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476 Altruism Altschul

THE

.lEWltJlI

sovciitfcntli and cijrhtci'nlli CfiiturifS, iiccordthe syiiipulhii'S rooted in liunmii to riHture are the nmiuspriii'jis of nionilitv (Cumljerhiud. Shaftesbury, lliitchesou. BiitUT. I'uley. A(hiiii

of

tilt

iug

whom

Smith). JI(xlerii Altruism is a reaction apiinst the cxajriierated ejioism of the i)hilosoiihy of the KrciK li He volution. IciKlinjr to thcixaltation ot such ll^'ments ami ab.st met ions u.s tlie economic man a beiiif; supposed toact upon one sole miitive to the exclusion of

—

any other: viz.. unmiliirateilorevenenliiilitened selfishness. Modern HIh ralism in jiolilics, rcliirion. and economics liavinjr taken its cue from the writinj;s of Rous.seau. Voltaire, and the encyclopedists, it was but natural that the pendulum of llnniiilit should swinir back to the opposite poll' and posil as the secret of all true lifean ecpially ixcissive love for the fellow, in which the s<lf of man tailed to receive its Icjiitimate due. This onesided emphasis ujion altruistic conduct in turn evoked the counter-revolution culminating in the apotheosis of the seltisli, desociali/ed man, the " overman " of Xietzsche'sdoctrine. as before him Max Stirner had developed the theory of the sellish ninn's supremacy and autocracy. This fatal antithesis bewecn self and others is avoided in tlieethiesof .ludaism. The fundamental motive of the moral life is, accordiiij; to Judaism, not the quest for happiness. Momlity is summed up The purpose of human life is service now in service. and here. In the creation narrative man is destined to be ruler over every beinjr and thing Morality created. In this purpose all that live up and breathe in the wide sweep of in Service, human fellowship have a i>art. Non(! can be spared. He who should elTace himself would commit as grievous a breach of the covenantas he who should crush another. The measure of the service which is upon us is contingent upon the strength, talent, possession, and ])ower which have come to us. The ethical ambiti<in on this basis runs to the desire for increase of strength, knowledge, possession, and power. Weakness is not a virtue. The stronger the man the better able he is to render Therefore, the appeal of Judaism is that service. each shall become a self and strive for the realizaSelftion of the fullest possible measure of self. realization is the realization of a part of the service placed upon all. But, on the other hand, and (lowing from the same concept of service, what is ours is ours only as a means to enlarge the comm<in life. are stewards of our talents and property, trustees As the weakness of one thereof in the .service of all. diminishes the sum of service rendered, it becomes the duty of the strong to look after the weak; to help them to strength, in order thus to increase the sum total of strength at the disposal of all. In this way Judaism overcomes the opposition of egoism to Altruism and tinds the highersynthesison Self-asserthe basis of the community of service. tion flowers into the sympathy and help extended to others struggling for fuller self-realization. In the Jewish view of life as a service both c.'/" and alter Hillel's maxim, "If I find their higher harmony. am not for myself, who will be? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when then?'' epitomizes this concordance of self and the others. Egoism is limited to its legitimate lield, that developing every man into as strong a self as is possible with a view to more perfect service; and even so is Altruism saved from exaggeration. Self-effacement is contrary to the mf)ral law of life. The highest aim in the economj' of society and of creation is selfassertion in the service of all. Xot egoism which feeds self at the expense of others, nor Altruism which effaces self while thinking of others, but mu-

Summed

We

ENCYCLOPEDIA

476

tualism as implied in the words, " Love thy neighbor as thyself," is the guiding principle of Jewish " "

ethics,

K.

t;

II.

ALTSCHUL, ALTSCHULER, ALTSCHUELER, or ALSCHTJLER Various birinsof a fam:

name borne by Aslikcnazic Jews in many countries. Though each of these forms now represents ily

groiil)s that are distinct from one another, anil that, apparently, are not interconnected by ties of relationship, they all seem to have had a common origin and to have been used and given without discrimi-

nation. It is, nevertheless, possible that the name at the outset was apjilied to more than one family. All records prove that the original scat of this family was Prague, the capital of Bohemia; and the transcription of the name in two separate worils, ^It;'

U^N. or -^VC' which

Siune. t' X stood (sec

—

ti^JX.

or the abbreviation of the has often been misunder-

latter

—

Nos. 19, '27, below) clearly indicates its etymology. It is derived from the Alt' Schul' or Old Synagogue, which still exists at Pnigue, and is not to be confused with the Altneuschul; and the tirst Allschuls. or Altschulers. were either jironiinent attendants at or patrons of this place of worship (see N.VMKS).

The name Altschul is supposed to have been first borne by a descendant of Provencal refugees who had .settled in Prague about 1302. Prague, besides being the ]ilace of origin, was also the cliief seat for several renturiis of the Altschul or Allschuler lam ily. But after the expulsion of the Jews from that city, in VAi. many of the Altschuls who found an asylumin othcrcountriesdiil not return; and.so. from the sixteenth century on. we find them iirnniinent in what is now Kussian Poland. Lithuania, and Itussia

proper (see Nos.

and

9, 28. 30),

in Italy (see IS'o. 2M).

Later, members of the family dispersed still further (see Nos. ii, 4, 12, 2."), 29); and to-day the name is borne by lumierous families throughout AustriaHungary, Germany, Russia (where it is claimed that the writer Closes IJi vkes and even the Gaon of Wilna are Altschuls), England, and America. In the United States several Altschulers have achieved distinction, notably the Hon. Samuel AlLschuler. candidate for the governorship of Illinois, and Alschueler. the violoncellist. Heliable records from which to prepare a complete genealogical tree are lacking. 'The three charts given below are perhaps all that can be established with any degree of certainty. For the reason just stated, some members' names appear in the following biographical notices that are not in the charts, and vice versa. Because it occurs most frequently the form of "Altschul" has been adopted throughout the three tables, as well as in the list of individual members; though, as has been said, the other forms of the names also occur. (Provencal refugee. 1303?)

(2)

Abraham

Elrerle (c. 1490) I

(17)

Moses

(c. 1512)

I

(15)

Jacob (died 1596) Eleazar Perles 1

Abraham Enoch

(

1>'<)

Judah Aaron Moses (c,

Perles

(8)

1610)

Eleazar Perles (c. I(i35) 1

(13) (3)

Isaac (died 1676)

Abraham

(c.

1680)