’O Lord and King, who art full of compassion,
in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and
the breath of all flesh, who killest and makest alive,
who bringest down to the grave and bringest up again,
receive, we beseech Thee, in Thy great loving-kindness,
the soul of our brother who hath been gathered unto
his people. Have mercy upon him, pardon all his
transgressions, for there is not a righteous man upon
earth, who doeth good and sinneth not. Remember
unto him the righteousness which he wrought, and let
his reward be with him and his recompense before him.
O shelter his soul in the shadow of Thy wings.
Make known to Him the path of life: in Thy presence
is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand are pleasures
for evermore. Vouchsafe unto him of the abounding
happiness that is treasured up for the righteous,
as it is written, Oh how great is Thy goodness, which
Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee, which Thou
hast wrought for them that trust in Thee before the
children of men!
’O Lord, who healest the broken-hearted and
bindest up their wounds, grant Thy consolation unto
the mourners: put into their hearts the fear
and love of Thee, that they may serve Thee with a perfect
heart, and let their latter end be peace.
’Like one whom his mother comforteth, so will
I comfort you, and in Jerusalem shall ye be comforted.
Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon
withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting
light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
’He will destroy death for ever; and the Lord
will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke
of his people shall he take away from off all the
earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.’
CHAPTER VIII
THE SURVIVAL OF JUDAISM
The Messianic Hope has an intimate connection with
Eschatology. Whereas, however, the latter in
so far as it affirmed a Resurrection conceived of
the immortality of Israelites, the former conceived
the Immortality of Israel. It is not necessary
here to trace the origin and history of the Messianic
idea in Judaism. That this idea had a strong nationalistic
tinge is obvious. The Messiah was to be a person
of Davidic descent, who would be the restorer of Israel’s
greatness. Throughout Jewish history, despite
the constant injunction to refrain ’from calculating
the date of the end,’ men have arisen who have
claimed to be Messiahs, and these have mostly asserted
their claim on nationalistic pleas. They were
to be kings of Israel as well as inaugurators of a
new regime of moral and spiritual life. But though
this is true without qualification, it is equally
true that the philosophers of the Middle Ages tried
to remove all materialistic notions from the Messianic
idea. It is very difficult to assert nowadays
whether Judaism does or does not expect a personal
Messiah. A very marked change has undoubtedly
come over the spirit of the dream.
