summer. But its golden harvest and its rich fruits would remind of the early dedication of
the first and best to the Lord, and of those solemn processions in which it was carried up
to Jerusalem. As autumn seared the leaves, the Feast of the New Year spoke of the
casting up of man's accounts in the great Book of Judgment, and the fixing of destiny for
good or for evil. Then followed the Fast of the Day of Atonement, with its tremendous
solemnities, the memory of which could never fade from mind or imagination; and, last
of all, in the week of the Feast of Tabernacles, there were the strange leafy booths in
which they lived and joyed, keeping their harvest-thanksgiving; and praying and longing
for the better harvest of a renewed world.
58. Some of its customs almost remind us of our 5th of November.
But it was not only through sight and hearing that, from its very inception, life in Israel
became religious. There was also from the first positive teaching, of which the
commencement would necessarily devolve on the mother. It needed not the extravagant
laudations, nor the promises held out by the Rabbis, to incite Jewish women to this duty.
If they were true to their descent, it would come almost naturally to them. Scripture set
before them a continuo us succession of noble Hebrew mothers. How well they followed
their example, we learn from the instance of her, whose son, the child of a Gentile father,
and reared far away, where there was not even a Synagogue to sustain religious life, had
'from an infant59 known the Holy Scriptures,' and that in their life- moulding influence.60
It was, indeed, no idle boast that the Jews 'were from their swaddling- clothes...trained to
recognise God as their Father, and as the Maker of the world;' that, 'having been taught
the knowledge (of the laws) from earliest youth, they bore in their souls the image of the
commandments;' 61 that 'from their earliest consciousness they learned the laws, so as to
have them, as it were, engraven upon the soul;'62 and that they were 'bro ught up in
learning,' 'exercised in the laws,' 'and made acquainted with the acts of their predecessors
in order to their imitation of them.'63
59. The word βρεφος has no other meaning than that of 'infant' or 'babe.'
60. 2 Tim. iii. 15; i. 5.
61. Philo, Legat. ad Cajum, sec. 16. 31.
62. Jos. Ag. Apion
ii. 19.
63. Jos. Ag. Apion ii. 26; comp. 1. 8, 12; ii. 27.
But while the earliest religious teaching would, of necessity, come from the lips of the
mother, it was the father who was 'bound to teach his son.'64 To impart to the child
knowledge of the Torah conferred as great spiritual distinction, as if a man had received
the Law itself on Mount Horeb.65 Every other engagement, even the necessary meal,
should give place to this paramount duty; 66 nor should it be forgotten that, while here real
labour was necessary, it would never prove fruitless.67 That man was of the profane
vulgar (an Am ha-arets), who had sons, but failed to bring them up in knowledge of the
Law.68 Directly the child learned to speak, his religious instruction was to begin69 - no
doubt, with such verses of Holy Scripture as composed that part of the Jewish liturgy,
which answers to our Creed.70 Then would follow other passages from the Bible, short
prayers, and select sayings of the sages. Special attention was given to the culture of the