that have been advanced, but he is unable to arrive at any con-
clusion with reference to the subject, except the bare suggestion,
that government had its origin in the family relation. Locke, in
his essay on civil government, asserts, that men being by nature
all free, equal and independent, no one can be put out of this
estate and subjected to the political power of another, without
his own consent. The only way whereby any one divests himself
of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society, is
by agreeing with other men to join and unite into a community.
Mr. John Stuart Mill in his essay on liberty and in his political
economy declares in favor of the largest scope of individual
liberty as being inherent and favors the doctrine of Humboldt,
to-wit: "The absolute and essential importance of human de-
velopment in its richest diversity."

Herbert Spencer also maintains the natural and inherent
liberty of individuals without restriction and that government and
society are founded upon the voluntary surrender by individuals
of a portion of the liberties which are a part and parcel of their
nature and birthright.

According to such eminent authority, and plainly in accord-



198 LEO N. LEVI MEMORIAL VOLUME.

ance with reason, it would seeift then that all men are born
with the right to do as they please, and that this liberty of action
is only curtailed by the requirements of society and government,
which themselves are the creatures of the individuals. Society
and government both were created and are maintained by the
operation of that law of self-love on the part of individuals, of
which I have already spoken. In the absence of civil society,
and of government, the individual must look solely to himself
for the protection of his own welfare, his life, his liberty and
his property. This constant vigilance, and perhaps this constant
state of war, as Hobbes would have us believe, was the case
with primitive man, was naturally distasteful, and to accomplish
its abrogation, the "social compact" was formed, either by ex-
press agreement, or what is more probable, by the natural growth
of implied obligations. The stronger were compelled to sur-
render their advantages by combinations among the weak, and
thus the basis was laid for measuring in a manner, the extent
of the surrender by each individual of a portion of his inherent
liberty. The first law of society, as of nature, was order. The
preservation of the peace and the pursuit of the ordinary avoca-
tions of life without the constant menace of interference from
without, must have been the primary aims of those who leagued
together in the construction of some kind of social organization.
With the progress of time the scope of society's duties widened,
the governmental sphere was extended and the advantages of-
fered by them to the individual gradually multiplied. There arose
accordingly a correlative increase of obligations on the part of
the individual to society and to government. The discharge of
these obligations by the individual to his fellow-men, to society
and to government, are in strict conformity with the law of
self-love which primarily regulates his course of life, for he
recognizes at a glance that any failure on his part begets failures
on the part of others and anarchy will speedily follow. The
citizen who maintains the law, is as often actuated by selfish
considerations as by patriotism and an exalted sense of duty.
Whatever may be the motive, however, for the discharge of
these duties, it is patent enough that they must be discharged,



THE JEWS IN AMERICA. 199

and since our duty to society and to government is next in point
of importance to the duty which we owe our Creator, obligations
that we may assume of less solemnity must perforce yield if
they come in conflict with our duty to society, or our govern-
ment.

If I have made myself clear, it easily follows that there is
no danger to society, nor to the government under which we
live, in the maintenance of certain species of class distinctions.
The right to unite and to organize for any purpose is inherent,
for it is a part of individual liberty, and it is only limited by
our obligation to our Creator, our government and to our fellow-
men.

It follows that the formation or maintenance of any circle
that operates against the good of society, present or prospective,
or interferes with the performance of individual duty to society
or God, should be discouraged; that any circle which does not
operate thus prejudicially, but which in anywise contributes to
the enjoyment, elevation or advantage of its members, should
be encouraged. If it be remembered that perfect virtue in the
whole human family would bring about universal brotherhood,
every circle which promotes a virtue will be recognized as a
means to the great end, even though it have the appearance of
a step in the wrong direction. Heat is a great curative agency
in treating bums.

