“Destroyed and rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt, Jerusalem rises again, symbol of the vitality and pertinacity of an heroic race. The Jews, who are as old as history, may be as lasting as civilization.” Our Oriental Heritage, 349
“We must study, in greater detail than their neighbors, those numerically and geographically insignificant Jews, who gave to the world one of its greatest literatures, two of its most influential religions, and so many of its profoundest men.” Our Oriental Heritage, 298
“The central idea in Judaic theology was that of sin.” Our Oriental Heritage, 313
“The Prophets themselves did not pretend to foretell, so much as to speak out; they were eloquent members of the Opposition.” Our Oriental Heritage, 316
“It (the Law) gave to the Jews, through the two thousand years of wandering which they were soon to begin, a ‘portable Fatherland,’ as Heine was to call it, an intangible and spiritual state; it kept them united despite every dispersion, proud despite every defeat, and brought them across the centuries to our own time, a strong and apparently indestructible people.” Our Oriental Heritage, 339
“Strangest to say, the greatest of the commandments is not listed among the Ten, though it is part of the ‘Law.’ It occurs in Leviticus, xix, 18, lost amid a ‘repetition of sundry laws,’ and reads very simply: ‘Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.’ Our Oriental Heritage, 339
Reading Durant on the Jews and Palestine is not only a reminder of how long that sliver of the globe has served as a cauldron of conflict, but also of the gifts given to humanity by a people who would otherwise be regarded as inconsequential in world history as followers of Zoroaster. Without the literature, law, and religion of the Jews, Western culture is unimaginable.
“We must study, in greater detail than their neighbors, those numerically and geographically insignificant Jews, who gave to the world one of its greatest literatures, two of its most influential religions, and so many of its profoundest men.” Our Oriental Heritage, 298
“The central idea in Judaic theology was that of sin.” Our Oriental Heritage, 313
“The Prophets themselves did not pretend to foretell, so much as to speak out; they were eloquent members of the Opposition.” Our Oriental Heritage, 316
“It (the Law) gave to the Jews, through the two thousand years of wandering which they were soon to begin, a ‘portable Fatherland,’ as Heine was to call it, an intangible and spiritual state; it kept them united despite every dispersion, proud despite every defeat, and brought them across the centuries to our own time, a strong and apparently indestructible people.” Our Oriental Heritage, 339
“Strangest to say, the greatest of the commandments is not listed among the Ten, though it is part of the ‘Law.’ It occurs in Leviticus, xix, 18, lost amid a ‘repetition of sundry laws,’ and reads very simply: ‘Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.’ Our Oriental Heritage, 339
Reading Durant on the Jews and Palestine is not only a reminder of how long that sliver of the globe has served as a cauldron of conflict, but also of the gifts given to humanity by a people who would otherwise be regarded as inconsequential in world history as followers of Zoroaster. Without the literature, law, and religion of the Jews, Western culture is unimaginable.
In his chapter titled “Judea,” Durant drops his bucket into this well of Judaic thought and literature. In fifty pages, he sketches out a history of the Jews from Abraham to the age just before the coming of Christ; he gives succinct and valuable excursions through various books of the Old Testament; he discusses the gifts of the Jews in the realms of religion, family, and law.
His discussion of these last contributions, particularly as the law related to the Ten Commandments, made the greatest impression on me. (Here in this brief discussion I will, as does Durant, follow the Protestant rather than the Catholic numeration of the Commandments.) Durant pays slight attention to the religious meanings and ramifications behind these laws, attending instead to their cultural importance, and by doing so, allowed me to understand the influence of these commandments in a different way.
The Fourth Commandment establishes a weekly day of rest, “one of the strongest institutions of mankind,” a commandment honored today even in our post-Christian society. The Fifth and the Seventh Commandments sanctify the family and marriage, institutions under attack in the West since the time of Marx, but which have proven so strong as to remain cornerstones of culture. According to Durant, the Eighth Commandment—and I would include the Tenth as well-- establishes private property “as one of the three bases of Hebrew society,” and again, despite numerous political assaults, remains for most of us a concept of central importance. The Ninth Commandment demands “absolute honesty of witnesses,” a precept of our legal system today.
One interesting point about his discussion of the Commandments: Durant never names them directly in his discussion. He assumes that his readers, whether scholars or the man on the street, are familiar with the Commandments, an assumption, no longer valid today, serving as a reminder of how far we have drifted from our religious roots.
Written after the Balfour Declaration but before the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, Durant’s “Judea” nonetheless offers points pertinent to today’s headlines. This past year, for example, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, finally bringing into law the Jerusalem Embassy Act enacted by 1995 by Congress. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” remains as powerful a warning today as it was during the Babylonian Captivity. Durant’s wonder at the obstinate Hebraic will to survive is also pertinent today, when anti-Semitic mobs of Muslims in Europe and the Middle East are bellowing “Death to the Jews!” bombing schools and synagogues, and beating schoolchildren.
Conquered by peoples from the Assyrians to the Romans, driven and scattered across continents, persecuted, subject to royal banishments and ethnic cleansing, the children of Yahweh remembered Zion. Kings and kingdoms have passed away. The wonders of Babylon and Egypt are ruins. The gods and glory of those worlds live only in history books.
But the Jews remain.
His discussion of these last contributions, particularly as the law related to the Ten Commandments, made the greatest impression on me. (Here in this brief discussion I will, as does Durant, follow the Protestant rather than the Catholic numeration of the Commandments.) Durant pays slight attention to the religious meanings and ramifications behind these laws, attending instead to their cultural importance, and by doing so, allowed me to understand the influence of these commandments in a different way.
The Fourth Commandment establishes a weekly day of rest, “one of the strongest institutions of mankind,” a commandment honored today even in our post-Christian society. The Fifth and the Seventh Commandments sanctify the family and marriage, institutions under attack in the West since the time of Marx, but which have proven so strong as to remain cornerstones of culture. According to Durant, the Eighth Commandment—and I would include the Tenth as well-- establishes private property “as one of the three bases of Hebrew society,” and again, despite numerous political assaults, remains for most of us a concept of central importance. The Ninth Commandment demands “absolute honesty of witnesses,” a precept of our legal system today.
One interesting point about his discussion of the Commandments: Durant never names them directly in his discussion. He assumes that his readers, whether scholars or the man on the street, are familiar with the Commandments, an assumption, no longer valid today, serving as a reminder of how far we have drifted from our religious roots.
Written after the Balfour Declaration but before the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel, Durant’s “Judea” nonetheless offers points pertinent to today’s headlines. This past year, for example, President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel, finally bringing into law the Jerusalem Embassy Act enacted by 1995 by Congress. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” remains as powerful a warning today as it was during the Babylonian Captivity. Durant’s wonder at the obstinate Hebraic will to survive is also pertinent today, when anti-Semitic mobs of Muslims in Europe and the Middle East are bellowing “Death to the Jews!” bombing schools and synagogues, and beating schoolchildren.
Conquered by peoples from the Assyrians to the Romans, driven and scattered across continents, persecuted, subject to royal banishments and ethnic cleansing, the children of Yahweh remembered Zion. Kings and kingdoms have passed away. The wonders of Babylon and Egypt are ruins. The gods and glory of those worlds live only in history books.
But the Jews remain.
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