Chapter II: Part 2

Reform Judaism of today is surely not the Judaism of the year 1700 or 1500. It is a modern Judaism adapted to modern life. The same Jews, who are arguing that we cannot give up spiritualism as the prime factor of Jewish life and that we cannot stick to the old conception of Judaism, have deemed it advisable to introduce reforms into a field of Judaism that was considered the very stronghold of spiritualism in the Jewish religion. That is where the contradiction and confusion come in. So far as religion is concerned, these reformers conform to the requirements of the time, but on the other hand they still cling to the spiritualistic supremacy in Jewish life, to the theory of Israel's mission, as if they were Jews of the seventeenth century.

Either Judaism cannot undergo a change and must remain what it always was--and then reform is unjustifiable--or Judaism can adapt itself to modern life and make peace with the tendencies of the time--and then why stick to the fictitious supremacy of the spiritual side of Judaism?

No less contradictory and confusing is the philosophy of the other school of thought that preaches spiritual nationalism as the only solution of the Jewish question. If spiritualism is no longer the prime factor in life, and if it is no longer in a position to maintain its hold on the peoples of the earth as it did in the days gone by when men thought _more theologico_, how can it hold its grip on the Jewish people? And how can a purely spiritual centre even in Palestine answer the Jewish question?

Did Mecca, the centre of Mohamedan spiritualism, prevent the conquest of Egypt, Morocco, Tunis and Tripoli by the Christian nations? (And Mecca is the spiritual centre not of a people of fourteen but of a religious community of two hundred millions.)

Despite Mecca and despite the pan-Islamic movement, the holy war proclaimed by the Caliph two years ago was a failure. Instead of a united Islam we have today an independent Mecca, an Egypt that is loyal to England, and an Algeria and a Morocco that are loyal to France. If Mecca could not contain Islam politically and could not save the Islamitic nations from being conquered, how could a much smaller Jewish _spiritual_ centre in Palestine save the Jewish people politically and nationally? This is the question which we would like to submit to these "spiritual" nationalists.

These Neo-Ahad-Ha'amists are by no means better than the adherents of old-fashioned Reform; both cling to the spiritualistic supremacy in Jewish life, and both oppose the necessary gradual secularization of Judaism. Both would have us stand still, or, if possible, draw us back to a medievalism that has no room in modern life, and both are reactionaries in the full meaning of the term. They are our "dark forces" and the time seems very near when we will have to rise against both and overcome them. There is reason to fear that in the hour of fate they will put obstacles in the way of our redemption.

THE ETERNAL CYCLE

Every revolutionary phenomenon in life, every political catastrophe, upsets men's minds and shakes old rooted opinions to their very foundations. The sudden break with tradition affects both the mind of the individual as well as that of the collective body. It brings about a radical change in views and sentiments and often in the whole world-concept. The gloomy pessimist may suddenly become a joyous optimist and vice versa. The earthquake of Lisbon of 1755 not only shook the belief in Providence of the young Goethe, but turned numerous orthodox circles into agnostics. The French Revolution broke the conservative spirit that was prevailing in Western Europe and put an end to the mediaeval conception of the state, just as the appearance of Bonaparte brought about the revival of the longing for Caesaric splendor and the cult of the superman.

The Russian Revolution, successful till now, has naturally greatly affected the minds of our contemporaries, and compelled them to revise their attitude on many historical forces and to consider the course of recent history in an entirely new light. Men who never believed in the political ability of the Slavonic race and, therefore, thought that Russia was doomed as a political power, are now admiring the political genius of the Russian people and the tactfulness of its leaders. Many Jewish contemporaries, who considered the Jewish case hopeless because of the terrible oppressions directed against our brethren in Russia by the representatives of the old regime, are now joyous optimists and think that since millions of Russian Jews have been freed the Jewish question is completely solved. To the minds of these men the Jewish question will sink into forgetfulness within a short time because the Jews will enjoy everywhere freedom and liberty and will live in complete happiness.

This is the attitude of just those people who but the other day were convinced of the hopelessness of the Jewish cause and were worried over the sufferings that the future had in store for the Jews. This radical outburst of optimism, understandable at the present juncture, nevertheless betrays a naive intellect and a lack of historical intelligence. We all hope that the successful Russian Revolution, next to the world war the most important event in the history of the twentieth century, will open a new era for our people, an era of happiness and peaceful development but, at the same time, we should never lose sight of the fact that there is so far nothing new under the sun. There is only a definite number of forces and energies prevailing in history and each and every one of these forces has in turn its term of domination. History is only a continuation of biological nature plus human intelligence. There is only a certain definite amount of matter and energy in the realm of nature as well as in history, and energy in history can be destroyed as little as energy in nature. And just as there is always a substitution and constant change of forms in the realm of nature, so there is in history. Progress never assumes the shape of a straight line but that of a curve. The most glorious period in human history may be followed by a period of decay and misery. The golden era may be followed by an era of iron, to use a parable of Ovid.

