Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-24
PROGRESS OF JEWISH RACE.
ERROR THAT JEW Is NARROW
AND sELF-CoMpLACENT.
Intellectual Growth Moves Along
With Currents Of the Age-1n
Touch With American Ideals.
bran s, Isaacs. In Atlantic Monthly.

Abram 8. Isaacs, In Atlantic Monthly.
There are few more popular miscon-
ceptions-which have spread, too, in ranks
that claim to be academic-than the wide
ly accepted opinion of Jewish Intellectual
narrowness and self-complacency. Jewish
thought in the long sweep of centuries Is
held to have been rigid, exclusive, wholly
uninf1uenced by the currents of each
age-as fixed and unyielding as the tabled
statue OF Memnon, but responsive to no
melody at each successive sunrise in the
worlds advance. In other words 1t Is
claimed that there has been no intellec-
tual development. in it's proper sense. In
Jewry. that sterile and rudimentary condi-
tons have ever prevailed, and its Jericho
of torpidity and ecclesiasticism has re-
fused to fall, despite all the trumpet calls
Of enlightenment.
Now, the slow rise of the most rational
opinions is a disheartening blow to the
very long ago since 1t was stoutly believed
that heretics had tails or that there was
some dim connection between a Quakers
conference and rainy sky? The pop
ular verdict as to the Jew shows as sur
prising logic. There has been nothing
too absurd to say about him-a privilege
he shares with priests. princes. women
and lawyers. He could not be in better
company, only the lash cuts deeper In his
case when the only fact exceptional about
ceived from his lords and masters. as If
he were half criminal. half clown.
1t is hardly the present purpose to
enter into any consideration Of the causes
and conditions which have led to such
fallacies Of judgment. Some of these,
doubtless. can be traced to the Jew him
self, to his tenacity Of belief and scorn OF
consequences. An incorporating re-
ligionist Is apt to arouse more dislike In
certain minds than a man who is a
there is often an unlovely aggressiveness
In your man of resolute faith. especially
when his tent is pitched among children
Of darkness. II this has been the Jews
himself for the burdens which he has
borne. But just as the Ghetto was no
original Jewish creation, being forced
upon the Jew from without by conditions
beyond his wish and control. so this
familiar theory Of an intellectual Ghetto
with its accompaniments-its disdain of
it's age. its contempt Of any vision outside
Of the synagogue. it's limitless self-satis-
faction, its conceit and arrogance-tnis
view which dies 50 hard, is wholly un-
Jewish and unhistortcal.
Genius Of the Jew.
Forces. it is true, have existed In Jewry,
taking their cue from the environment,
which from time to time have striven to
produce a rigid east Of thought and &C
ton, with threats Of the ban. If not the
thumb-screw, the thunder, II not the
lightning, Of church tyranny. There Is
little doubt. for example. that the almost
contemporaneous condemnation or Des-
cartes' writings by the Synod OF Doro-
lorr pACnanethla
communication Of Spinoza by the Amster-
dam rabbinical authorities. Yet the ge-
MUS Of the Jew as reflected In the Varled
activities Of his best and most representa-
tive thinkers. from the era OF Isaiah. mas
sought as persistently to break the yoke.
to catch a wider rift in Gods sky,
broader Inspiration. and that without any
color Of disloyaHy. but with the fullest
reverence for the ancient religion.
No wonder that the Exodus mas oeen
REGARDED as Judaism's most Significant
point Of departure, its most distinctive
festival for it has served as the very
keynote Of emancipation. an everlasting
spirit call for freedom. even In centuries
among the inalienable privileges OF man.
In fact, the close mantle which apparent
ly he delighted to wear in certain imam
mable eras was due more to INSTINCT
Of self-preservation than to any innate
exclusiveness. It is not narrowness OF
view to guard ones home against infec-
ton. There was never too much rose
water atmosphere in court and camp
Although conditions thus mad tend
ency to keep the Jew in kind OF quar-
antine, Jewish thought has not been
impervious to external influences. There
has been a steady interrelation between
Jewish and non-Jewish streams OF opin-
lon, points Of contact at certain per1oos
Of profound consequence In the history
OF civilization The Jewish mind has
been open to impressions 1t has recog-
nixed its duty to its age, and has been no
laxgard in the work Of human ADVANCE
mSnt. in which its interest has been as
keen and imprisoned as It 10 TO-DAY aSc,s q.
classic, example Of the readiness OF the
lew to widen his horizon Is AFFORDED by
the story Of Philo and the Alexandrian
school. When Alexander founded his Ia
nous city (33c B. c. Jewish colony was
among the earliest settlers, and 1t did not
take them many years to become so In
fiuenced by their environment as to write
Greek with the iuency of an Armenian.
In the more or less favorable conditions
that prevailed for considerable PERIOD
under Alexanders immediate successors
they were Greek citizens without los
ing their religious identity. soon there
sprang up among them school OF writ
ers. poets. dramatists, historians. VINO
erature and philosophy. Philo may be
taken as the typical thinker Of his time.
and he is always termed Philo Judaeus:
Greek was then largely the vernacular OF
the synagogue, and Homer. Prato. Aris-
totle and the Stoics were as much read
by young Israel as the Pentateuch, the
Psalms. the prophets OF Judaea.
Philo's Breadth Of View.
Philo. about whose life only scanty de-
tails are preserved could not have been
a more loyal Jew, with greater reverence
for his religion and firmer attachment to
his special community, in whose defense
he participated in an embassy to Rome
Yet he was broad enough to see goodness
elsewhere, and he strove to fuse the Wis
dom of the Greek with the faith OF the
Hebrew. not from any desire to abandon
his traditions. but to show their adapt
ability in a cultured age. Whether his
system Of allegory was success or not,
and whether his philosophy was accepted
or not BY his brethren in the flesh. these
are inquiries absolutely secondary to the
main issue-that a man like Philo, with
his character, training and standing.
could feel the necessity of reconciline his
faith with current tendencies without
being less a Jew. That he was rejected
by his people. who preferred the inter-
probation of Palestine to that of Athens
or Alexandria. and that his writings owe
their preservation to the Christian Fa-
theirs, with undoubted influence on the
early theology Of the church, do not in
validate the position assumed. Certainly
the point of contact in those centuries
might have led to far-reaehing conse-