Sefer ha-zikhronot (The Book of Remembrances)

[ . . . ] And all the more so with our brethren the people of Israel who come from the lands of the dispersion, who do not know and have not seen the way in which every person called by the name of Israelite should conduct himself. They are badly in need of many teachers and prompters who will set them straight concerning the truth and instruct them concerning the way in which they should go and the practice that they should perform. I have already heard men, God-fearing, wise, and understanding, who lament the lack of diligence in this among this wise and discerning people. For, truth be told, there should be in every Jewish city a society devoted to this matter. Just as there are several kinds of society, for every sacred purpose, so this, too, should not be lacking. It is truly a foundation stone. For what should they do who come from servitude to spiritual redemption and from deep darkness to the light of the pure Torah that enlightens the eyes? May the One who frees and rescues be praised and exalted! But when they arrive, there is no one there to properly teach them the principles of the faith and the precepts of God’s perfect Torah, especially the everyday ones that a person needs continually. We speak here of those concerning forbidden foods, proper clothing, observance of Sabbath and festivals, personal sanctity, and purity and the like, along with their most essential details. Each man should ask of his neighbor close to his house as proper to him, and each woman should ask of her neighbor proper to her. These are all the precepts of educated men and women. Sometimes there is little difference in expertise between the asker and the asked. And sometimes they are ignorant and do not know to ask, for they think that they are not obligated, because they did not grow up with the prohibition. We have heard from them that it brings them to heartache and despondency. Those who grow up in this way and continue in it into maturity curse themselves; perhaps they do not harm others with not-good doctrines and deeds that should not be done among God’s people, but their life is no life. Certainly, their blame is diminished whenever they do so unwittingly. But it would be proper for them each to inquire and ask of the authorities in his city, for so is the obligation of every man of Israel. Indeed, the great burden and obligation is incumbent on everyone who has the ability to teach and encourage and does not do so, but who sees and hears and goes and sits at home. Why should there not be a holy company of scholars and of the remnants whom the Lord calls, clean of intention, to assist in the redemption of the souls of their brethren whom the Holy One has brought out from slavery to freedom and from woe to rejoicing? They should have the principles written in one book, some of the fundamentals of the true faith and some of the generalities of the laws, as well as the particulars that every person needs, to educate and teach them, each person according to his ability, day by day, until they be firmly established in the principal matters.

As the wives of [Israel’s] sons earn merit through this command, they shall teach the women everything proper to them. And every man and woman whose heart moves them to add to the holy work and to enter the inner sanctum in reverence and love of the Lord, may they take it up, reading and studying the Torah that enlightens the ignorant. May they go to the wise and become wise, for after the proper beginnings that made a good impression on the soul may they find every precious treasure, and fill themselves with knowledge and deeds desired by our God (blessed be He), but every despicable and worthless deed let their soul proscribe and despise.

It is also necessary to prescribe for everyone the repentance proper to him, in accordance with how many years—whether it was more or less—and where it was that they dwelt outside the congregation of the Lord, and the sins, iniquities, and transgressions committed not for a single day or two days, not a single time or twice, sometimes coerced and sometimes willingly, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes maliciously. For all the sins, iniquities, and transgressions God will bring them into judgment and pronounce a verdict on them, but if a person returns to Him, the Lord will accept his repentance and have mercy on him.

One must purge them of a false belief, inasmuch as it has become widespread among the vast majority of our compatriots who have come back from spiritual slavery and has become a hindrance and a stumbling block, namely, that they think that as long as a man remains uncircumcised he is not a Jew, and his sins are not sins, and the bitterest transgressions are as if nonexistent. Great damage has ensued from this, including the fact that some have prolonged their error and been slow to engage in spiritual stock-taking. I have seen one who was already in a land of freedom and persisted in his folly with the argument that he was going to bring his household, and he did not want to circumcise himself. He did not heed the voice of the teachers on account of the argument that if he sinned and was guilty no iniquity would be imputed to him. He went and never returned, for he drowned in the sea, and this was his punishment in this world. And indeed we have learned an entire law from m. Nedarim 3:11: “If one vows: ‘I will not receive benefit from the circumcised’ he is forbidden to accept benefit from the uncircumcised of Israel but permitted to accept benefit from the circumcised of idolaters.”

Some of them think that the day of their circumcision is the start of reckoning of their sins, and they have no regret for their sins and for having angered God for many years, excepting one from a city and two from a family. This view is absurd and against the principles of our holy faith, for we hold by the principle that a Jew, even if he has sinned, is still a Jew for purpose of all punishments and all prohibitions. Circumcision is a commandment like all the other commandments in the Torah. Even though this is the gate of the Lord, the righteous shall enter through it (Psalms 118:20) and it is a sign of the holy covenant of the Lord’s congregation, the Torah is not contingent on it. Therefore, whoever is of the seed of Israel but lacks that identifying mark, he is not thereby exempted from all the other commandments in the Torah; and an uncircumcised Israelite whose brothers died from circumcision is fully an Israelite.