There is in the realm of history as well as in the realm of nature an eternal cycle. The old Graeco-Roman historian, Polybius, already recognized the eternal cycle in the development of the state when he graphically described this development from despotism, monarchism and feudalism, and from republicanism, democracy and ochlocracy back again to despotism.

We, as Jews, have too often experienced ups and downs to believe that a happy era will last forever. The Jews in Spain not only saw golden days of complete happiness and freedom, but formed for a time the vanguard of human civilization. Yet within one hundred years the Spanish Inquisition annihilated 200,000 Jews while the other 400,000 were compelled to leave the country. Today, Spain is again inviting the Jews to settle in the land, promising them complete liberty and freedom where Torquamada's rule was supreme.

There was a time when the Jews of Poland lived in happiness. Today, the Poles are harassing the Jews in every possible way and are scheming and devising plans to break up Judaism in Poland. In Rome, where the Jews only one hundred years ago were humiliated and depressed, a Jewish mayor dared to criticize the Pope openly and to challenge all the forces of mediaevalism in the Eternal City. England, that invented the ritual murder accusation, has today a Jew as its Lord Chief Justice. On the other hand, the Jews of North Africa, who were politically supreme in the Atlas countries, are today the most oppressed human beings on God's earth.

All these ups and downs which we have experienced ever since we have lived dispersed warrant a certain reserve in our judgment on phenomena in life, even when these phenomena be of the most revolutionary nature. Too much optimism and too much overstating of matters must subsequently lead to disappointment, to despair, even to ruin. Our age as a people, our historical and general intellectual experience, do not warrant too much optimism even at present.

The Jews are a force in history. The other historical forces must take an attitude to and judgment from Judaism. This attitude and judgment are likely to change. The change that is necessary to take place from time to time is not always a product of malice, but a product of certain factors which the individual, be he even the most powerful, is often unable to control. If an oppressed people is set free, all the suppressed energies in it begin to pour out suddenly; this may lead to the reaction against the Jews. The people sheltering us may often need a scapegoat and it will without fail take the Jews for that purpose. National as well as international crises may often affect the attitude of a people to the Jews or the attitude of the dominating class to the Jews. In this case we will always be the sufferers. Because of the hostile encounter between clericalism and liberalism in France the Jews had to suffer. The Dreyfus affair is still in the memory of every contemporary. When the liberal forces in France finally emerged victors from the struggle, another Jewish group--the Hungarian--felt the effects of this struggle in a very unpleasant way. The Clericals not being in a position to do any more harm to the French Jews began to awaken the anti-Semitic instincts of the Hungarians, and set about to create an anti-Semitic movement in Hungary. Even the Polish Jews had to suffer because of the victory of liberalism in France, for the Clericals in Poland took revenge on the Jews for their defeat in France.

As to the future of the Jews in Russia, it is hard to predict whether or not it will be a happy one. The mind of the Russian people is still a blank. The Russian people have been kept in ignorance; their will is not domesticated and their mind not trained. The Russians themselves, or, to be correct, the Great Russians do not know the Jews. They have never lived together. On account of the emancipation the Jews of the Pale will emigrate to the interior of Russia and will settle in the midst of the Great Russians, and they will become active in various spheres and fields.

How will the presence and the activity of this new neighbor react on the Russian mind? Will the presence of the Jews in the midst of the Great Russians result in the development of friendship or will the reverse be the case? And if a new crisis should break out in Russia, and a Russian Government should need a scapegoat to save its neck, will it or will it not pick out the Jews to serve as the scapegoat? Russia is a land of unlimited possibilities for good and for bad; there are no prophets nowadays to predict future happenings, especially since the mind of the Russian people is still a question mark.

Thus, besides the eternal cycle and besides the necessary ups and downs in history, we have now a special reason to be careful in our judgment and to moderate our optimism. But even taking for granted that the Jewish development in Russia will be unhampered, does it already mean that the Jewish question is solved? Does the Jewish question consist of bread and butter and human rights? Can the ideal of a people as old as the Jews be satisfied with just being permitted to live as individuals? Can it be the meaning and aim of 4000 years of Jewish history that the zenith of our development as a people should consist in being permitted to live among the people with mere civic equality? Is that what we have struggled for during the centuries?

Greater and more civilized people than the Russians have not succeeded in solving the Jewish question. Why then should we expect that from Russia will come the salvation, especially as only one-quarter of our people is today living in Russia?

The Jewish question can become simplified when we are liberated by the one people or the other, but it can be solved entirely only by the Jewish people itself. The Russian Revolution means for the Jews freedom to breathe and to move, freedom from prison and captivity, but even the free man has his own problem to solve. Life only begins when the prison-doors open.

JEWS AND RACE CONSCIOUSNESS

At the beginning of the war there were many who ascribed the world conflagration to a conflict of races. At present there are many who would either belittle the rôle of race as a factor in history or eliminate it altogether. These people describe the theories of race as "race mythology" and consider them the invention of scholars rather than facts of objective reality.

