My light and sketchy brush-strokes have succeeded in reconciling you to the fate of your people; nay, more, you are happy that you belong to this people, in spite of its poverty and lowliness — even because of them. What a glorious resulting of our correspondence, dear Benjamin! But, when you conceive yourself exalted to the lofty summit of the idea of our mission and look upon the Law, which has as ostensible purpose the realization of this idea, you feel as though a yawning chasm intervened between you and it. You can not repress a feeling of sorrowing disapproval, a sensation of protesting wonderment when you think, that that is supposed to be the will of God ; nor do you see any real task, any ideal work to which you are called, nothing but praying and a passively-contemplative life, and in addition, unreasonable demands and senseless practices. But what would you say, dear friend, if I were to tell you that the excessive pressure of centuries in its accumulated weight had finally only permitted the rescue of the externals of the Law, but that the spirit had no longer found room? What if I were to say that Israel, banished from the society of the rest of mankind, estranged from the world and its life, had lost contact and sympathy with the world and life, and no longer considered them in comprehending and interpreting the Law, but deemed itself fortunate to have rescued even its, the Law's, externals? Suppose I were to tell you that a dull and prosaic dialectic had reduced to merest mummies laws full to overflowing of life and spirit, and that Israel, concerned and apprehensive because of the errors and evils which it had often seen follow the efforts of the uncontrolled intellect, had driven it away from the Law as one drives away a bird of prey from a dearly-beloved corpse? Centuries of oppression and misery, which offered no opportunity for activity, which made patient endurance and resignation the sole duties; when only prayer could give strength, and passive contemplation afforded the only consolation for the ills of life, must they not of necessity depress the spirit and compel the development of the narrow and restricted? If, furthermore, we say that the literary sources of Judaism, in which its spirit is contained, being misunderstood and misinterpreted, themselves aided in corporealizing and disguising the spirit; that a perverted intellect comprehended the institutions which were designed and ordained for the internal and external purification and betterment of man as mechanical, dynamical, or magical formulas for the upbuilding of higher worlds, and that thus the observances meant for the education of the spirit to a nobler life were but too frequently degraded into mere amuletic or talismanic performances; would you not admit, after all this, dear Benjamin, that you know only external Judaism, only an unrecognized, uncomprehended, misunderstood Judaism, and even that in a most fragmentary and incomplete form ?
Forget whatever you know of Judaism, listen, as though you had never heard aught concerning its teachings, and you will not only be reconciled to the Law, but you will be filled with genuine love for it and willingly will you permit your whole life to be an expression and manifestation of this Law.
I shall give you now only fundamental principles, general outlines of the component parts of the Jewish doctrinal system, hardly anything but the nomenclature of terms and concepts, and shall leave both elucidation and demonstration for the future. Read my statements as though they were but hypotheses, but they are none.
Every opinion which I shall express is the result of many years' study of ,שס, תנך and מדרש; every detail and every step finds its corroboration in the Gemara, if this latter be but comprehended according to the true meaning of its words and if, at every point, we put to ourselves the questions, "What have I heard here?" "What is the underlying concept of this statement?" "What its purpose?" "What the object of this symbolical act?" "What its natural meaning under the given conditions and purpose?" We must, furthermore, carefully distinguish between דאורייתא and דרבנן and seek to comprehend the former by comprehending the essence and nature of the thing enjoined, and the latter by making clear to ourselves the steps and means required for the proper carrying out and fulfillment of the Biblical law; nor must we omit to take account of the peculiarities of the original, which, having been intended primarily for oral transmission only, and not to be put into written form, which was expressly interdicted as a matter of principle, gives only the special rule, adapted for immediate application, but omits the universal, the spirit, leaving that for direct individual instruction or personal effort to ascertain.
After what has been now explained, I ask you, what do you expect in the Torah? You will answer, revelation of conduct, how you, using the powers and faculties which are yours, may fulfill the will of God towards the beings by whom you are surrounded; in other words, how you may practise justice and love with all and towards all.
Add to this also the idea of the mission of Israel as a people called not only to accomplish the fulfillment of these principles in life, but also to preserve and propagate their theoretic concepts for its own education and that of others. Join to it, furthermore, the laws and ordinances which derive their origin naturally from the state-life Israel once led and which, in the absence of land and state, became inapplicable, and you have the essential binding contents of the Torah.
(1) תורות. Instructions or doctrines. The historically revealed ideas concerning God, the world, the mission of humanity and of Israel, not as mere doctrines of faith or science, but as principles to be acknowledged by mind and heart, and realized in life.
(2) משפטים. Judgments. Statements of justice towards creatures similar and equal to yourself, by reason of this resemblance and equality, that is, of justice towards human beings.
(3) חקים. Arbitrary statutes. Statements of justice towards subordinate creatures by reason of the obedience due to God; that is, justice towards the earth, plants, and animals, or, if they have become assimilated with your personality towards your own body and soul.
(4) מצות. Commandments. Precepts of love towards all beings without distinction, purely because of the bidding of God and in consideration of our duty as men and Israelites.
(5) עדות. Symbolic observances. Monuments or testimonies to truths essential to the concept of the mission of man and of Israel. These testimonies are symbolic words or actions which bear a lesson for the individual Jew, collective Israel, or mankind in general.
(6) עבודה. Service or worship. Exaltation and sanctification of the inner powers by word-or-deed symbols to the end that our conception of our task be rendered clearer, and we be better fitted to fulfill our mission on earth.
As basal principles to these grand divisions of religion we have three concepts, justice, love, and education.
(1) Justice, that is, consideration for every being as creature of God, for all possessions as arrangements willed by God, of all governments and systems as ordained by God and fulfillment of all duties towards them incumbent upon us.
(2) Love, that is, kindly acceptance of all beings as children of God, as brethren; promotion of their welfare, and the endeavor to bring them to the goal set for them by God, without motive or benefit, but simply to fulfill the Divine will and command.
(3) Education, that is, the training of oneself and others to such work by taking to heart these truths as life-principles, by holding them fast and preserving them for oneself and for others, and by endeavoring to regain them whenever the influences of worldly life have torn them from our possession.
Let us now go through them in detail and endeavor to comprehend each in the light of the principles upon which it is established.