Nahalat tsevi · 1931-09-01 · Heft 11-12 (September 1931) · p. Seite 370

370 Chronic indifference. There is complete disorganization; no Jrecognized leadership. There are few!powerful pyblicists; no militant press. There are no fixed boundaries, no lines of demarcation between orthodox and non-orthodox. Unwillingly, almost unknowingly, the transition is made from Orthodox to Conservative, that cankerous growth which is threatening, more than anything eise, the Strangulation of Torah-true Judaism. This disintegration and disorganization extends to every private life. True culture requires of a man to live a consistent life. There should be one guiding principle and all of life should fit into one pattern. Life cannot be a series of disconnected, unassociated actions. Such a life can only be petty and trivial. To achieve harmony and wholesomeness, to give life worth and meaning it is essential that it be organized and consistent. Herein lies the weakness, the rottenness of a majority of Jewish lives. They are inconsistent. Judaism is not a principle strictly adhered to. The Torah is not the criterion, the ultimate measure of values. Life does not flow from one source; nor does it aim towards a definite goal. Life .remainjs a jumbled mass of actions and aspirations: unorganized, dis ordan1, incongruous and futile. Into this confusion and disorder on'y the voice of a Hirsch can introduce harmony and order. Only his authori'aüve voice can restore to Jewish life its purpose and its goal. Only through his elevating influence can Jews learn the holiness of Jewish life; only through him can they learn of the ultimate destiny of the Jewish nation. Only he can inspire Jews to live a true life: motivated by one principle and leading to one goal. * * * In mistaking Torah for ״Jewish Religion“ a fundamental error is!made which gives a false conception of Jewish life. A religion is commonly recognized as a branch of a nation’s culture. It iS subject to the rules of growth and decay and rises and falls simultaneously with other branches of culture. Like all culture it is dependent upon political and economic conditions. After a nation has reached its zenith and begins to retrograde there is a corresponding breakdown in its spiritual life. It follows then that religion is merely another revelation of the spirit of the nation. It is not the paramount thing in the nation’s life. It occupies an inferior position.