The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-12-10

greatest heroes. If it is great to die for
an idea, and greater still to live and TO
suffer for an idea, then do the Jews
rank foremost among those who have
lived and suffered and died for what
they believed to be the truth; then must
their history be handed down through
all the ages of civilization as that Of
the martyr-race of the world; a race
who, when need be, could suffer for q
belief; when need be could live for a
belief, and when need be; could die for
belief. 1t is such q history which
prompted the divinely gifted German
Jewess Rachel, who became Christ
ian convert, to say to her devoted
Christian husband on her Sick bed a
few days before her death, In 1888:
with delighted exaltation, I look
back upon my origin, upon the link
which my history forms between the
Oldest memories of the human race. and
the interests of to-day between the
broadest interval of time and speech.
That which was during the early part
OF my life, the greatest ignominy, the
cause of the bitterest sorrow-to have
been born Jewess. would not now
nave otherwise at any price"
1t required, in earlier periods and in
many countries. much heroism to re-
main Jew. 1t requires much heroism
in some countries foreman Jew. even
to-day. 1t demands little heroism to
remain a Jew in this and in yet other
lands. H4
The Jew of the past became an apos-
tate, as rule, not from choice, but
from what he believed to be a necessity.
The Jew of this land, should he become
a convert, need do so not from neces-
sity, but purely from choice. 1t is be-
cause of this free will that we so rarely
hear of an American Jew changing mis-
faith. 1t is because he can live his
life in all its fullness and meaning that
the Jew, breathing American air or the
air of that other magnificent Anglo
Saxon country, Great Britain, so
rarely feels prompted to leave
the faith of his fathers. The
Jew of this age and of this land would
have but two reasons for changing his
faith. One reason, that of conviction;
the other, that of convenience. For the
Jew who, after careful investigation
and mature thought, decides that
Christianity or any other belief con-
tains more of the truth than does
judaism, and who, as a Searcher after
truth leaves the religion of his. birth
and adopts the religion of his convic-
lions, there can be naught but respect
and admiration. Respect, for the hon
esty and the strength of his convic-
lions. Admiration, for his courage in
inviting possible attacks upon his mo-
tives on the part of the cynical and the
diStrusting. For the Jew, however,
who changes his belief merely for the
sake of convenience, merely in the hope
of escaping what he looks upon as a
burden; or who flies from it in the hope
of winning for himself a higher or bet
ter place, socially or materially; for
such as him, there can be nauSht but
contempt A Jew such as this merits,
and, as a rule, receives the condemna-
ton of the world and lives and dies
despised by all whose good opinion is
worth having. A Jew such as this
cannot but be a fraud and a hypocrite.
and his days and nights cannot but be
embittered with the thought that he
has sold himself for mess of potage,
and that his life is but living. empty
lie.
If you or were asked why we remain
that we cannot honestly, consistently
become anything else. 1t is true that
many of US have been Indifferent to our
belief; it is true that many of US have
taken little or no interest in spiritual
affairs; it is true that many of US have
become merely race Jews rather than
observers of the Jewish religion; yet
am sure that as a rule, if pressure
was brought to bear upon any of US
to join another faith, our interest in our
own faith would Immediately become
aroused, and we would study it as We
have never before studied it Such
study would bring out to US, as it has
never before been brought out, that all
that is claimed for other religions we
find in our own. If other religions claim
to teach love and faith, charity and
benevolence, justice and righteousness,
meekness and humility, virtue and ODE
dience, truth and honesty, chastity and
purity, we would find that they have
sucked in all these teachings at the
breast of Judaism, and that, as mem
bers of the Jewish faith, we are get
ting our lessons of right-acting and
right-living from the very fountain
head. We would find, for example,
that all that Mohammed is to the Mo-
hammeden, and all that Jesus is to the
Christian, God Himself is to the Jew.
We would find that as Jews, the Father
can do for US all that His prophet Mo-
manned can do for the. Mohammeden,
and all that Jesus, who, to the many
millions of pious Christians stands as
the Son of God, can do for the Christian.
AS Jews, we cannot but have pro-
found respect for the achievements of
Mohammed, who drank in at the breast
Of Judaism all its beautiful truths, and
then went forth to preach and to teach
to the heathens Of Asia the God Of
Israel; the one and only God. AS Jews,
we cannot but have the profoundest
respect for the achievements of Christ
ianity, which has uplifted from con-
dition of idolatry and heathenism I'M
told millions, and filled them with a
feeling of spirituality and a love for
man and God.
True that the Christian world is still
permeated altogether too much with
hate and iniquity, with wickedness and
ill-will; with war and bloodshed; all
this, however, is not because of the
teachings of Christianity, but despite
the teachings of Christianity but de-
spite the teachings of that great re-
ligion. True that the Christian has not
attained the ideal established by his
religion, but mark his wonderful ad-
vancement from the state of his seni-
savage ancestor, who, before he be-
came Christian, drank need from the
skull of his enemy. Mark the Christ
ian's advancement from his forefather's
standard, who, while vet a heather,