Among a certain section of the Jewish people this negation of race theories is very popular. If there are not races in this world, then assimilation is the easiest and best way to solve the Jewish question.

It may or may not be true that race is a biological category, but it is true beyond a doubt that the consciousness of race among all peoples always was and will be an historic factor of prime importance. Therefore, it matters little whether or not race is a biological fact. History and its interpretation are concerned only with consciousness of race.

If consciousness of race were to be recognized only because it exists and has always existed, people might say: "So other superstitions have likewise existed." The fact, however, is that the consciousness of race has a definite psychological basis, although we know next to nothing about its biological foundation. We see that the co-existence of like individuals in a definite place and during a long period of time, who are held together by a common ancestry, by a common destiny and interest, and the interaction resulting from such co-existence produces new phenomena and radiates creative energies which cannot be simply reduced to the qualities and forces of the individual minds. These energies radiating from the co-existence of a group of individuals are new, original and creative. They are more than actualized potentialities, and are to the individuals sharing in the co-existence as are sounds which the great artist draws from the violin to the violin itself. The energies emanating from this co-existence often assume shape and form which differ from the energies of the separate individuals. They appear rather one-sided and unbalanced. For instance, the separate individuals have about an equally large or small amount of religious or æsthetic desire, an equally large or small sense of justice or morality.

If the energies radiating from the co-existence would comprise and express the will of the individuals only, the culture of the ethnic group would necessarily consist of equal portions and exhibit a proportionate amount of logic, aesthetics and ethics. But we see that every great culture gravitates in a certain direction. Hellenism tends towards the artistic-philosophical, Judaism towards the religious-ethical, and Romanism towards the political-legal. We thus see that the manifestation of the mind of the race being one-sided is more than the sum total of the expression of all the individual members of the race, and as soon as we recognize a certain psychological or psychical unity, of a certain group of people, we must also recognize that this unity is modeled and shaped by time. In course of time this psychological or psychical unit becomes enveloped in traditions and experiences which make it stronger from day to day. As in biology many think that the function in time creates an organ, so the new energies radiating from the co-existence of a group of people become in course of time something organic in the mind of those people. This is the psychological basis of race consciousness and since earliest time the various peoples, all of whom had an outspoken race consciousness except those savages who cannot count, have recognized or felt that their consciousness of race was more than belief--that it was a psychological reality.

Of all the ancient peoples none had more marked race consciousness and racial feeling than the Jews and Greeks. It is very characteristic of Greek race consciousness that Greek philosophers, when discussing ethical or political subjects, have only the Hellenic people in mind. Their notions of justice and peace were applied only to the Hellenic people. The ancient Jews were not so one-sided. Yet they, too, had a well developed race consciousness which showed not merely in the religious idea that they were the chosen people, but in a very general acceptance of the belief that they were a distinct unit. Even the call to righteousness uttered by the prophet is colored by racial motives: "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness; ye that seek the Lord. Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged." Another of the prophets, Ezekiel, even speculated as to the origin of the Jewish race. All the terms, _ger_, _nakhri_, _akum_ and others used by ancient Jews to describe non-believers characterized non-Jews with reference to race also. The feeling of racial consciousness among Jews to the present day and the consciousness of the isolation of that race are best expressed in the popular Hebrew term, "Umoth ha-Olam," the people of the world. The "Umoth ha-Olam" are the non-Jews, as the "barbaroi" were the non-Greeks. This throws light on the mental disposition of the Jews. While, in the eyes of the Greek, the non-Greek is an inferior, being a "barbaros," in the eyes of the Jews the non-Jew is simply different and not necessarily inferior. Even the term _goy_, which is so much abused by anti-Semites, means only non-Jew. But while the Jew never held the non-Jew in contempt merely for differences of race, he had always and still has intense feeling for his own race.

In theological periods of history the fight against Judaism was perhaps a conflict of theologies only. Today, however, a fight against Judaism is inevitably a fight against the Jewish race. In times of old the religious motives of Judaism seem to have been the prime factors in Jewish life. Today the driving powers in Jewish history are not so much religious as race and national consciousness. It is, therefore, characteristic of those Jews whose Jewish backbone is broken to deny the existence of the race and to scoff at race consciousness in general.

Race consciousness is not a myth invented by the professors, but a fact of life.

AHAD HA'AM

The sixtieth anniversary of Ahad Ha'am, the foremost Hebrew thinker of his time, is a notable event in Hebrew literature, and will no doubt be celebrated by Hebraists all over the world in a manner worthy of the man and of the thinker. Next to Bialik, the great Hebrew poet, Ahad Ha'am is today the most popular Jew among the Jewries of the East and the best known representative of Hebrew thought among Jewish intellectuals in the West. His name is identified with the formulation of the program of Hebrew nationalism and the creation of a Hebrew cultural centre in Palestine. Unlike other thinkers who consider their convictions their own private affair, Ahad Ha'am had the courage of his convictions and defended them against great odds. He had the courage to take his stand against the giant, Herzl, and the powerful dialectician and publicist, Max Nordau. He knew that the fight against Herzl, when the great leader of Zionism was at his height, would not win him friends, but he had the daring to take up the fight.

