ad be considered a divine call persisting
through all ages and encompassing all lands, a continuous activity of the
spirit which has ever summoned for itself new heralds and heroes to
testify to truth, justice, and sublime faith, with an unparalleled scorn
for death, and to work for their dissemination by words and deeds and by
their whole life. Judaism differs from all other religions in that it is
neither the creation of one great moral teacher and preacher of truth, nor
seeks to typify the moral and spiritual sublimity which it aims to develop
in a single person, who is then lifted up into the realm of the
superhuman. Judaism counts its prophets, its sages, and its martyrs by
generations; it is still demonstrating its power to reshape and regenerate
religion as a vital force. Moreover, Judaism does not separate religion
from life, so as to regard only a segment of the common life and the
national existence as holy. The entire people, the entire life, must bear
the stamp of holiness and be filled with priestly consecration. Whether
this lofty aim can ever be completely attained is a question not to be
decided by short-sighted humanity, but only by God, the Ruler of history.
It is sufficient that the life of the individual as well as that of the
people should aspire toward this ideal.

6. Of course, the election of Israel presupposes an inner calling, a
special capacity of soul and tendency of intellect which fit it for the
divine task. The people which has given mankind its greatest prophets and
psalmists, its boldest thinkers and its noblest martyrs, which has brought
to fruition the three great world-religions, the Church, the Mosque,
and--mother of them both--the Synagogue, must be the religious people _par
excellence_. It must have within itself enough of the heavenly spark of
truth and of the impetus of the religious genius as to be able and eager,
whenever and wherever the opportunity is favorable, to direct the
spiritual flight of humanity toward the highest and holiest. In fact, the
soul of the Jewish people reveals a peculiar mingling of characteristics,
a union of contrasts, which makes it especially fit for its providential
mission in history. Together with the marked individuality of each person
we find a common spirit highly sensitive to every encroachment. Here there
is a tenacious adherence to what is old and traditional, and there an
eager assimilation of what is new and strange. On the one hand, a
mate