Letter from “A Native of Germany” to Editor of the Whig;January 25, 1829 · Isaac Leeser Digital Repository · Legacy Projects from Judaica DH at Penn Libraries

Title

Letter from “A Native of Germany” to Editor of the Whig;January 25, 1829

Author

“A Native of Germany”

Contributor

Editor of the Whig

Date Created

25 January 1829

Location(s)

Richmond

Philadelphia

Format

Letter. 8 page(s) on 8 sheet(s).

Type

Letter

Language(s)

English

Has Format

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/items/ark:/81431/p3x05z00v/manifest.json

Link to Colenda

https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3x05z00v

Physical Characteristics

Unlined Paper

Manuscript

Is Part Of

The Jesselson Family Collection of Isaac Leeser Material

content

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You will say, however, true the Old Testament contains the doctrines I have advanced, but the Jews did not understand them so; in fact you partly have said so already,—you have asserted it, without proving it further than by referring to the general history of the Jews. You know it is easy to make asser assertions, but they will not stand without substantial proof. I will therefore first deny your assertion and then bring proof of the truth of what I advanced
We all know, that the temple, which Solomon built, was finished in the four hundred and eighty seventh year after the promulgation of the law on Mount Sinai, and of course we all must admit, that the opinion then prevailing concerning the meaning of any part of the law, must be considered as a pretty correct standard to ascertain the meaning the Israelites attached to the law, which was then, as it is now, our guide through life. It is a lamentable fact, that the Old Testament, particularly the historical books, are but little read by the christians, and therefore do we find men of learning, nay preachers, ignorant of the writings I speak of I shall therefore transcribe a portion of Solomon's prayer in the Temple at its dedication as contained in the VIII chapter of the first book of Kings.
v. 37-43
“If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locut locust “or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their “cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever richness there be; whatsoever prayer “and supplication be made by any man, or by all they people Israel, which “shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his “hands unto this house; then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, “and Lo, and give every man according to his ways, whose hear thou knowest; “(for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men) “that they may fear thee all the days that they live in they land which thou “gavest unto our fathers.
“Moreover, concerning a the stranger, that is not of they people Israël, but cometh “out of a far of country for they names sake; (for they shall hear of they great “name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm,) when he shall come “and pray towards this house; hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, “and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all “the people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people “Israël; and that they may know that this house which I have builded “is called by thy name.” (English version.)
I know very well, that the last part would have been enough for my purpose, but I extracted the first one also, to show, to those, who may not be as well acquainted with the Bible, in what manner the wisest of men prayed for the nations, who do not belong to Israël; he first prays that

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received, and have granted to him, that, for which he petitioned the throne of Grace.
We find in the second book of Kings Elisha healing the leper Naaman, though it is well known that the nation, to whom he belonged was frequently at war with Israël, thus we find him, not alone assisting a gentile, but an enemy also; what then becomes of your assertion, that the Jews did not practise acts of universal acts act benevolence? Let me advise you, my dear friend, to read the books of the Old Testament well, before you venture on such dangerous ground again as asserting things about us Jews, which you may not be able to sustain with incontestable proof, when called upon.
In support of your assertion concerning the beauty of the gospel you introduce a few verses from the sermon on the mount in the fifth chapter of Matthew. By so doing you have imposed upon me an invidious task, namely of attacking the christian religion in some manner, when I should have been very glad, to have let the gospels at rest. But I am now called upon to defend the tenets of my faith, and dare not therefore shrink from the responsibility thus thrown upon me, although this happens without my desiring it.
Let me premise that the religion which we profess, is divided into three parts: first, duties towards God, secondly, duties towards our fellow men, and lastly duties towards ourselves. The duties towards God impose upon us the belief in the Creator, confidence in His protection, hope in His salvation and the observance of His statutes. The duties towards our fellow men consist in acts of charity and benevolence and in abstaining from injuring them, in their person property and honour. Duties towards ourselves are: self preservation & self-defence; by which I mean that first we shall not depend upon others for our livelyhood, if we are ourselves capable of making a living, as it is beautifully said in the Proverbs of the Fathers: “Sweet is the learning of the law, combined with labour, for to be engaged in both makes us abstain from sin;” and secondly to be careful for the preservation of our health. Self defence demands of us to conduct ourselves so that we shall not be exposed to the hatred or violence of others; but if in spite of all our endeavours we are molested and violently attacked, it is lawful to prevent our adversary from injuring us; and if he attempts to kill us, it is even permitted to slay him, if we can in no other manner prevent him; in support of this position, I refer you to Exo. Chapter 22 verse 2.—

