The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-05-27
HIGH JEWISH
CULTURE HELPS
DEFEAT HATE
Rabbi Steinbery Tells Why
of Peoples Survival in
National Magazine.

A brilliant and searching analy-
sis Of the factors that have enabled
the Jew to survive through the cen
turtles in the face Of universal ha-
tired and persecution is contained in
an article by Rabbi Milton Stein
berg, BETHEL Zedeck pastor, in the
May issue of the Atlantic Monthly.
Rabbi Steinberg will leave Beth
El-Zedeck about June l TO accept a
call to the Park avenue synagogue,
New York, this fall.
Gentle and Jew alike will find
absorbing Rabbi Steinberg's expla-
nation of How the Jew Did It" for,
as he points out the typical, mod
ern jew is no more intelligently in
formed than his Gentle neighbor
about the mechanics of his own
survival
jews" he asserts, either are re-
sentful of their Jewish descent or
incOrrigibly sentimental about it."
Pattern Conduct for Centuries
Summarized, Rabbi Steinberg's
articles finds these factors in the
Jewish survival to be. A preliminary
preparation, an theological equip
ment, a social isolation and a COM
penSating culture
For centuries, the jewish people
he points out, have been evolving
patterns of individual and group
conduct Consequently, by the time
of dispersion, the process almost
mad reached completion and the
Jew carried from Palestine body
of civil law, a sharply fixed ritual
for synagogue and home, clearly
defined morality and definite forms
regulating every phase Of life.
From his literal and vivid belief
that he was a member of a chosen
people Rabbi Steinberg points out,
the Jew derived a sense of impor
lance and dignity, which more than
atoned for his social insecurity and
insignificance,
History Plays Cruel Tricks
".
has played many a cruel trick on
the Jew" the Rabbi Steinberg says
in part, but it did him the favor Of
allowing himself to prepare for his
homelessness. BY the time the evic-
ton from Palestine was under way,
the Jew already had evolved a tech
nque of living as an unWelcome
guest in other mems homes. Early
in bis history, he had become
skilled and inVeterate alien.
The Jew depOrted by the Roman
emperors Titus or Hadrian found
ready-made Jewish world already
prepared in the land of his exile.
Unbeknown to himself, he had built
a bridge by which he might make
safe passage from Palestine to the
world. He never had been fore
Warned-he accidentally was fore
armed
1T is curious to note that while
the jew claimed a monopoly on
Gods revelation, he did not claim
exclusive possession of its reward.
AS a matter of fact, he insisted that
the righteous of all peoples have
their share in the world to come
But for himself, his bliss lay only
in his loyalty"
Hardness of Culture
Rabbi Steinberg points out how
segregation in itself guaranteed
there would be no wearing away of
Jewish loyalties. habits and ideas
through attrition. The baptismal
font always was waiting eagerly, but
it had to be made in one leap, and
that was too violent a step.
Hardness Of the Jewish culture
that managed to subsist on sterile
soil and in an unfriendly atmos-
phere is attributed by Rabbi Stein
berg to the two alternatives facing
the jew He either must construct
COmpensating culture or go stark
mad Where with other peoples,
culture was more of a by-prOduct
of normal living, an afterthought or
an amusement for leisure hours
with the Jew it was a condition for
sanity.
Near the close of his article Rab-
hi Steinberg writes graphically Of
the Jews steadfast clinging to his
own culture. He says in part:
Explains Superior Feeling
For all his social inferiority, the
jew felt superior to the Gentle. He
entertained a healthy contempt for
the violent militariSm of a feudal
society.
The armed chivalry of the mid
die ages was to him, barbaric. The
Christian world was bloodthirsty. it
laid none of his emphasis on learn
ing, it was less temperate than his,
it did not have his standard of fam
lily life
This sense of moral superiority
received occasional but forceful
confirmation through a pogrom or
massacre. 1t is easy to develop con-
tempt for the man who, for no good
reason except superior strength,
PLAYS the bully and Yields a cudgel.
Had their been no other re-
straining influence, the Jew would
have found passage to the Gentle
world difficult. 1t seemed to involve
the painful exchange of a moral
good for its ethical inferior"