large the golden germs of thought previously hidden in the schools of the
learned, yet numerous precepts, supposed to be purely Christian, lie enshrined in
the pages of the Talmud. It would be difficult to find a penal legislation more
distinctly humane. As for its myths, its allegories, its apparent absurdities, they
should be read in the spirit in which Christians read Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s
Progress.” The Talmud insists upon the pre-existence of the soul, on the dogmas
of Immortality and the Resurrection, it denies the doctrine of everlasting
damnation; it excludes no human being from the world to come. And as the
Talmud, continues Deutsch, although redacted at a later period, is, in point of
time, prior to the New Testament, the beautiful maxims of the former cannot
have been borrowed from the latter. In a word, it is a collection which took
nearly a thousand years to form, and has been commented upon for a thousand
years since. It breathes charity to all men. If we except a few items of
coarseness, such as must occur in every legal code, it is all good; at least, it is
never bad; it deserves all possible respect and even reverence. Such, in a
condensed form, is the account of the Talmud which Deutsch asks us to accept.
But it cannot be admitted that the defects of the Talmud are trivial, any more
than that the spirit of the Rabbins towards Christianity was tolerant. Nor can it
be admitted that the Talmud owes nothing to the Christian Scriptures.
On the first point hear what Professor Hurwitz says:—“The Talmud contains
many things which every enlightened, nay, every pious Jew, must sincerely wish
had never appeared there, or should at least long ago have been expunged from
its pages. Some of these Agadatha are objectionable per se; others, indeed, are
susceptible of explanations, but without them are calculated to produce false and
erroneous impressions.” So much may be said, we think, of the legends in the
Talmud; such as the size of Leviathan and the way in which he is to be killed
and cooked for the chosen people, and the marriage of Adam with Lilith before
the creation of Eve, with the diabolic progeny which sprang from them.
Another point to be considered is the influence of the Alexandrian books,
commonly known by us as the Apocrypha. Of these the Books of Wisdom and
Ecclesiasticus at any rate exhibit the reflections of singularly devout and
thoughtful minds, which had exercised themselves in the contemplation of the
writings of Moses and the prophets in combination with no inconsiderable
tincture of Greek philosophy. It would be a question of great interest to see how
far ideas suggested in those very remarkable compositions have found their way
into the Talmud.