Nature is full of arguments in support of the propositions
that I have advanced, for, within the almost incomprehensible
unity of nature is comprised innumerable classes. Science has
undertaken as great a task in analyzing genera into their various
species by analysis, as it has in resolving species into genera by
synthesis. If the visionary contends that it is foreign to the law
of nature that men should divide themselves into classes, it
need only be suggested that nature herself presents us with
ineffaceable class distinctions. The Mongolian and the Cauca-
sian are both men, but nature, or rather their creator, has en-
dowed each with qualities, and invested each with peculiarities
that mark them as distinct types of the human family and so
through the whole range of the animal, the vegetable and the
mineral kingdoms we find entities that have a sufficient number



200 LEO N. LEVI MEMORLAL VOLUME.

of common qualities to be classed under a given genus, and
yet possessing sufficient specific differences to be placed under
different classifications. Not only so, but nature places her
seal of condemnation upon any undue intermixture of incon-
gruous elements. The hybrid and the mongrel are proverbially
inferior, and of them it has been said that they partake of the
worst qualities of both parents, and the good qualities of neither.
If the general doctrine which I have assailed were true, then
miscegenation between the African and Caucasian would be a
virtue, rather than a violation of a natural law.

I have already shown that the distinctive character of the
Jew does not arise solely from his religion. It is true that his
race and religion are indissolubly connected, a fact which arises
in the main from the theocratic form of government under
which the Jews existed as a nation, but whatever be the cause
of this junction of the race idea with the religion, it is very cer-
tain that the religion alone does not constitute the people. As
I have already maintained, a believer in the Jewish faith does
not by reason of that fact become a Jew. On the other hand,
however, a Jew by birth remains a Jew, even though he abjures
his religion. Disraeli recognized this, and though he professed
to be a sincere Christian, always claimed to be a Jew.

Assuming then that I have established that there is no in-
herent wrong in the preservation of the solidarity of the Jew
as a people, it remains to apply the arguments which I have
adduced in support of this proposition to the particular subject
that we have in hand.

To apply the argument to the Jews is not without difficulty.
General principles are often easily deducible from a multitude
of examples, but when deduced it is not easy to apply them.
It is not doubtful that if the Jews are benefited by remaining
Jews in fact as well as in name, and no overbalancing injury is
done to society thereby, they should perpetuate their existence
as Jews. I leave out of consideration all questions of religious
duty. This is not a discussion from a religious but from a
social standpoint. Aside from all considerations of religion, to
my mind it is clear that the Jew should remain a Jew, and the
Jews as such should preserve their integrity as a distinct people.



CHAPTER II.

Wherein is Considered the Possibility of Perpetuating the Exist-
ence of the Jews as a Distinst People.

Before entering into the consideration of the propriety and
expediency of preserving the distinctive character of the Jews as
a people, it is proper to pause and consider the possibility of ac-
complishing such a result. It is contended, that as all things
change and pass away, so too will the Jews suffer a radical alter-
ation in their constitution and gradually pass out of existence.
The pages of history are pointed to in support of the prophecy
that in the course of human events this great people who have ex-
isted so long, will cease to be. In other words, that it is inevita-
ble destiny, and if this be true, it is said, why struggle against
the inevitable? I do not share this view, and I beg the patience
of the reader while I submit the reasons which impel me to dis-
credit such gloomy forebodings.

There is always something pathetic in the decay of power.
The strong man whose strength fails him always excites com-
miseration. It is the inevitable in every life, but like death, which
none may hope to escape, it draws forth a sigh of regret, none
the less tender and heartfelt because wholly in vain. The history
of nations is fraught with a like pathetic destiny. Gibbon, of
whom it was said, ''that he was the only historian of the
eighteenth century who survived the criticism of the nineteenth,"
remarks in his great history of "Rome's Decline and Fall,"
that "the history of all nations may be written in five words-
valor, greatness, discord, degeneracy and decay." Is this true of
the Jews? Are we, too, passing along the great highway of de-
cay in obedience to any inexorable law ? I trust, I believe not. If
so, however, this appeal is in vain. Therefore I pause to consider
that rule. Gibbon's sentence is dramatic, brilliant, climacteric and
striking ; it is not without serious claims to accuracy besides. It

