field of thought and action.
Under normal conditions we should find all this in the faith of our
fathers. But, unfortunately, all that most of us know about that faith
is what we acquired from some old-fashioned "rabbi" who taught us when
we were small children and who made us recite Hebrew by the page. At
home our parents would insist upon our conforming to routine
observances and ceremonies which meant nothing to us. When we grew
older and occasionally asked questions about the Bible, we met with
cold and evasive replies. No wonder that later on, when we entered
the academic world, we grew accustomed to look upon Judaism as out of
touch with the realities of life, and far removed from the elemental
needs that agitate the masses of active, enterprising humanity. We
could see no connection between the few humble ceremonies in our homes
or in our synagogues with the social, political and industrial
problems upon which was riveted the attention of the men of light and
leading. To most of us the faith of our fathers seemed little more
than a medley of needless restraints, other-worldliness, and hostility
to all progress.

_Religion Indispensable to the Human Race_

BUT a change has come over us. We have begun to realize that Judaism
could not have transformed the spiritual history of mankind, as it
did, if it were the negligible and insignificant thing we thought it
was. We have been unable to discern its true character, because we did
not know how to probe beneath the outward and often unattractive
surface which it presented to us in the limited circle in which we
moved. We have begun to surmise that the Jewish life we are familiar
with is nothing more than a devitalized fragment of what, under
auspicious circumstances, becomes a life that is spiritually
healthful, joyous and invigorating. We have at last learned to take
into consideration the inevitable difference in mental scope and
outlook that must mark two generations, one of which had its life
formed amidst the oppressive atmosphere of Eastern Europe, and the
other in the bracing atmosphere of America. This being the case,
nothing could be more unreasonable than to expect that the spiritual
heritage be transmitted from father to child with ease and
naturalness. But who is in a better position to smooth out the
roughness and overcome the angularities--father or child? Should we
demand of our elders, who are burdened by numerous cares, and whose
lives are for th