Spiritual Growth.— The returned Babylon ian exiles naturally craved a more spiritual mode of worship than that of bloody sacrifices. In the land of their captivity they had wor shiped God without an altar. King Josiah's reform restricting all offerings to one chosen place had taken root. The farmers of Judea could bring or even see a sacrifice but rarely; they could fulfil Hosea's prediction: 'We shall make good the bullocks with our lips." Still there was the temple with its altars of incense and sacrifice; there was the caste of the 'Co hanim" claiming descent from 'Aaron, alone qualified to minister and partly supported by a tribute paid in kind ('Terumah"), which might be eaten only in 'levitical cleanness" by them and their households. Then Ezra, although of the priestly caste, and his associates and suc cessors of the Great Synagogue, began building up the liturgy which in its outlines is used still by the Jews of our day. Its main elements are: the reading of the Shema ('Hear 0 Israel"), which is Deut. iv, 4-9, xi, 13-21, and the last five verses of Num. xv; the former two pas sages inculcating belief in God's unity and in national reward and punishment, demand "thou shalt speak of them when thou liest down and when thou risest"; the latter .to commem orate briefly the liberation from Egypt. When "thou liest down and risest" was interpreted to mean at even and morning tide, thus enabling many to join in worship. Among the benedic tions drawn up to precede these readings one was written to combat three forms of false be lief. It blesses the Lord 'who formeth light and createth darkness," in protest against Per sian dualism; it asserts that He renews on each day the work of creation, in opposition to a godless philosophy; it names Him as the maker of sun, moon and stars to rebuke those who worshiped the luminaries as gods. The other chief element is the prayer proper, modified for Sabbath, festivals, new moons and fasts, spoken in standing posture twice daily, morn ing and afternoon; a third recital in • the night service was made obligatory only by the ef forts of the patriarch Gamaliel about 100 A.D. A grace after meals was elaborated, based on the command in Deut. ix, 1: 'thou shalt bless the Lord .thy God for the goodly land, etc."; and other home devotions for hallowing Sab baths and festivals at the evening meal, to denote the return of work time, special services for Passover night, and for many other do mestic occasions, were prepared. To the duty of reciting the liturgy was added that of hear ing at stated times — Sabbaths, festivals, Mon days and Thursdays — the written Law read in public. Nehemiah's wooden turret (viii)
is the pattern for the platform from which the scroll of the law is read to-day, as Ezra read it to men, women and children assembled around Later ater on lessons from the prophets were added; in the days of Jesus it had become customary to preach on a text from this lesson. Thus while sacrifices went on in the temple, the synagogue (q.v.) was ready in and out side of the holy land whenever the Israelites met, to satisfy their needs with common exer cises—confession, praise, prayer, the study of God's law, comfort from the prophets, moni tion to faith and good works. When the tem ple fell, the synagogue had almost supplanted it by greater usefulness. The Pharisees, or companions as they called them selves, had already taught the people that learn ing in the written law and in the traditions was weightier than priestly descent; as the Mishnah blunty puts it: an adulterine bastard, if a dis ciple of the sages, is of more importance than an unlearned high priest. The rabbis of the Mishnah and Talmud and all their successors in the rabbinical office have been either Phari sees or the spiritual descendants of the Phari saic party, which represented the main current of Jewish thought.
nfluenced by Conditions.— The rules com prised under the name of the "ban of Rabbenu Gershom" (Rabbi Gershom ben Judah, b. at Metz, 960; d. at Mayence, 1040), form the best illustration of a principle proclaimed by the rabbis and accepted by the Jewish people as a concession to the nations among whom they dwell. The date and place of the synod which issued this "ban') is rather uncertain; the latest researches fix it at about the year 1000 and at Mayence. It was pronounced against Jews liv ing in Christian countries, and accepted by those alone, who should be married to more than one wife at a time, or who should divorce a wife (except for notorious adultery) with out her consent, or who should put obstacles in the way of one apostatizing under fear of death when he tried to return to the fold. But this decree of comparatively late date is only the outcome of the principle declared by Sam uel at Nehardea (about 235 A.D.) : stat ute of the kingdom is that is, when the law of a country does not demand from the Jew anything contrary to the law of God, he should obey the law of the country in which he lives.
Bibliography.— Kohut, ( Geschichte der Deutschen Jude& ' • Dembitz, 'Jewish Services in Synagogue and Home' • Rabbinowicz, (Leg islation Civile du Talmud,' Crimi nelle du Talmud.)