The Denver Jewish news., 1923-05-30
Can Jev and Christian Worship Together

were in part derived by him who first
uttered 1t. As l join in tlie Lords
Prayer. think, always and inevitably
of its Hebrew original and think hack
to the time when Jesus first learned
that prayer, as he must needs have
learned 1t from his Jewish mother for
in the century associated with Jesus
brief prayers containing the spiritual
yearnings Of the people had, under GER
tain circumstances been prescribed for
Jews. But In truth It is almost impos-
sible for me to put into the Lords
Prayer, however rich find 1t, all that
it means to the devOut Christian to
whom 1t hears memories and traditions
as does the Shema to me. Yet may 1t
he that more devoutly than some nom
Jews l can pray, Forgive us our
trespasses az we forgive them that tres
pass against u.s." for Christendom has
for n millennium and more schoOled the
Jew in the discipline and art Of long
suffering forgiveness.
let us Iutt liic iuCtS hOht"ps
and unequivocally The Kaddish means
much to me; the Shema means every
thing to me. The Pater Noster means
something to me. and can on more
make the Pater Noster central to my
own spirit OF worship than Mr.. Holmes
or Dr. Hall could feel during the re-
cital of the Shema all that 1 feel. My
soul lives in its ntterance. 1t is the
medium through which l can wing my
self upward The Jew speaks to God
and with God as he utters the words OF
the Shema, even though II be affirma-
ton rather than petition. There Is a
place and need for all these treasures
of the spirit, Jewish or Christian.
which should he conserved and utilized
and magnified each in it's own fitting
place.
Mr.. Holmes declares: For my part
would ask for nothing better than
that Jews should remain Jews and
Christians, with the single exception
that 1 would gladly have these two
great branches of the human family
come together in closer afiiliation Of
the spirit than they now enjoy" What
Jew, worthy of the name. does not
share this hope? But as Jew l can
not avoid being vigilant lest we make
not for n closer afiiliatiOn Of the spirit.
but for confusion in and destruction Of
the Jewish spirit. Mr.. Holmes almost
fails to understand that the worship
of the Jew is only part of the life
of the Jew, and that we who are Jews
are or have more than religion in com
mon. II there were nothing more than
Jewish religion. It would be perfectly
admissible to urge that Jews and
Christians worship tpaether aqi abide
together In the spirit Of common wor-
ship.
But let us not fail to face the fact
that there is very much more than that
thing which is known as the Jewish
religion. Judaism !s the religion Of
Jews, and still Judaism is only one of
the modes in which Jewish life, or
what might be called Jewishness. ex-
presses 1tScu. L WISH tne Jew Were
all Of his religion. ! know that the
Jew Is more than his religion. His re-
ligion is only a part of him. More
over, 1t is not the religion Of the Jew
that is offending in the sight of the nom
Jewish world 1t is the Jew as II mem
her of particular group. as a mem
her of n racial family. who gives Of
fensc, rightly or wrongly. justly or un-
justly. to the world without.
am not willing to have my fellow
Jews imagine. any more than l would
have Christians imagine. that nothing
stands in the way Of a closer spiritual
utilization of Jew and Christian than
their failure to worship together. The
failure of Jew and Christian to worship
together is in very truth the least of
the causes that divide them. l am
perpared to say that it is not in any
Improbable sense or measure even one
of the causes that divide the Jew from
the Christian.
| (To he continued).