Jews -- Periodicals; Jews -- United States -- Periodicals
In a very remarkable article which appeared in the _Nineteenth
Century_ for last September, written by a man evidently most
religiously minded, appears the following: "Is the heart of England
still strong to bear and to resolve and to endure? How shall we know?
By the test? What test? That which God has given for the trial of
people--the test of war. The real court, the only court in which this
case can and will be tried, is the court of God. This twentieth
century will see that trial, and whichever people shall have in it the
greater soul of righteousness will be the victor. The discovery that
Christianity is incompatible with the military spirit is made only
among decaying people. While the nation is still vigorous, while its
population is expanding, while the blood in its veins is strong, then
on this hope no scruples are felt. But when its energies begin to
wither, when self-indulgence takes the place of self-sacrifice, when
its sons and daughters become degenerate, then it is that a spurious
and bastard humanitarianism masquerading as religion declares war to
be an anachronism and a barbaric sin."
_The Jewish Answer_
The Jewish attitude in regard to this great problem before the world
can be dealt with in a very few words. These words have already been
given to us in the twentieth chapter of Exodus: "If thou wilt make an
altar, thou shalt not wave thy sword over it; for if thou wavest thy
sword over it thou hast polluted it." It has been emphasized by the
prophet Jeremiah when he said, "Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the
rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord who
exerciseth loving kindness, judgment and righteousness on the earth."
To this I will add only one single word of the Rabbis: "The whole
Torah exists solely for the sake of the ways of peace." This ideal of
peace has been the guiding star of Israel for which the Jew has prayed
morning, noon and night, and I trust that the young men of the Menorah
will be true to that which the Menorah typifies, and will assist in
the spreading of its light by upholding the reign of law, the reign of
love, and the reign of peace.
[Illustration: Signature: Richard Gottheil]
FOOTNOTE:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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