201



202 LEO N. LEVI MEMORDVL VOLUME.

is obnoxious to criticism as being a prominent and attractive
fragment of that philosophy of history which assigns to each
historical event its place in the entire story, making them all fit as
nicely as the different scenes in a drama. The history of modem
historians reads more like fiction than truth, not perhaps without
reason. The plaih recital of facts that once passed for history has
fallen into desuetude, and we have now subtle analyses of times,
characters, events, manners and customs, so ingeniously carried
out that the most remote events are brought into direct connec-
tion and the most different results traced to a common cause. It
is not to be doubted that the study of history becomes largely
more profitable when it involves the search for the causes of
events as well as a knowledge of the events; but it is doubtful
to my mind if it be of advantage to let others do our searching or
thinking. The human intellect is ever restless and grasping. Man
suffers from curiosity and ignorance; there is always in him a
yearning not only to know that a thing is, but why and how it is.
There is great pleasure in the satisfaction of this yearning.
Whenever the mind finds a resting place; whenever in other
words it satisfies itself as to the how and why of anything, a
pleasurable feeling follows. Hence the popularity of modern his-
tories. Historians who plausibly explain events and connect eras
with one another meet with favor because they satisfy this yearn-
ing. It is because of this tendency of our natures that we are
prone to accept as true, such a law of history as that announced
by Gibbon. Let us consider that tendency more fully in order
that we may better understand whether our satisfaction with the
annunciation of the law is a safe basis upon which to predicate
its universal application. Every schoolboy knows and we all re-
member the genuine pleasure derived from and in the study of
mathematics. To reach the solution of a difficult problem is a
great triumph. It elevates one's self in one's own estimation. It
makes the heart glow with self-satisfaction. But let it be remem-
bered right here that the pleasure is equal whether the solution be
right or wrong so long as we deem it correct.

The same rule applies to the study of great philosophical ques-
tions. The pleasure of solution is great, and so long as the solu-



THE JEWS IN AMERICA. 203

tion be deemed correct, the pleasure derived by the thinker is un-
affected by the real truth or falsity of his doctrine. Unfortunate-
ly, here the parallel ends. Mathematics is an exact science ; phi-
losophy applied to political and social questions is not. In the
first an error is quickly and inevitably discovered ; in the latter it
may pass unchallenged forever. Therefore there is danger in the
propensity we have for reaching solutions — the yearning we have
for resting our minds on a conclusion ; for the solution or conclu-
sion may be essentially wrong, although entirely satisfactory, and
our proneness to reach solutions and conclusions is apt to precip-
itate us into error. Our anxiety to rest our minds is the prolific
mother of fallacies, and our errors of judgment are in the ratio
of our anxiety to rest our minds. Thus it is a well-known fact
that people who are slow to make up their minds are more gen-
erally correct than those who jump at conclusions. The wish is
father to the thought, and conclusions are arrived at frequently
because they are plausible and afford a satisfactory rest for the
mind. Observe how attractive yet how painful are mysteries;
how irresistible is the impulse to account for them by an hypothe-
sis. What youth has not pondered over the authorship of the let-
ters of Junius or the identity of the Man with the Iron Mask?
Who has eve r been indifferent to the solution of a local mystery
or could rest until his mind had adopted some theory in explana-
tion? And let me ask in this connection how often have these
theories been verified by the development of the true facts ? If the
reflecting reader will recall a number of incidents that have come
under his own observation, and will compare his theories with
subsequently ascertained facts, he will appreciate the truth of this
paradox : Nothing is so apt to delude as the plausible. It is told
of a noted detective that he always doubted what seemed the
most plausible solution of a mystery. If this be true he was an
extremist, and probably more often deceived than not; but it is
not to be gainsaid that there was method in his madness. Gibbon's
brilliant sentence is a great relief to the mind in reading history.
It offers a rule that is plausible, and which explains much that is
otherwise perplexing. I am not prepared to denounce it as al-
ways unsafe, but I cannot subscribe to it as being universal. Its



