Word: bernsteining
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
What do modern Jews believe? To answer this question briefly for U.S. Christians and for Jews themselves, Rabb Philip Bernstein, president of the Centra Conference of American Rabbis, wrote an article for LIFE last fall. Now expanded and published in book form, with wood cuts by Quaker Fritz Eichenberg, Wha the Jews Believe (Farrar, Straus & Young; $1.25) is a lucid and readable primer of Judaism from a cheerfully humanistic point of view...
...Adult Males. In marked contrast to Christianity's promises of salvation, Jewish religious thought concerns itself primarily with the here & now, says Bernstein ; the Jew's chief reward for an ethical and God-centered life is the good life itself. "Most Jews have assented to the judgment of an olden rabbinic teacher who, after describing our earthly life as an antechamber, added, 'One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than the whole life of the world to come...
Rallying Point of Loyalty. Torah is the keystone of Jewish spiritual life. The word Torah, according to Bernstein, has a triple meaning-the sacred scrolls used ritualistically in every synagogue, the first five books of the Bible which they contain, or the whole body of Jewish learning. Trie study of Torah is the duty of every religious Jew. "It is an unending source of inspiration, wisdom and practical help. Its requirements bring God into his life every day, constantly. He begins and ends the day with prayers. He thanks God before and after every meal, even when he washes...
Most important Jewish prayer is the Shema: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One." This affirmation of monotheism was originally a protest against idolatry. Bernstein retells the legend of how Abraham, left as a boy to keep his father's idol shop, smashed every idol but the largest, and told his father that this one had broken all the others...
With the coming of Christianity, the Shema acquired a new significance. Writes Bernstein: "Although the Jews are able to understand Jesus, the Jew of Nazareth, they have never been able to understand or accept the idea of the Trinity. Down through the ages innumerable Jews suffered, and many were put to death for rejecting this church doctrine . . . Thus from the beginning of the Christian era . . . the Shema has been the rallying point of Jewish loyalty confronting the persecution or the blandishments of the daughter religion...