Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-03-11
The Essence of Modern Judaism
A Series of Thirteen Lectures.

where it is described in the ancient , books as "a tiny lamp kindied from the divine torch The soul, which We shall use as the most inclusive term covering mans share of the divine, makes it possible for man tc entertain the pure and lofty emotions, thoughts and ideals and to perform the deeds of love, self-sacrifice and he- roism, which eXalt man above all the other creatures of the world and en- title him to be classed with the inn mortal. It is by means of the soul that man holds communion with God
 AS for the relation between body and soul, Judaism rejects the theory of the vile flesh i. e., that the body is entirely worthless and must be subdued, even crushed. Neither does it, as far as I can judge, believe tn tt the body is of equal purity with the soul and certainly not that it is ful- damentally of the same material. Ac- cordingly the philosophy of Monism so much i'll vogue in our time, cannot be considered in perfect eonsonance with the opinion of Judaism I feel ! convinced that Judaism's belief on this matter can stand the test of req son just as well and the test of in tuitive conviction better. Personally
 the Monistic theory in it's highes. form i e., considering matter likewise as spiritual in it's nature, has always been unacceptable to me because { somehow makes sport of the testi- mony of our senses which do distin- guish between palpable matter and impalpable spirit and. in addition, has to lower mind in order to exalt mat ter. At all events, Monism contra diets the distilled common sense of the entire human race which has ever held the time-honored theory of the haman soul as indwelling in the body and escaping from it at death. CMorris Joseph: Judaism as Creed and Life" oh V.)
 'Springing out of the belief that ! man is endowed with a divine element 1 which for convenience we call the Soul, is the conviction entertained by Judaism that the Soul is deathless. The reasons for the belief in immor- tality shall have to forego present. ing until I reach my address entitled. What Judaism Promises Man" Meanwhile we must content ourselves with the assertion that Judaism, like Christianity and other great relig- ions, holds that mans soul is immor- tai, each Jew saying with the spiritual poet of the Victorian era:
 My own dim life should teach me
 this, .:. That life shall live for evermore, ~- Else earth is darkness at the core,
 And dust and ashes all that is.'
 "A third conviction of Judaism with
 regard to man is that he is responsi- l Dlc lOI what uC uOCo, ANSA1 "A~s
 hopes. This conviction, of course, involves the belief in the freedom of
 the will, denying the demoralizing
 theory of fatalism which, in addition
 to making all effort meaningless and
 all progress impossible, would re-
 duce human beings to mere puppets in the hands of a cruel deity. who
 visits upon them transgressions for
 which they are not responsible. Il is not my intention to minimize the Influence of heredity, education ana
 environment in determining the
 course of our lives. But after all is
 said, these are but "the scene of ths moral drama the battle-ground ol the struggle with evil" The human
 will itself is the host. The odds ma! Ibe great but our capability to conquer them is greater. Everything is ir the hands of heaven,'' say the rao'
 bis, except the fear of heaven" The Almighty himself cannot, withon
 contradicting his nature as a go 'f