e most part hurried and difficult, that they adapt
themselves to our attitude of mind? Is it not meet that we, who still
retain the plasticity of youth, make advances? Without surrendering an
iota of our own individuality we might cultivate that sympathetic
insight that would reveal the inestimable worth of our spiritual
heritage. Not merely reverence for the past, but a regard for our own
future prompts us to achieve a proper understanding of Judaism.

It is well to realize at the outset that the problem of religion is
not confined to the Jews alone. Every great world-faith experiences
nowadays the throes of transformation and readjustment. Mistaking them
for the final struggle, the believer wrings his hands in despair over
the impending doom, and the doubter contemplates a religionless future
with a great deal of glee. But both will be disappointed in their
reckoning. Religion, as we shall see, is entirely too inherent in
human life to be dispensable. The belief that it has served its
purpose in the evolution of the race, and that it can only survive as
a troublesome vestige in the organism of human society, is based upon
a misunderstanding of its function. In view of the deeper insight into
human nature that has been acquired of late, as a result of the
progress made in psychological and social research, there is good
reason to believe that a better understanding is not far distant.
These investigations have not merely led to new theories about
religion, but have essentially changed the method of approach. They
have rendered superfluous the subtleties and refinements of
metaphysical arguments. A new reservoir in human nature has been
tapped, and discovered to be the inexhaustible fount of religion.

_The Adaptation of Judaism to Changing Conditions_

THIS new way of looking at the problem of religion gives promise of
helping us also to get a better comprehension of Judaism. We shall
find by means of it that there is much more substantial nourishment to
the faith of our fathers than can be obtained from the tabloid form in
which the textbooks mete it out to us. The previous article on "What
Judaism Is Not"[G] did not argue that Judaism could forego such
doctrines as the unity of God, the brotherhood of man and similar
principles, or that it should glory in remaining vague and
inarticulate. The main objection to the ordinary way of conceiving
Judaism was that it lacked the means of preventing its teachings from
de