For Ahad Ha'am the question of political Zionism and that of cultural Zionism as represented by himself, were matters of principle and had to be fought out sooner or later. While Ahad Ha'am fought against Herzl and Nordau and against the other powerful representatives of political Zionism, he had no personalities in mind and fought for principles only. The whole position of things was such that Ahad Ha'am could at that time have had no hope to win the struggle because political Zionism was at its height and because Theodor Herzl was the shining star in the firmament of Jewish political life. But disregarding the disadvantageous position in which he found himself, he fought courageously until he believed the danger was passed.

We mention this fight against Herzl and Nordau because it best characterizes the man, Ahad Ha'am. Though his philosophy of life is a philosophy of abstract ideas, he is at the same time a man full of life and temperament, a hard public worker and a political Jew in the best sense of the term. A great deal of his popularity must be ascribed not only to his philosophy and his system of Jewish politics, but also to his manliness and wonderful qualities of character.

As a Hebrew thinker, Ahad Ha'am represents the last point in the line of Jewish thought which can be characterized as Hebrew intellectualism as distinguished from Hebrew irrationalism and mysticism, which found its expression in the teachings of the Hassidic sect.

Since the rise of the theoretical Kabbalah in Spain in the thirteenth century, which must be considered a reaction against the system of intellectualism as laid down by Maimonides, we can observe in Jewish history two spiritual tendencies striving for dominance: Irrationalism in all its forms and Intellectualism in all its aberrations. Ahad Ha'am represents the line of development, of Maimonides, the Gaon of Wilna, Krochmal. The parallel line to the theoretical Kabbalah is the practical Kabbalah which began in Palestine in the sixteenth century and Hassidism which originated in Poland in the eighteenth century. The intellectualists maintain that the prime essential of the soul is intellect and that Judaism is based not on metaphysical will but on intellectual cognition. For our mediaeval intellectualists and those of the eighteenth century, this premise resulted in the conception of a Judaism which lays more stress on knowledge (Torah) than on the practice of the religious ceremonies (Avodah). It is, of course, understood that the older representatives of Jewish Intellectualism were as God-fearing and observing as their mystical opponents. But basing Judaism on knowledge and cognition, they maintained that the first thing a Jew should do is to study and accept the advice of old: Thou shalt recognize the God of thy fathers.

In opposition to these teachings is the conception of Judaism as represented by Kabbalists and Hassidim. These lay more stress on the practice of Judaism, claiming that Judaism is primarily a matter of will and not of knowledge. It is not a coincidence that while among Jewish intellectualists in the East (Mithnagdim) the knowledge of the Talmud and of Rabbinic Judaism is widely spread because they consider this the first duty of the Jew, there prevails among the Hassidim ignorance of the Talmud and of Rabbinic Judaism.

Ahad Ha'am is today the representative of Intellectual Judaism as conceived by his time, as the Gaon of Wilna was in his day the representative of intellectual Judaism. It is very characteristic of this Jewish school of thought that a man like the Gaon of Wilna has written a system of geometry and was interested in mathematics and logic. With his logical mind he created a new method of studying the Talmud which is marked by simplicity and clearness. Ahad Ha'am achieved in the domain of Hebrew thought and literature what the Gaon of Wilna had achieved in Talmudic methodology. As the Gaon of Wilna did away with "Pilpul" sophistry, so Ahad Ha'am did away with the confusing and unproductive "Hakira," unsystematic discussion of abstract thought, and introduced economy of thought and of expression--a clear terminology and a systematic formulation of principles and ideas. That is what has given him the leading position in modern Hebrew literature.

Ahad Ha'am's greatness does not consist of these formal innovations only. He has enriched Hebrew literature with a philosophic ideology of his own which has greatly influenced modern Hebrew thought. Ahad Ha'amism, as this system is called, was not less productive at the beginning of the twentieth century than the Yeshibah of Volozhin, the work of the Wilna Gaon, at the start of the nineteenth century. As a matter of fact Ahad Ha'amism is the modern development of the ideas which came from Volozhin. Without Volozhin there would be no modern Hebrew literature, no modern Hebrew thought and no Ahad Ha'am.

While the Jewish teachings of Ahad Ha'am can easily be explained as the continuation of a certain historical tendency in Judaism, the philosophy of Ahad Ha'am consists of many different systems and cannot be so readily surveyed. His own disciples claim that he is following in the footsteps of Krochmal and that he is thus a disciple of Hegel. This, however, is only partly true. One finds, moreover, in the philosophy of Ahad Ha'am elements of Kant, Spencer, of modern French sociology and even of Nietzsche. The unifying and productive mind of Ahad Ha'am has absorbed these various philosophic elements and turned them into an organic unit. For this reason Ahad Ha'am cannot be called an eclectic. Even Kant had his predecessors, was influenced by various philosophers and took up their suggestions.

