BOOK REVIEWS
A NEW CHAPTER IN PROPHECY
Ernest Renan, doldly and unmistakably made prophecy the keynote of Jewish history and since his labors’ prophecy has been recognized as the supreme product of the Jewish genius. Prophecy may be defined as an appeal to the harmonization of all life with an all-embracing ideal, an ideal which is not merely a vision of perfection, but also an inexorable, irresitible oncoming event, “a law of fire from which none can deliver,’ Jehovah, the Lord of Host. It is this conception of the ideal as potentially real and_ inevitable that is responsible for the calm strength, the unshakable faith in the face of the most bitter adversity, the all-conquering optimism and cheer which is the final word of the prophets, and the fundamental trait of the character of the Jew. Sublime as was the theme and matter of prophecy, its manner could not have been any other but what it was, the most beautiful, the most soul-stirring of all poetry.
Throughout the long comparatively unProductive period of the Jewish diaspora, Prophecy was not dead, as is generally thought, but continued its growth, with great difficulty naturally, receiving whatever nourishment it could from the dark and dank atmosphere which surrounded the Jewish people. As the distinguishing Phenomenon of Jewish history, its presence has always confirmed the existence of the Jewish national genius through all times.
The most recent times, however, have witnessed a remarkable revival of strength and independence in the Jewish people. A self assertive, militant spirit is transforming the deeply-brooding Ghetto Jew into the modern national Jew, proud with that deep, humble pride which springs from suffering and knowledge and accomplishment, and alive to his tremendous task for the future; while the large measure of physical freedom he is now enjoying is making it possible for him to give
expression to the freedom and power of the spirit which he always enjoyed. What more natural therefore, than that he should prophesy?
A little book.* published in pamphlet form, the democratic form proper to literature of propaganda, has just made its modest appearance, but without doubt, we may recognize in it the first clear and conscious product of the newly revived Jewish prophetic spirit in the English language. It is essentially true to its venerable prototypes both in style and substance, and in the depth and sweep of its message. It is, moreover, not merely an imitation, but the continuation and development, for its poetic manner is in full accord with the principle of modern literary art, while its philosophic matter sounds the distinct life problems of the present day to their very depths.
The book portrays 106 spiritual development of a Jewish youth, called the Pain-Youth, of a highly sensitive and impressionable temperament who drinks in all the sensations and experiences offered by the world of Nature and Man, but finds no satisfaction to his constant longing and pain and sense of unfulfillment. We find him in this boyhood experiencing all the yearning that emanates from the sombre mysterious forest, the blazing sunset and the changing seasons. Everywhere he vainly seeks for meaning, and finally beleives himself apprised to go to the Great City, whence after struggling wth his fellows, he is driven forth by 8 sense of disillusionment, by the sordidness and pettiness of the life he finds there. The Pain- Youth takes the road again and comes to the land of Beauty, where for a time, his pain is lulled into contentment by the charm and wiles of Beauty. But one day the realization breaks in upon him that ‘he has been enmeshed in the toils of the self-same idols which his ancestors had once
THE BOOK OF PAIN-STRUGGLE, called the Prophecy of the Fulfillment by H. Segal. Massada Publishing Co. 99 Nassau St. New York City. Price fifty cents.