The Jewish outlook., 1907-11-29
IS
Judaism
Eternal =?

Etarna1 2 knowledge that iron
sharpens iron and time
dulls the edge. The Jew and the nom
Jew rubbing against each other have
both become sharper in expressing
each his own theological edge. They
have cut each other deep and CHASTITY
wounds, and it is due in large meas
ure to the pain and the wounds that
the Jew and the nOn-Jew alike have
learned each others sound and vul-
nerable spots. 1t is perhaps no eXag-
geration to say that the Jew knows
more about the vulnerable spots Of the
Christian than about the healthy
spots of Judaism, and the Christian
also knows more about the weak and
unattractive parts of Judaism than
about the sound and attractive points
of his own religion. While it is not
to be denied that true religion and un-
defiled is always and ever the truly
noble, unselfish, fearing life, the
ology continues to build barriers and
to emphasize differences which
sharpen indeed the edge of under
standing but dulls the qualities of the
heart.
AS long as people meet on the COM
mon ground of humanitarian en-
deavors, men are truly brothers, but
let religious, or more correctly, theo-
logical discussions arise and the end
of brotherhood has come.
Again, as long as individuals will
be individuals, so long will differences
exist in all fields of thought, one will
always love the mother while the
other will love the daughter. If we
understand individual natures Alright
we will know that some people will
always be attracted by the theology
of Judaism and just as naturally will
others be attracted by the theology of
Christianity in all the different
phases and degrees, while in both
camps will be people who are indif-
ferent to all religious influence; one
system, therefore, is as good or as bad
to them as the other So are there
men and women who care nothing
about music; that does not prove that
music hath no charms, nor does it even
prove that the persons in question
cannot be moved by the right kind of
musical genius. To be unattracted
by any system of religion may prove
that the particular system is not
suited to that particular mind, or that
the particular mind has not been sui
ficiently awakened to the real inner
meaning of religious life.
A religion is not something in the
abstract; it is the living force that
binds an individual to his brothers
and to his God. A religious sys-
TEN, therefore, can never be some
thing abOre the professors and fol-
lowers of that religion, for no
matter what the founder or found
ers and Interpreters of any sys-
TEN may have in mind and in heart,
the religion itself is no more and no
less to any given individual than he
himself can comprehend and live.
Hence the measure of any religion is
the measure of the length and breadth
of the followers, their lives, their
thoughts, their action, their general
morality.
Is Judaism eternal? This question
resolves itself into the other question:
Are the Jews so imbued with the life
principle of their religious system
that they live, act, think, and feel that
they are walking in every endeavor
along the holiest and noblest impulses
which sway their hearts. If they are,
then are they eternal, then is Judaism
eternal, if they are not, then is Ju-