"DO THE OCCIDENT.

omissions, as far as they concern the public, are also proper subjects ofanimadversion, we see no valid reason why we should spare our per­

sonality, whilst exercising the right 80 often of speaking in terms ofcondemnation of other men. Many may perhaps think this a strangesort of impartiality; but with us just censure is a thing which we donot consider ourself authorized to escape, and if it be undeserved,then it is evident it can do us no injury whatver, At the same time thepublication of the article in question has induced several esteemed cor­respondents to come to our rescue, and it has thus given IlS the gratify­ing assurance that nil our labours have not been directed into the wrongchannel, and that, however there is much in our proceeding whichdoubtless deserves reprobation, we have not altogether missed the ob­ject of our undertaking. We wilI now in our justification give the prin­cipal portion of two letters received since our last, partially to correctsome errors, and partially to give publicity to certain new matters thusintroduced to the notice of the reader:

TO THE EDITOR OF THE OCCIDENT.

REVEREND SIR,In the April number of the Occident I read an article by one who

adopts nOt( for his signature; but it is the first time that I see" Truth"contradicting itself; and indeed a fictitious truth is the newest of alI thephantoms of modern times. Permit me, sir, to make a few brief repliesagainst the article in question. Truth asserts (p. 5,) " The Occidentcannot signify news, or light from the western states, but-to instructthe Israelites." I suppose, in my humble opinion, that is the chief pro­blem of a Jewish journal to represent the present history of our peoplewhenever it is accessible, (all other articles being mere additions to givegrace to the work,) and a history of Hebrew literature of the day, andthe causes and consequences of the ruling spirit of the age. " Truth"will discover the motto of the Occident corresponding with my viewsabout journalism, when he merely carefully considers the old Latinproverb, "Historia mater vitre est." History is indeed the best teacherof life, and the safest guide through its cares; history is a second anddistinct revelation of God. The Lord placed Moses on a rock, whencehe should learn to know God and his divine attributes; Maimonidescalls that rock NATURE, and I add to it HISTORY, since both revealto us the God of' Israel in his majesty and glory.

Truth says farther," And thirdly, how to conduct themselves towards

THE COMMUNICATIO~OF "TRUTH." 91

their neighbours, which latter duty includes, according to the Talmud,the observance of the whole law." I most emphatically object again~t

such an -impious assertion; where, 0 Truth! are SablJath,. Festivals,Shechita, Tefillin, Mezuzah, Zizith, Milah, Pidyon Becher, Matzah,and many other commandments understood under the precept" Lovethy neighbour as thyself?" He translates the words of the Talmud,il'W'\::l0 ",,) "":l H lH:l:l lJ"" n::lil~' "And thou shalt love thy neigh­bour as thyself is the principal command of the law i" but everyonemust understand that the 0 of il,m::l0 would in that case be superfluous;I presume it ought to be rendered, "Love thy neighbour as thyself isone of the grand principles of our law;"'*' for there are besides thisother principles and fundamental rules, as " Thou shalt love the Lord ;""Be ye holy," &c.; but they are above the comprehension of manypeople, as was the case with the proselyte who wanted Hillel to teachhim the law whilst he could stand on one foot, wherefore he was re­ierred to neighbourly love 'as the basis of our faith. Does Truth meanto assert that we shall learn to love our God merely to become fit andwilling to love our neighbour 1 But, sir, we are to love our neighbour(as a religious duty), in order to learn likewise to love our God; thelatter is therefore a higher and nobler principle than the former. Ordoes he suppose, that we shall be holy in order that our manners andfeelings towards our fellow-mortals should be pure? whereas this is butthe beginning, the end being that we should love God with a spotlessheart and a pure mind.

Truth is exceedingly blamable for charging by implication Dr.Lilientbal fo;' an attempt to break down the fences of our sages.

• In justice to Truth we will remark, that Johlson in his 9D" 'r.)'''~ gives the

same definition of the saying of Rabbi Akiba.; at the same time a proper regard to

_~e construction of the phrase witb o would still say that the love of our fellow-man

is the great prineiple of the law. But omit the relative, it may mean, that this dutyis a ~at principle of religion. By the way, the men of modern times have em.ployed the aphorism of the wise Rabbi to elevate the social above those properlytermed religious duties j whereas, Rabbi Akiba meant to convey no such thing, asthe history of his death amply, demonstrates, when he said that he always longed to

be permitted te prove that he could loveGod under all circumstances, with his heart,soul, and might, even when life was to be taken j and he expired with the blessedunity of God resting in his lips, amid the most cruel tortures of the Roman tyrant.He then wished to convey by these parallel ideas that religion proper knows but oftwo principles: the one is to love God above all, and under all circumstances andtrials j the other to love our fellow-beings, Of course this view does not place thesocial duties above those which belong to revealed religion, and exhibits Judaismas the perfection of divine wisdom.-ED. Oc.

92 Till-: OCC ID E NT .

Where a re his proofs for th is assu mp tion r~' If th e laws of the cou n t ry

permi tted it wou ld be well to esta blis h a cen sors hip of th e J ew ish press

of A meri ca, a nd ap poi nt Truth as cens o r , a nd we s ho uld soon have a

periodi cal whi ch wou ld not re flec t a ny light of modern day s.

