Friday, September 12, 1917

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE'

Page Twel4e

Heads Temple

Judaism and Christianity—
Major Differences Outlined

Right to Follow One's Own Dictates
Held the Basis of Genuine Goodwill

.

DR. TRUDE WEISS-ROSMARIN

(EDITOR'S NOTE: The fourth edition of Dr. Weiss-Ro-
smarm's widely discussed book "Judaism and Christianity:
The Difference" is just off the press. In view of the great
topical interest of the volume, we have asked the author to
summarize her main conclusions.)
THE NOTION THAT Judaism and Christianity must scrap their
differences and become one and identical is a thoroughly totali-
tarian aberration. It is foreign to the spirit of democracy which
encourages differences as the source and inspiration of a more
colorful and variegated national culture.
Democracy rests on the conviction that dissimilarities and
differences are facts of nature knowledgement of the many mir-
that dare not be invoked as a jus-
acles associated with his birth,
tification for inequality and dis-
career and death. The Gospels
crimination. The democratic way are one unbroken record of the
is that those of different views miracles performed and associ-
and beliefs respect the dissimilar ated with Jesus.
views and beliefs of their fellow-
To be a Christian means to
citizens.
"believe" them and to avow that
As Americans, "religious good through the Sacraments a direct
will" should never mean, for ei-
physical bond is established be-
ther Jews or Christians, to assim-
tween the worshipper bartaking
ilate their faith to the religion of of the Eucharist and Jesus, whose

In his daily prayers the Jew
proclaims "My ,God, the soul
which Thou hast given me is
pure." Christianity teaches that
. 1,th
man is sinful by birth and needs
the redeeming "grace" of the
Cross to escape hell-fire.
Christianity regards "the flesh"
as the cause of sin and so dis-
parages the body and its joys.
Judaism considers both body and
soul as potential vessels of holi-
ness. It is not the physical de-
sires but their degradation into
licentiousness that is at fault, ac-
cording to the lights of the best
Jewish minds.

SIN AND ATONEMENT

DR. ALAN S. GREEN of Tem-
ple Emanu El, Houston, Texas,
heads the new reform Temple
in Cleveland established' by
the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations in cooperation
with the two existing local
reform Temples.

is endowed with freedom of the
will. He can either be all-
righteous or all-wicked, for his
ethical conduct is solely up to
his own decision.
Christian belief is predicated
on the doctrine of "Original Sin."
those with whom they desire to body the Holy Water represents. It submits that all men are taint-
live in friendship and amity.
ed with Adam's guilt and so are
* *
Genuine "goodwill" is not synon-
"lost and condemned," unless
ymous with the leveling of dif- EVICAL FREEDOM
they avow that Jesus died to
ferences. It means that we un-
JUDAISM TEACHES that man atone for man's original sin.
derstand that very man has the
right to follow the dictates of his
conscience and worship God as
his heart impels him.

THE JEWISH interpretation of
ethical freedom implies that re-
pentance is the omnipotent cure
of sin. The Christian doctrine of
"Original Sin," on the other
hand, leads to the conclusion
that man is too weak to repent
effectively. He is too sinful to
atone and so needs the help of
Jesus.
The Christian finds atonement
in the belief that Jesus died for
the sins of mankind.This idea
of "vicarious atonement i.e. the
payment of the penalty not by
the sinner but by a substitute
for him, cannot be reconciled
with Jewish convictions.
Judaism acclaims justice as
one of the foundations of the
universe. Justice, however, re-
quires that the sinner be pun-
ished and not a perfectly inno-

cent "Savior."
Christianity, especially in its
Catholic interpretation, exalts
asceticism as holiness. Celibacy
and poverty are praised as spe-
cial Christian virtues. Judaism,
on the other hand, proclaims "in-
crease and multiply" as the first
commandments and recommends
early marriage and a modicum
of wordly goods and joys as
most conducive to piety.

*

ALL GOD'S CHILDREN

JEWS CANNOT accept Jesus
because their teachings of God
make it impossible for them to
worship a "Son of God." All
men are God's children, as Ju-
daism sees it. All are equal in
His sight and so no mortal
should be raised above the rest
of mankind.
As to accepting Jesus as a
"Prophet" or a "Rabbi," the Gos-
pels conclusively prove that he
neither thought of himself as a
prophet nor as a Rabbi, but only
as the "Son of God."
Moreover, Jesus' teachings f
in most respects, contrar. , 3 .■
those of Judaism. This is lgi-
cal, for otherwise what need
would there have been of estab-
lishing a new religion?
Although Judaism parts ways
with Christianity in practically
all areas of belief, it embrace:
Christians, too, in the progres-
sive cosmopolitanism of its world
view.

* * *

MISGUIDED 'LEADERS

UNFORTUNATELY, not a few
Jewish leaders in goodwill efforts
betray an attitude resembling
that of the early suffragettes.
They believe they can attain
equality in the Christian com-
munity by stressing that there is
no difference between Judaism
and Christianity . . . They are,
however, as misguided as the
early Lucy Stoners, who based
their claims on the ridiculous
contention that there are no dif-
ferences between men and
women.
Genuine, durable goodwill—as
a happy marriage—is built upon
understanding of and respect for
the differences setting the groups,
or sexes, apart. In delineating
the differences of Judaism and
Christianity, I have been guided
by the desire to strengthen Jews
in their faith, while recognizing
and respecting the different be-
liefs and convictions of their
neighbors.
The most fundamental differ-
ence between Judaism and Chris-
tianity is that the former avows
the belief in the Only and
Unique God, while the latter
worships the Trinity of "God, Son
and the Holy Spirit." Jews hold
that the uniqueness of God must
be stressed to enable monotheism
really to come into its own.
Oneness in number must be
implemented by oneness in kind,
i.e. uniqueness. Judaism. cannot
"accept Jesus" because this would
be irreconcilable with the deep-
seated Jewish conviction that God
is unique and that man can nev-
er partake of this uniqueness.

BEST WISHES

for the

NEW YEAR

* * •

DIFFER IN MIRACLES

TO JUDAISM MAN is man and
God is God—and shall remain
God in unequalled and eternal
majesty. Even Moses, "the mas-
ter of the Prophets," was repre-
sented as nothing else but a
man, more pious and more learn-
• ed than other mortals, but still
only a man.
The Bible refers to him as "the
man Moses," so as to preclude
that he be deified.
Miracles are unimportant in
Jewish belief, but rank promi-
nently in Christianity. Through-
out post-Biblical Jewish litera-
ture there is a pronounced and
authoritative trend to minimize,
through renationalization, the
miraculous events recorded in
the Bible. At any rate, the es-
sentials of Jewish belief are not
connected with miracles.
In contradistinction, the Chris-
tian belief in Jesus implies ac-

SAM'S, INC.

RANDOLPH at MONROE

CAMPUS MARTIUS at WOODWARD

