Scope of His Bet Yehudah
Levinsohn now undertook his larger work, "Bet Yehudah," which was "to expose to Christian eyes the world of Jewish spiritual life founded on the principles of highest morality, a world then unknown to Russian Christians." He wished, also, to make his work of educational value to the Jewish people, so that uninstructed coreligionists would see Judaism in its true light. At the same time he found himself obliged to exercise great care in the treatment of the subject in order to avoid creating undue antagonism. Levinsohn presents in his "Bet Yehudah" a wonderfully clear and logical exposition of Jewish religious philosophy. According to him the Jewish religion may be summed up in two principles of belief: faith in one God, which involves the negation of idol-worship; and love of one's neighbor. He shows by numerous citations that the latter means the love not only of one Jew for another, but the love for any neighbor, irrespective of faith. He presents a history of the various Jewish sects, enumerates the contributions of the Jews to learning and civilization, and at the end suggests a plan for the reorganization of Jewish education in Russia. He urges the necessity of founding rabbinical seminaries fashioned after the German institutions, training the Jewish youth in religious and secular learning, opening elementary Jewish schools throughout the Pale, abolishing the institution of melammedim, and establishing agricultural and industrial schools.
"Bet Yehudah" exerted a powerful influence on the Jews of Russia and gave a plan of action to the progressive elements in the Russian Jewry. The book acquired renown outside of Russia also. It was translated into Polish, and the scholar Geiger read several chapters of it before an audience in the Breslau synagogue. But though "Bet Yehudah" was completed in 1829, it remained unpublished until 1838.
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