But the Jew does not
merely borrow ideas or accept his philosophy ready-made from his
environment; he interprets it afresh according to his peculiar
God-idea and his conception of God's relation to man, and thereby
makes it a genuine Jewish philosophy, forming in each age a special
Jewish culture. And as religion without philosophy is narrow, so, to
Philo, philosophy without religion is barren; remote from the true
life, and failing in the true purpose of the search for wisdom, which
is to raise man to his highest function. Philosophy, then, is not the
enemy of the Torah: it is its true complement, endowing it with a
deeper meaning and a profounder influence. Thus the saying runs in the
"Ethics of the Fathers,"
[Hebrew: 'm 'yn tora 'yn hkma; 'm 'yn hkma 'yn tora]
"If there is no Torah, there is no wisdom; if there is no wisdom,
there is no Torah." The thought that study of the law is essential to
Judaism Philo shares with the rabbis, and the Torah is in his eyes
Israel's great heritage, not only her literature but her life. As
Saadia said later,[365] "This nation is only a nation by reason of its
Torah." It is because Philo starts from this conviction that his
mission is so striking, and its results so tragical. The Judaism which
he preached to the pagan world was no food for the soul with the
strength taken out to render it more easily assimilated.
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