Jewish History | Page 7

side, Jewry made its personality felt
among the nations by its independent, intellectual activity, its theory of
life, its literature, by the very fact, indeed, of its ideal staunchness and
tenacity, its peculiar historical physiognomy. From this reciprocal
relation issued a great cycle of historical events and spiritual currents,
making the past of the Jewish people an organic constituent of the past
of all that portion of mankind which has contributed to the treasury of
human thought.
We see, then, that in reference to content Jewish history is unique in

both its halves. In the first "national" period, it is the history of a people
to which the epithet "peculiar" has been conceded, a people which has
developed under the influence of exceptional circumstances, and finally
attained to so high a degree of spiritual perfection and fertility that the
creation of a new religious theory of life, which eventually gained
universal supremacy, neither exhausted its resources nor ended its
activity. Not only did it continue to live upon its vast store of spiritual
energy, but day by day it increased the store. In the second "lackland"
half, it is the instructive history of a scattered people, organically one,
in spite of dispersion, by reason of its unshaken ideal traditions; a
people accepting misery and hardship with stoic calm, combining the
characteristics of the thinker with those of the sufferer, and eking out
existence under conditions which no other nation has found adequate,
or, indeed, can ever find adequate. The account of the people as teacher
of religion--this is the content of the first half of Jewish history; the
account of the people as thinker, stoic, and sufferer--this is the content
of the second half of Jewish history.
A summing up of all that has been said in this and the previous chapter
proves true the statement with which we began, that Jewish history, in
respect to its quantitative dimensions as well as its qualitative structure,
is to the last degree distinctive and presents a phenomenon of
undeniable uniqueness.

III
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JEWISH HISTORY
We turn now to the question of the significance to be attached to
Jewish history. In view of its peculiar qualities, what has it to offer to
the present generation and to future generations as a subject of study
and research?
The significance of Jewish history is twofold. It is at once national and
universal. At present the fulcrum of Jewish national being lies in the
historical consciousness. In the days of antiquity, the Jews were welded
into a single united nation by the triple agencies of state, race, and
religion, the complete array of material and spiritual forces directed to
one point. Later, in the period of homelessness and dispersion, it was
chiefly religious consciousness that cemented Jewry into a whole, and
replaced the severed political bond as well as the dulled racial instinct,

which is bound to go on losing in keenness in proportion to the degree
of removal from primitive conditions and native soil. In our days, when
the liberal movements leavening the whole of mankind, if they have not
completely shattered the religious consciousness, have at least, in an
important section of Jewry, effected a change in its form; when abrupt
differences of opinion with regard to questions of faith and cult are
asserting their presence; and traditional Judaism developed in historical
sequence is proving powerless to hold together the diverse factors of
the national organism,--in these days the keystone of national unity
seems to be the historical consciousness. Composed alike of physical,
intellectual, and moral elements, of habits and views, of emotions and
impressions nursed into being and perfection by the hereditary instinct
active for thousands of years, this historical consciousness is a
remarkably puzzling and complex psychic phenomenon. By our
common memory of a great, stirring past and heroic deeds on the
battle-fields of the spirit, by the exalted historical mission allotted to us,
by our thorn-strewn pilgrim's path, our martyrdom assumed for the
sake of our principles, by such moral ties, we Jews, whether
consciously or unconsciously, are bound fast to one another. As Renan
well says: "Common sorrow unites men more closely than common
joy." A long chain of historical traditions is cast about us all like a
strong ring. Our wonderful, unparalleled past attracts us with magnetic
power. In the course of centuries, as generation followed generation,
similarity of historical fortunes produced a mass of similar impressions
which have crystallized, and have thrown off the deposit that may be
called "the Jewish national soul." This is the soil in which, deep down,
lies imbedded, as an unconscious element, the Jewish national feeling,
and as a conscious element, the Jewish national idea.
It follows that the Jewish national idea and the national feeling
connected with it have their origin