ce which must follow the present horrible war, a new
Europe, a new world will be born. It depends on us whether in this new
world there is to be a place, "a place in the sun," for the Jewish
people. We have not an instant to lose if we wish to prepare for the
grand opportunity. Should we miss this occasion we should have to
resign all our national hopes, I am afraid, for a very long time, if
not for ever. We may, of course, continue to dream our Messianic
dream, but this will then ever remain a dream till the dreamer
disappears and his dream with him.

[Illustration: Signature: Dr M. Nordau]

FOOTNOTE:

[A] Original and translation read at a dinner of the Harvard Menorah
Society.

What Judaism Is Not

BY MORDECAI M. KAPLAN

_"Every man who has seen the world knows that nothing
is so useless as a general maxim."_

_Macaulay, in Essay on "Machiavelli."_

[Illustration: _MORDECAI M. KAPLAN (born in Russia in 1881, came to
America in 1889), studied at College of the City of New York (A. B.
1900), Columbia (M. A. 1902) and Jewish Theological Seminary (Rabbi,
1902); held Rabbinical position in New York, 1903-1909; Principal
since 1909 of the Teachers' Institute, and Professor of Homiletics
since 1910 in the Jewish Theological Seminary. Fearless and original
in thought, and exceptionally stimulating as a Menorah lecturer,
Professor Kaplan has won the deep respect and friendship of Menorah
students at the various universities where he has lectured on Jewish
Religion and Education._]

MOST of the pain, which according to Koheleth comes with the increase
of knowledge, is in the unlearning of the old rather than in the
learning of the new. Once an idea has become imbedded in the mind, it
cannot be removed without causing a mental upheaval. Blessed are the
young to whom unlearning is easy, or who have not much to unlearn.
Whether our Jewish young men know much or little about Judaism, they
are certain, as a rule, to have formed notions about it of which they
must be disabused, if Judaism is to constitute an important factor in
their lives. Strange to say, they have obtained these notions not from
sources hostile to Judaism, but on the contrary from sources
distinctly intended to inculcate both a love and an understanding of
the Jewish religion,--such as catechisms and text-books used in our
religious schools, and articles in encyclopedias meant for the
enlightenment of the general public