'Yet I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.'
Denouncing the 'Calculators of the End,' a Rabbi said (Sanh. 97 b):
'All the computed terms have passed, and the matter dependeth now on
repentance and good deeds' (cf. S. Singer, The Messianic Idea in Judaism,
pp. 1 and 18)
If, however, Israel is not destined to a Restoration, if the
Jewish Mission is the propagation of an idea, on what ground is the
continued existence of Israel as a separate organisation defensible or
justified? Israel is indestructible, said Jehuda Halevi in the twelfth
century; certainly Israel is undestroyed. When Frederick the Great
asked what should make him believe in God, he received in answer,
'the survival of the Jews.' Dr. Guttmann of Breslau not long since put
forward a similar plea in vindication of the continued significance of
Judaism. In nature all forms die when their utility is over; in history,
peoples succumb when their work in and for the world is complete. Shall,
he asks, we recognise Judaism as the solitary exception, as the unique
instance of the survival of the unfit and the unnecessary?
The modern apologists for all religions rarely belong to the rank
and file. Whether it be Harnack for Christianity or Mr. Montefiore
for Judaism, the vindicators stand far above the average of the
believers whose faith they are vindicating. The average man needs
no defence for a religion which enables him to live and thrive,
materially and spiritually. The importance of this consideration is very
great. Restricting our attention to Judaism, it is clear that it still
offers ideals to many, prescribes and enforces a moral law, teaches a
satisfying doctrine of God. If so, then it is futile to discuss whether
Judaism is still necessary. Can the world afford to surrender a single
one of its forces for good? If there are ten millions of men, women, and
children who live, and live not ignobly, by Judaism, can it be contended
that Judaism is obsolete? The first, the main justification of Judaism is
its continued efficiency, its proved power still to control and inspire
many millions of human lives. There are more people living as Jews to-day,
than there were at any previous moment in the world's history.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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