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repealed, except in the same manner as it has been promulgated, that is before the whole nation of Israël in the same manner as the law was given on Sinai. These preliminaries area sine qua non, without which no argument, however ingenious, can stand the test of Jewish criticism. Let us now apply this rule to the chapter of Matthew in question, to test its correctness. In the outset, he, whom the chirstians call the Messiah (Christ) says himself; “think not that I am come to destroy the law of the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil &c &c. Here, my dear Prof. of Christ, you have it from what you must think the highest authority that the gospels must in every particular conform to the Mosaic writings which let me repeat were given by the Author of All for the government of Israël, and as you believe in Revelation, you must acknowledge, that these writings contain the best code of laws that can be devised. Well then, when Matthew says, “swear not at all,” the christian writers are puzzled how to explain it, and the learned Dr. James Beattie explains it so as to mean any unnecessary oath, which however can hardly be the meaning of this passage. What Matthew says in the same chapter from the v. 38 to the 41, I am bold to assert has never been fulfilled by fifty men from all christendom ever since christianity was established, and if these doctrines were adopted as the general rule of society, every wicked person could with impunity despoil his unoffending neighbour; and let me ask you can this be the will of God? For what did he command the election of judges if it were not to see the innocent righted? And have the Society of Friends, who more than any other Christian sect, try to obey the above commandments in question, ever acted up to the letter of them?
In the 43 v. of the same chapter Matthew says: Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; &c Now pardon me, my friend, when I beg of you to tell me in what part of the Old Testament or any Jewish writing the foregoing sentiment is found? Hate our enemies? Heavenly father! has it come to this, that thy children who have suffered for ages persecutions without number for the SANC-TIFICATION OF THY HOLY NAME, who have been slaughtered like sheep that are dumb before their shearers, without mur-muring, without repining—shall thy children Oh our Father above be accused of hating their enemies! Do they not pray to thee daily: “To prepare the world for Thy kingdom, Almighty God, to cause all flesh to “call Thy name, and to bring to Thee all sinners of the Earth, that all “may receive the yoke of Thy kingdom, and that Thou mayest speedily “reign over all for ever, for Thine is the kingdom, and for ever and ever Thou “wilt reign in glory?”

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Again we find it commanded in the 19th ch. 18th v. of Lev. that we shall not avenge ourselves, nor even, as we Rabbinical Jews understand the word “Thitore” (transl. in the Eng. version nor bear any grudge) to tell those that have offended us, “look here though you would not do me the favour I asked of you, yet will I not do like you have done, here is what you ask for.” In the 28th ch. ? 5 v. of Exodus we are positively enjoined to assist our enemy when we see him in need of our assistance. In the 24 ch. 17th v. and 25 ch. 12 v of the Proverbs Solomon tells us: “Rejoice not when they enemy falleth and when he stumbleth let not thy heart be glad; lest the Eternal see it, and it displease him, and he turn his wrath from him. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to it eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink &c Thus we clearly see that the Old Testament enjoins those exalted doctrines, for which you give the gospel the sole credit.
But you will say, Christ lived in the time of the Pharisees and Scribes, who did not act so, who were hypocrites, and deviated from the letter of the law? Indeed! but even here you would be mistaken; for in the Talmud we find the following: “A stranger came to Shamai and told him Rabbi I wish to become a proselite, but you must teach me the law, while I can stand on one leg; but Shamai turned him off, not thinking it possible to teach him the law in so short a time. The stranger went next to Hilled, surnamed the Elder, and repeated the same request, “my son,” answered the Rabbi, “what is disagreeable to thee, do not to thy neighbour, (or companion), for thus it is written thou shalt love thy neighbour like thyself, this is the princi-ple commandment, and if you observe this strictly you will easily observe the other precepts of the law.”—What Matthew says concerning the punish-ment to him, who makes his antagonist ashamed in public, is also found in the Proverbs of the Fathers, which declare: “He, who that makes the face of his neighbour turn pale in public, though he has knowledge of the law and has otherwise acted well, will not have share in the happiness of the future life.” What then I ask you again has the gospel taught new to the Jews? Since the Old Testament containes all the moral doctrines, and the Rabbins (Pharisees & Scribes) of the time of Christ did invariably preach up in the Synagogues & Temple doctrines conformable to their Text-Book, namely the two twenty four books of the Jewish Canon.
I have thus I hope made my assertions good, that our law is a perfect model of a moral and religious code, that there is nothing too much and nothing too little in it, and in fact, if any man will but examine the wonderful effect it has had of keeping a dispersed people united in

