The Denver Jewish news., 1923-03-14
Bojer' shovel, "TheGrea,
Hunger
by Rabbi Leon Harrison. Temple
Israel. st. Louis.
(COntinuation.)

and its resources the power 10 ac-
c,imulate wealth. 1t was. of course,
Just an instrument; just "A means Ia
an end. The problem now, confronted
him as to what he could do with ii
what was that end?
He would find out. Love came Ia
him: wife and children were his. He
would buy for his dear ones all that
wealth could secure. They would en-
joy with him comfort, splendor. lei
sure, peace.
But still within him was an aching
void. He sought to allay his restless
ness by other vast enterprises. And
then came collapse and ruin-with his
health gone. his money scattered. his
career blasted. Finally through mex
orable necessity he must part with his
children: first with one. and then with
the other; and at last death took the
third
He was back again to his original
poverty He had completed the circle
aud arrived at his commencement.
once more he must struggle for his
daily bread: hut no more were his
days illumined by hopes. No longer
did he feel as in bOyhOOd, that all the
glowing promise of the future was his,
Nothing but darkness brooded over
him: until at last light was kindle1
in his soul. He forgave his enemy :;
l,c helped the man that had hated and
cruelty wronged him. And by this su-
preme act he babe defiance to the blind
forces of Nature: he summoned the di-
vine into the world; he brought God
into being.
This is the climax of the Norwegian
Great Hunger Does it appease ours:
Does 1t truly satisfy us! Does this
reveal to us that great spiritual Real
ity that we seek in n world of violence.
cruelty and blind Law? Instead Of
THE Great Hunger this book might
he called '.The Great Problem or THE
Eternal Quest for Ultimate Truth"
For it attempts to depict, the longing
of the soul for spiritual realities: the
truth that lies ut the heart of things !:
and also to solve the problem of life's
tragedies. Are they meaningless, are
they accidental? Are they in accord
ance with Gods plan or in defiance of
tho Divine WIFI
The supreme question ia. is there II
God with power? And is this God with
Ower--cOmpassiOnatc and just:
1t is the eternal question that is ask
ed In every age by the anxious heart
of man. Ii is the question of the Book
of job. Job had all worldly satis-
factions. and one by one they We're
rent away from him-first his posses
sions. then his children. and finally his
own health and strength; just as in
our story. that might be n modern
parallel to the Book of Job, Our hero's
fortune crashes. his health is ruined :
and his children vanish one by one.
And yet Job was righteous man.
Would his faith survive the shipwreck
OF his life? The solution finally Of
fered TO him by the Divine voice is no
solution. The answer was. it is all Il
mystery. Man cannot understand the
mysteries of Creation: still less the
Creators ways with men. The state
ment of the problem in the Book Of
Job is marvellous and sublime. but not
the solution; for there is no solution.
And we consider next n modern
in his remarkable
story, The Undying Fire 1t is n
deliberate modern reproduction of the
Book of Job. The high-minded school
master is broken in health. loses his
possessions: his noble ambitions are
come around him, like Jobs Comfort
ers, with the Orthodox arguments of
the present day. | told you this story
once, and summed up these arguments.
1t is the modern statement of the prob
lem of Job, complicated by science and
the theory ofevolution. with our OBJ
servation of the survival of the ply
sically fit. that implies the destruction
OF the physically unfit. What is the
explanation of all this unmerited pain
and misery. that can make it consistent
with a God infinitely strong, as well
ns infinitely kind?
Wells in THE Undying Fire" ut least
offers some solution. His solution is
that we are deceived by our human
definition of the Godhead: by our con-
ception of God as an achieved perfec-
tion in every sense, instead as strug-
Cling God. gradually mastering rcfrac-
tory elements and forces, and subduing
them to His Will. The thought of