Jewish Heritage Under Bold Inquiry
By MILTON STEINBERG
In "A Believing Jew"
We, as Jews, feel free to
reject the totality of the Jew-
ish tradition
tradition or any single
part of it. We may if we are
so minded withdraw f r o m
participation in Jewish life,
individual and collective.
These are privileges which
have come to us as persons
born in our age.
But what most m o d e r n
Jews fail to perceive is that
the right to reject Judaism
in whole or in part carries
with it a prior obligation —
the obligation first to under-
;land. A Jew has the right
to reject Jewish religious at-
titudes but not until first he
has come to comprehend
their logical validity and
psy ogical values. He has
the _a lit, if he sees fit, to
abandon traditional obser-
7-ances, but not until he has
first made an effort to under-
.stand their place in the Jew-
ish scheme of things. He is
free to embark upon a delib-
erate policy of assimilation.
But he owes it to himself, to
the Jewish group and to man-
x-ind, first to evaluate the
possible implications of his
program and the grounds on
which it is rejected by pro-
tagonists of Jewish survival.
The obligation resting upon
the Jew to understand before
he rejects is real enough. No
Jew who has any respect for
his own intellect, no Jew who
wishes to live as rich a life
as he can, no Jew with any
sense of realism or with any
feeling of responsibility to the
past of mankind and to its
future, can avoid that re-
ponsibility.
It is possible, of course,
that a Jew may come to un-
dertstand and still reject.
With such an individual,
Judaism can have no quar-
rel. It must say to him, Go
thy way in peace; we shall
reason with each other again
tomorrow. Judaism has no
complaint against honest, in-
telligent, and informed rejec-
tios of itself. But Judaism
does have a quarrel with the
man who accepts no respons-
ibility, who rejects Judaism
with a proper understanding
of it. It is in the last analysis
not freedom of thought which
endangers Jewish values, but
the freedom which some peo-
ple arrogate to themselves
not to think at all.
From many points of view
it is much easier to be a Jew
today than it was four or five
hundred years ago. For all
the persecution of our time
the Jew, even in the lands of
darkest repression, enjoys
now a measure of liberty and
security such as the medi-
eval Jew scarcely dared en-
visage. But from another
point of view, ours is the
heavier burden. In one re-
spect at least our ancestors
were more fortunate than we
are. They accepted what was
taught to them and their
problem was at an end. Their
minds were so conditioned
that it never occurred to
them to claim the right to
accept or to reject faith in
God, standards of morality,
patterns of observance, and
their identification with the
Jewish group. The times have
thrown us intellectually upon
our own resources. We are
driven, often against our will,
to - subject our Jewish heri-
tage to bold inquiry. We are
the children of the modern
world, free to believe or dis-
believe, to accept or reject
as our reason determines —
a glorious freedom. But we
are also the heirs of an obli-
gation which, difficult though
it may be, is equally glorious
— the obligation of under-
standing before judging. Of
that responsibility let the
Jews of our day be reminded,
for their own sake, for the
sake of the Jewish group and
its future, and for the sake of
mankind to whose spiritual
resources Israel may have
f u r the r contributions to
make.
JWV
RUSSELL SCHREIBER ASSOCIATE`
AGENCY OF THE SHOW WORLD
■- Orchestras
• Speakers • Concerts
DowntoWn Detroit - 962-8000
s uede
HAPPY NEW YEAR
B L O C H ROSE AUXILI-
ARY, will hold a board meet-
ing 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at
JWV headquarters. On the
agenda will be the planning
of a service date for a youth
home party. Chairman Mir-
iam Lawrence, UN 2-1467,
requests donations of prizes.
For information, call Presi-
dent Dorothy Goldberg, 548-
6850, or the JWVA office,
559-5680.
OP
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Coats, Jackets, Gloves
Purses, Hats,
Dye Work & Reweaving
Men's Clubs
BETH ACHIM MEN'S
CLUB will present its annual
Cabaret Night and dinner-
dance 7 p.m. Oct. 28 in the
synagogue social hall. There
will be strolling musicians
during the catered dinner, as
well as music and entertain-
ment by Larry Friedman
and his orchestra.
Israel's Functions
As the myrtle is sweet to
him who smells it, but bitter
to him who bites into it, so
Israel brings prosperity to
the nation which grants it
kindness, and depression to
the people which afflicts it
with evil. —Esther Rabba
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Brandeis on Zionist Idealism
By LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
A Pre-Israel Statement
on Zionism
What is being achieved in
Palestine can perhaps be
achieved only there hi the
fullest degree; but the lesson
applies to the Jews all over
the world. We have our ob-
ligations, the same noblesse
oblige. Our traditions are the
same. They have been trans-
mitted also to us. We have
not applied them in the same
degree as those of our people
who have returned to our
ancestral home. But the ages
of sacrifice have left us with
the sense of brotherhood.
