A Song of Joy

This somewhat florid text of the young student rabbi reveals his deep passion for Judaism and his yearning for its survival. It contains prescient remarks about the relationship between the future state of Israel and the American Jewish community

The mission of Israel can never be fulfilled by a religious sect whose only function is to assemble occasionally in simulated worship amidst the cold austerity of modern temples dedicated to the service of middle-class Jews

Hebrew Union College
 ​
FULLY AS MIRACULOUS AS THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA was the song which the children of Israel sang upon its shore.[1] For generations the hearts of these erstwhile slaves had known no joy and their parched lips had uttered no song. Their bodies had been broken by the yoke of their toil; their souls crushed by the degradation of their bondage. Silently and sullenly had they gone about their labors, the only utterance of their anguished spirit, a groaning cry unto the Lord their God. And though the shackles of their physical enslavement had been destroyed in a night, the bonds of their spiritual enthrallment could not as easily be escaped. A generation in the wilderness was yet to pass before their longing to return to the fleshpots of Egypt was to cease and appreciation of their new life of freedom to begin. Such a people should hardly be capable of thinking any noble thought, of singing any exalted song, and yet, standing at the shore of the sea as the turbulent waters receded, this ragged group for one glorious moment transcended their slavish souls and gave voice to a majestic paean of joy such as only the most poetic spirit could bring forth.
 
The rabbis were not unaware of the uniqueness of this event, but readily discerned its cause. It is in expounding the verse, "And they believed in God and in Moses His servant, which immediately precedes this song at the sea, that they made their suggestive comment: "Bis'khar emunah she'he'eminu sharta a-ley-hem  ru-akh ha-kodesh v'am'ru shira. It was by virtue of the faith with which they believed that the Holy Spirit did dwell upon them and they recited the song."[2] 

Before that time the people of Israel had been the prey of their fears and doubts. They stood at the sea without purpose, without courage, not knowing what to do nor where to turn, all wanting to scatter in different directions, yet held together only by the common fear of Pharaoh pursuing in the rear. Israel could not sing, only complain. But in that one moment of deliverance they thrilled with a blinding flash of faith to the miracle wrought in their behalf. And then, when for the first time they experienced this inner feeling of confidence in themselves, when all their questioning and doubt had melted away, then was born their song of joy.
 
The same fear that marked the Israelites before their crossing of the sea is characteristic of many of our people today. It is one of the deplorable aspects of Jewish life that so many Jews maintain their connection with Israel not because of any deep-seated urge that springs from within themselves, but rather because they feel constrained to do so as a result of the unfriendly forces of the environment. It is not the positive values inherent in the religious teachings of our past, nor any hope for achievement in the future that binds them to their people. They are rather driven to them by the force of circumstance which leaves them no choice. There was a time when hatred of the Jew was directed against him merely because he was different. Throughout the Middle Ages and up to the period of the Enlightenment, had the Jew been willing to give up his separateness, to adopt and practice the customs of the outside world, he would have been completely accepted and permitted to do so, but then the Jew was unwilling. With the coming of the Enlightenment, however, when Jews did begin in large numbers to make themselves as similar to their neighbors as they possibly could, anti-Semitism took a different trend. Now it allows no retreat from one's people. Putting its hate upon a racial rather than a religious basis, it looks upon the Jew as irredeemable, and its ultimate goal is complete extermination. The modern Jew must of necessity stay with his people. And for many the only raison d'être of Jewish life derives from this external compulsion.
 
It would be foolish to disparage any Jewish activity at the present time merely because it is stimulated and inspired by reaction to the environment. The retention of many within our ranks who might otherwise have been lost gives us added numbers and added strength. But though external pressure is a significant factor in the preservation of our people, by itself, without a positive faith in the value of Judaism for its own sake and without the will to live as Jews regardless of the outside, it is miserably insufficient. Subconsciously such a negative attitude makes for a sense of frustration and self-pity which is destructive of character. It breeds a feeling of inferiority and self-contempt which crushes the Jewish soul. It can never give rise to melody in Jewish life, because it is built upon a foundation not of faith, but of fear. We become, indeed, like the cringing Israelites beset with fear and uncertainty, divided into contending parties each with its own program of salvation, forced to fight the host of Egypt, but all the while preferring to return within its midst.
 
Yet as we look out upon the Jewish scene, we see that the mere formulation of a positive philosophy of Judaism is likewise insufficient. In the face of the many challenges to our existence both from the hostility of the outside and the indifference which has confronted us from within, positive interpretations of the role of Judaism have not been lacking. Some have given as the justification and purpose of Jewish survival the spiritual mission which Israel bears to mankind. Others have more recently dwelt on the benefits of a cultural pluralism and the existence of Judaism as such a hyphenated culture. Yet for all the theories that we may have evolved, where is that melody which our ears strain so eagerly to hear? None of them have in themselves gripped the Jewish heart and stimulated the unquestioning faith so necessary to the song of a people. All of these philosophies, of whatever nature they may be, however divergent they are, suffer alike from the same fundamental failing. First they find the reason why the Jew should survive, then they attempt to convince him to live, and this cannot be done. Within our own group we have reiterated the dedication of Israel to the service of God and the bearing of a spiritual mission to humanity. The nobility of such a concept can by no means be belittled. But people do not live by intellectual justifications alone. We cannot reason a people into the love of life and the desire for survival. A healthy people, no less than a healthy individual, lives without the necessity of justifying its existence. When we have to supply either individuals or nations with a rational excuse for living, this is in itself an indication that a sense of futility has set in and the will to live is gone. And when such a will is gone no amount of clever philosophical disputation, no matter how beautiful and noble its thought may be, will suffice to keep this people alive. If it does continue to live, it is due only to the momentum of the centuries which pushes it on. Unless the standards which we set for Jewish life (and these philosophies can be no more than standards) are preceded first by the inner urge for the preservation of that life, the ideal will never be realized. All the urging and exhortation of a Moses would not dispel the fear of Israel on the shore of the sea. It is only when the miracle of the crossing restored their faith in themselves that they could sing. Then they burst forth into melody and proclaimed their dedication unto God. By virtue of the faith wherein they believed did the Holy Spirit dwell upon them and did they recite this song.
 
