Chief Rabbi

“ They bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders. But they, themselves, will not even lay so much as a finger on one of them. All their works they do for show to other men. They love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues. They like greetings in the markets and to be called out to, Rabbi, Rabbi.
But be ye not called Rabbi. Only one is your teacher, even Christ; and ye are all brethren. Call no one on earth your father, for only one is your Father, who is in heaven. ”

“ There is no devil, no original sin, no need of salvation from it, no need of a mediator. Every Jew is in as direct relation with God as the Chief Rabbi. Christianity is an historical failure: its counsels of perfection, its command to turn the other cheek, a farce. ”

“ He went to the chief rabbi, and announced me as a great scholar and a pious man, who by extraordinary accidents had fallen into a very miserable condition. The chief rabbi, who was an excellent man, an acute Talmudist, and of very gentle character, was touched by my distress, and sent for me to come in. He conversed with me a while, discussing some of the most important subjects in the Talmud, and found me well versed in all branches of Jewish learning. ”

“ HART, AARON (1670–1756) , chief rabbi, born in 1670 at Breslau, studied at a rabbinical school in Poland, and probably came to England in 1692 to act as rabbi of the first synagogue of the English congregation of German and Polish Jews, which was opened in that year in Broad Court, Mitre Square, London. He removed in 1721 to the Great Synagogue in Duke's Place, Aldgate, then just built at the expense of his brother Moses (see below) , and he remained there till his death in 1756. He married a daughter of Rabbi Samuel ben Phœbus of Fürth. ”

“ I have often seen boys with these books in their hands, who appear to be reading freely, when in reality they scarcely know their letters, but who repeat, parrot-like, large portions of them by heart.
We afterward went to the Jewish synagogue, where the chief rabbi received us. He showed me several copies of the Law and the Prophets, wrapped in crimson silk cases which are kept in a recess behind an embroidered curtain, or vail. In the middle of the building there was a high circular wooden platform, with seats of honor upon it. ”

“ The parents did not very heartily second this ambition on the part of their little son. Times were hard in the ghetto, and Rabbis were many. Though a greatly respected, it was a poorly paid profession, whereas as a hawker, or a pedlar, a boy might begin to pick up a living by the time he was ‏בַּר מִצְוָה‎. In 1742, before Moses was thirteen, Rabbi Frankel received the appointment of Chief Rabbi of Berlin, and went to take up his residence in Berlin. ”

“ He was educated at the rabbinical school of Fuerth, and subsequently at the universities of Munich and Wurzburg. Espousing the cause of radical reform in Judaism, he was chosen rabbi at Hopstadter, and afterward chief rabbi of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. ”

“ Providence had given him the disposal of the earth, and it was for him to do his poor best—a lonesome, sorrowful post; so that talking could never alter in anything the main point; but it could modify details: and he had called them to invoke their great administrative gift and expert counsel; he told of the exodus which he designed, the home which he had prepared them; recommended a Sanhedrim of Chief Jews to form the Provisional Government of the new State, with the Chief Rabbi as its head under the title of Shophet (Judge) ”

“ In 1897 he strongly opposed the Diggle policy at the London School Board, but he refused nomination as a member. In 1890 the Rabbinical Diploma was conferred on him by Lector Weiss of Vienna, but again he evidenced his self-denial by declining to stand for the post of associate Chief Rabbi in the same year. ”

“ A boy near one of the pillars is waving a long streamer in the air to frighten them away. But our attention is principally drawn to the foreground of the picture. This part of the portico is richly carpeted, and here a number of Jewish Rabbis—the doctors or teachers of the Law—are sitting in a half-circle, facing the doorway. They are grave men, with long beards and flowing robes. Many of them are old and grey. The Rabbi nearest us has a specially withered face, and eyes that have become sightless with age. ”