Ahad Ha'am is one of the few modern Hebrew leaders who is as much European as Jew, and who is not on less intimate terms with European thought than with Jewish. Owing to these facts he succeeded in Europeanizing Hebrew literature and in raising it to the high level it now holds.

In the last few years Ahad Ha'am has made peace with Zionism because he thinks that Zionism has accepted his views on Palestine. His appearance at the 11th Zionist Congress at Vienna was thought by friend and opponent alike to mean that he had made peace with the Zionist organization. He has in any case supported the Zionist organization in its efforts in Palestine and has approved the plan to establish a system of Hebrew educational institutions in the Holy Land. But whether Ahad Ha'am became more political or whether the Zionist organization has come nearer to Ahad Ha'amism remains a question. The many pupils of Ahad Ha'am, however, and the Zionists in all lands, are happy that the uncontested leader of modern Hebrew thought and literature is to be found today with the rank and file of Zionism.

THE TRANSVALUATION OF VALUES

Even a language is subject to the force of fate. Its value in life and its meaning for the life of a people change constantly with the great changes of life. Only one hundred and twenty years ago there were those who believed in the possibility of the realization of the medieval idea that a day would come when all the peoples of the earth would speak one language and all linguistic barriers would soon disappear. Today language stands next to the state as the most important factor in the life of a nation; in many cases it is as strong a factor as the economical and political forces. This is especially true of the so-called nationality states where the various peoples can show their line of national demarcation chiefly by the language they use. Today language is not only one of the strongest factors in the national life of a people, but is also of great weight in universal politics. The future historians, in describing the ups and downs of the present war, will not fail to observe that one of the causes that threatened, for a time, the existence of the Hapsburg Empire was the apparently unimportant fact that the people in Germany and Bohemia could not come to terms about the linguistic barrier. The language quarrels in Bohemia were the cause of so many political upheavals that they shook the very foundations of Austria; they have influenced, to a large extent, the international crisis during the last three years.

Since language has developed into such a tremendous force, all the meditations and calculations of the philosophers of the eighteenth century about the possibility of one language for the entire human race have proven to be empty visions--soap bubbles of philosophic and humanitarian dreamers. If the living provincial languages of small peoples, the Bohemians, Lithuanians, Armenians, and so forth, have become important political factors in the lives of the nations, and, in consequence thereof, an important momentum in international life, the so-called dead languages, such as Hebrew, Gaelic, Welsh and many others, have become driving forces in the lives of their peoples and may even decide their fate and future. The development of these dead languages during the nineteenth century is as interesting and fascinating as the growth in political importance of such living, provincial languages as Bohemian, Lithuanian, and so forth. Most remarkable of all is the development of the importance of Hebrew during the nineteenth century.

One hundred years ago, Hebrew was a purely philological and theological proposition. The knowledge of Hebrew had quite a different value from what it has today. To the Eastern Jew, Hebrew had the meaning of a holy tongue only; to the Western Jew, Hebrew was a sort of a cultural luxury which was very much appreciated as such, but had no national value. The love for Hebrew in the West, which, by the way, was stronger than we today imagine, smelled faintly of a museum. These conditions prevailed in the West for several centuries. In the East, however, conditions changed with kaleidoscopic rapidity. With the spread of the Haskalah eastward, Hebrew achieved another value altogether; it had a different function to perform. The adherents of the Haskalah used Hebrew not as a holy tongue, as did the orthodox, nor as a theological proposition, as did many of the Western Jews, but as a medium to spread culture among the Jews and to introduce European ideas in the ghetto. The Hebrew writer of the middle of the nineteenth century considered himself a sort of cultural missionary. The best means to enlighten the people and to counteract superstition was, at that time, Hebrew literature. By the end of the Seventies and the beginning of the Eighties, Hebrew experienced another transvaluation, chiefly because of the failure of the Haskalah and the awakening of the national spirit among the Jews. The writers of that time considered Hebrew no longer a means to an end--that is to say, an agency to spread culture among the Jews--but an object in itself. People began to realize that Hebrew is not only a linguistic theological proposition, as was thought at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but that it is the woof and warp of national culture. The Hebrew writers of the last third of the nineteenth century, consequently, began to speak of the Hebrew tongue as a certain culture and Hebrew ideas as the ideas of the Jewish people. In short, Hebrew became the national cultural force in contradistinction to the humanitarian cultural force that it was thought to be in the middle of the nineteenth century.

The Hebrew writers of the Eighties and Nineties no longer considered themselves cultural missionaries of the Jews, as did the writers of the preceding generation, but rather as the representatives of Hebrew thought and Hebrew culture. The most conspicuous representative of this school of thought is Ahad Ha'am, the father and systematizer of Hebrew cultural nationalism. Ahad Ha'am himself witnessed the transition from cultural Hebrew to political Hebrew. Although about twenty years ago he was the embodiment of Hebrew thought, his school had to make room for another conception of Hebrew, a conception to which, we think, the future belongs. It is the national political conception of Hebrew in opposition to its purely cultural conception.