All Israel as one united group has no such faith and sings no such song of joy today, yet the miracle of song has not altogether gone from our midst. As we stand caught between the Egyptian hosts of anti-Semitism and the arid wilderness of indifference there is, nevertheless, one miraculous force in Jewish life which has caused a significant portion of Israel to sing. Whether we are sympathetic to Jewish nationalism or not, we must admit that by far more than any other phase of Jewish life today Palestine has supplied new energy and new purpose to Jews throughout the world. Many, indeed, are those whom it has fired with zeal and enthusiasm and whom it has reunited with Jewish life in a positive sense. To be sure many things have been expected of Palestine which have not been completely fulfilled. Some have looked upon it as a place of refuge, and obviously it has not been able to do more than alleviate this problem. Some have looked upon it as a center of Jewish culture and though we have already seen there the beginnings, the full achievement of this ideal remains for the future. Still others have conceived of Palestine as a unique social laboratory where a new society is in the making, and here again although nowhere in the world has a more conscious effort been made in that direction without the use of force and coercion in the process, many evils still stand in the way and the final test is yet to come. But what is even of greater significance for the present is the fact that in spite of all the difficulties and obstacles that stand in the way of any of these ideals, the effort, nevertheless, continues, and Palestine has become to the Jewry of the world the tangible symbol of the faith of Israel in itself and the stimulus of a will to live which needs no justification nor apology.
 
Within Reform ranks are many of us, however who refuse to take advantage of this opportunity of adding vitality to Jewish life. Somehow there is always the feeling that Zionism as a movement violates all the religious and social principles we hold so dear. But with such an attitude we do an injustice in two important respects. Not only do we hurt the Zionist movement by withholding our support from those elements within it that seek to make its spiritual aspects dominant, but we also hurt Reform by cutting it off from the music of our people, and thus keeping it a lifeless body. Reform Judaism today sadly needs this contact with the classic source of Jewish inspiration, and its establishment involves no sacrifice of ideals or principles. Contrary to what is generally supposed, Zionism and Reform are not only not in opposition to, but rather necessary supplements one to the other. While it is very obvious that if Zionism is to build itself into a secular nationalism indistinguishable in nature from any of the other nationalist movements already existing in the world today, then despite the enthusiasm it arouses it would be altogether unworthy of our attention and exertion. Yet it is no less true that if our preachments concerning the mission of Israel are to be nothing more than the mere statements of platforms and guiding principles, they need an aroused and inspired Jewry working and building in the spirit of this mission. The mission of Israel can never be fulfilled by a religious sect whose only function is to assemble occasionally in simulated worship amidst the cold austerity of modern temples dedicated to the service of middle-class Jews. Nor is this mission fulfilled when we identify ourselves only with the social movements of the land wherein we live and make them rivals to Jewish life instead of supplementary to it. The mission of Israel demands not only the best efforts of the individual Jew in the service of humanity, but likewise the efforts of Israel as a people. We are to be a light unto the nations, but we are not to quench that light in the process.
 
Whether Jews be technically a religious community or a national group we do not know. Eminent and qualified scholars, arguing from the facts of history, prove either point with equal ease. One thing, however, is certain. Our people today are deeply in need of a positive enthusiasm for Jewish ideals, and Palestine today is the only significant source which has shown itself capable of providing the inspiration. Wherever it has been given the opportunity to do so, it has refreshed the Jew, given him new faith in himself and brought forth a new song of joy. We, too, within the Reform group should not fail to take advantage of this forceful means of rousing our dormant people. Let us not in our eagerness for the things of the spirit cut ourselves off from the body without which the spirit can never live.
 
There is an ancient legend about a giant who was the offspring of Mother Earth. As long as this giant touched that portion of the earth whence he sprang, he was filled with an overwhelming strength which could not be surpassed. In the writings of one of our modern Jewish authors we find a telling appreciation of this legend. “Somehow the land of Palestine,” he says, “seems to be a similar source of spiritual power to Israel. Once Israel touched this land and gave humanity its greatest book. Again it settled upon its stimulating soil and gave the Western world its faith. Today it taps once more this well of strength. Who can tell what new gifts of the spirit Israel now prepares to bring forth for all mankind!

 
The following blessing was attached to this sermon and yet separate. It seems that it may have been used as a separate benediction within the service in which the sermon had been delivered.
 
Heavenly Father! Thou who hast honored Israel with the words of Thy Law and blessed him with the sages who taught in Thy name! Strengthen us, we pray Thee, to be worthy of our heritage. Guide us in the right paths wherein we may labor for Thee. Endow us with wisdom and inspiration to the end that we may be a witness to Thy truth and a harp for Thy song.
 
Adonai Oz L'Amo Yiten; Adonai Yivarekh Et Amo Ba-Shalom.
May God grant strength to His people; May God bless His people with peace.


[1] The Song of the Sea (Hebrew: שירת הים‎, Shirat HaYam) is a poem that appears in the Book of Exodus of the Hebrew Bible, at Exodus 15:1–18. The poem is included in Jewish prayer books, the most familiar verse being: “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the mighty? Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?”

[2] Exodus 14:31 “And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord, and in His servant Moses.”