1
Aristides now turns to the Yehudim.
2
He says they confess one Elohim, Creator of all and Almighty, and refuse worship to other gods.
3
In this, he says, they stand nearer to truth than the peoples previously discussed.
4
He also praises their mercy: care for the poor, ransom of captives, burial of the dead, and inherited practices of compassion.
5
The received Syriac recension then criticizes their observance of Shabbat, new moons, Pesach, fasts, circumcision, and food distinctions, claiming that in practice they serve heavenly messengers rather than Elohim.
6
This polemic reflects an early Christian apologetic boundary against Yehudi practice.
7
HaSefarim preserves it as source text but does not allow the polemic to erase what Aristides himself has just acknowledged: the Yehudim worship the One Creator and preserve ancestral practices of mercy.
8
The distinction between source statement and House interpretation is therefore maintained.