Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/265

 EMIL G. HIESCH By Joseph Lbiseb 4 CCOBDING to Carlyle, a man's sincerity is the test of r his greatness. His great men were those who believed in their mission as a God-appointed task, which they were elected to fulfill, with fire and sword if need be, but ever and anon with a faith that suffers martyrdom, and knows no peace of mind until the consecrated duty is accomplished. Those heroic personalities whose lives have chaptered his- tory and whose deeds mark the epochs of humanity were dom- inated by a sacred devotion to their mission in life. However great or little the part they played, its value to humanity was measured by the sincerity wherewith the thing was done. Great men believe in their appointment for the duty they have nominated themselves to achieve. Their faith in themselves inspires them to do and dare and to translate that inspiration to others. This is true of all great leaders and it is true of Emil Gustav Hirsch. Babbi Hirsch believes in his interpretation of Judaism as the solution of the perplexing problems that beset the modem world, and this belief is fortified with a profound scholarship. This conviction has gained strength and reenforcement from the years of patient study and practical application in all the varied activities assigned to a great personality. With a gift of speech that is in itself genius, Dr. Hirsch has taught these truths : that man does not live by bread alone ; that society is composed of human beings mutually interde- pendent ; that the strong by reason of their strength must pro- tect the weak ; that righteousness exalts a nation ; and that the Jew is chosen in the providential plan of the universe to teach the law of righteousness and justice to all humanity, since from Zion came the word of God and the Jew was espoused of old to proclaim it. The Jew is, by reason of his Jewish parent- age, endowed with the inalienable duty of teaching mankind the law of man 's social obligation to his f ellowmen. Through