“ Like other good Jewish rabbis, for he was looked upon during his ministry and often addressed as Rabbi, he taught in the synagogues of his people; but oftener out on the hillsides and by the lake-side, under the blue sky and the stars of heaven. Giving due reverence to the Law and the Prophets—the religion of his people and his own early religion—but in spirit and in discriminating thought so far transcending them, that the people marvelled at his teachings and said—surely this a prophet come from God; no man ever spoke to us as he speaks. ”

“ The chief function of the rabbins is to preach in the synagogue, to make public prayers there, and to interpret the law; they have the power of binding and loosing, that is, of declaring what is forbidden, and what allowed. When the synagogue is poor and small, there is but one rabbin, who at the same time discharges the office of a judge and a teacher. But when the Jews are numerous and powerful, they appoint three pastors, and a house of judgment, where all their civil affairs are determined. ”

“ Being, however, a man of great prominence, influence, and wealth, Rabbi succeeded in quelling opposition and in making his conclusions as acceptable as the Mosaic law itself; and his great pupils, seeing that his intentions were only to prevent dissensions and his only aim the public weal, supported him nobly, until his teachings were accepted as the law of the nation.
Many Mishnayoth were rejected and destroyed by Rabbi, but, not being in possession of all those he wished to destroy, he went in search of them to colleges outside of his jurisdiction. ”

“ They are mainly very poor, live in the barest of the tenement houses and pursue a calling which no longer involves much honor or standing. In the old country, in Russia—for most of the poor ones are Russian—the rabbi is a great person. He is made rabbi by the state and is rabbi all his life, and the only rabbi in the town, for all the Jews in every city form one congregation, of which there is but one rabbi and one cantor. ”

“ This they did with the crafty design that if Christ should assert that tribute ought to be given to Cæsar, He would incur the hostility of the Jewish populace; if, on the other hand, He should say that it was not to be paid, He might fall under the anger of Cæsar and the Romans, who would condemn Him to death as being guilty of sedition.
Master; Heb. Rabbi. Rabbi means not only a doctor of the law, such as are the Rabbins, but a potentate and a prince, endowed with authority. ”

“ The great majority of the present rabbies have never been in the land of Israel; and even if they had been, there has not been a נשיא prince for many a century. For centuries, therefore, there has not been a rabbi promoted to the office as the oral law requires; and yet the Jews, rather than have the priests, the sons of Levi, still keep up the shadow of the rabbinical office. A more determined opposition to the institutions of Moses cannot be imagined. First, the Jewish people rejected the ordinance of Moses, and devised an order of teachers of their own, limited by certain conditions. ”

“ It is asserted that, after all, our Lord was but a Jewish Rabbi, differing indeed in some remarkable characteristics from other teachers of the synagogue, but only to an extent which may be accounted for, partly by His position and education, and the influence of Essenian principles, partly by peculiarity of nature and gifts which our opponents admit489 to have been of the highest order, marking Him, as they would say, as a man of transcendent genius, one of the few in the world's history in whom men are compelled to recognise a master of the soul. ”

“ Verse 17. For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! The young men he will make as fruitful as corn, and the maids as wine.
[pg 066]
Remarks On The Rabbi's Exposition. Were I candidly to express my sentiments, I might say, perhaps, that the Rabbi's answer had disappointed me, being neither so full nor so forcible as I expected; but if he, as a Jew, be satisfied, it is not for me as a Christian to complain. There are, moreover, certain points of coincidence in our translation, in which the acquiescence of the Rabbi, as a distinguished Hebrew scholar, is truly gratifying ”

“ With the establishment of the rabbinical seminaries and the ukase (May 3, 1855) that only such may officiate as rabbis as have completed a prescribed course of study, Russian Jewry was placed in a sore predicament. It was a very difficult task to find men who united secular knowledge with that thorough mastery of Talmudic literature which the Jews of Russia exact from their rabbis. Every community was compelled to appoint two rabbis: an orthodox rabbi (dukhovny rabbin) and a "crown," or Government, rabbi (kazyony rabbin) . ”

