from Zion.(1364) While the Halakah remained
antagonistic to proselytism on account of its narrow adherence to the
spirit of the Priestly Code, the Haggadah exhibits a broader view.
Resonant with the spirit of prophecy, it beckons to all men to come and
seek shelter under the wings of the one and only God, in order to
disseminate light and love all over the world.

13. Modern Judaism, quickened anew with the spirit of the ancient seers of
Israel, cannot remain bound by a later and altogether too rigid Halakah.
At the very beginning of the Talmudic period stands Hillel, the liberal
sage and master of the law, who, like Abraham of old, extended the hand of
fellowship to all who wished to know God and His law; he actually pushed
aside the national bounds to make way for a faith of love for God and the
fellow man. For this is the significance of his answer to the Roman
scoffer who wanted to hear the law expounded while he was standing on one
foot: "Whatever is hateful to thee, do not do to thy fellow man! That is
the law; all the rest is only commentary."(1365) Thus the leaders of
progressive Judaism also have stepped out of the dark prison walls of the
Talmudic Ghetto and reasserted the humanitarian principles of the founders
of the Synagogue, who welcomed the proselytes into Israel and introduced
special blessings for them into the liturgy. They declare again, with the
author of Psalm LXXXVII, that Zion, the "city of God," should be, not a
national center of Israel, but the metropolis of humanity, because Judaism
is destined to be a universal religion.(1366)

Not that Judaism is to follow the proselytizing methods of the Church,
which aims to capture souls by wholesale conversion without due regard for
the attitude or conviction of the individual. But we can no longer afford
to shut the gate to those who wish to enter, impelled by conviction or
other motives having a religious bearing, even though they do not conform
to the Talmudic law.(1367) This attitude guided the leaders of American
Reform Judaism at the rabbinical conference under the presidency of Isaac
M. Wise, when they considered the admission of proselytes at the present
time. In their decision they followed the maxim of the prophet of yore:
"Open the gates (of Judaism) that a righteous nation may enter that
keepeth the faith."(1368)

14. It is interesting to observe how Philo of Alexandria contrasts those
who join the Jewish faith with those who have become ap