The Cyrus Cylinder -- An ancient clay cylinder with a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of Persian king Cyrus the Great. The Cyrus Cylinder has traditionally been seen by biblical scholars as corroboration of Cyrus' policy of repatriation of the Jewish people following their Babylonian captivity, as described in the book of Ezra.
Samuel Holdheim
"This Is Our Task" (1853)
Thus, my friends, we shall safeguard our position internally and externally. What the ancient sages called the seven Noahide duties in their universal human application, we now call the Jewish idea of God and the Jewish ethical Weltanschauung (philosophy or worldview). What they considered the whole Mosaic ceremonial law as the eternal and exclusive heritage of Israel, we call the inextinguishable historic characteristic of the Jewish people, the singular spiritual life of Judaism.
This, then, is our task: to maintain Judaism within the Jewish people and at the same time to spread Judaism amongst the nations; to protect the sense of Jewish unity and life and faith without diminishing the sense of unity with all men; to nourish the love for Judaism without diminishing the love of man. We pray that God may give us further strength to search out the way of truth and not to stray from the path of love!
"This Is Our Task" (1853)
Thus, my friends, we shall safeguard our position internally and externally. What the ancient sages called the seven Noahide duties in their universal human application, we now call the Jewish idea of God and the Jewish ethical Weltanschauung (philosophy or worldview). What they considered the whole Mosaic ceremonial law as the eternal and exclusive heritage of Israel, we call the inextinguishable historic characteristic of the Jewish people, the singular spiritual life of Judaism.
This, then, is our task: to maintain Judaism within the Jewish people and at the same time to spread Judaism amongst the nations; to protect the sense of Jewish unity and life and faith without diminishing the sense of unity with all men; to nourish the love for Judaism without diminishing the love of man. We pray that God may give us further strength to search out the way of truth and not to stray from the path of love!