cyclopaedia, and constantly
oscillating between wealth and bankruptcy, oppression and tolerance.
Their own science is dead among Jews, and the intellectual concerns of
European nations do not appeal to them, because, faithless to
themselves, they are strangers to abstract truth and slaves of
self-interest. This abject wretchedness is stamped upon their
penny-a-liners, their preachers, councillors, constitutions,
_parnassim_, titles, meetings, institutions, subscriptions, their
literature, their book-trade, their representatives, their happiness,
and their misfortune. No heart, no feeling! All a medley of prayers,
banknotes, and _rachmones_,[87] with a few strains of enlightenment and
_chilluk_![88]--

Now, my friend, after so revolting a sketch of Judaism, you will hardly
ask why the society and the journal have vanished into thin air, and are
missed as little as the temple, the school, and the rights of
citizenship. The society might have survived despite its splitting up
into sections. That was merely a mistake in management. The truth is
that it never had existence. Five or six enthusiasts met together, and
like Moses ventured to believe that their spirit would communicate
itself to others. That was self-deception. _The only imperishable
possession rescued from this deluge is the science of Judaism. It lives
even though not a finger has been raised in its service since hundreds
of years. I confess that, barring submission to the judgment of God, I
find solace only in the cultivation of the science of Judaism._

As for myself, those rough experiences of mine shall assuredly not
persuade me into a course of action inconsistent with my highest
aspirations. I did what I held my duty. I ceased to preach, not in order
to fall away from my own words, but because I realized that I was
preaching in the wilderness. _Sapienti sat_.... After all that I have
said, you will readily understand that I cannot favor an unduly
ostentatious mode of dissolution. Such a course would be prompted by the
vanity of the puffed-out frog in the fable, and affect the Jews ... as
little as all that has gone before. There is nothing for the members to
do but to remain unshaken, and radiate their influence in their limited
circles, leaving all else to God."

The man who wrote these words, it is hard to realize, had not yet passed
his thirtieth year, but his aim in life was perfectly defined. He knew
the path leading to his goal, and--most importa