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ion to the spirit of the juris
prudence, it is the gradual
changes against the letter of
Scripture that came about
through the course of centu
ries, that offers the most strik
ing manifestation of the true,
the compassionate spirit of
Jewish law.
Jewish law indeed presents
nne of the most striking ex
amples in human history of
ocial revolution, of a develop
ment from the rude and savage
to the refined and human. The
teachers of Israel, in each gen
eration, by applying Scripture
interpretation and anvient cus
tom, made known as the Book
of Exodus states: “the way
wherein they should walk and
the thing which they should
do.”
It is my considered opinion
that the most valuable contri
bution of Jewish law to our
present American system of
jurisprudence is this tradition
that the law must provide ade
quate and broad remedies for
all changing needs of the
society it serves.
Every basic point I have
made as to the relationship of
Jewish law to our current legal
system reaches a dramatic
climax in the decision of our
Supreme Court—Brown vs.
Topeka Board of Education,
one of the “school segregation”
cases. Here are the facts of the
Topeka case. Negro children in
Topeka were compelled to
meet on selected street corners
throughout the city, and while
white children walked to
schools in the neighborhood or
rode to school on public con
veyances or were driven to
school by their parents, the
Negro children were herded
into clearly marked school
busses and driven to an isolat
ed school. The question before
Chief Justice Earl Warren and
his associates was whether this
practice, by Kansas law per
mitted only in the single city
of Topeka, violated the Four
teenth and Fifteenth Amend
ments. Justice Warren, in an
eloquent decision, held that
you cannot brand any Ameri
can child as a “second class
child,” that no child could en
joy the democratic values of
the Declaration of Indepen
dence “that all men are entitled
to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness” when his dignity
as a human being was affront
ed by rejection by other
children.
This decision is a fulfillment
of Jewish law which requires
constant judicial re-evaluation
to insure that the legal stand
ard is a pace with the growing
comprehension and unde r-
standing of the people. This
decision is a fulfillment of
Jewish law, for it illustrates
that our law is a growing
revelation of man’s relation
ship to his neighbors and to his
f hief Justice Warren,
writing the unanimous de
cision of our highest court,
presented the country with a
model of. rational calm, one
which is steeped in the spirit
of Jewish law.
It is this aspect of Jewish
law, its limitless range, its
vastness and power, which has
excited in me the greatest
pride in my Jewishness. For I
see that in the fulfillment of
my daily responsibilities as a
citizen 1 am helping to per
petuate one of the greatest
legacies that our people have
bestowed—the doctrine of a
law which shines unquaver-
ingly throughout the darkness
and terror—to orient and give
us support at times of stress
and turmoil.
Ironically, when I was pre
paring this speech, I could not
dislodge from my mind the
apparently unrelated words of
an Indian chieftain: It was not
until I set to paper my final
ideas that I realized that his
words expressed with dignity
and grace one aspect of
Jewish philosophy—that God’s
word alone is everlasting and
eternal. Here is what he said
about the transitory nature of
the present as contrasted to
the eternalness of the future:
“A little while and I will be
gone from among you, whither
1 cannot tell. From nowhere we
came, and to nowhere we go.
What is life? It is a flash of a
fire in the night. . It is a
breath of a buffalo in winter.
It is as the little shadow that
runs across the grass and loses
itself in the sunset."
It is this reminder which
makes the perpetuation of
Jewish law such as exalted
mission, for while the imprint
of our individual endeavor, no
matter the magnitude of our
largess, will be soon dimmed,
we can make of our life's effort
something of beauty and value
by fufilling our responsibility
to keep forever vigorous and
dynamic the essence of Jewish
law.
And the solemn import of
this charge is thus promised in
ihe Tablet of Isaiah:
"They shall build houses,
and inhabit them; and they
shall plant vineyards and eat
the fruit of them. They shall
not build, and another inhabit;
they shall not plant, and an
other eat. They shall not labor
in vain, nor bring forth for
trouble. And it shall come to
pass, that before they call. I
ivill ansicer; and while they
are yet speaking. I will hear.
The ivolf and the lamb shall
feed together, and the lion
shall eat straw like the bull
ock, and dust shall be the
serpent's meat. Thou shalt not
hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain, saith the Lord.
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The Southern Israelite
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