within me, and I could not pardon the Jewish lawgiver for his intolerance of images and every sort of plastic representation. I failed to see that despite his hostile attitude to art, Moses was himself a great artist, gifted with the artist's spirit. Only in him, as in his Egyptian neighbors, the artistic instinct was exercised solely upon the colossal and the indestructible. But, unlike the Egyptians, he did not shape his works of art out of brick and granite. His pyramids were built of men, his obelisks hewn out of human material. A feeble race of shepherds he transformed into a people bidding defiance to the centuries, a great, eternal, holy people, God's people he intended to build, an exemplar to all other peoples, the prototype of mankind: he created Israel; with greater justice than the Roman poet could this artist boast of having erected a monument more enduring than brass. . . . Now I understand that the Greeks were only beautiful youths, while the Jews have always been men, powerful, inflexible men; not only in early times, to-day, too, in spite of eighteen hundred years of persecution and misery. HEINRICH HEINE. HOU who so high hast raised me by Thy love, My eyes look upward to Thy realms above. Thou art my strength, on Thee will I rely, Thy service I have made my chosen part, IV. An Ideal of a Jew. Ye shall be perfect with the Lord, your God. HE pious Jew bears about with him unrepiningly the burden of his people's faith, holds worldly delights in contempt, is moderate in all the workings of his mind, is master of his passions, and, in sooth, has God continually before his eyes. The path which his feet tread is straightforward, and the words he utters to others are soft and sweet; he educates his children to a worthy life, infuses love and righteousness into all his works, and seeks to lead others in the right way; he is of a contented mind, and rejoices when the world goes well with others. He loves his neighbors and friends, lends to the needy, gives alms secretly and does good purely for God's sake. Such a one you will find early and find late in the house of religious study and prayer, where he may add to the store of his knowledge and pray from the depths of his reverent heart. ET Israel strive for truth alone, In love to bless mankind; And in the bond of brotherhood So that they all with one accord ELEAZAR BEN YEHUDAH V. The Purpose of the Commandments. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the path of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and seek Him with their whole heart.— Psalm cxix. 1, 2. WHAT are the things that we Jews are commanded or forbidden? They are simple and well known. The first command is concerning God, and affirms that God is almighty and perfect, self-sufficient and sufficient for all other things; indeed, the beginning, the middle and the end of all things. He is manifest in His works and benefits, and more conspicuous than any other being whatever; but as to His essential nature, most obscure. All materials, let them be ever so costly, are unworthy to compose an image of Him, and all arts are inartistic to express the idea of Him. . . . All men ought to follow and worship Him in the exercise of virtue; for this way of worship is the most holy. And we ought first to pray for the common welfare of all, and after that for our own, since we are made for fellowship with one another, and he who prefers the common good to his own private good is especially acceptable to God. And let our prayers and supplications be made to God, not so much that He would give us what is good as that we may only receive and use it as good. FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS. t HY word a wondrous guiding star On pilgrim hearts doth rise; Leads to their Lord who dwells afar And makes the simple wise. E'er sink in night, But still in every spirit shine, That none may miss Thy light divine. VI. The two Guides. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.-Deut xxxii. 7. WO angels guide The paths of man, both aged and yet young As angels are, ripening through endless years. On one he leans: some call her Memory, Some Tradition; and her voice is sweet With deep mysterious accords. The other floating above, holds down a lamp which streams A light divine and searching on the earth, Compelling eyes and footsteps: Memory yields, But for Tradition: we walk evermore To higher paths by brightening Reason's lamp. GEORGE ELIOT. A man is born by the side of his father and there he remains. QUOTED BY EMERSON. A nation lives by its traditions, and the deeper the love that binds the members of a family together the richer the store of its reminiscences and the more numerous its memorial days. G. G. When wisdom entereth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things.-Proverbs ii, 10. 12. THE Soul can shed a glory On every work well done, ELIGION, they say, is only custom. I might agree to this if the "only" were left out. Customs are the flowers of civilization. You can tell a man's training, yea, even much of his character, by his habits. Morality, Ethics, "Sittlichkeit," are words derived from roots denoting manner of living-that which is acknowledged and adopted by the people as right and seemly. There |