The Phoenix Jewish news., 1962-04-13
Jewish Book Corner
A New Covenant
Urged In Our Age

has been interpreted unfortunately
through miracles, and the under
standing of God through super
naturalism in which the proof for
Gods existence depends upon a
God who brought about miraculous
events and who is interpreted from
the point of view of interrupting
nature and giving of the law liter
ally so that it allows little room
to bring the truth into the fact that
what was written had other mean
ings besides only one literal mean
ing as it is read.
Kaplan's argument is with those
who claim that it is written as
such, and therefore can only be
interpreted as it is written, and no
other Interpretation can be accept
ed. So frequently it happens that
logic is left behind We are given
to understand many incidents in
the Bible that are Interpreted as
Gods intervention as a miracle.
We have to have a broad under
standing to realize that religion
must go through various stages of
growth and development, and in
that development, God has had
many stages for the understands
ing of His nature to His people.
DR.. Kaplan warns us that when
we celebrated the tercentenary, the
Booth anniversary of the Jew in
America, we failed to emphasize
one important question: Although
we are grateful for living on this
soil for 300 years, will we be here
for another 300 years as Jews?
That is the question which Mr..
Kaplan is most seriously con-
cerned with. The perpetuation of
the Jewish people and the survival
of the individual jew who wants to
that of his family in terms of a
positive JewishneSs which will be
perpetuated and not lost in the
stream of assimilation.
WHAT DIR. KAPLAN proposes is
that the Jewish community of Is
rael, as fine as it is, has very little
to do baSically with the survival
VI IllC k11l1CllOQll jew 41lC jew III
Israel will have to face his prob
lens, but the Jew in America will
also eventually have to face his
own. And even though there be an
exchange between the two, never
theless the Jewish people in Amer
lea will have to be perpetuated as
religious community, and that
perpetuation will have to be done
through Torah, through the liberal
education of disseminating and
understanding of our purpose and
our power.
DR.. Kaplan believes that we
should make a covenant with God
in this generation just as we did
at Sinai 5000 years ago. We must
come to believe in the sense of our
integrity that we can find fulfill
ment within our lives as Jews,
and that we have the power Of
reason to understand that role and
to accept it with a will that we will
live creatively as a people in this
country of ours. We, as group,
must live as a community, and in
the organic working of a commun-
ity, every Jew will feel at home
because he belongs, and through
it he will find the fulfillment of his
life. But we must act quickly and
proclaim that we are determined
to live as a people, dedicated to
helping mankind achieve it's spirit
ual unity, and this is the unique
role of the Jew.
The humanism which lies within
the spiritual kernel of our tradition
is the thing the world needs most
for men to realize in the hu-
manity of their hearts, the creative
impulses that will make for the
coming years and generation a
world of justice, harmony and
peace.