the fetters\of reason. rabbi after rabbi was adapting the tradition to the reason of his time. each when his task was done dying with the Shema on his lips. Nor is there implied in this any con- tempt for tradition. Criticism Is not synonymous with skepticism, or in No true Liberal ruthlessly casts asiGS the thought of yesterday as valueless or burdensome. If thou un- derstandest well the old things. then wilt thou the better be enabled to un- derstand the new" Is his motto. Ira dition forms the starting point in in- vestigations, where 1t exists. As d starting point It must be conceded d certain presumptive right to stand Unless 1t Is absurd on the face of 1t. or selfcontradictory. 1t constitutes a working hypothesis.
 Criticism vs. Tradition.
 Criticism. as opposed to tradition, re-
 
 l9Ua03, the school matriculated as no other book has. 1t Is not our Bible came down to us from the clouds. own. It might be a sealed book and II has been d sealed book for many and many generation. But if the Bible Is the production of human hands, the precipitate of human aspirations, then 1t has to-day the same force that It received at the hour of its birth. It 7x.
 timent that cradled 1t. It's appeal be- Ing ordinarily human must arouse within us response and sound the deeper notes of the soul The higher Criticism. many think. Is destructive. IL Is constructive. It finds merely "Bi- bles within the Bible" This does not degrade the book; 1t lifts 1t up. Of course, to read the Bible and find there only lexical problems and matter for criticism Is chronic atrophy, a dls- ease of the whole soul. The moral and devotional value of scriptures-as Indeed its religious value generally is unaffected by critical questions re- specting the authorship and date of It's various parts. Grace Aguilar. in the presence of death. uttered the words of Jcb. Though he slay me, yet will put my trust In him"
 What possible difference did 1t make that critics say the traditional reading should be amended, that the conson tn- tai text does not agree with the Keri? Consider the touching testimony of our own Dr. Deutsch. at the bedside of his dying father His consciousness had grown dim and it was some time be- fore he knew me. When asked him how he felt he spoke of the Passover festival which was then near at hand expressing his desire to attend divine services on that day, and he quote the words If Psalm lxxxiv. My soul desir-, eth, yea longeth, for the courts of the Lord" At this moment felt that 1t was presentiment. Only a few hours and his longing wns satisfied. He had entered the courts of the Lord" It did not matter to me then-it does not matter to me now. as that deathbed scene comes back to me-wAethAr those words were the words of King David. or whether they were the words Of an exile. living in Babylonia in the slxth century, or whether they were the words of a contemporary of An tiochus Epiphanes driven away from the Temple walls Wherever and whenever spoken, they represent the sublime struggle of a human soul reaching out towards God. That is my Bible. It does not detract from the beauty of the rainbow to know that It did not come out of the skies. perfect and complete. but that only the wonderful light came down and found in our earthly atmosphere the lenses which could make It's hidden riches visible to our mortal eyes. II Is still Gods bow. though 1t should be arched through human tears.
 And here we touch the practical bearing upon the Jewish ministry of the great problem we are consid ring In accepting the proven dicts of the Higher Criticism 1t Is not incumbent upon us. take 1t. to preach them. TO preach the Higher Criticism Is like taking a starving man Into a kitchen. bidding him note just how a loaf of bread is compounded. Men are hun