ABSTRACT
The obligation of sincerity is not limited to Prayer. It extends to the whole domain of conduct. What has been called “inwardness”—purity of heart, that is to say, as well as of act, the hallowing of thought and feeling as well as of life—is a duty we owe to God. And the admonitions of the Rabbins are informed with the spirit of Holy Writ. Mere surface-goodness, religion used as veneer to hide the falsehood beneath—this they singled out for especial denunciation. And, conversely, of preaching sincerity, of extolling the duty of “inwardness,” the Rabbins were never weary. Every morning the Jew begins his worship of Almighty God by laying to heart the admonition, “For ever let a man be God-fearing in private as well as in public ; let him acknowledge the truth, and speak the truth in his heart.”.
