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The Southern Israelite
Page 17
j! Spiritual Awakening Throughout the PP 7 or id
American Judaism Is in Step With Progressive Knowledge. Social Science.
and Expanding Understanding
By ADOLPH S. OCHS
Kncoi; aging signs are everywhere evi-
,] (>nt ,,t ;i spiritual awakening through-
l)(1{ the world, and notably among the
„f our faith. An awakening to
t l,p fart that what we, as a religious
projtlr. have preserved — through cen
turies of oppression and suffering—is
rapidly becoming the universally ac-
rrptrrl conception of the Fatherhood of
(; ( „| and the Brotherhood of Man. It
called modernism, but it harks back
t)l the underlying principles of the faith
,,f an ancient people, who gave to civ
ilization and humanity the Ten Com
mandment'-. the Prophets, the Proverbs,
and the Psalms.
Boginas, doctrines, tenets, creeds, and
ordinances of religious faith that beget
narrowness and bigotry are being dis
carded, revoked, and destroyed.
••Lux <>t veritas,” says the motto of
Vale, and it is emblazoned on its shield
not only in Latin, but also in Hebrew.
What we need is more light, more
love, better understanding; and with
light we must have truth.
It is a great day in which we live,
and the days ahead are full of promise
and revelation. We must take our place
m this forward movement toward a re
ligion in step with the march of prog
ress m knowledge, science, and under
standing.
American .Judaism is such a religion.
Rev. Dr. Isaac M. Wise concisely de
scribed it as:
A religion without mysteries or mir
acles, rational and self-evident, emi
nently human, universal, liberal, and
progressive, in perfect harmony with
modern science, criticism, and philoso
phy. and in full sympathy with uni-
v et'a! liberty, equality, justice, and
charity.”
^ ho cannot subscribe to these doc
trines ?
A religion that has as its underlying
principles humanity, righteousness, and justice distinguishes the one possessing
>t as a civilized human being and not of the brute creation.
A< an indication of the approaches that are being made to this conception
" f religion, the Right Reverend Charles H. Brent, Bishop of Western New
^ "ilc. said some time ago:
• • That all men might accept God as Father and man as brother. It js
which lifts up the whole human race to an unwonted height. . . . No
th«u;ghtful man today can consciously submit to ordina-
tnu; or consecration to life and service that is not as
"ido as human contacts will permit.”
P" urged an earnest striving after unity, together with
th' exalting of the essentials in which all believe, quoting
' "entials from the New Testament:
'bar what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: ‘Thou shalt
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
"rind.’ This is the first and the great Command-
And the second is like unto it: ‘Thou shalt love
neighbor as thyself.’ On these two Commandments
all the law and the prophets.”
! ' is Jewish doctrine in its essence,
an indication of the change that is going on in the
. some while ago I was called upon by a committee
-enting a college that had heretofore been strictly
ian. I was informed that they are reorganizing the
institution on a more liberal and mod*
ern basis; that they wanted to remove
the narrow barriers to matriculation,,
and that as an evidence of this change
they wanted to have a representative
Jew on their Board of Trustees.
\\ e hear much talk of prejudice, dis
crimination, exclusion of Jews, etc. Mv
opinion is that we overemphasize these
manifestations. We arc supersensitive,
and are conjuring up ghosts of preju
dice. We frequently bear of some club
that calls itself exclusive, or some school
that wishes to be select, or even some
college that has restrictions against per
sons of the Jewish faith. I should not
feel injured or distressed in coming
across anything of this kind. Why not
seek consolation in the fact that if we
are worthy of being admitted, and by
our conduct and deportment are equal,
if not superior, to those who do not
wish association with us, we can say
that we do not cure for admission where
Jesus of Nazareth would be excluded
for the same reason.
What is the universal opinion of a
Jew who does not wish to l>e known
as a Jew? That he is ashamed of his
parentage, perhaps disowning his sis
ters and brothers; a deserter of his
kith and kind. Does anyone respect
such a person? What does he get out
of life? Perhaps while basking in the
hypocritical, sycophantic smiles of those
who bold him in contempt, he may flat-
ier himself that he lias some of the joy
out of life; but if he lias any intelli
gence and self-respect, lie must at times
despise himself and feel akin to a man
without a country.
If bis industry, intelligence, and good
luck have combined to give him higher
ambitions and greater social distinction
than prevail in bis family and circle of
friends, surely he proves himself the
more worthy of his position if he does
not disown his origin. People who say they have no religion talk nonsense.
Everybody lias a God. It may be the God of Mammon, or the God of Pleasure,
or the God of Selfishness, or the God of Vanity. There is an Arab legend
that says "There is a God for every people”.
Then there i* the God of Comfort. Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President
of Columbia University, referred to that God in an address he made; and
what he said as to Christians can, unhappily, as well be applied to Jews.
Dr. Butler quoted a clergyman he heard once as say
ing: The reason why Christianity no longer makes
appeal to men is that they are too prosperous. They
have erected a new God, comfort, and they are so con
cerned with worshiping him that they have no time tor
the God of their fathers. The modern American ideal
of life seems to be to put a comfortable baby in a com
fortable crib to be watched over by a comfortable nurse
until it was able to go to a comfortable school, then to
send it to a comfortable college, where comfortable teach
ers would see that it did not work too hard; to find its
way into a comfortable profession, marry a wife with
a comfortable fortune; to spend twenty or thirty com
fortable years, and to pass through a comfortable opiate
to a comfortable grave.”
But for whom can you have more respect than tor the
man whose God is righteous- (Continued on page 27)
PEBBLES IN A BROOK
By Louis Ginsberg
From ylntiny pebbles in its path,
The brook strikes music sweet to hear:
It shakes from little shards and rocks
A mellow treble, clinking clear.
And from the polished, rounded rocks
The stream is lapping crystal tones.
Oh. what a wizardry to suck
A silver music out of stones!
So from mv sorrows of the rocks
My rill of days will strike its rimes
To music, haunt ng one, as when
From pebbles bubble silver chimes.