people of which we are now a part.

_Why the Jew Remains a Jew_

AS a result of this change, we no longer take our Judaism for granted,
but day by day perforce are asking ourselves three questions: What
does Judaism mean, and why are we Jews? Will the maintenance of
Judaism be of benefit to the countries in which we live and to
humanity at large? How can Judaism be maintained, since now we not
only live among the nations of the world, but the individual Jew has
become a part of these nations?

We have discarded, as I have said and as I firmly believe, the
ancient concept that Judaism means membership in a peculiar people,
the chosen of the Lord, except possibly in the sense that we have a
peculiar obligation imposed upon us to demonstrate to the world the
power and worth of a spiritual ideal. We Reform Jews have discarded
the view that in any literal sense the Lord revealed himself unto
Moses and gave unto him the tablets of stone. The words "Hear, O
Israel, the Eternal is One, the Lord is One," are still dear to us,
but many who call themselves Jews deny even the existence of a
personal God. Why then do we still remain Jews, why do not those
so-called Jews, who deny the existence of the Lord, frankly join the
ranks of so-called universal philosophers while the rest of us join
the Unitarians?

The answer comes not only from our heads, but from our hearts. Most of
us could not renounce Judaism because deep down in our consciousness,
aside from reason or logic, we know we are not as other men; we know
we are Jews. We hear the cry of the suffering in Belgium and we answer
to that cry because we are men and nothing human is alien to us,--but
when we hear the cry of the suffering Jew in Poland and Palestine,
then the true Jew answers that cry as the cry not only of a fellow
human being, but as the cry of a brother.

_A Nation Founded on a Spiritual Ideal_

IS Judaism then a matter of race? Are we after all and regardless of
our beliefs and special obligations, a peculiar people, perhaps even a
separate nation? The answer to this question lies, I think, in the
study of our history. For centuries past the Jew has been persecuted,
driven from one country to another, despoiled, massacred, and at best
despised and forced to live in the Ghetto clothed in the badges of
disdain. All of this the Jew has suffered and yet survived and kept
his religion intact; willing at all times to remain a man apart
because he knew that