ABSTRACT
Honesty and integrity are duties as wide as the social life. Obedience to them is not to be confined to the counting-house or the market-place. The duty of truthfulness is repeatedly enforced by the Bible. The Rabbins echo the doctrine. Truth is one of the pillars of the world ; human society would be impossible without it. It is “God’s own seal.” The reverence of the Rabbins for truth is often expressed in striking form. Thus while they strongly insist upon the homage due from the disciple to his religious teacher, there are certain cases in which they dispense him from that duty. The Rabbins never tire of making those virtues the theme of earnest exhortation. “Be thou the oppressed,” they say, “rather than the oppressor. Peace, say the Rabbins, is one of the pillars of the world ; without it the social order could not exist. Therefore let a man do his utmost to promote it.
