The war has caused an upheaval of the whole world; vast changes have
been wrought in many peoples. Destruction of life and treasure has
brought about a revolution of national assets and resources, and there
has been stock taking of the spiritual no less than of the material
possessions. We have confident hope that the material losses will be
balanced by the moral progress of the peoples of the world, great and
small.
No people has felt the upheaval more than have the Jews. None has had
a greater share in its sorrows. None has had more reason to examine
carefully its past and its present and to define its future plans; and
none can look with clearer purpose or with firmer courage into the
future. For none has better ground than have the Jews for confident
hope in the moral progress of the world,--that people which has been
the constant witness of the course of civilization throughout the ages
and has never lost its faith in the ultimate victory of Justice and
Right.
We need not speak in generalities. The smaller nations are assured
that their rights will be safeguarded in the future, and that these
rights will embrace not only protection from attack and aggression, but
equally the right of development along the lines of their own national
bent, the right of self-government, the right to cultivate their own
spiritual possessions. There is no other people to whom this is so
full of deep meaning as to the Jews. During the many centuries of the
Dispersion our people has ever looked forward to its Restoration in
its ancestral home. During these many centuries there has never been a
day that the prayers for the Return have not ascended in every country
of the world in which the Children of Israel have been dispersed.
This undying hope has been the factor in the unique, the miraculous
preservation of a small people scattered among all the peoples of the
globe.
The national movement of the past generation, which has led to the
rejuvenation of the Hebrew language, to the founding of prosperous
Jewish colonies in Palestine, to the establishment of the Zionist
Organization with its branches throughout the world, this national
movement has trained us to think politically and to act with
statesmanlike grasp of present conditions and of plans for the future.
A part of our people has been prepared to deal with the great national
problems which obtrude themselves upon us today. Large numbers are
still confused by the new outlook and must find guides to direct them
in the new paths.
The Essays which Dr. Melamed presents to us in this volume are
therefore most welcome at this time. He has applied his vast knowledge
of history, philosophy and literature, and his intimate acquaintance
with Jewish life in many parts of the world, to answer many of the
questions about which there has been confusion, and to point out
the direction of progress and development in the future. In clear
and forceful language he has analyzed Jewish conditions in the past
and studied the needs of the future, so as to point out what the
present demands of us. We may not agree fully with all the views and
conclusions expressed, but we shall find them original, suggestive and
illuminating. The publication of these Essays is therefore opportune
and timely, and the Jewish public is deeply indebted to Dr. Melamed for
their presentation.