Читать книгу The Jewish Religion, Ethically Presented - Henry Pereira Mendes - Страница 17
ОглавлениеHOLINESS.
The Third Section of the Shema’.
1. The third section of the Shema' is from Numbers xv, 37 to end. (See Appendix III.)
2. This section teaches us Obedience and Holiness.
3. It commands us to wear fringes in order to remind us to perform all God's commands, and to be Holy to the Lord our God.
4. It is not enough to remember God’s commands. We must perform them.
5. To be holy means to lead pure lives and therefore to avoid sin.
6. Sin makes life impure or unholy.
7. The fringes are fastened to a small garment, which is worn always, or to a special garment used during prayer.
8. We wear the fringes (Tsitsith) to remind us of our duty, just as a man, wears his uniform or a woman wears her wedding-ring.
*9. To be holy to the Lord our God, means also to be holy for the Lord our God.
10. We must therefore not only be holy. We must do what is holy, and we must speak what is holy—for His sake. We must be witnesses for the Holy God.
11. Therefore “to be holy” really means the consecration of ourselves, or our lives, for God’s work or purposes.
12. We consecrate ourselves in our duty to God and man when we stand for the right always.
13. The flag of our country calls upon us to make every sacrifice for its honor and integrity, and to stand for them at all times. The fringe calls upon us to make every sacrifice for its honor and integrity, and to stand for them at all times. The fringe calls upon us to make every sacrifice for the honor and integrity of our religion, and to stand for them always.
14. We consecrate ourselves and our lives in our duty to God when we have the moral courage to perform our religious duties at all cost, and to stand for God and the Right.
15. We consecrate ourselves and our lives in our duty to our fellow beings when we have the moral courage to speak out for what is right and pure, to speak out against what is wrong and impure, and always to do the right, cost what it may, in all our dealings with mankind.
16. We consecrate ourselves and our lives in our duty to ourselves when we have the moral courage to correct our own faults, to strive after high and noble ideals, to withdraw from unworthy or wicked companionship, to persevere in the right, no matter how many times we fail in our efforts to succeed, to scorn to make a false excuse and refuse to tell a lie, to hate to say or do anything mean.
17. Sin soils the soul. We cannot consecrate ourselves to God if our souls are stained with sin, or if “we go astray.”
The lessons of the Tsitsith may therefore thus be summed up:—Impure thoughts defile the heart; impure deeds defile the hands; impure words defile the lips. Any defilement is unholiness. We must be holy.
18. The ethical value of the Tsitsith is further indicated in the ancient meditation recited before using it: “Behold me enwrapping myself with the Tsitsith. O so do Thou enwrap my soul and my body in the spiritual light thereof.”
19. The fringe is made in a special way to remind us of the Lord:—
20. In Hebrew all letters stand for numbers. The letters in the word for “Lord,” or in the phrase “the Lord is one,” thus make twenty-six or thirty-nine. A thread is therefore wound round the fringe twenty-six times by the Sephardic Jews, and thirty-nine times by the Ashkenaz Jews, to remind us of the Lord, or that He is One.
21. The Sephardic Jews are those descended from the Jews of Spain, Portugal, South-France and all other countries round the Mediterranean Sea.
22. All other Jews are called Ashkenaz Jews, and include Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Russians, Roumanians, etc.
BIBLE QUOTATIONS.
3. And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them, and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes after which ye go astray.—Numbers xvi, 39.
4. That ye may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy to your God.—Numbers xv, 40.
5. For I am the Lord your God; ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy.—Levit. xii, 44.
6. Wickedness destroys the wicked.—Psalm xxxiv, 21.
9. Thou art My servant, O Israel, by whom I will be glorified.—Isa. xlix, 3.
10. Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servants whom I have chosen.—Isa. xliii, 10.
This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise.—Isa. xliii, 21.
11. I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light for the Gentiles.—Isa. xlii, 6.
12. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.—Joshua i, 9.
Fear not, but let your hands be strong.—Zech. viii, 13.
14. Ye are My witnesses that I am God.—Isa. xliii, 12.
Who is on the Lord’s side?—Exod. xxxii, 26.
15. Wash from sin, purify, put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil.—Isa. i, 16.
Learn to do well; seek judgment; relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.—Isa. i, 17.
16. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee and mine iniquity have I not hid.—I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.—Psalm xxxii, 5.
Seek ye Me, and live.—Amos v, 4.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.—Psalm i, 1.
A just man may fall seven times but he riseth up again.—Prov. xxiv, 16.
He hath shown thee, O man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?—Micah vi, 8.
These are the things that ye shall do; speak ye everyone the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.—Zech. viii, 16.
Let no one of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for these are things that I hate, saith the Lord.—Zech. viii, 17.
17. Ye shall not seek after your hearts and your eyes after which ye go astray.—Numbers xv, 39.