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every sense of the word he must acknowledge: “That no nation though ever so great has such just statutes and commandments as those, which the Eternal our God has given us.”
You, my friend, call upon me, to do the christians that justice which I demand at of their hands; I am willing to concede all that christians deserve, and I have already acknowledged, and shall always do so, that I have been treated very ? by them, and shall always, till my dying hour, remember the benefits conferred upon me, by some of them. But while I do this I must repeat and reassert it, that the prejudice existing against us is highly unjust and even condemned by against that law which you as christians are bound to respect. This was the reason why I in the first instance undertook the defence of our people from the vile and insidious attacks of the Quarterly Review, and this now impels me again to answer you, though even here I am very willing to admit again the difference which exists between your mode of warfare and that of the above mentioned magazine. Pardon me one remark, before I dismiss you altogether; do you know that what you profess about universal salvation is no christian doctrine? Do you know that it was taught only by the Jewish Rabbins? And do you know that if you believe in the gospel, you must renounce this doctrine as not orthodox? However this may be, I leave you to settle with the christian divines; but only enter my protest against what you say about the voice of conscience; for revelation was given to assist us in forming a correct course of life, and if conscience could affect that, to what purpose was the law then given? But our opinion is this, our law was given as the standard, to which all nations were ultimately to resort to as a rallying point, till when, every man was to be saved who is no Israelites, was to be saved if he acted according to the light given him, if they he only observed the precepts of general revelation given to Noah, which are to be found in the ninth chapter of genesis, and it was therefore the practice of the Jews, when ever they conquered, to make the subdued nation conform to the “seven commandments of the children of Noah” as they are called in the Talmud. Each son of Israel, on the contrary is bound to observe all that lies in his power to do, as otherwise he is to be punished for good deeds omitted and sins committed.
It would be a great satisfaction to me, to be assured, that I had effec-tually removed the ill-will so many feel towards us, that I had contri-buted a little to make Israël more respected in this country, and particular-ly in this city. Let me at the same time call upon my brethren, those who with me believe in the same immortal unchangeable God, who

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with me are bound by the same faith; who with me live in the land of strangers far, far, from the sweet hills of Israel, far, far, from the sacred banks of the Jordan, far, far, from the holy Jerusalem, the city, where God's glory used to dwell; who with me hope to reach a glorious immortality, when God will open the graves of his people as promised by Ezekiel. Let me call upon them to arouse from their lethargy, to break those chains of listlessness by which they are bound. Let them draw the bond of ? closer, let them forget the offenses committed to let each man forget the injuries done by his neighbor one another, and then show the world what Israël can do be even in captivity. Let them show their attachment to that beautiful religion, which has ever been the admiration of the world and show prove themselves, by conforming strictly to the spirit and letter of the divine law, worthy of that glorious hereafter furturity for which they are destined by the God of nature by the ever kind Father of Israël!
In conclusion I think it necessary to make an apology why I, a young man, who has scarcely reached the age of manhood, who moreover is am a foreigner, should step forward, to do that which older and wiser men than himself myself have omitted to do. But I hope, that my justification is contained in the following from the 32 ch. of Job, which with little alteration is well applicable to the present case:
“And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young and Ye are “very old; wherefore I was afraid, and dunt? not shew you my opinion. I “said, Days should speak, and multitude of days should teach wisdom, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them “understanding. Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged “understand judgment. Therefore I said, Hearken unto me; I will also show “mine opinion. Behold I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, “while ye searched out what to say. Yea, I attendd unto you, and behold, there “was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words; lest ye “should says We have found out wisdom; God thrusteth him down not “man. Now he has not directed his words against me; neither will Answer “him with your speeches. They were amazed, they answered no more; they “left off speaking. When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still and “answered no more;) I said, I will answer also my part I will also will “show my opinion. For I am full of matter the spirit within me constrai- “neth me.
Like Elihu I have considered it my duty to speak, because the older men did not speak, and was thus in a manner compelled to assume the fearful responsibility to accept the challenge which others neglected to do.

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I have, like the holy writer, endeavoured to abuse no man, but neither to flatter anyone; but have given as far, as I believe, things their right names, without intending to give offence to any one; I have tried:
Nothing to extenuate nor to put set down aught in malice; how far I have succeeded I leave of hers to judge, but only beg of them all to listen to my defence with patience, and to read my remarks to the end. I dare not hope, that what I have written could pass the age shall stand the test of severe criticism, but I request expect, that every fault may be ascribed to the head but not the heart of
A Native of Germany.
Richmond Va.
Sunday Morning Janu. 25Th 1829.

To the Editor of the Whig

Identifier

LSTCAT_item213

Date

1829-01-25