204 LEO N. LEVI MEMORIAL VOLUME.

champion will argue down every fact that limits scope in order
to accommodate facts. This species of advocacy is as old as con-
troversy itself. One historian will fritter away every fact that
operates against the perfect virtue or peerless greatness of his
hero ; another will smother every fact that would invest the same
character with a single "virtue among a thousand crimes." Nor
is this surprising. There is no doctrine so absurd but what it may
find devoted and able champions with sword or pen, and we are
so apt to cling to our own theories that our loyalty increases as
they are attacked. Such championship, however, overleaps itself,
and the champion himself, like Prince Rupert, after de-
stroying and pursuing the enemy immediately in his front
finds himself hemmed in by others on either side. The great
soldier and the wise thinker are ever conservative. They
are willing and ready to keep their minds always in
unrest rather than adopt a false conclusion. The true philosopher
cares nothing for plausibility ; truth is his desideratum, and with a
judicial mind he is prepared to abandon a rule that will not ac-
commodate itself to facts that he refuses to ignore or pervert.

If the reader has a mind to pursue this line of thought fur-
ther than it would be proper to consider it here, I commend to
him the study of metaphysical writings. If you would seek an ex-
planation of the manner in which the human intellect operates,
seek it in Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. You will find a satisfac-
tory answer to many queries. Pursue your investigations further
and you will find that Kant, Descartes, Spinoza, Malebranche,
Jouvins, Reid, Stuart, Hamilton, etc. are all equally plausible,
and that all differ more or less.

The rule which Gibbon announces for writing national his-
tories has its exceptions, which may or may not be numerous
enough to destroy the rule. I shall not venture an opinion as to
that. It is only pertinent for me to inquire whether or not the
rule, if it be one, applies to the history of the Jews.

It is a commonly accepted doctrine that ''revolutions never
travel backward," which is but a more general statement of the
rule which I have just criticised and, of course, is subject to the
same criticism. It is easy to say that a revolution or a history



THE JEWS IN AMERICA. 205

pursues a course like an arrow shot into the air ; but it were just
as easy to compare them to a pendulum. Either comparison might
be defended, and both shown to be plausible; they are probably
neither correct. I do not wish to be misunderstood as decrying
the effort to find general laws. That would be to decry science
itself, for the highest office of science is to discover laws in ex-
planation of phenomena, and it follows that the discovery of the
most general law is the highest achievement of science. The high-
est aim of science is the most general law, and the search should
and in the nature of things must be never-ending ; for it is a striv-
ing after the infinite. What I do wish to maintain is that the
eagerness of the search is apt to make the seeker prematurely cry
Eureka, and declare as the law what seems to be, or is desired
to be, the law. That is to substitute the shadow for the substance,
the desire for the thing desired. It is the same weakness or im-
pulsiveness which makes the eager miner mistake pyrites of iron
for free gold. The former looks like the precious metal, but when
placed in the assayer's crucible the delusion is dissipated. The
history of the Jews is not written in the five words of Gibbon ; it
is not a revolution that has never reversed its course. It is rather
like a mountain stream, whose source is on some inaccessible
height, whose course varies to accommodate the surface it tra-
verses ; now winding around a hill, now creeping through a val-
ley ; now dashing over a cliff ; ever and anon losing itself in the
bowels of the earth, to appear again with renewed vigor ; now ap-
parently frittered away, only to gush from some distant rock on
the opposite side of a hill ; now pushing sturdily toward the sea,
and then winding its way around a hill toward the morning of its
existence; and at last typifying the future of the Jews by being
lost to human ken in some unexplored cave.

Neither their existence nor greatness as a nation or a people
had its genesis in their valor. Physical courage has always been
an incident, not an element, of the Jewish character. It has no in-
dependent existence in their make-up, and always depended upon
something else. With some exceptions this may be said of all
Oriental people. The sense and fear of danger is highly devel-
oped in them, and there is no cultivation of that indifference to it.



