The Maccabaean

TWO forces contend in the hearts of new converts to a cause: a psychological necessity urging them toward fanatical opposition to the party recently abandoned, and an equally potent dictate of the affections to be tolerant and meek whenever the forsaken cause numbers in its ranks those whom the converts cherish. Fanaticism is not meek, nor is love easily compatible with single- mindedness. That is why converts who have warm affections are seldom consistent.

The Society for Ethical Culture, in which many Zionists have close personal friends, is a powerful though unconscious foe to the cause for which we stand; it disintegrates the very substance we wish to preserve. But this ought not to blind us to whatever debt we may owe it, or to its value as a factor in the evolution of righteousness. Had Israel been perfect there would have been no Society for Ethical Culture. On the other hand, tolerance due to the inclination of our hearts toward the people whom we love, must not be permitted to warp our judgment of their philosophy. It is difficult, but shall it be conceded to be impossible, to be zealous for a cause but humble toward its foes; to love these and yet hate irreconcilably the doctrines that they live by,—as in this particular case, the doctrine of Jewish Assimilation ?

To have come directly under the influence of Felix Adler, the originator of the Ethical Movement, during the years when he himself instructed the children of the members of the Society, was a piece of good fortune that gave a new quality to the thoughts of the boys and girls who shared that privilege. It set their steps to the pace of great men and great ideas. At their weekly meetings with Professor Adler they studied great biographies, they read parts of the Bible, they listened to stories from profane history, (not Jewish history, however, ) they learned the meaning of sayings of Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus, they heard expositions of questions of the day and of all time, their ideas of right and wrong were clarified, and they were led into the practice of self-discipline. A magnetic compulsion was exercised over them by the teachings of Felix Adler. The children did not voluntarily miss a lesson; yet their teacher was ‘austere, he was exacting, he did not draw them close to his heart; and they were too young to know the charm that endeared him to his peers. But he knew how to kindle in them the fires of that passion for righteousness that burned within his own soul. He was master of the ‘art of teaching, convincing in speech and act; he seemed unassailable. The children were in awe of him; above all they coveted his approval. The attitude of the older members of the Society was similar; though they did not regard him with foolish adoration or approve of everything he said or did, yet they revered his distinction of character and his moral grandeur, and deferred to his judgment. His pure nature was not corrupted by this

ext{This essay is detached from a still unfinished series of which forms a part. It depicts only one phase of the long search that led the writer to leave the Ethical Society for the Congregation of Israel and Zionist ranks.}

reverent regard, for he was not vain; and the souls of those who were guided by him, became thereby the cleaner

If I were to draw out from the texture of my life ail the threads woven into it by Felix Adler’s teachings, as the worker in linen removes threads to make a design in drawn work, I should not thereby succeed in creating a design, but should destroy the texture of 16 1 The lessons taught by Felix Adler became an essential part of the substance of my life. I did not know it was possible to discern what was right and yet remain indifferent to it. I thought the world was peopled with men and women who—unless they belonged to the minority of the utterly wicked—were striving with all their heart and soul to be good, and only needed to know the right course to pursue it. Without the faintest suspicion that this was not a common practice, I checked up my daily conduct by Felix Adler’s teachings, relating everything to perfection. It seems to me now that such efforts served a purpose similar to frequent but spasmodic prayer. The ethical teachings took the place of religion in my life at a time when probably no formal religion as practiced now could have held me.

What I wanted more than anything else was to know the truth about the ways of God and man, and to make my life conform thereto,—the same kind of wisdom that Job and the Preacher sought. My mind too had to be convinced; it asked question after question. So far as I know, neither the Church nor the Synagogue has applied itself to pedagogy, in particular to the study of methods of interpreting their teachings to honest young thinkers: they evade issues or equivocate. But when Felix Adler could not answer a question, he said so. I remember I once asked him what the purpose of sin might be, granted that the Universe pursued a moral purpose. I was then about sixteen years old. He told me that the wisest men of all time had tried to answer that question, but that no one could answer it. Had my inquiries been met with evasions and reservations, I should have become a rebel. I am certain that if I had been educated within the fold of the Synagogue, I should have been driven out by faults the reverse of those that have revealed themselves to me in the Society for Ethical Culture. It seems likely that for a person of my type, a period of accord with the teachings of the Society for Ethical Culture was inevitable, whether this period came at the beginning or in the middle of life. I believe that it could not have remained the final stage of development for me or one like me, for such a one would sooner or later surely come to a re-interpretation and revaluation of religion. But Felix Adler’s teachings gave clearer insight to me, in a way suited to my understanding and years, than any other instruction could have done; they fed with wholesome food that hunger for wisdom that might almost have been called a passionate love of God. There are people to whom this sort of instruction is the only kind they assimilate naturally. No matter what other subjects.they study, what experiences they have, these always convert themselves into a lesson in the ways of life, a furtherance on the road to the ever-receding horizon, wisdom.