ion.

_c._ The Synagogue and its institutions.

_d._ The ethics of Judaism and the Kingdom of God.

PART I. GOD

A. God As He Makes Himself Known To Man

Chapter V. Man's Consciousness of God and Belief in God

1. Holy Writ employs two terms for religion, both of which lay stress upon
its moral and spiritual nature: _Yirath Elohim_--"fear of God"--and _Daath
Elohim_--"knowledge or consciousness of God." Whatever the fear of God may
have meant in the lower stages of primitive religion, in the Biblical and
Rabbinical conceptions it exercises a wholesome moral effect; it stirs up
the conscience and keeps man from wrongdoing. Where fear of God is
lacking, violence and vice are rife;(54) it keeps society in order and
prompts the individual to walk in the path of duty. Hence it is called
"the beginning of wisdom."(55) The divine revelation of Sinai accentuates
as its main purpose "to put the fear of God into the hearts of the people,
lest they sin."(56)

2. God-consciousness, or "knowledge of God," signifies an inner experience
which impels man to practice the right and to shun evil, the recognition
of God as the moral power of life. "Because there is no knowledge of God,"
therefore do the people heap iniquity upon iniquity, says Hosea, and he
hopes to see the broken covenant with the Lord renewed through
faithfulness grounded on the consciousness of God.(57) Jeremiah also
insists upon "the knowledge of God" as a moral force, and, like Hosea, he
anticipates the renewal of the broken covenant when "the Lord shall write
His law upon the heart" of the people, and "they shall all know Him from
the least of them unto the greatest of them."(58) Wherever Scripture
speaks of "knowledge of God,"(59) it always means the moral and spiritual
recognition of the Deity as life's inmost power, determining human
conduct, and by no means refers to mere intellectual perception of the
truth of Jewish monotheism, which is to refute the diverse forms of
polytheism. This misconception of the term "knowledge of God," as used in
the Bible, led the leading medieval thinkers of Judaism, especially the
school of Maimonides, and even down to Mendelssohn, into the error of
confusing religion and philosophy, as if both resulted from pure reason.
It is man's moral nature rather than his intellectual capacity, that leads
him "to know God and walk in His ways."(60)

3. It is mainly through the _conscience_ that man becomes consciou