JEWISH CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.
THE Saviour when on earth performed many mighty miracles, and a large share of them were accomplished upon the Sabbath day. It was doubtless a wise purpose upon the part of the Master to select this sacred day to do these wonderful cures, as the meaning of the Lord's day was almost entirely forgotten because of the multitude of traditions built up to interpret its proper observance. Referring to the miracle performed at Bethesda upon this day another has written the following: "A controversy now took place in regard to the true claims of the Sabbath law. Jesus had purposely chosen the Sabbath day upon which to perform the miracle at the pool. He could have healed the sick man upon any other day of the week; also he might have cured him, and avoided arousing the indignation of the Jews, by bidding him take up his bed and depart. But a wise purpose underlay every act of Christ's life on earth; everything he did was important in itself and its teaching. . . . The Sabbath, instead of being the blessing it was designed to be, had become a curse through the added requirements of the Jews. Jesus wished to rid it of these incumbrances and leave it standing upon its own holy dignity." It would be impossible in one brief article to do more than touch upon a few of the Sabbatic laws; for it must be remembered in order for a Jew, in the time of Christ, or even at the present day, to keep a Sabbath aright, he must know 400 laws in addition to the command in the Decalog. And Rambam, one of the great Jewish commentators, who lived somewhere in the eleventh century (?) in his compendium of "Sabbath Laws" occupies more than 170 folio pages. The reader can form some idea why Christ accused the scribes and Pharisees of binding heavy burdens upon the shoulders of the people which it was impossible for them to bear. The apostle Peter mentions this fact later in his experience. And, according to the Talmud, the man who did not perform each detail of every such law, made himself liable to punishment of flogging or even death. And doubtless it is this thought that called forth the following statement from the Saviour, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?" To show that this is not an exaggerated statement I quote the following:— To rest on the seventh day from work is an affirmative precept; for it is said, "On the seventh day thou shalt rest." Whosoever therefore does any work annuls an affirmative and transgresses a negative precept; for it is said, "Thou shalt do no manner of work." What is meant by being guilty on account of work?—If it be done voluntarily and presumptuously, the meaning is that he is liable to excision, and if there were witnesses and a warning, he is to be stoned.—Hilchoth Shabbath. Some of these laws are cruel, as they deny man the common comforts of life as well as the privilege of saving his own life or of any other person:— Whosoever does any work on the Sabbath, even tho he does not do it for the sake of the work itself, is nevertheless guilty. How so? If, for instance, a man extinguishes a lamp, because he wants the oil or the wick, and wishes that it should not waste nor be burned, or that the earthenware part of the lamp should not be cracked; inasmuch as the extinguishing is work, and his intention was to extinguish it; altho the mere act of extinguishing it was not the ultimate object, but, on the contrary, the saving of the oil or the wick or the earthen lamp, he is, nevertheless, guilty. And in like manner whosoever removes thorns a distance of four ells in a public place, or whosoever extinguishes coals to prevent the public from being injured, is guilty; altho the ultimate object was not the extinguishing or moving, but he simply intended to prevent the injury, he is guilty; and so in similar cases.—Ibid. It was Christ's purpose to save life; the Pharisees' object to destroy it. Perhaps this thought can be better appreciated by the following law:— A Gentile woman is not to be delivered upon the Sabbath, not even for payment, neither is the enmity to be regarded. It is not to be done tho no profanation of the Sabbath should be implied. But the daughter of a sojourning proselyte may be delivered, . . . but the Sabbath is not to be profaned on her account. What a contrast to the Saviour's interpretation of the law,—"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27. The exactions and precisions of Sabbath observance had gone so far that it was made almost the test of a man's religion. By the good works performed on this day he should secure a home in the kingdom of God. Thus a premium was put on the performance of external rites, while a man who was really fearing God and not observing the day according to the ideas of the scribes and Pharisees was considered a blasphemer, and worthy of death. And this is why they hunted the Saviour so much, and put spies on his track to watch him, hoping they might learn of many things he did on this day, and obtain for him the death sentence. Some of the laws putting a premium upon those who keep the Sabbath only from an outward point of view are as follows:— Rabbi Chiia, the son of Abba, says, in the name of Rabbi Johannan, whosoever keeps the Sabbath according to its constitutions, even tho he were an idolater like Enosh, he shall be forgiven. . . . Rabbi Judah says Rav says, to every one who makes the Sabbath a delight, the desires of his heart are given. . . . Rabbi Judah says Rav says, if Israel would keep the first Sabbath according to its constitutions, no nation or tongue should rule over them.