That brotherhood has given
us the feeling of solidarity
which makes each one of us
ready and anxious to fulfill
his obligations. And we know,
from the lesson of history,
that the traditions we cherish
depend for their life upon the
conduct of every single one
of us.
It is not wealth, it is not
station, it is not social stand-
ing and ambition, w hi c h
makes us worthy of the Jew-
ish name, of the Jewish her-
itage. To be worthy of them,
we must live up to and with
them. We must regard our-
selves as custodians. Every
young man here must feel
that he is the trustee of what
is best in Jewish history. We
cannot go as far as the pio-
neers in Palestine, but we
must make their example to
radiate in our lives. We must
sense our solidarity to such
an extent that even an un-
conscious departure from our
noble traditions will make us
feel guilty of a breach of a
most sacred trust.
Here then is the task be-
fore you . . . It is to promote
the ideals which the Jews
have carried forward through
thousands of years of perse-
cution and by much sacrifice.
We must learn to realize that
our sacrifices have enhanced
the quality of our achieve-
ments, and that the overcom-
ing of obstacles is part of our
attainments.
Men differ in ability, how-
ever great the average ability
of the Jews is, but e v e r y
single Jew can make his own
contribution to the Jewish
way of life. Every single one
of us can do that for himself.
Every one of us can declare:
"What is mean is not for us."
We bespeak what is best,
what is noblest and finest in
all civilization. This is our
heritage. We have survived
persecution because of the
virtues and sacrifices of our
ancestors. It is for us to fol-
low in that path. It is the
Jewish tradition, and the
Jewish law, and the Jewish
spirit which prepare us for
the lessons of life.
How to Be Good
A man ought to associate
with the righteous and be
constantly in the company of
the wise, so that he may
learn from their actions. He
must likewise keep far from
the wicked who walk in dark-
ness, so that he should not
learn from their actions. . . .
Consequently, if he is in a
region where the customs are
evil, and the inhabitants walk
in wickedness, he should
move to another where the
customs are righteous and
the inhabitants conduct them-
selves in the way of good
men.
If, however, the inhabit-
ants of all the countries
which he knows, and the re-
port of which he has heard,
conduct themselves in a way
which is not good—as is the
case in our own day—or if he
be unable to go to a country
where the customs are good,
owing to sickness, or fear of
brigands on the road, then he
should lead a solitary life.
And if his countrymen be so
wicked and sinful that they
do not allow him to dwell in
that land unless he mingle
with them and conform to
their evil customs, he should
repair to caves, thickets, and
deserts rather than yield to
them. — Maimondes in Yad,
Deot VI
Lesson in Pride
Given in Midrash
King Solomon received
from the Lord a wondrous
gift, namely, a silken carpet
which flew through the air.
The king and his associates
would take breakfast in Da-
mascus and supper in Media,
carried to and fro on the
magic carpet.
Once the king passed an
ant-hill. Since he understood
the speech of all living crea-
tures, he overheard the
queen-ant order the subject-
ants to hide from Solomon.
"Why hast thou said this?"
the king called down.
"Because I was afraid they
might look up to thee, and
learn from thee pride in place
of huimility, diligence and
praise for their Maker."
"Let me ask thee a ques-
tion," Solomon said.
"Take me up to thee,
then," answered the queen-
ant.
When he took the little
creature in his palm, the
king asked: "Is there any-
one in the world greater than
I?"
"Yes," answered the ant,
"I am greater, since God has
sent thee to carry me." —
Midrash Vaayosha.
They say to fruit-bearing
trees: "Why do you not make
any noise?" The trees reply:
"Our fruits are sufficient ad-
vertisement for us." —Mid-
rash Bereshit Rabba.
dn.
Friday, October 5, 1973-3S
Love Is a Most Precious Gift
Rabbi Idi said: "There was
a woman in Sidon, who lived
10 years with her husband,
and had borne no child. They
went to Rabbi Simeon ben
Yohai, and asked to be di-
vorced. He said to them, 'As
your coming together was
with a banquet, so let your
separation be with a ban-
quet.' They agreed, and made
for themselves a holiday and
a banquet, and she made her
husband drink more than
enough. When his mind re-
turned to him, he said to her,
`My daughter, see what is
most precious to you in my
house, and take it, and go to
your father's house.
"What did she do? When
he had gone to sleep, she
beckoned to her servants and
handmaids, and said to them,
`Carry him on the mattress
to my father's house.' In the
middle of the night, he woke
up and he said to her,
`W h it h e r have I been
brought?' She said, 'To the
house of my father.' He said
to her, 'But why?' She re-
plied, 'Did you not tell me
last night to take what was
most precious to me from
your house and to go with it
to the house of my father?
There is nothing in the world .
more precious to me than
you.'
"After that they went back
to Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai,
and he prayed for them, and
they were given a child." —
Shir ha-Shirim Rabba.
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