To the modern Hebraist, Hebrew is neither a holy tongue nor a medium to spread culture among the Jews, nor yet a national cultural idea, as it is to the disciples of Ahad Ha'am, but a national political force; accordingly, he strives to secularize Hebrew and to introduce into it all the elements of secular civilization and to make it the expression of the movement of life of his people. The modern Hebrew writer would think in Hebrew not only on subjects Jewish, would not only philosophize in Hebrew on Jewish cultural and theological problems, but would write in Hebrew on all secular subjects and try to find the Hebrew expression for all the movements of life, especially the life of our people. This striving to secularize Hebrew has enriched our national tongue enormously. We now know more Hebrew than did our forefathers one hundred years ago. Because of our striving to secularize Hebrew we were compelled to go to all the Hebrew sources of antiquity and to find Hebrew terms for things which, for the last two thousand years, have not been described in Hebrew, because the writing of Hebrew was concentrated on theological and philosophical subjects. A few years ago a Russian Jew wrote an agricultural text book in Hebrew, which created a sensation among Hebrew circles because the author re-created Hebrew agricultural terminology. Since the ancient Jews were agriculturists, they had of course an agricultural terminology of their own which had, however, been forgotten during our Diaspora life. The author of the above mentioned book re-established that Hebrew agricultural terminology. Other Hebrew writers have produced similar results in other literary and scientific endeavors. A small booklet by the late Dr. Schereschevsky, for instance, surprised the Hebrew public by the abundance of Hebrew scientific terms and by his re-establishment of a Hebrew scientific terminology. The modern Hebrew writer is conscious of the fact that Hebrew is bound some day to become a concrete political force and that, to gain that end, it must admit all the elements of life and establish the life of our people as the only agency of our general and Jewish education. This necessitates the secularization and, one might say, the humanization of Hebrew. The real modern Hebrew writers are, therefore, not those who can write a treatise in Hebrew on medieval Jewish philosophy but those who can write a Hebrew essay or Hebrew book on scientific or sociological topics.

The tendency to secularize Hebrew is spreading all over the world; it is to be hoped that the day is near when a considerable section of our people will use Hebrew with the same ease as any other people uses its national tongue. The secularization of Hebrew is a clear sign of our approaching national liberation.

A TURNING POINT IN JEWISH HISTORY

In ancient times, nationality and state were identical. The destruction of the state always involved the destruction of the nationality. This was, in fact, the case with many peoples whose states were destroyed by conquerors. Only the Jews are an exception to the rule. The Jewish state was destroyed, the Jewish nationality was not. Even the dispersion of the Jews all over the globe could not destroy and did not destroy the Jewish nationality. On the contrary, the diaspora life of the Jews, with all its evils and troubles, woes and tribulations, sorrows and pains, only served to intensify the national consciousness of the Jews and to strengthen their hopes of national redemption. But the chancellors of the governments, always in the habit of dealing with concrete facts, did not take the sentiments of Jewish individuals into consideration. Seeing that the Jews have no homeland, no national sovereignty and not even an intellectual and spiritual centre, they pronounced the Jewish nationality dead forever. From the point of view of this now antiquated conception of nationality, the European governments could not be blamed for their attitude toward the Jews as a people, for the orthodox notion of nationality always implies an ethnic unit that enjoys national sovereignty, or, at least, is living on its own land, even though it may be dominated by others. The governments, in their attitude toward the Jews as a people, followed a certain principle that had to be maintained as long as no substitute could be found for it. Today it seems that the old principle of nationality has been replaced by another and that the present notion of nationality does not necessarily imply that an ethnic group must either enjoy national sovereignty or live on its own soil. The Jews, who have now been recognized as a nationality not only by Great Britain but, as we have been informed, by several other great powers, are still living in dispersion and have none of the characteristics of the concrete makeup of other nationalities.

This change was brought about both by the Jews themselves, who for the past thirty or forty years have begun to assert their nationality and to claim the right to which every nationality is entitled, namely, a national homeland, and by the peculiar discrepancy between principle and life. The European governments, following a certain principle, refused to consider the Jews a nationality, but in practical life the Jews were always considered a nationality of their own. While the modern state emancipated the Jew on the condition that he emancipate himself from Judaism, modern society, on the other hand, refused to admit him just because he was a Jew, and thus counteracted and opposed the emancipation policy of the government. Modern society is intensely nationalistic and will only recognize those as its true members who belong to it, not only socially and economically, but also nationally and racially. Since the Jews are not Slavs or Teutons or Anglo-Saxons but Jews, they simply were not admitted as full-fledged members in the society of these races and nations, and whenever they made an attempt to penetrate into society by force and _en masse_, they were only too quickly ejected by a wave of anti-Semitism. So that while the states emancipated the Jews, on the condition that they become full-fledged Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Austrians, etc., because it considered the Jewish nationality dead and done for, the nations themselves, being nearer to life and its movements than the bureaucrats of the government chancelleries, felt that the Jews do form a national society of their own and are by no means nationally dead. The official recognition of the Jews as a nationality on the part of a modern state will, we are convinced, put an end to this difference in attitude and policy towards the Jews on the part of the government and of the nation.

