The Denver Jewish news., 1924-05-15
The Understanding
Heart
Lecturer mt Cambridge University,
Author of Jewish Life in the Mid
die Ages" Chapters on Jewish
Literature" etc.

ton the occasion of the Thlrty-fifth
Anniversary of the Jewish Publica-
toin Society.
BY DIR. ISRAEL ABRAHAMS.
Some claims are so Obvious that they
fail to receive their deserved enforce
ment: SO supreme that sober formula
ton seems hyperbole. For thirty-hVe
years this society has rendered services
unparalleled in the age-long history OF
Israel. Not only has it realized the
essential influence in Judaism cf liter
ature On life, but it has endeavored also
to let life influence literature. Hence
it has been the begetter of n library
useful to the specialist, attractive TO
the layman. 1t has responded TO the
Inspiration CT the past, ii has heard
the call of the present. In an epoch
of sectarianism, it has risen above
party. So manifold are the Society's
merits that even this bald exposition
seems to take on an air of exaggera-
ton.
But it is an under, not an over
statement of, the truth. This may be
seen most clearly if attention is re-
stricted to one particular aspect Of the
case. What is the main Jewish pro-
blem of the day? King Solomon asked
for an understanding heart dn
modern times we should paraphrase
his petition into n prayer for recep-
81, s,.,t NJ
how unreceptive Israel can be; how
leaden cared, how stiff-necked when
the truth Is presented. ON the other
hand, Israel has often proved HIM
self fatally ready to accept the false,
to adopt Amorite ways and debase It's
own spiritual possessions. When out
side. hostile critics make contradictory
charges against Israel, the inconsistent
cies may be loft to themselves. one
day, Judaism is tiiS villain of capital
ism, the next day ei Communism; one
day the jew is bourgeois, the next day
bolshevist. All this is absurd, for
Judaism has no economic theory, just
us it has no theory of the state
/ 81
archy and democracy; and in econo-
mics. it no more stand for capitalist
competition than for socialist co-opera-
ton. 1t stands for equity in and under
every economic theory, for righteous
ness in and under every theory of
state.
When. however. we examine the ap-
parently inconsistent accusations of
ancient prophet and modern homillst,
that Israel is Mt once too receptive
and too obstinate, we cannot whistle
off the charge as due to prejudice or
ignorance. For it is clear that 1sreal
must learn two lessons: how to yield,
how to resist. Solomon's desire for Il
receptive spirit must remain Israel's
perennial ambition. Israel has lived
Through centuries of humiliation into
an era of accessible honour. just be
cause of his receptivity. Israel has
always lived on the past perhaps, but
i'll the present certainly. He has best
shown this capacity for living by tradi-
tion under modern conditions when he
has best balanced receptivity and re-
sistance. The wrong obstinacy, the
wrong assimilation arise from identical
faults. Israel is too receptive of the
moments fashion, too ready to take on
the latest fad, too anxious to be in
the forefront of modernism. Israel is
attracted feverishly not only by the
newest but by the shallowest, the most
grotesque, the most useless. Now what
is wrong here is not the possession of
"A receptive spirit. Epictetus, the Stole,
refused to admit a young dandy to his
lectures, saying: 'There is an art in
deed, of speaking, and l possess it.
There is an art of hearing, and you
do not possess it. Learn how to hear
before you ask me to speak to you"
Receptivity is the necessary antccedent
to the acquisition of wisdom, be it in
tellectual wisdom or wisdom in the
science of life.