Article August 21, 1915 Issue

Christian Science and the Jew

ISRAEL GITTELSON

Whenever and wherever I attend a Christian Science service, I find a goodly number of Jews enthusiastically taking part in the services and testifying to the grand verity of this teaching, and I desire to express my profound gratitude for the bringing of so many of these my people into this wonderful truth. It is recorded in the Scriptures that the Master enjoined his disciples to go "unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." He also said, "Feed my sheep." It is told of him that he preached in the synagogue and in the temple at Jerusalem, but although "he came unto his own, . . . his own received him not." I am therefore very grateful that through Christian Science we are now coming into our own, and it should be particularly gratifying to all Christian people that another statement of the Master is being fulfilled, "And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd."

I was born a Jew of the tribe of Judah, and raised an Israelite, that is, in the fear of the Lord, and now I am a Christian Scientist, to me a grand evolution, a spiritual growth. I have come into the understanding of man's unity with God, the selfsame God of Israel whom I have learned to know more intimately as the ever present God, who is always ready and willing to aid and guide us in everything that is good. Christian Science teaches that God is Love, "the underived, the incomparable, the infinite All of good, the alone God" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 249).

I was once asked by a Jewish rabbi why so many Jews go into Christian Science, and he added, "Where wilt thou find a God like our God?" The Christian Scientist might respond by saying, "Where will you find a God like our God, who is Love, and Life and Truth, the infinite Mind?" It is recorded in the Hebrew writings that a certain centurion came to Rabbi Hillel, the compiler of the Talmud, and said: "I came to ask you to teach me this great religion of yours, for I must know your God. Can you teach it to me this day, for before the setting of the sun I must return to camp." The rabbi replied: "You may return to camp immediately, for I will teach you this religion of ours in one minute, and that is, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." You will then know God."

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