merely an onlooker. But as his interest grew, and his own Jewish consciousness developed, he could not withdraw, he could not live his own life again. He was compelled to dedicate his life to the Jewish people, for he was a proud and dignified Jewish citizen, who felt that life was not worth living unles the abnormal, undignified status of his people were transformed into something worthy being proud of.
He became the zealous leader of the Jewish people because Jewish life demanded that of him. He left his own business, and devoted himself to the business of his people. He gave up everything of his own in order to be able to give all he had to his own. He was magnanimous.
He was generous in the sacrifice of his own interests for our national interests. Who gives most to Zionism? He who gives up his individual ambitions, his individual life, to the upbuilding of his people. Who gives least to Zionism? He who merely gives the leavings from his table, who merely sacrifices a five per cent. or a ten per cent. of his life. He gives least who gives least of himself. A nation is built up by the personal abnegation of its devotees, by the subordination of the interests of their own lives to the great national ideals.
Thus Herzl gave all to his people. May those who express their appreciation of his life and works, emulate his example.
LOUIS LIPSKY.
CONTENDING FORCES IN ISRAEL
THAT Israel is a peculiar and separate people has been demonstrated by four thousand years of recorded history. This peculiarity is so well marked and persistent as to color the whole life of the race, and will enable the philosophical student to predict with wonderful precision what the reaction of the race will be to any given circumstance, for in the case of Israel history repeats itself with remarkable regularity.
In all ages the Jew has shown a strong inclination to adopt the life of his neighbors and to assimilate their manners and culture, even to the extent of denationalizing himself and forgetting his race, and the religion which through the centuries has influenced and molded the lives of his ancestors.
We have no record of assimilation in Egypt, and doubtless from the servile condition of the Jews, there was little opportunity. And yet forty years of wanderings and the death of a generation hardly sufficed to purge them of Egyptian influences, albeit the race instinct was so strong that Joseph's children cast their lot with
their father's tribe rather than with the princely family of their mother. During the wanderings in the desert and before and after the conquest of Palestine, the Jews' fondness for the stranger and his way of life was often manifested, and it taxed the resources of the leaders of the people to counteract this tendency. The history of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel is one of constant conflict between a true national life and foreign influences. In the centuries immediately preceding the Christian Era, the battle was waged against Greek influence just as in our own days it has to be waged with the ways and habits of our Gentile associates.
The strangest thing about this tendency is that, however persistent and controlling, it invariably ends in failure. No people apparently would assimilate more gladly than the Jews, and yet of all people in the world, the Jews have in this respect been notably incapable of achieving their purpose. For this reason the race has been called the gulf-stream of humanity, which, though touching many races, never mingles. The ways of the Gentiles are