—Arbah Turim, Orach Chaim, 242. In many of these laws quite a distinction is made between Jews and Gentiles; some things that are lawful for the Jew are unlawful to be done for the Gentile. For instance:— If Gentiles and Israelites live together in one court, even if there be only one Israelite and a thousand Gentiles, and a ruin fall on one of them, the rubbish is to be cleared away on account of the Israelite. If one of them had gone by himself to another court, and that court fell upon him, the rubbish is also to be cleared away, for perhaps this one was the Israelite, and the rest were all Gentiles. But if they all set out to go from this court to another court, and during the time of their moving one of them separated and went to another court, and a ruin fell upon him, and it is not known who he is, the rubbish is not to be cleared away. For as they all moved together it is certain that the Israelite was not amongst them; and every one who separated from them whilst going is to be reckoned as belonging to the majority.—Hilchoth Shabbath. What a different spirit was manifested by the Saviour! It made no difference to him whether it was a Jew or Gentile that needed help on the Sabbath or upon any other day. The thought uppermost in his mind was that a human soul needed help. He came to the world to heal the sick, raise the dead, and release men and women from bondage. God so loved the world, and not the Jew simply. There is scarcely a thing possible for man to do upon the Sabbath but what there is a law that covers that point. It matters not whether he lies in bed, whether he walks in the streets, whether he is at his meals, or whether he is in the synagog. Everything is noticed by precept, and must be obeyed under penalty of the law. It makes no difference how wicked the law in itself may be, it must be enforced. As a result a great deal of hypocrisy is manifest in some of the laws; but this was merely the logical8conclusion of their position, as they decided that they only could interpret the law. Space forbids more than two illustrations:— If a man traveling on the Sabbath eve be overtaken by night, and has with him a purse, and there be also with him a Gentile and an ass, let him give his purse to the Gentile, even after it be dark, but let him not lay it on the ass. But if he find anything he may not give it to the Gentile, unless it came into his hand whilst it was yet day, for then it is a case similar to that of his purse. If there be no Gentile with him, then let him lay it on the ass whilst he is moving, but let him take great care to take it off every time he stands still. . . . If there be with him an ass and a deaf and dumb person, an idiot, and a child, then let him lay it on the ass, but let him not give it to one of these, for they are human beings like himself. . . . If there be with him neither one nor the other, let him move it along gradually each time less than four ells.—Orach Chaim, sec. 266. An Israelite who tells a Gentile to do a certain work on the Sabbath for him, altho he has transgressed, and is to be flogged with the flogging of the rebellion; yet he may lawfully make use of that work when the Sabbath is over, if he wait as long as it would take to accomplish the work.—Hilchoth Shabbath, chapters 6, 8. There are laws forbidding people to carry anything, even to a pocket handkerchief or the carrying of money. Laws also forbidding letter writing or reading; and should a person receive a letter on the Sabbath day, it matters not how urgent it may be, the document is not to be opened till the close of the Sabbath. An incident happened many years ago in London which illustrates how this latter code of laws works evil sometimes. The chief rabbi of the United Kingdom, who is now deceased, received an urgent letter, being brought by special delivery. Being scrupulous for the strict observance of the Sabbath, he passed it by unheeded till sunset. When the letter was opened it was found to be a message from a dying man in the hospital who wished to make certain requests before his decease, asking for the immediate presence of the rabbi, as he could live but few hours. When the visit was made in the evening, the man had passed away, and the synagog dignitary was informed by the hospital nurse that the dying man's last words were, "Has the rabbi come?" Do we wonder then that Christ came to earth on a mission of mercy to destroy such cruel laws as those which regarded not the life of man nor beast? We then can appreciate why he labored so arduously in performing the mighty works of God on the Sabbath, that man might know that the Sabbath was made for man, and God wanted them to know how it ought to be kept.
F. C. GILBERT.
South Lancaster, Mass.