Page:Leo Jung - Foundations of Judaism (1923).pdf/14

Rh in them is their constant effort—conscious or half-conscious—to get at the meaning of life, of birth and death, of nations, schools, peace and education, war and individuality. Tom, Dick and Harry feel that all this, though sad and ugly, however jolly and fleeting, must have a certain and unmistakable meaning. They are eager to find this sense of life, and to find it they string all their experiences together, and toil to derive from them something that will be common to them all, something that will connect them all, something that will show them all to be necessarily and decently natural and eventually valuable. As soon as Tom, Dick and Harry have discovered that there is a unity and a single purpose in the bewildering variety of life phenomena, our three friends have introduced honor and beauty into their colorless lives.

For all through the history of the world sounds the question, "What is the end of life?" From hoary ages, all through the struggles and strife of Man, in the cave of th savage as in the temple of the philosopher, this problem has loomed large, occupying the mind and heart of the best among us. “What is the aim of humanity, where lies the goal to work for?” Life must have a meaning in spite of all the dark nuances that seem to bury its sweetness, life must be productive of fine and great things, for there is a wonderful harmony in the quiet of nature, in the eye of the child, in the noble deeds that thrill us all.

Of all the solutions to this problem only one is of absolute value. It came to a nation of slaves, uplifted by sheer strength of hand and divine will, on Mount Sinai. The answer commenced "I am the Lord thy God” and its final hallmark upon all humanity is a simple truth: "Love thy neighbor as thyself.” “Love thy neighbor: he is as thyself."

God created the ideal and its banner-bearer. He kindled by a spark of His own divinity the millions of men, born and unborn. He let his look linger on Moses, and