Besides the national self-assertion of the Jews during the past thirty years, we find that their rôle as intellectual and spiritual factors in history led to the present change of mind of the European governments in regard to Jewish nationality. It is by no means pure accident that two mighty Anglo-Saxon nations and governments, Great Britain and the United States of America, should be the first among the great powers to recognize the right of the Jews to a national homeland of their own and thus to recognize publicly the nationality of the Jews. If the ancient Jewish mind, as it expressed itself in the Bible, ever influenced a great race and helped to shape its destinies and policies, it was the Anglo-Saxon race that it influenced. For the past four hundred years the greatest production of Jewish genius, the Bible, has been a powerful factor in the life of the Anglo-Saxon race, and as soon as the Anglo-Saxons freed themselves from medievalism, they began to treat the Jews living among them with consideration and fairness, even before they were officially emancipated.

Besides, the American Government is the only government of the Great Powers that never pursued any hostile policy against the Jews, because its very establishment was based on emancipation from medievalism. Of all the powers which have now come to recognize the Jewish nationality and its right to a homeland, America is, we dare say, the only one that is inspired solely by motives of pure idealism. For America surely has no political interests or ambitions in the Near East and is led only by the unselfish wish that the Jews, after a life of exile of two thousand years, should return to a normal national life and enter the great family of nations on equal terms. In saying this, we by no means wish to imply that the other great powers who have recognized the Jewish nationality have done so from political motives only, and that politics only were instrumental in bringing about their decision to help the Jews establish a homeland in Palestine. We are, moreover, convinced that England and Italy, Russia, and probably France, which, as we have been informed, are now taking a very favorable attitude toward the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine, have done so because they recognized that the Jews are a people in themselves and that they are entitled to be given the possibility of living a normal national life. These powers, inspired by noble motives, now say to the Jews, "Go and build up a national life of your own and we shall help you. Go and be Jews as much as you like and we shall not interfere with your Jewish affairs and your national happiness."

We are, however, afraid that many Jews themselves misunderstand or misconstrue the meaning of the decision of these powers. If the Jews go to Palestine, they must live there with the object of building up in the country of their forefathers a new Jewish life and establishing a Jewish homeland there; they must do it as Jews only, not as Russians or Germans, not Britons, Austrians or Italians, but as Jews. They must consider themselves an object in themselves. They must, first of all, look after their own affairs and their own happiness. While always having the welfare of humanity in mind, they must not consider themselves the protégé of a certain state or race or nation, and they must not be under the impression that, when given the possibility of living a national life of their own, they are called upon to defend interests other than their own.

No British or American statesman believes that the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine is possible without the consent of all the great powers, irrespective of their present mutual relations, and as soon as one power or group of powers finds out that the Jewish Palestine is not primarily looked upon as the homeland of the Jewish nation, but the political stronghold of another power or group of powers, there will be no unanimity in regard to the Jewish Palestine when peace is discussed; and without unanimity of the powers there will be no Jewish Palestine, because no belligerent power will continue the war one day longer, only because it is anxious to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. But as a matter of fact the powers which, led by noble motives, have expressed their willingness to favor the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine, have only uttered a noble desire. There can be no talk of anxiety on their part, but only of consent to permit us to rebuild our nation. These powers, because they are not led by motives of war politics only, but by political foresight and idealism, do not want us to serve other purposes than our own, because they know that unless we look only after our own affairs we will not succeed.

For the time being, the Jewish people are divided into various groups, each group serving the country in which it lives to the best of its ability. Today there is not, and cannot be, a supreme Jewish leadership, a Jewish national assembly or a general Jewish congress. Each and every Jewish group is entitled to work for the future of the Jewish people under given conditions only. The English Jews can ask their government to do something for the Jewish cause and so can the French, Italian, Russian, German, Austrian and American Jews; every one of the respective governments can extend its sympathy and help, can promise its help in establishing the Jewish homeland in Palestine only to the Jews of their respective lands, but not to the Jewish people at large, for the Jewish people are today divided into hostile camps, just as is civilized humanity.

Our assimilationists in every country, here as well as in Germany, in England as well as in France and Austria, have been telling their respective governments that those Jews who aspire to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine are disloyal citizens and are conspiring against their own country. In England and in America, where the governments follow a broad-minded and liberal policy, no attention is paid to such hypocritical talk. But in Austria, Germany and Turkey, conditions are different. There the influential assimilationists are still _personae gratae_ with their governments, and since they are capable of every crime, if they can only see their way clear to break Jewish nationalism, they will no doubt lose no time in pointing out to their governments that Jewish nationalists, though they displayed heroism on the battle-field, are not loyal to their countries and are crossing the plans of the Central Powers in the Near East. They will tell the governments that the Jewish nationalists are conspiring with the enemies of their governments against the interests of the Central Powers in the Orient; the result may be that the government of the Central Powers, listening to this misleading talk, may embark on a Jewish policy opposing that of the Entente and may start to persecute Zionists and all who sympathize with Jewish nationalism, thus making the life of eastern European Jewry, now greatly under the control of the Teutonic Powers, still more bitter.

