ing temptation and
trial, in overcoming sin and grief. Greater still is the hero who, in
complete self-mastery, can sacrifice himself in a great cause. Martyrdom
for the sake of God, which the rabbis call sanctification of the name of
God,(1549) is really the assertion of the divine life in the midst of
death. But desertion of life from selfish motives through suicide is all
the more despicable. He who sells his human birthright to escape pain or
disgrace, though greatly to be pitied, has forfeited his claim and his
share in the world to come.(1550)

Not only our life is to be maintained amid all trials as a sacred trust,
but also our rights, our freedom, and our individuality, for we must not
allow our personality to become the slave or tool of others. Job, who
battled for his own convictions against the false assumption of his
friends, was at last praised and rewarded by God.(1551) The Biblical
verse: "For they are My servants whom I brought forth out of the land of
Egypt, they shall not be sold as slaves," is explained by the rabbis: "My
servants, but not servants to servants," and is thus applicable to
spiritual slavery as well.(1552)

8. Therefore the Jewish conception of duty to our fellow-men is by no
means comprised in love or benevolence. Long before Hillel, other Jewish
sages gave the so-called Golden Rule: "Love thy neighbor as thyself," a
negative form: "What is hateful to thee do not do unto thy fellow
men."(1553) Taken in the positive form, the command cannot be literally
carried out. We cannot love the stranger as we love ourselves or our kin;
still less can we love our enemy, as is demanded by the Sermon on the
Mount. According to the Hebrew Scriptures(1554) we can and should treat
our enemy magnanimously and forgive him, but we cannot truly love him,
unless he turns from an enemy to a friend. The real meaning given by the
rabbis to the command, "Love thy neighbor as thyself" is: "Put thyself in
his place and act accordingly. As thou dost not desire to be robbed of thy
property or good name or to be injured or insulted, so do not these things
unto thy fellow man."(1555) They then take the closing words, "I am the
Lord thy God," as an oath by God: "I am the Lord, the Creator of thy
fellow man as well as of thee; therefore, if thou showest love to him, I
shall surely reward thee, and if not, I am the Judge ready to punish
thee."(1556) Love of all fellow-men is, in fact, taught by both
Hillel(1557) and Phi