Jewish History | Page 9

produced by two or more
contributory causes. By means of what might be called a laboratory
experiment, the several causes must be disengaged from one another,
and the effect of each observed by itself. Thus it becomes possible to
arrive with mathematical precision at the share of each cause in the
result achieved by several co-operating causes. This method of
difference, as it is called, is available, however, only for a limited
number of phenomena, only for phenomena in the department of the
natural sciences. It is in the nature of the case that mental and spiritual
phenomena, though they may be observed, cannot be artificially

reproduced. Now, in one respect, Jewish history affords the advantages
of an arranged experiment. The historical life of ordinary nations, such
nations as are endowed with territory and are organized into a state, is a
complete intermingling of the political with the spiritual element.
Totally ignorant as we are of the development either would have
assumed, had it been dissevered from the other, the laws governing
each of the elements singly can be discovered only approximately.
Jewish history, in which the two elements have for many centuries been
completely disentangled from each other, presents a natural experiment,
with the advantage of artificial exclusions, rendering possible the
determination of the laws of spiritual phenomena with far greater
scientific exactitude than the laws of phenomena that result from
several similar causes.
Besides this high value for the purposes of science, this fruitful
suggestiveness for philosophic thought, Jewish history, as compared
with the history of other nations, enjoys another distinction in its
capacity to exercise an ennobling influence upon the heart. Nothing so
exalts and refines human nature as the contemplation of moral
steadfastness, the history of the trials of a martyr who has fought and
suffered for his convictions. At bottom, the second half of Jewish
history is nothing but this. The effective educational worth of the
Biblical part of Jewish history is disputed by none. It is called "sacred"
history, and he who acquires a knowledge of it is thought to advance
the salvation of his soul. Only a very few, however, recognize the
profound, moral content of the second half of Jewish history, the
history of the diaspora. Yet, by reason of its exceptional qualities and
intensely tragic circumstances, it is beyond all others calculated to yield
edification to a notable degree. The Jewish people is deserving of
attention not only in the time when it displayed its power and enjoyed
its independence, but as well in the period of its weakness and
oppression, during which it was compelled to purchase spiritual
development by constant sacrifice of self. A thinker crowned with
thorns demands no less veneration than a thinker with the laurel wreath
upon his brow. The flame issuing from the funeral pile on which
martyrs die an heroic death for their ideas is, in its way, as
awe-inspiring as the flame from Sinai's height. With equal force,
though by different methods, both touch the heart, and arouse the moral

sentiment. Biblical Israel the celebrated--medieval Judah the
despised--it is one and the same people, judged variously in the various
phases of its historical life. If Israel bestowed upon mankind a religious
theory of life, Judah gave it a thrilling example of tenacious vitality and
power of resistance for the sake of conviction. This uninterrupted life
of the spirit, this untiring aspiration for the higher and the better in the
domain of religious thought, philosophy, and science, this moral
intrepidity in night and storm and in despite of all the blows of
fortune--is it not an imposing, soul-stirring spectacle? The
inexpressible tragedy of the Jewish historical life is unfailing in its
effect upon a susceptible heart.[6] The wonderful exhibition of spirit
triumphant, subduing the pangs of the flesh, must move every heart,
and exercise uplifting influence upon the non-Jew no less than upon the
Jew.
[6] "If there are ranks in suffering, Israel takes precedence of all the
nations--if the duration of sorrows and the patience with which they are
borne ennoble, the Jews are among the aristocracy of every land--if a
literature is called rich in the possession of a few classic tragedies, what
shall we say to a National Tragedy lasting for fifteen hundred years, in
which the poets and the actors were also the heroes?" (Zunz, Die
synagogale Poesie. Translation by George Eliot in "Daniel Deronda.")
For non-Jews a knowledge of Jewish history may, under certain
conditions, come to have another, an humanitarian significance. It is
inconceivable that the Jewish people should be held in execration by
those acquainted with the course of its history, with its tragic and
heroic past.[7] Indeed, so far as Jew-haters by profession are concerned,
it is running a risk to recommend the study of Jewish history to