Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 19, scan section 45

belong to the purpose of our history. We begin therefore with the second point. "As to the second point whether the word A!nim comprises s>lso Christians, I do not see how this can be denied. It is my firm conviction that Akum is nothings less nor more than non-Jews. And I believe that the Christians too belong to this class. Thus a law book that has appeared in the middle of the sixteenth century in Krakau should contain laws regulating the bchaTior of Jews (i) towards Jews, (a) toward planet-worshippers who live hundreds of milcS away? This is indeed ridicu- lous. Gentlemen, allow me to draw a comparison. Suppose, here in MUnster, a Jew would conceive a notion to sit down and write a new law book in which there an but two classes of laws, how the Jews should behave toward Jews and toward— well, for my part let him call them what he may, it means after all non-Jews ; suppose further that the prescribed behavior toward non-Jews is very rude and inhuman, and the author is held responsible for so treating the Christians, the learned Jew says : Ye Christians of Miinster are not at all included in the class of non-Jews, which class has reference to the — Hottentots ! " Now, gentlemen, it is just as ridiculous to assert that in the sixteenth century there have appeared laws in Krakau regulating the behavior of Jews toward planet * The testimonies of Dr. Treu, who was a Jew, we do not deem necessary to translate, especially as they may be understood from the answers of Dr. Ecker. However, the latter's testimony and our replies we translate literally for the purpose of enlightening such passages which are to be found in the Talmud. 128 APPENDIX A. worshippers, and the Christians are nowhere mentioned. And, gentlemen, since this point has received no emphasis on the part of my esteemed colleague, it is important to call attention to it ! If Akum does not comprise Christians, then laws against Christians are wholly missing. In the ' Shulchan Aruch ' there are mentioned only Jews and Akum ; we Christians are surely not Jews, hence we are beyond all doubt comprised in the term Akum. "I repeat once more, Akum is congruent with non-Jews. The Rabbis them- selves prove this. I have in my possession a recent Wilna edition of the ' Shulchan Aruch,' in which not infrequently the word Akum of the older editions is substituted by Eno Ichudi, i.e. non-Jew. The fear for the censor prompted many to an altera- tion, but in this case it has rather been an unhappy one, since the publishers them- selves say that Akum is synonymous with non-Jew." "We are in a position to meet also this issue of the Herr Expert. The term non-Jews is by no means generic for the term Christian. In order to fully perceive the truth of this statement, it remains for the learned doctor to merely cross the channel over to England. This great world dominating nation consists in its overwhelming majority of pious and strict Christians. They sacrifice millions for the propagation of the Christian creed, and the evangelic writ- ings all over the world. However, they call themselves with self- gratification, "The genuine Jews, sons of The New Union." They pretend to be the descendants of the enigmatically vanished ten tribes of Israel, and to still be Jews, body and soul. Very often you find on their worship places and educational institutions inscrip- tions in both English and Hebrew. Here you read in strikingly large letters; "Chapel of the Jews -Christians,'" " Jewish- Nazaric School." In the cosmopolis London the most influential princes and the highest state officers call themselves with self-conscious- ness, "Jew-Christians." What then is the decisive trait that makes the Christian a non-Jew? Furthermore, the theologically educated Expert can hardly be believed to be ignorant of the fact that the first adherents of Christianity in its statu nascendi had preserved the name Jews for a long period, had remained piously obedient to the customs, precepts and tenets of the Jews, and had in their outward apparel distinguished themselves in nothing from their former brethren in creed. Notwithstanding their sincere de- votion to the new movement, they still called themselves, "devout sons of Israel"; only few were they who assumed an outspoken antagonistic position with regard to the customary Rabbinic or Pharisaic ordinances, and were on this account stigmatized by the Talmud as "Min," "Apikores." Now, has non-Jews always been identical with Christian? Aside from this the first edition of the " Schulchan Aruch" was printed in Adrianople (Turkey), where the most inhabitants were Mussulmans. APPENDIX A. 129 " Such falsifications of the text in more recent editions have perplexed me to some extent, when I investigated the laws of Justus. The fourth law reads : ' When a Jew is met by an Akum (Christian) with a cross in his hand, the Jew is strictly pro- hibited from bowing his head.' However, in my Wilna edition I find instead of Akum the word adam, i.e. man. I then compared a new Stettin edition, and there I even find : ' When an obed kochabim (star worshipper) with abodath kochabim (idol) in hand meet,' whence nothing could, of course, be proved. Only in an older edition I have found the original : ' When an Akum meets you with a sheti vaereb {i.e. woof and warp = cross).' And, gentlemen, this proof is incontrovertible. It is known to everybody that no heathen reveres the cross. Akum here must mean a Christian." One moment, profound Herr Dr. Ecker, the case appears after all to be very far from being so manifest and ultimately settled. During their existence, extending over thousands of years, the Jews had experienced among the various nations many a thing of which many a sage can not even dream and which seems unknown also to Dr. Ecker, the theologian, who bears even the title Doctor. As there is in general nothing new under the sun, the consecration of the cross in Christianity was not a wholly new creation. In the Brahman religion the cross had enjoyed great esteem some six cen- turies B.C. The Hindu symbolized therein the space relations of the universe. According to accounts relating to those times, the Fakirs would stand motionless, their hands stretched cross- wise, for days or, as some would have it, even for weeks until the nails on their fingers would grow to be inches long. By thus blunt- ing their bodily sensibility they endeavored to give palpable ex- pression to the negation of man's earthly existence. The commen- tary to Eben Ezra, mekor chaim, gives in the book Margalioth an account of this custom. Accordingly, it is by no means so in- credible nor coiild have been so infrequent that a Jew should have met a heathen with a cross. The assumption is therefore plausible that the Talmud had in view such heathens. However, we admit that this is merely an hypothesis, and that Shulchan Aruch was