e after

CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, 01110

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Thursday, September 7, 1950

Page 23

composed in Greek we-e by Jew-
ish authors who lived in Helle-
nistic centers beyond the borders
of Palestine.
• • •
ALL OF THESE WRITINGS
are of Biblical character and pre-
sumably laid claim to sacred
rank among the Scriptures. But
they failed of admission to the
canon. The criterion of the
Scribes or Pharisees which de-
termined the admission or ex-
clusion of a book from the Scrip-
tures _was the acceptance or re-
jection of its claiin to . divine iri=
spiration, or its being inspired
by the holy spirit.
It would appear that a work
written outside the Holy Land in
a foreign tongue was automatic-
ally excluded as lacking divine
authentication. Likewise an arbi-
trary dictum declared that the
prophecies of haggai, Zechariah
and Malachi sealed the end of
prophetic revelation.
In other words, "prophecy
ceased in Israel" at the conclu-
sion of the Persian period. Thus,
no book which clearly belonged
to the Hellenistic, Hasmonaean
or later periods could gain ad-
mission to the canon according

Apocryphal Books Shed
New Light on Judaism

By DR. ABRAHAM A. NEUMAN

INCE THE PUBLICATION last spring of the first volume of the 30-volume Dropsie Col-
k) lege sponsored "Jewish Apocryphal Literature," (a second volume will come off the
press this fall), I have been asked time and a gain: What is the Apocrypha? Why should a
Jewish institution of learning sponsor a new translation of it? What is its significance in
Jewish scholarship?

The literature which we call erature into a form of Christian years ago to ban these books are
apocryphal and which comprises thought. This was achieve(' partly no longer valia today.
Surely no time could be more
what is generally known as the through conscious interpolations
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and partly by means of inter- fitting for this act of restoration
pretation. For as Christian schol-
ranks among the world's great ars were largely removed from than our own period fraught with
religious classics. Like the Bible, the Jewish milieu it was but tragedy but also with millennial
it is neither a single work nor a natural for them to lose an in- hopes for the world in general
and for Israel in particular even
compilation of a series of unre- timate appreciation of the sub- as in the days of the Apocalypists
tleties
of
Jewish
religious
thought
lated books. It is a unified litera-
whose writings loom so large in
this literature.
ture of varied theme that
breathes the living soul of Israel
The writings generally known
as it expressed itself in the re-
as the Apocrypha and Pseude-
ligiously turbulent era between
pigrapha are a part of the Jewish
the close of the Hebrew Bible
literature belonging chiefly to the
and the completion of the New
period of the Second Common-
Testament.
wealth. Some of the writings
were composed in the traditions
The apocryphal literature bears
of prophecy; others are akin to
a dual relation to the synagogue
the Wisdom literature or t h e
and to the church. The syna-
narrative historical books of the
gogue was its natural parent, the
Bible. Those works which origi-
church its guardian or foster-par-
nated in Palestine were written
ent. The entire literature wheth-
in Hebrew or Aramaic. The books
e• written originally in Hebrew,
Aramaic or Greek was the cre-
ation of the Jewish religious ge-
nius. The authors belonged to
Season's Greetings
various schools of thought with-
in Judaism. Some were Pharisees,
DR.,NEUMAN
others belonged to the mystic vi-
• • •
sionaries, the Apocalyptists. But
and
to
read
into
these writings
all were children of the syna-
their
own
religious
ideals and
gogue expressing each in his own
manner the religious perception Christological conceptions.
The scholars feel that the time
of a Jewish soul.
1951 E. Ferry WA. 1-7990
has
come when this entire litera-
But the synagogue would not
recognize the claim of these writ- ture ought to be reclaimed for
Baker's Equipment
ings to the religious birthright the Jewish people and ought to
and Supplies
within the Canon. They were be re-interpreted in the light of
spiritually exiled: they were rel- its original significance within
egated as Sefarim Hizonim, out- the orbit of Jewish history.
As Jewish literature the books
side the confines of sacred scrip-
ture. For a time many of these of the Apocrypha are part of the
Best Wishes for the
books continued to live in a twi- spiritual essence of Judaism. It
light zone unrecognized by the is the task of Jewish schllarship
New Year
synagogue but finding temporary to redeem our disinherited treas-
shelter in the Jewish-Greek ures. The considerations that
translation of the Bible known were operative more than 2,000
as the Septuagint.
Hidden or kept secret by the
synagogue, they came to be
To All Our Friends
known by the equivalent Greek
Happy New Year
designation, "Apocrypha," finally,
that formally adopted the major
WO. 2-0433
945 Cherry
portion of these books as its own,
giving them permanent shelter
and the security of official adop-
tion.
a
• • •
Best Wishes for the
New Year
THE SYNAGOGUE may well
813 W. Grand Blvd.
be grateful to the church for
having nurtured and preserved
TA. 5-0950
these precious creations of Juda-
ism for almost 2,000 years. If it
were not fog the church, not a
trace of this literature would
have come down to us. On the
other hand, the church in adopt-
ing the Apocrypha as part of its
133 Grand River
sacred literature transformed
WO. 1-7567
what was essentially Jewish lit-

to this ruling, no matter how in
trinsically valuable its content or
teaching might be.
But in line with all human
experiences, the apocryphal lit-
erature proves that ideas cannot
be suppressed by bans and
threats. Although the writings
were shunned by the masses who
heeded the admonitions of their
religious teachers, there were
groups of enthusiasts and mystic
sects who were enthralled by the
visions and daring flights of
these rebel prophets, and aecepT
ed their teachings in defiance of
accepted authority.

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