Читать книгу A Book of Jewish Thoughts - Various - Страница 19

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NOT what a man has—knowledge, skill, or goods of life—determines his culture, but what a man is: culture is not so much mastery of things as mastery of self. And only that nation can be called cultured which adds to or, at least, broadens and deepens the spiritual assets of mankind; which introduces some distinctive note into the soul-life of the world; which teaches humanity a new angle of vision towards the Infinite; and by its living and, if need be, by its dying, vindicates the eternal values of life—conscience, honour, liberty.

Judged by this test, some of the littlest of peoples—Judea, Greece, Elizabethan England—stand foremost among cultured nations, champions of the sacred heritage of man. Judged by this test, many a poor Jew, though he be devoid of the graces, amenities, and comforts of life, is yet possessed of culture. An ancient language, a classical language, a holy language, is as familiar to him as his mother-tongue; saturated is he with the sublimest of literatures, which hallows his life and endows him with high faith and invincible courage.

Sympathetic appreciation of this indomitable type, this harmonious albeit rugged personality, might well be taken as a touchstone of a man’s mentality, culture, and humanity.

J. H. HERTZ, 1915.