Repentance

Julius T. Loeb, “Repentance,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), Oct. 14, 1906. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1906-10-14/ed-1/seq-21/ 

Repentance.

By Rabbi Julius T. Loeb of the Adath Israel Congregation.

Text: Jonah III:9—“Whosoever knoweth let him return, so God may repent and turn from his burning anger, that we perish not.”

    In this so-called enlightened age it would seem that repentance is unremittingly out of order. Yet the whole trend of human civilizations is merely a gradual realization of existing imperfections and a yearning toward improvement in every direction. In other words, the advancement of civilization consists only of a detection of faulty conditions in and around our being, together with the effort to amend these conditions for the good of ourselves and those who follow us. But while modernity has progressed along the lines of industry, art and scientific discovery, the human mind thus far remains evil from its incipiency, and the acknowledgement of guilt and the confession of sin and culpability before God and man should be as much of a serious consideration today as at any time previous. 

    Whether Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, conservative or liberal, all are involved in the category of reasoning being, and all should seek to repent and amend. All must recognize the fact that above sectional disparity there is an all-ruling Providence that demands universal justice and a correct account of the practices that militate against professed principles. All should confess before the Lord of Hosts, and to Him alone their hearts should ascend in prayer. For all mortals are alike dependent upon the mercy of God, as they are all alike subjected to His eternal rule. For this is equally true, that each one of the human race is endowed with a godly spirit, which it is his duty to develop for his moral good; each one has within himself a portion of the divine. “For in the image of God made He man,” was really spoken of the soul. According to Maimonides “the image of God” is reference to the substance of God; i. e., the divine spirit, not the outward form.

    William E. Curtis in a recent correspondence tells of the historical fact that a man named Cervetus, who lived in the sixteenth century, was burned at the stake in the city of Geneva by order of John Calvin because the former had advanced the theory that “all creatures are of the substance of God, and God is in all things.” Such theory was then considered heresy with the majority of existing nations. But Maimonides in the twelfth century had defined the Hebrew faith in like manner. (Guide, Book I, chaps. 69 and 72). In chapter III of the Shir-Hayichud (Unity’s Song), Rabbi Yehadah Hachassid, the following lines occur: “All things are in Thee, and Thou art in them all. * * * Thou encompassest all. Thou fillest all, and in the creativeness of all “Thou art entire.”

    If we grant the existence of the divine within man we shall be better able to understand that man is the free agent his own fate; that no evil star hangs over him; that there is never a forlorn hope in the way of moral improvement, and the betterment of general conditions. 

    Hence, according to Jewish doctrine, “repentance, prayer and good deeds will remove the evil of the Divine decree,” and whenever man returns from sin he may justly hope for an equal means of reconciliation from heaven. 

    We have the amplest assurance that whenever we seek Him as one man, whenever we claim Him as a union of brothers His mercy will not be withheld, and the ransomed of the Lord will soon emerge from darkness into light to triumph over all earthly things.

    The unbeliever is certainly placed at a great disadvantage. He knows not to repent and amend. To him there is no hope for forgiveness, nor for improvement in any direction. And should he, the wicked one, suddenly find himself laden with the miseries which his misdeeds has justly merited, there is nothing that would lift his drooping spirit, nothing that would soothe him in his sorrows, nothing that would uphold him against the onslaught of adverse fortune. Woe is unto him whose ship is left to drift amidst the ocean waves of life without the guide of faith to steer its course. 

    Different altogether is the situation with the God-fearing man, who would readily acknowledge all possible shortcomings and improve his ways; and by so doing overcome the dejected spirit, dispel the heavy clouds that hover around his life and being, and thus bring on light and cheer and divine consolation.

    Of the efficacy of repentance we are taught in the beautiful narrative of the Book of Jonah: On learning of the dread decree, as predicted by the prophet, the people of Nineveh “proclaimed a universal fast, covered themselves with sackcloth, cried unto God with might, returned each one from his evil way and from the violence which was in their hands.”

