ll as directly, and demanded
of the Jew not merely the love, but the understanding of God. This
necessarily involved a study of the Laws. And the conditions under
which the Jews were compelled to live during the last two thousand
years also promoted study in a people among whom there was already
considerable intellectual attainment. Throughout the centuries of
persecution practically the only life open to the Jew which could give
satisfaction was the intellectual and spiritual life. Other fields of
activity and of distinction which divert men from intellectual
pursuits were closed to the Jews. Thus they were protected by their
privations from the temptations of material things and worldly
ambitions. Driven by circumstances to intellectual pursuits, their
mental capacity gradually developed. And as men delight in that which
they do well, there was an ever widening appreciation of things
intellectual.

Is not the Jews' indomitable will--the power which enables them to
resist temptation and, fully utilizing their mental capacity, to
overcome obstacles--is not that quality also the result of the
conditions under which they lived so long? To live a Jew during the
centuries of persecution was to lead a constant struggle for
existence. That struggle was so severe that only the fittest could
survive. Survival was not possible except where there was strong
will--a will both to live and to live a Jew. The weaker ones passed
either out of Judaism or out of existence.

And finally, the Jewish capacity for hard work is also the product of
Jewish life--a life characterized by temperate, moral living continued
throughout the ages, and protected by those marvellous sanitary
regulations which were enforced through the religious sanctions.
Remember, too, that amidst the hardship to which our ancestors were
exposed it was only those with endurance who survived.

So let us not imagine that what we call our achievements are wholly or
even largely our own. The phrase "self-made man" is most misleading.
We have power to mar; but we alone cannot make. The relatively large
success achieved by Jews wherever the door of opportunity is opened to
them is due, in the main, to this product of Jewish life--to this
treasure which we have acquired by inheritance--and which we are in
duty bound to transmit unimpaired, if not augmented, to coming
generations.

But our inheritance comprises far more than this combination of
qualities making for effec