The Denver Jewish news., 1921-09-28
The Wisdom of a Race
by William Lowe Bryan,
President, Indiana University.


ed upon q certain place, and tnrried
there all night. because the sun was
set and he took one of the stones OF
the place. and put it under his head.
and lay down in that place to sleep
And he dreamed: and. behold, ladder
set up on the earth. and the top of 1t
reached to heaven; and, behold. the
angels of God ascending and descend
ing on it, And behold, Jehovah stood
above 1t, and said, l am Jehovah. the
God Of Abraham thy father. and the
God of Isaac: the land whereon thou
licst. to thee will l give it, and to thy
seed and thy seed shall be as the dust
of the earth. and thou shalt spread
abroad to the west, and to the east, and
to the north, and to the south; and in
thee and in thy seed shall all the fam
lies of the earth be blessed. And. be-
hold. l am with thee, and will keep
thee whithersOever thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land; for
will not leave thee, until l have done
that which / have spoken to thee of.
ana JutOD dWuheu Jul vi llS sittps anu
he said, Surely Jehovah is in this
place; and l knew it not. And he was
afraid, and said, How dreadful is this
place this is none other than the house
of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
Genesis IS :10-17.
love text in which great truth is
gathered up in few words. Better than
any text is n man in whom great truth
is alive. More instructive than any
man is race in which great truth is
revealed and proved by centuries of
trial. what did you do during the
Reign of Terror Frenchman was
asked. Il lived through it," said he.
But when the Israclitc says, I'VE lived
through it," it is not year of terror
they have survived. 1t is forty cen
turtles, not one of them without its reign
of terror for the children of Israel
What is the Wisdom of the jew?
What secret of the Innexible Reality
has this race found by which to survive
and by which to fill the four corners of
the carth with its virile sons? The
answer TO this question is worth more
to us than the most dazzling theory for
the salvation of society which has ever
been proposed and never tried.
I offer three partial answers.
Thrift. Jewish thrift is no secret.
In Canaan, in Egypt, in Babylon
everywhere and always the jew makes
bricks-with or without straw. Seldom
has he held an even chance with his
Gentle neghbors Seldom has he had
any voice in making the law under
which he must work. In most lands
the law has been written against him.
In most lands, when the law was not
found unfair enough, the mob or the
police or both have broken through the
law to destroy the hated Israelite.
But the Israelitc is not destroyed. He
lives, He succeeds. He succeeded in
the presence of his enemies. Not al
ways by fair means Neither ancient
prophet nor modern rabbi defend the
worst methods by which their people
have fought for life and for success.
Lord. who shall abide in thy tabcr
nacie? Who shall dwell in thy holy
hill? He that walkcth uprightly and
worketh righteousness and speaketh the
truth in his heart. He that sweareth
to his own hurt and changetl not He
that putteth not his money to usury nor
takcth reward against the innocent
Thousands of Jews have sinncd and
do sin against this their ancient law.
But such great and permanent success
a sthc jewish race has won never comes
from short-sightcd rectitude. 1t is jew
!; ish thrift. it is the undying Jewish will
] to live which have made their race vic
tor over Pharaoh and Nebuchadnczzar,
I Roman, Russian and Turk. They died,
the Kings and the Empires. The jew
u saw them die and he survives.
II
Chastity The Jewish race is clastc.
There are doubtless innumcrablc in
dividual exceptions among high and
low, ancient and modern. Nobody is
worse than the worst of them. If sofne
of them have engaged in the white slnve
trade, no punishment is adequate cx-
ccpt the most terrible punishmcnts writ
ten in the Mosaic law. But the race is
chastc. Over the lintcls of the Jewish
home is written, ''Thou shalt not com
NIT adultery
There is nowadays II new fashion of
scorning old-fashioncd morality, bour-
yeois morality, middlc-class morality.
Tho ancient law of the family, written
in our statutes, in our Bible, in our
hearts is Il thing for lalIghtCr. We arc