on, and should therefore find no place in Judaism, or are so
self-evident that they are not confined to Judaism. This does not mean
that to be a Jew one can believe whatever he likes, or not believe at
all. It does not mean that Judaism only demands outward conformity.
Mendelssohn was aware that certain "Hobot ha-Lebabot," Duties of the
Heart, are indispensable to Judaism. But he refused to make of Judaism
a mutilated philosophy.

_Judaism Needs Working Principles--Not Abstract Dogmas_

NO sphere of life can be maintained intelligently without some basic
principles, particularly so exalted a sphere as religion. Who counts
upon any art attaining a high degree of development by mere rule of
thumb? Is anything so characteristic of modern life as emphasis upon
the mutual interrelation of theory and practice? All our strivings to
rehabilitate Judaism are bound to prove futile unless they are made to
center about some definite conception of its aims and methods. We need
principles, yea dogmas, in Judaism as we need working hypotheses in
any great undertaking. But dogmas, in the sense of abstract
principles, regarded as immutable, are both superfluous and dangerous.
If such dogmas are nothing more than the common denominator of all
that has been identified with Judaism in the course of its history,
they are sure to be banal and colorless. If they are to be fixed and
unalterable, they are bound in time to clash with reason and
experience, and to sap the religion of its vitality. Judaism needs
principles that can help it to withstand danger, that can give it a
lease upon life. This is the criterion to be applied to any articulate
conception of Judaism. Can the principles which the text-books on
Judaism declare to be fundamental render this service? The reply is an
unequivocal No. Hence they are worse than useless.

But we cannot afford to stop at this point. Knowing what Judaism is
not, is only half-knowledge, and therefore quite dangerous. We must
apply ourselves anew to the task of pondering over the problem of
Judaism. We may indulge to our heart's content in lauding the past
when one could be a Jew without troubling his head about the question,
"What is Judaism?" We may sigh in regret for those days when a Jew
upon being asked about his religion was able to reply, "I have no
religion; I am a Jew." The danger of the entire economy of the Jewish
soul going to pieces is too imminent to permit us to lull ourselves
into that