Therein lies the danger of our misconstruing the high-minded declaration of the British Cabinet. The statesmen of the Entente Powers certainly do not wish to imperil the existence of European Jewry, nor do they wish to have their policy misconstrued by the Central Powers. These statesmen want the liberation of small nationalities and not their oppression. These statesmen also know that if the Jews in the new Palestine will not be, first of all, pro-Jewish, there will not be the Jewish Palestine which they wish to see established. By misconstruing the declaration of the British Government, we are implicitly acting against the spirit and noble motives of this declaration and, needless to say, we are acting against our own elemental interests. A Jewish Palestine is only possible with the consent of all the powers, and since it is desirable that it should be a product of the consensus of opinion among all the powers, every act on our part must be avoided that may create the impression that in the anxiety to build up a national homeland in Palestine the Jewish people are becoming political tools of any power or group of powers. This will, in the end, spell ruin for us and might, besides, endanger the life of millions of our people in central and in eastern Europe. We have been told on good Zionist authority in this country, that the American Government, appreciating the present complicated international situation, is anxious to remain in the background with regard to the establishment of the Jewish homeland in Palestine, though it is a noble and unselfish champion of the cause. We wish that the Jews everywhere would take an example from the wisdom and forbearance displayed by the American Government.

THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK

No one has characterized the Jews better than did Mohammed when he called the Jews The People of the Book. In fact, nearly all that the Jews have achieved during their existence as a people they have achieved in the domain of literature. Even at the time when the Jews lived in Palestine and were at the height of their power, their achievements in the field of practical civilization were relatively poor. When the Jews disappeared as a sovereign nation from among the nations of the earth they did not leave behind them a highly developed civilization as did ancient Rome, nor did they leave behind them a highly developed science and art, as did the Greeks, but they did leave a book that subsequently became _the_ book of humanity. The economic structure of ancient Judea was primitive, and only the tribes living on the borderland and communicating with the peoples across the border succeeded in developing trade and commerce. The interior of Judea was an agricultural country and its inhabitants pious and simple-minded people without ambition to create values of civilization and without pretence. Just as the economic structure of ancient Judea was primitive and simple, so was the political fabric.

The ancient Jewish state never succeeded in entirely subduing the individual and making him respect the supreme authority of the State. The prophets repeatedly exhorted the people to abide by the law and to respect the authority of the State. This would go to indicate that, even in the best days ancient Judea has seen, individualism was supreme and the authority of the State thus considerably weakened. We have no record of the ancient Jews ever having built great roads, or ever having been a great seafaring nation, or having done other things that would testify to their creative genius in the field of civilization.

But, on the other hand, they have created great books and have always been active in the field of literature, as have no other people on earth. It may be that their literary genius and activity absorbed all their energies, so that the literary values they created were created at the expense of the creation of values of civilization. From time immemorial to the present day, the Jews, first as a nation and then as individuals, have been busily engaged in writing books, and, besides the Bible--that became _the_ book of humanity and that has influenced the mind of humanity more than any other book in world literature--they have written a number of books at various times and in various languages which had a striking effect on the human mind and were instrumental in shaping and framing it.

The appearance of Philo of Alexandria puzzled and amazed the entire ancient world. The Greeks themselves considered him a wonder and expressed their admiration for him by saying that they did not know whether Plato Philonized or Philo Platonized. How Philo's writings have influenced the course of spiritual development in Europe and how they contributed shape and form to the philosophy of Christianity is known to everyone who is acquainted with the history of the European mind. Christian authors have often asserted that part of the success of St. Paul is to be ascribed to his literary genius, his striking style and to the concise form of his literary expression. And how can we think of Christianity without Philo and St. Paul, though the former did not consciously contribute anything to the makeup of Christianity?

When, during the chaos following the disintegration of the Roman Empire, the Jews disappeared from the arena of European literature, the best Jewish minds were busy creating books and literary styles, which remain unique to the present day. We refer to the Talmud and Midrash or, to be more precise, to Halakhah and Hagadah. The day will come when European scholarship will pay more attention to these two marvelous books. A famous German scholar, Professor Strack, declared a few years ago that "for the last four hundred years the European peoples have studied the Bible and have worked very hard to understand it. Now, since we are better acquainted with the Bible, we will have to take up the study of the Talmud and the Midrash. Only then will we understand Judaism." Whatever place the Talmud may hold in the history of law and no matter how it is valued by great jurists, it is certainly unique in its literary style. The Talmudic style may or may not be a beautiful one, but it is certainly peculiar, striking and original to the core. Literature is first of all style; what is true of the originality of the Talmudic style is also true of the strikingly original style of the Midrash.