“ The very word which in the Hebrew Bible means righteousness means in Rabbinic Hebrew charity. 'On three things the world stands,' says a Rabbi, 'on law, on public worship, and on the bestowal of loving-kindness.'
Some other concepts of Judaism and their influence on character will be treated in a later chapter. Here a final word must be said on the Hallowing of Knowledge.
In one of the oldest prayers of the Synagogue, repeated thrice daily, occurs this paragraph: 'Thou dost graciously bestow on man knowledge, and teachest mortals understanding ”

“ He feels that it is he who gives all importance to that dignitary, for it is the cap that makes the Rabbi. He relates of the transformation of a common mortal into an awe-inspiring interpreter of God's will on earth. ”

“ He works out his own ideas in the form of a dialogue between the Jewish Rabbi and the king of the Chazars, in which the former explains to the king the essentials of the Jewish religion, and answers the king's questions and criticisms, taking occasion to discuss a variety of topics, religious, philosophical and scientific, all tending to show the truth of Judaism and its superiority to other religions, to philosophy, Kalam, and also to Karaism. ”

“ We had a last big parade, and marched from Wardian Camp for some three miles through the streets of Alexandria to the Synagogue, to receive the final blessing of the Grand Rabbi. The spacious Temple, in the street of the Prophet Daniel, was on this occasion filled to its utmost capacity. The Grand Rabbi exhorted the men to bear themselves like good soldiers and in times of difficulty and danger to call upon the Name of the Lord who would deliver them out of their adversity. ”

“ The rabbis can reply, that the last time he washed his hands and feet, was when he stripped himself of the holy garments and had to put on his week-day clothes, after the whole service.
We have learned in a Boraitha: Rabbi Jehudah said: How is it known that the high-priest has to dive five times, and wash his hands and feet ten times? Because it is written [Lev. xvi. 23] : "And Aaron shall then go into the tabernacle of the congregation, and he shall take off the linen garments, which he had put on when he went into the holy place, and he shall leave them there. ”

“ Every one of these can give rise to endless questions in casuistry, which are evidently beyond the powers of the unlearned, and must draw him, if he be a conscientious man, to the Rabbi to solicit his advice. Thus, one of the very first commandments with which the Jew begins the day, requires for its accurate fulfilment a degree of knowledge which is far beyond the attainment of the multitude. ”

“ Rabbi Chanania, the son of Akashia, said, "The Holy One, blessed be He, was pleased to make Israel worthy; wherefore He gave them a copious Torah and many commandments, as it is said, 'It pleased the Lord, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the Torah and make it honorable.'"
CHAPTER II All Israel have a portion in the world to come, and it is said, "And thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified".
1. Rabbi said, "which is the right course that a man should choose for himself? ”

“ When they came to the market-place they were told that there were no more Jews to be burnt. Now this stirred the heart of the Rabbi, and he also determined to be as brave as his heroic brethren. He went with the Prince nearer and nearer to the fire. All of a sudden he seized the Prince with both hands, for he was a very strong man, and thrust him right into the fire. ”

“ Reichman, colporteur of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Czernowitz, who came with us, made our way first of all to the palace, and the splendid private synagogue of the Rabbi, which stands opposite to it. The Rabbi, we found on inquiry, was still at his morning prayers, all by himself in a room adjoining the synagogue, but we might see the eldest son and future Zadik in the Beth-hammedrash. ”

“ Gomez," said the minister. "You are on your way to the synagogue?"
"Yes. Perhaps it may be the last service we will have in Shearith Israel before the cursed British guns blow our roof about our ears," answered the older [56] man. "Alas, Mr. Seixas, when you were elected our Rabbi but a year ago, I predicted a long and fruitful term of service for you in our midst. But now—" a hopeless shrug completed the sentence.
"Believe me, I shall not fail in my duty as long as I serve the congregation of Shearith Israel," answered the young Rabbi, rather stiffly. ”