Who Are You Calling a Hellenist? Models of Integration

... If a man should say to you: "There is wisdom among the nations", believe it. See! It is written: "I will make the wise vanish from Edom, understanding from Esau’s mount (Obadiah 1:8)". If a man should say: "There is Torah among the nations", do not believe it, as it is written: " Her king and her leaders are in exile, Torah is no more".

The Gemara presents a similar dispute: The Jewish Sages say that during the day the sun travels beneath the firmament and is therefore visible, and at night it travels above the firmament. And the sages of the nations of the world say that during the day the sun travels beneath the firmament, and at night it travels beneath the earth and around to the other side of the world. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: And the statement of the sages of the nations of the world appears to be more accurate than our statement. A proof to this is that during the day, springs that originate deep in the ground are cold, and during the night they are hot compared to the air temperature, which supports the theory that these springs are warmed by the sun as it travels beneath the earth.

Our Holy Master compiled the Mishna. From the days of Moses our Master till our Holy Master no text book of the Oral Torah for public instruction had been issued, the practice theretofore being for the president of a tribunal or a prophet who flourished in a given generation to keep privately written memoranda of his Masters' oral teachings, out of which he, in turn, instructed the public orally.

And he collected all traditional precedents, judicial pronouncements, expositions and explanations... and from it all he compiled the Book of the Mishna, out of which he gave public instruction to scholars, and its fame reached to all Israel, and written copies of it were made universally, and its circulation reached everywhere, so that the Oral Torah be not forgotten from the midst of Israel.

But why did our Holy Master do thus, and did not leave the matter as it was heretofore? Because he observed that the number of students continued to decrease, whereas the volume of oppression continued to increase with renewed strength; ... therefore, compiled one book, a handy volume for all, so that they may study it even in haste and not forget it...

In this age, with afflictions mightily intensified, the pressure of the hour weighing heavily upon everybody... all commentaries, treatises, and responsa which the Gaonim compiled... are preplexities in our day and only a select few comprehend... not to speak of the Talmud itself...

Therefore, have I, Moses son of Maimon... made a comprehensive study of all those books and minded myself to construct out of all these compilations a clear summary on the subject of that which is forbidden or permitted, defiled or clean along with the other laws of the Torah, the whole scope in pure language and concise style, so that the Oral Torah be entirely methodical in the mouth of everybody, without query and without repartee, without the contentious thus of one and such of another, but clear text, cohesive, correct, in harmony with the law which is defined out of all these existing compilations and commentaries from the days of our Holy Master till now;

so that all laws be open to young and old, whether they be laws concerning each and every commandment or whether they be laws concerning matters instituted by scholars and prophets.

Although I know that many partial critics will ascribe my opinion concerning the theory of Aristotle to insufficient understanding, or to intentional opposition, I will not refrain from stating in short the results of my researches, however poor my capacities may be. I hold that the theory of Aristotle is undoubtedly correct as far as the things are concerned which exist between the sphere of the moon and the centre of the earth. Only an ignorant person rejects it, or a person with preconceived opinions of his own, which he desires to maintain and to defend, and which lead him to ignore clear facts. But what Aristotle says concerning things above the sphere of the moon is, with few exceptions, mere imagination and opinion; to a still greater extent this applies to his system of Intelligences, and to some of his metaphysical views; they include great improbabilities, [promote] ideas which all nations consider as evidently corrupt, and cause views to spread which cannot be proved.

Being convinced that the question whether the heavens are eternal or not cannot be decided by proof, neither in the affirmative nor in the negative, we have enumerated the objections raised to either view, and shown how the theory of the Eternity of the Universe is subject to stronger objections, and is more apt to corrupt the notions concerning God [than the other]. Another argument can be drawn from the fact that the theory of the Creation was held by our Father Abraham, and by our Teacher Moses.

Israel's youth, as a rule, trained their minds in non-Jewish schools, in independent, philosophic studies, and drew from Arabic sources the concepts of the Greek philosophy. As the highest purpose of human existence they learned to consider self-perfectation through the knowledge of truth. Their awakened minds felt themselves in contradiction to Judaism, whose spirit they did not comprehend; their life-view was opposed to a view of life which lays chiefest stress upon the deed, upon action, and looks upon knowledge only as a means to such action. The age gave birth to a man, a mind, who, the product of uncomprehended Judaism and Arabic science, was obliged to reconcile the strife which raged in his own breast in his own manner, and who, by proclaiming it to the world, became the guide of all in whom the same conflict existed.