206 LEO N. LEVI MEMORIAL VOLUME.

which has distinguished the great nations of Western Europe. On
the other hand in assertion or defense of a principle no people
have succeeded so well in overcoming physical fear in order to
wrest the right from the very jaws of danger. To my mind this
is the highest order of courage. He who marches with deter-
mination to the cannon^s mouth, with blanched cheek and flutter-
ing heart, is a hero in that he overcomes himself ; he who rushes
forward with a laugh on his lip is but a little better than the
brute that does not appreciate danger. I have read somewhere
an anecdote of two soldiers riding into battle who represented the
two species of courage that I have mentioned. One was pale and
nervous, the other free-hearted and gay. The latter taunted the
former with being afraid. The answer came quick and to the
point. The pale soldier drove his spurs home, and as his horse
sprang forward, cried : "So I am, and if you were half as fright-
ened you would be riding in the opposite direction." Nations that
are established in greatness may depend upon the courage born of
principle for defense, but a nation that has to carve out its destiny
must have courage independent of principle. Hengist and Horsa
had no principles to govern them, yet they boldly sailed out into
the tempestuous sea, through the stormy channel, and, landing
upon a foreign hostile shore, acquired by the right of conquest the
little island upon which has grown a nation upon whose domin-
ions the sun never sets.

Theirs was a courage of which conquerors are made. They
knew but one law :

"The good old plan
That he should take who hath the power.
And he should keep who can."

This is the "valor" that Gibbon names as the groundwork of
national greatness. It has never been the substratum of Jewish
success. The Jews have fought often, bravely and well, but al-
ways for principle. They have ever been patient and long suffer-
ing, and needed leaders to urge them to battle, but once convinced
that the right and God was with them they marched unto battle



THE JEWS IN AMERICA. 207

inspired by a courage that is not daunted by wounds or repulses,
and seldom indeed did they battle in vain. [See Joshua, chaps.
6 and 7.]

It would be impossible to name the basis of Jewish greatness
without opening the great Book. Save in that chronicle their
genesis is unwritten, and I am reluctant to quote that to many
of my readers. There is faith and faith. I know many intelli-
gent persons who will implicitly believe a history of the moon
written by some imaginative astronomer from experiment with a
spectroscope, but who reject the general outlines even of a his-
tory that has run the gauntlet of criticism for thousands of years.

The history of the Jews itself conclusively proves that Gib-
bon's rule does not apply to the Jews. I have already shown that
their greatness was not based upon that kind of valor to which
the historian alludes. The most superficial student of Jewish his-
tory is entirely familiar with the discord that prevailed among the
Jews at the time of their greatest apparent prosperity. The vic-
tory of Titus in the siege of Jerusalem was due in a greater
measure to the discord which prevailed behind the walls, than to
the courage of the Roman legions that lay before them, and not
only in temporal matters were they then and have they since
been distracted by intestinal controversies. In religious matters
they have time and again been convulsed by the bitterest conten-
tions, and they have degenerated in consequence of such discords
and other circumstances pressing upon them from without, but
they have never passed into the stage of decay. The nineteenth
century found them emerging from centuries of oppression, from
the evil effects of dissipation throughout the different nations of
the globe, from distractions arising from religious differences,
but notwithstanding we are confronted with the irrefragible fact
that the Jews are more numerous, more powerful, more culti-
vated and more wealthy today than at any time in their history.
The mission entrusted to them by their God has not yet ended :
"And I will make of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and
make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will
bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee, and
in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Genesis, chap.



208 LEO N. LEVI MEMORIAL VOLUME.

XII, 2, 3. The mission of Israel has not yet ended, nor will it
cease as long as Polytheism and immorality exist. In a memora-
ble lecture upon the growth of "Ethical Monotheism," by Rabbi
Isaac S. Moses, of Milwaukee, delivered before the Unitarian
Conference at Madison, Wis., the following language was em-
ployed: "In order to bring to mankind the flaming law of the