    The people of Nineveh, though a people of idolators, nevertheless gave heed to the warning voice of heaven: they listened intently to the prophet, who exclaimed: “I am a Hebrew, and I adore the Lord, God of heaven!” Thus the impending danger was averted and the great city saved by Divine grace. All this is an admission, true and sublime, that the God of Israel is the Lord of the Universe. He is the “King of Nations,” the Redeemer of all mankind. He is good unto all, and His mercies extend over all His works.

    To many of the present generation this sounds no more than a queer little tale, with no particular reference to past occurrences, and much less bearing on present life and conditions. Now I do not mean to be out in arms against the so-called “free Bible critics,” who maintain that the book of Jonah is a mere allegory. It matters not, one way or another, the moral is of equal importance, and is applicable to every class and age. It is my intention only to point out the vain presumption of those who lull themselves into the fancied security that today we live in a different world; that now it would be simply folly to act like that old nation that repented, forsook the evil of its ways, and was saved from an approaching calamity. Today, they claim, no such thing should ever enter the mind of our progressive age, as we have now a license to do as we please and act as we choose without regard to moral duty or ethical law. The elements of nature cannot threaten us in the least. In any emergency we would take recourse to science, and science will solve all problems. But science owns up its insignificance in the presence of such awful manifestations and public calamities as the past twelve months have witnessed, and before nature, unconquerable and insearchable, even the wisest of men will gaze in wonderment and confess in the words: Verily, there is a God, and His is the vindication of eternal justice.

    The question now suggests itself: Is the Nineveh of today anything other than that large and teeming city described by the prophet? Is this warning voice of the prophet not a warning to all of the powers to be, and who in the height of their prosperity would disregard all moral principle and ethical law, and would run riot in violence and corruption, so as provoke the wrath of the Just Avenger, and unless repentance would follow in due season their fate would be doomed? And is this not all a correct illustration of present conditions and the status of many a nation today? It appears that people are too busy nowadays to perceive the thickening clouds arising out of human misdeeds, and the heaven that is frowning upon the degeneracy of the age; an age glorying in its contrivances, and holding aloof from everything that whispers caution or care for moral improvement; an age that regards itself all-important, and its civilization all-perfect.

    Pogroms, race prejudice, hatred, persecution, selfishness, deception, vandalism, growing armies and endless revolutions; tyrants, depots on one side and a lot of monstrous, man-eating trusts and combines on the other. Amid such a babel were it not time for Nineveh to repent? And lo! There stands alone, out of all nations, that unwilling, ever-murmuring Jonah, who is bid by divine behest to sound the alarm to the existing nations for their timely regeneration. There is still that old Jonah, the man swallowed by the big leviathans of all ages; swallowed, and yet as quickly vomited out. Can you tell the man? “What is his labor? Whence comes he? And what is his country?”

    It is Israel, who still has his mission on this earth, and in spite of himself he is still bid to advance among the nations, even amid the furious storms of the high winds, and at the risk of life, in order to propagate his mission of universal love and peace. In truth the wandering Jew, in his good as well as in his bad aspect, is still a warning to the nations, re-echoing the divine call, “Whosoever knoweth let him repent.” Whoever is conscious of human imperfections, let him strive for real culture, for true education, which is the cultivation of the soul, the elevation of moral character. And as with the individual, so with the whole of human society. What should be the acme of civilization, the improvement which the human race should value above all? Certainly not the augmentation of brutal force; nor the better display of arms; nor the idle boasting and vain glory of every manner of Chauvenism; but it is the acknowledgement of the all-ruling Providence of the one God that created us all; the recognition of the image of God in all of His creature, and the equalization of mankind under the broad standard of a universal brotherhood. 

    The fear of heaven is, and should always be, regarded first and foremost of all human knowledge. The idea of repentance, of reconciliation with the facts and rules of life that we may have overstepped, should be cherished as the highest and noblest principle of civilization.