of which our ancestors had not the slightest idea. Having gone through
the Roman school, we today know something about organization and this
knowledge of organization we are going to apply to our political
traditions, to our philosophy of life; we are going to create in
Palestine that synthesis of civilization which will be Jewish to the
core in its contents and Roman in shape and form. Might will not be
right, because man is not only a physical but also an intellectual and
spiritual being. Justice and equity will be thoroughly organized and
will not be left to the conscience of the idealistic individual only,
as was the case in ancient Judea.
Whether the future Jewish State in Palestine will be a republic or a
monarchy does not matter. The form of government never testifies to the
soundness of the state; there are good monarchies and bad republics.
One thing is as clear as day: If there is going to be a Jewish
Palestine, it will be a land of justice and freedom, where right will
prevail and where the demands of the spirit will be complied with. All
forms of life will have to be different from what they are in the pale
of Roman civilization. "Thou shalt be a light unto the nations." This
must be our ambition.
Jews as individuals can accomplish very little for Judaism, cannot help
to realize its ideals and cannot possibly make it a force in life. For
two thousand years we have lived in the Diaspora as individuals, and
what did we accomplish for the realization of our old ideals, of which
we are so proud? Nothing. Only feeble-minded rabbis, who are constantly
talking of the mission of Judaism without knowing what they are talking
about, can speak of the mission of the Jews in the face of the present
catastrophe. Jews as individuals cannot have any Jewish mission in
life, but a people can, if it is inspired by ideals.
What we have failed to do as individuals for two thousand years--to
make humanity recognize that the political philosophy of the old
prophets is much stronger than that of the old Romans--we may be able
to realize in Palestine as a people. It is only with reluctance that we
use the much abused phrase, "Jewish mission," but if there is such a
thing as the Jewish mission, it will only be realized when the Jews are
reorganized as a people on the soil of their ancestors and lead such a
life as to justify the prediction of the prophet of old: "Thou shalt
be a light unto the nations." This is the true meaning of the Jewish
mission. This and nothing else.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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