ed by one of the popular legends of the prophet Elijah, who told
the saintly Rabbi Beroka, who prided himself upon his austerity, that his
companions in Paradise were to be two jesters, because they cheered the
depressed and increased the joy in the world.(1597)

As a matter of fact, the Jewish ideal of holiness is all-inclusive. It
aims to hallow every pursuit and endeavor, all social relations and
activities, insisting only on a pure motive and disinterested service. As
the Ruler of life is the source of all morality, so all of life should be
made holy with duty. Man becomes a child of God through his
responsibility, instead of remaining a mere product of the social forces
about him or of claiming self-sufficient sovereignty and refusing to
acknowledge a higher Will. Jewish ethics is autonomous, because it insists
on the divine spirit in man.(1598) As we follow the divine Pattern of
holiness, all that we have and are, body and soul, weal and woe, wealth
and want, pain and pleasure, life and death, become stepping-stones on the
road to holiness and godliness. Life is like a ladder on which man can
rise from round to round, to come ever nearer to God on high who beckons
him toward ever higher ideals and achievements. Man and humanity are thus
given the potentiality of infinite progress in every direction. Science
and art, industry and commerce, literature and law, every pursuit of man
comes within the scope of religion and ethics. For God's kingdom of truth,
righteousness and peace, as beheld by Israel's seers of old, will be fully
established on earth only when all the forces of material, intellectual,
and social life have been unfolded, when all the prophetic ideals, the
visions and aspirations of all the seers of humanity have been realized,
and the Zion heights of human perfection have at last been attained. "The
wise have no rest, neither in this world nor in the world to come, for it
is said: 'they go from strength to strength, [until] they appear before
God on Zion.' "(1599)

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

A. d. R. N. Aboth di Rabbi Nathan
A. T. Altes Testament
Ab. Z. Aboda Zarah
Ag. Agada
Ann. Annotations
Ant. Antiquities (of Josephus)
Ap. Apionem, contra
Apoc. Apocalyptic
Arak. Arakin
Art. Article

B. Babli (Babylonian)
b. ben
B. B. Baba Bathra
B. H. Beth ha Midrash
B.