"THE RELIGIONS OF DEMOCRACY"

Louis Finkelstein, J. Elliott M. Ross, William Adams Brown

Preface: Robert A. Ashworth

JEWS

HEBREW SCRIPTURES: THE OLD TESTAMENT, particularly the Five Books of Moses (called the Torah) composed under divine inspiration.

JUDAISM is a way of life translating every human action into a means of communion with God—disclined rules of conduct for daily behavior, moral laws forbidding obscene language, goading persons to anger, showing unusual ability before the handicapped, etc.

ANY CHILD BORN INTO A JEWISH HOUSEHOLD is "a child of the covenant" and need not be converted. Conversion is not verbal but a living acceptance of the moral disciplines of the Jewish faith. Persons of any race may become Jews, but no attempts at conversion are considered proper. Both parties to a Jewish marriage must be Jews. In mixed marriages, the faith of the mother determines the faith of the children.

VIOLATION OF JEWISH LAW for the Jewish people to speak with disrespect of the gods of any other people. And Jewish rules of conduct must apply in contact with all no matter what the faith. Believes in the Fatherhood of God and the worth of man as a child of God.

THE TALMUD, scholarly discussions and interpretations of Jewish religious principals.

TALMUDIC LAW must be studied and also practiced, taught and handed down. The scroll containing the Five Books of Moses is in every synagogue, kept in the Ark.

RABBI is a layman especially learned in the Law and the Scripture.

ORTHODOX and REFORMED congregations—latter believe in right to amend the Talmudic Law.

JEWISH CEREMONIALS obligatory only upon Jews, but the moral laws on everyone.

CARDINAL PRINCIPAL is to perform the will of God out of love for Him, not out of fear.

GOD DOES NOT PUNISH BUT WICKED ACTIONS bring their own punishment on this earth.
MAN IMORTEL through ultimate reunion with God whose image is within man. Wickedness can prevent this reunion with God

TEMPLE OR SYNAGOGUE

HOLY DAYS:

SABBATH, PENTECOST, ROSH HASHANAH (NEW YEAR'S)
YOM KIPPUR (Day of Atonement) and SUNKOT (Tabernacles)

JEW *" 2

SABBATH concludes with wine, insense, and light, letting the winecup overflow as
a symbol that the happiness of the week may likewise overflow.

PASSOVER, on the full moon of the first month of spring—festival of the rebirth of nature, and the exodus from Egypt—to a rebirth in freedom. MATZAH, the bread of affliction, recalling the bondage in Egypt, is eaten, to recall equality with the humblest and most oppressed of men. Ritual meal, the SEDER, with ceremonies in memory of the bondage in Egypt, the liberation, and the inherited liberty, festival of freedom.

PENTAGOST commemorates the Revelation of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

SUKKOT—Protection of God when Israel dwelt in the wilderness.

ROSH HASHANAH—prayers for peace and prosperity for all mankind—and the
Kidddom of God in the heart. Then ten days of penitence ending in
YOM KIPPUR*—Day of Atonement, repentance of sins, seeking of forgiveness and
forgiving others. A day of renewal of the bonds of friendship and affection.
Major fast day. N<sub>0</sub> work.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD WILL EVENTUALLY BE ESTABLISHED on earth when human brotherhood will reign with no memories of past bitterness or oppression.