OCR Text |
Show Judaism Positive, Christianity Negative, in Their Attitude Toward Life By RABBI NORMAN SALIT, New York. The Hindu dreams of Nirvana, the world-soul, in which he hopef one day to lose himself forever in escape from this world of evil flesh and desire. The ancetic Christian believes this life to be preparation for aD other world, better and purer. Neitszche and Schopenhauer preached the futility and sadness of life as we know it. Not so Judaism. Recognizing "the world to come," it nevertheless insists on the value of "this world." There is pain here, but there are also blessings, for which we must thank God, and which we must endeavor to use rightly. There is vanity here, but there are also great tasks to be performed, which we must do in strength of soul and sanctity of spirit. The entire elaborated complex of Jewish law, designed to cover almost every hour of the Jew's waking and sleeping, can be explained on no other basis than that a life worth so much legislation must certainly cer-tainly be worth living. These other attitudes toward life, then, are negative. That of Judaism Juda-ism is positive. Perhaps that explains why the Jew has been able to live under persecution and oppression such as no other people has ever seen, Hnd why in spite of everything he flourishes and is vital today. |