65. So notably in the well -known 'eighteen poi nts' rbd h~y Ab. Sar. 36 a.
66. Twenty-four such are mentioned. Jer. Bets. 60 b.
67. Many, very many of them are so utterly trivial and absurd, that only the hairsplitting
ingenuity of theologians can account for them: others so profane that it is difficult to
understand how any religion could co-exist with them. Conceive, for example, tow
schools in controversy whether it was lawful to kill a louse on the Sabbath. (Schabb. 12 a;
107 b.)
It is not so easy to understand the second part of Christ's accusation. There were,
indeed, many hypocrites among them, who might, in the language of the Talmud,
alleviate for themselves and make heavy for others.68 Yet the charge of not moving
them with the finger could scarcely apply to the Pharisees as a party - not even in this
sense, that Rabbinic ingenuity mostly found some means of evading what was
unpleasant. But, as previously explained,69 we would understand the word rendered
'move' as meaning to 'set in motion,' or 'move away,' in the sense that they did not
'alleviate' where they might have done so, or else with reference to their admitted
principle, that their ordinances always made heavier, never lighter - always imposed
grievous burdens, but never, not even with the finger, moved them away.
68. Sot. 21 b.
69. vol. i. p. 101.
With this charge of unreality and want of love, those of externalism, vanity, and self -
seeking are closely connected. Here we can only make selection from the abundant
evidence in our support of it. By a merely external interpretation o f Exod. xiii. 9, 16, and
Deut. vi. 8; xi. 18, practice of wearing Phylacteries or, as they were called, Tephillin,
'prayer-fillets,' was introduced.70 These, as will be remembered, were square capsules,
covered with leather, containing on small scrolls of parchment, these four sections of
the law: Exod. xiii. 1 -10; 11 -16: Deut. vi. 4 -9; xi. 13-21. The Phylacteries were fastened
by long leather straps to the forehead, and round the left arm, near the heart. Most
superstitious reverence was attached to them, and in later times they were even used
as amulets. Nevertheless, the Talmud itself gives confirmation that the practice of
constantly wearing phylacteries - or, it might be, making them broad, and enlarging the
borders of the garments, we intended 'for to be seen of men.' Thus we are told of a
certain man who had done so, in order to cover his dishonest practices in appropriating
what had been entrusted to his keeping.71 Nay, the Rabbis had in so many words to lay
it down as a principle, than the Phylacteri es were not to be worn for show.72
70. On the Tephillin, comp. 'Sketches of Jewish Social Life,' pp. 219-244.
71. Jer. Ber. 4 c, lines 7 and 8 from top.
72. Menach 37 b.
Detailed proof is scarcely required of the charge of vanity and self -seeking in claiming
marked outward honours, such as the upper -most places at feasts and in the
Synagogue, respectful salutations in the market, the ostentatious repetition of the ti tle
'Rabbi,' or 'Abba,' 'Father,' or 'Master,'73 74 or the distinction of being acknowledged as
'greatest.' The very earnestness with which the Talmud sometimes warns against such