The Maccabaean

(An Appreciation)

EVERY great movement in human history has received the attention of the people only after it had found expression in the life and works of some great man. Whether the man creates the occasion or the occasion brings forth the man, it was always the man who gave permanence and vitality to the ideal, it was always the man who inspired confidence in the movement and aroused enthusiasm for it. People are wont to behold the abstract only through the concrete, they can appreciate the ideal only when it’ becomes embodied in the real and the tangible. Great, everlasting truths are embraced, noble and exalted-principles are followed mainly through the worship and homage paid to the heroes who propounded them and made them their own. They become factors in the lives and habits of the people only after they have found their full expression in the life of a great man, who stamped them with his personality and associated them with his own self. Hence, the value of the study of the lives of great men, who created epochs in the world’s history, of inculcating in the hearts of the young love and admiration for their noble lives. This is not merely an expression of gratitude to them, but of the greatest importance in prepetuating the ideals which they cherished and with which their lives are intimately associated

The modern Zionist movement also needs the constant nourishment and support that the memory of the lives of the great men who struggled and labored and sacrificed themselves for it, might give it. That in

the short period of its existence the movement has already produced such heroes and workers is proved by the very fact of its existence and popularity. In order to secure a following and to arrest the attention of the world, the ideal demanded the unstinted devotion, the undivided loyalty, the genius, the broad sympathies and incessant activities of great and noble men. They raised the beacon light and pointed the way. They gave their entire lives to the ideal so that we may at least make it part of our lives. The older men in the movement may still remember the unselfish devotion, the unremitting activity of these great men. We must, however, keep their memories green for the sake of the younger generation. We must constantly recall to their minds that the many blessings and hopes that we derive from our national ideal, the beauty it lends to our lives and the sublimity it gives to our aspirations are due to a great extent to the efforts of these pioneers. Not only because we are grateful to them for all that they have accomplished but also because we believe that we ourselves and the generations after us will be strengthened in our beliefs and improved in our lives by the knowledge and appreciation of the lives of these heroes.

One of these early pioneers in the modern Zionist movement was Rabbi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874). In his life, Kalischer presents a most notable example of the unselfish, generous, public spirited men of his time. Devoted all his life to the study of