T ru th nex t attacks the insert ion of the a dvert isement of t.he C harleston

congregation; he is a ve rse to t he ir ruan ncr of reading the Scriptu re ,

a nd he co nde m ns it hccnuso t he an nua l ren d ing of the law was al ready

instit uted by E:ua. But. Dj"il:Jl ~';;J " It is roa d and trans lat ed ,"• Iis abo an instit uti on of Ez ra; so al so ' :J:);'~ ~-np D1K ~J " E very man

reads for h imself;" wh o a ut ho rized us to dep art from th ese inst ituti on s ?

non e under hca vcn ; not e ve n Truth himsel f 'W hy does he not de­

claim a ga ins t th eir o rga n , th eir E ng lish prayers, & c . '! a rc they not

deserving of an y noti ce '! l lo purtic u inrl y dwell s on th eir vio la tion of

th e seco nd Jay of the li.s tivu ls ; and on page 8 he sa y s , that God com­

mantled " You s ha ll not add to nor diminish from th e law." "T'hou

s ha ll not tu m Iru rn I IH' word 10 th e r iuht o r to th e le ft ;" and thi-n (riveso ~

the reason lor th e se cond da ys of th e fest ival s Dil~ m~~; it is not worth

while to crit ici se Tru th herein. 1 will not justify th e ~ tcps of th e

C ha rleston congrega tion ; I w ill but sho w how s ho rt-s ig h ted Truth is;

there a re m uc h better reason s in th e Mis hna for the seco nd festivals;

but he seems to have overlooked th em ; besid es, th ese reasons do n ot

contradict th e very precep ts q uo te d by Truth; and y et he s tra ngely

has los t s ig ht of th e m.

Truth al so in veighs agains t the articles of Talmid a nd H. G., thinking

that th e y shou ld have d isc ussed their disagreement in th eir own study

p riv atel y among th emselves. But th ese art ides were evidently pu blished

to pu t to s ha me all th ose v('ry w ise and sa pie nt e rudi te gentlemen,

who nrc no t mindful eno ug h to write a s ingle word in defen ce of their

ow n rl'!ig ioll. Truth refers T almid to th e "~~ili1 '~Jn; but, sir, what

s a y th ese sa me wi se T alm ud ist s '! S ay it, if you know it, that th e

public m ny al so learn it, and Tulmid thus be confuted. A Jewish

journal publish es a rti cl es mil ita ting a gainst Judaism, which articl es arc

altogether bnscd UpOll a n e r ro neous assumption; th e editor publishes th em

to .\waken the s!('(:py wa tchmen of th e western hemisphere to dd i 'nd

the ir fa ith and-O pi t. y ! U tcrnpora l 0 mores ! there springs I1p

Truth, and wisill's a journal of this en lig htened age s ha ll 11 11 up its

pa gr:s w ith discu ssi on s a bout D'JJil~ D·.l"il~ and lard oil ! a nd it shall

• In a subsequent letter to us, Truth disclaims any intention of charging Dr.Lili enthal with conduct Sf) unbecoming his station; it was merely Dr L.' s articlesin the Occident, on the Russian J ews, which he considered useless.-Eu. Oc.

TIlE COMliUNIC ,\TION OF " T RU T H ." 03

teach the people a better knowledge of the Hebrew , Gemara, and Kab­balah !-Kabbalah I-did you hear this? Are we Chabotnic Chass idirnwhom Dr. L ilienthal exposcs in his a rticle, but not half sufficiently?It is a pity indeed to meet such dark midnight under tho sun of thisall-exploring age , and I merely deem it my duty to expose to the publiceye this midnight dark ness. I should have signed this" Just ice;" but Iam trul y your friend,

w.

The second communication is from Mr. Emanuel Goldsmith, who alsoblames Truth for endeavouring to depreciate the value in a journalbecause its conducto r does not manage it according to his preconceivedviews. We omit the introduction of Mr. G's letter, us W. has alreadydone ample justice to the same matter; he, however, corrects the trans­lation of 0;,,\;:) m~lYt;l which was rendered "The Sanh edr im sent fromTharn," by asserting " That we have no record of any place of the nameof Tham in Palestine, nor is it mentioned among the placcs enumeratedin the Mishna, whcre the Sanhedrim assembled after quitting Jerusalem.It is well known that the Israelites in ca ptivity called all Palestine,gene ral ly, Tham on, or Hatham cnn, and it means then, that the San­hedrim sent their message from Palestine to all tran s-palestine Jews,not to forego the customs of their forefathers in rega rd to the seconddays of the festivals." Mr. G. then continues :

" Truth" also objects that it is improper to give publicity to disputesbetween the Jews and Christians , because they are useless j but ourwise men have already admonished us to study carefully how to answerthe opponents of our religion (u""p'mh J 'fQiilll ,v,'); and who is moreeminent in this resp ect than the Ramban (Nachmanidcs), the greatestRabbi in Spain, and teacher of the Rashbah? And it was this eminentlypious and "holy man, who was also physician and philosopher, whoexposed his life, and publicly disputed with Christian divines to defendthe truth of our law. It is therefore.evidently the duty of each Israelite,having the requisite ability, and especially in this country, where everyman is at liberty to write what he pleases without dan ger of govern­mental interference, to go and do so likewise. It is my opinion, thatthe dispute between Talmid and H. G. concerns the main principle onwhich all the law hinges; for Talmid meant to prove, that man hasno' power to be good and to reform his conduct, for man's heart is evilfrom his youth; and the whole Christian religion is based on thisassumed principle, that through the man of Nazareth their hearts andthe heart of all their posterity to the end of all future generations, was