Editorial July 25, 1903 Issue

A Significant Address

W.

It may be questioned if any body of religious thought is undergoing more rapid change than that of Judaism. The shameful persecution to which the Hebrew people are still subject in some countries, and at the hands of so-called Christians, finds a significant rebuke in the frequent and emphatic expressions of veneration and love for the character of the founder of Christianity by the more progressive Jews.

Rabbi Hirsch of Chicago has recently said in a public address, we "regard Jesus as one of the noblest spiritual teachers that ever appeared in the world. . . . The so-called disciples of Jesus have persecuted the Jews for ages and the Jews have borne these persecutions with lamblike gentleness and silence. If Jesus Christ should return to the earth to-morrow he would be welcomed in every Jewish synagogue in the land, and every Jew would say with David 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the king of glory shall come in.' " It is of further interest to note that this thought was expressed before the Epworth League of the St. James Methodist Church of Chicago. Verily "the world do move!"

One other passage from the Rabbi's address will be a surprise to many. He said, "The Jews do not believe at all in original sin and inherited depravity. They believe that every man is a responsible free agent, and is not involved in the guilt of his fathers or children. . . . They do not believe the story of the fall of man in the book of Genesis in its literal sense, . . . they consider the story of the Garden of Eden an allegory."

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