This great man, to whom, and to whom alone, we owe the preservation of practical Judaism to our time, is responsible, because he sought to reconcile Judaism with the difficulties which confronted it from without, instead of developing it creatively from within, for all the good and the evil which bless and afflict the heritage of the father. His peculiar mental tendency was Arabic-Greek, and his conception of the purpose of life the same. He entered into Judaism from without, bringing with him opinions of whose truth he had convinced himself from extraneous sources and — he reconciled. For him, too, self-perfecting through the knowledge of truth was the highest aim, the practical he deemed subordinate. For him knowledge of God was the end, not the means; hence he devoted his intellectual powers to speculations upon the essence of Deity, and sought to bind Judaism to the results of his speculative investigations as to postulates of science or faith. The Mizvoth became for him merely ladders, necessary only to conduct to knowledge or to protect against error, this latter often only the temporary and limited error of polytheism.

You see, instead of taking one's stand within Judaism, and asking, "Inasmuch as Judaism makes these demands of me, what opinion of the purpose of man must it have?" instead of comprehending each demand in its totality according to Bible and Talmud, and then asking, "What is the reason and idea of this injunction?" people set up their standpoints outside of Judaism, and sought to draw it over to them; they conceived a priori opinions as to what the Mitzvoth might be, without disturbing themselves as to the real appearance of the Mitzvoth in all its parts... Other men, possessed of a deeper comprehension of Judaism, became at first enemies of this philosophical spirit, and later, of all specifically intellectual and philosophical pursuits in general... The inevitable consequence was, therefore, that... every mind that felt the desire of independent activity was obliged to forsake the paths of study and research in general open to the human intellect, and to take its recourse to dialectic subtleties and hair-splittings. Only a very few during this entire period stood with their intellectual efforts entirely within Judaism, and built it up out of its own inner concepts. Most distinguished among them are the author of the "Cuzari," and the son of Nachman...

When the external yoke began to grow lighter, and the spirit felt itself freer, then arose a brilliant, respect-inspiring personality, Mendelssohn, which by its commanding influence has led the later development up to this day. This commanding individual, who had not drawn his mental development from Judaism, who was great chiefly in philosophical disciplines, in metaphysics, and aesthetics, who treated the Bible only philologically and aesthetically, and did not build up Judaism as a science from itself, but merely defended it against political stupidity and pietistic Christian audacity, and who was personally an observant Jew, accomplished this much, that he showed the world and his brethren that it was possible to be a strictly religious Jew and yet to shine distinguished as the German Plato.

This "and yet" was decisive. His followers contented themselves with developing Bible study in the philologic-sesthetic sense, with studying the Moreh, and with pursuing and spreading humanistic letters; but Judaism, Bible and Talmud as Jewish science, were neglected.

And you shall love your neighbor as yourself:... And the philosophers have already explained that the primary axiom which is the root of moral philosophy is that one should will that everything that he does be a universal axiom (chok kollel). This means that that if he should want that evil occur to his fellow so that he will benefit, he must evaluate it to see if he would want it to be a universal axiom, such that this axiom would be that everyone may cause damage to their fellows when it brings benefit to themselves. And this will certainly not be acceptable to him, that damage should be caused to him in order that benefit come to his fellows. And through this, he too will desist from doing it to his fellow. And likewise if he is able to benefit his fellow and he desists from it, he must evaluate it to see if he would want this to be a universal axiom, such that all people would desist from benefitting him. And this is [the meaning of] that which Rabbi Akiva said, that it is the great principle (klal gadol) of the Torah. However the critical philosophers questioned this maxim, since this axiom is still not universal. For according to this, everyone would act on the basis of the benefit to themselves, whereas it is fitting that all of their actions be on account of axioms of sublime universal reason without any admixture of personal benefit. And for this reason, Ben Azzai elevated the axiom to a more sublime matter when he based [it] on "This is the book of the generations of man." For all men are bound together like one body. All of them were created in the image of God to complete the highest image and form which contains the souls of all mankind. All of them are like one single person, and like one body which is composed of different members... According to this theory, the words of Rabbi Akiva follow his own understanding (leshitato), since he expounds (Sifra Behar 5:43, Bava Metzia 62a), "Your life comes before that of your fellow."