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yhe 24tn October is observed throughout the world as United»
h;
fiat;onsay.
On that day, or as close to it as yossible, Special
servipg§_éme conducted by all the religions and religious denomin—
ations,"incfudin5 of course our own. There is, however, a very
sgeciaL éignifieance in Lhe Jewish observance of United Nations
Day, becaufis there is a very special connection between Juaaism
and the Jnitea Nations.
I
fiaresay we are all dimly aware of
that connection, but it is important thet we should pereeive it
clearly.
Ihe chief purgose — but, as we shall see, no: the only
purgose — of the United Natioas % is to establiSh and maintain
peace. nerc we see at once
a
direct connection with Juaaism.
For the idea that war can be and should be abolished is an idea
which the world owes to Judaism and more especially to the Ercphet
Isa;ah with his vision of the day when "they Shall beat their
Swords into glowshares and their sgears into pruning hOOKS;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall
they learn war any more." Our literature and XXKH§KX liturgy
abound with the praises of peace and injunctions to work for
yeace between man and man and between nation and nation. Ihe
ideal of peace originated in Judaism and still occupies EKKK
pusition of such prominence in Juaaism as no other religion
i%
f
can c;aim. The primary aim of the Uhited Nations is therefore
one for which we, as Jews, must have a very special sympathy
and concern.
You may wonder whether I am exggoerzting this point.
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is not the aesjre for peace a universal human desire?
*s it not
precisely the tragedy of our time that although all men want peace
they seem to be unable to attain it? Is it not a matter 03 common
sense to wish for 96539 because of the pain and devastation
which war brings? Do we need Judaism to teach us that flax is
a
bad thing and that peace is preferable to war?
To such questions
there are g£§u5nswexs.
First, in so far
as it is true that to—day all men desire peace, that very fact must
be attributed in large measure to the influence of Judaism. (And by
the way, when we sgeak of the influence of Judaism we muSt always
remember that
a
good debl of it was KHXKK exerted through the
medium of Christianity. That does not make it less Jewzsh. She
pr-phecies of Isaiah do not cease to be JewiSh because they :re
regeated by a Christian mouth.) It was fiififififikfi less true 1000
years ago thzn it is to—day, and it was still less true 8000
years ago‘
If we view human history as a whole we notice that
auxin; the greater part of it warfare was considered an essential
part of life, certainly nothing to be aghamed of, and, when
successful, something to glory in and boast about. Cecil Roth
says that Esaiah's prophecy about 5 peaceful world possessed
"an egoch—making original-tyu..in an age §hen conquest was
regardéd as the natural right of the stronger and a victorious
war the ideal of every powerful state."
Secondly, it must not be tamen too much forgranted that
the belief in the evil nature 0f war is firmly established in
our own time. Certainly until recently there were powerful
bodies of thought which held exactly the opposite View. Napoleon
considered that "war is a great game, a fine occujation". A Eermzn
philosoghcr of 150 years ago a clared that the most civilised
state is always the most aggressive. Nearer our own time Hitler
and Mussolini regarded war as a good and admirable thing. Hitler
said: Sin constant strugdie mankind has become great — in eternal
peace it must perish". bnd Eussolini defined his Eascist phil-sophy
thus: "Fascism does not believe in the rossibility, or the utility,
of gerpetual
peace..f.e
alone brings to their maximum tenSion
all human energies and stamps the seal of nobility on those peozbles
which have the virtue to face it." In View of the recency of these
utterances and the wide‘followinguwhich they commanded in their
time, it would be unWise and unsafe at the yresent day to accept
as
a
peace—lover everyone who declares himself to be so.
‘Thirdly, tbs desire to prevent war is not such a Simple
matter of common sense as it me; seem. That war should be prevented
seams KKK obvio's to as, yartly because we fififiéfifififiafilflfiyfi
I
unconsciously inherit the Jewish ideal of peace, and partly
because the two recent wars involved such
a
tremendous amount
of suffering for victor and vanquished alike. It has not always
been so and it need not always be so.
I: the angressor is very
much stronger than the victim, he may be able to wage
a
successful
war with great syeed and very XXXKLE raw casualties among his own
forces. _n this way ha may be able to obtainjvery great
increase
in territory, gower and wealth at a very low cost $0 higself.
That was true of Italy's conquest of Abyssinia and Jagan's
conquest ofi southeast
usia. We: is not necessarily detrimental
to the :ggressor. it is so only when he encaunters an ogposition
of equal or ;dproximatel; equal determination and strength to his
ow
.
KKKKESK§ if it were not £6r the atomic bomb and the recently
estabLished western Defence Comgunity, Russia woulfi probably be
able, did she so desire, to overrun the continent of Euroge without
having to pay a very high price in manpower or materi‘l. We cannot
thercfore say that a war is always inexpedient for the nation which
launches it. bjra successful war against small odds a nation does
not incur much suffering, though it may inflict
now it is certainly inexpedient
to incur
a
great deal.
suffering, but it is
not inexpedient to inflict‘suffering. It may be highly advantageous
and many conquerors throughtbut history have found it go. To inflict
ay
suffering is not inexpeaient but unethical. It is
from KKK
moral point of View that aggressive warfare must necess rily be
condemned.
That fact may be obscured in our own time because
i? so happens that mafia; Mnxél considurations and canciderations
of exgediencd scam to co—incide. Share is an apgroximate sal.nce
of power between East and nest. at least they are sufJiciently
nearly equal in strenghh for it to seem absoiutely certain that
a war between them would inflict so much agony& and devastation
on both sides as could not possibly comgensate for any prize to
be won. many geople base on thés fact their belief that war is
at present uxtxeaely unlikely.
but it is
a
psecariaus basis fnr
sach oonrideace. fhe outbreak of the flirst world war groves that
nations do not always act so rationally.
hnd in any case there
is no guarantee that the gresent balance of power will lést for
ever.
a
The fear of the consequences of
a
war does, of course, act
as a deterrent. That is the justification for Western re—armanent.
-ut it does not provide
safeguard against war. If war is to be
a
averted in the long run, it must be seen by all nations to be morally
wrong quite regardless of the balance of advantages and disadvantages
which it may entail for any particular nation. That realisation
comes, historically, from Judaism and depends for its full acceptance
by all men upon the future effectiveness of vudaism and other religions
with a similar message as an influence in the world.
It is therefore worth while to look more closely‘at Jewish
teaching about peace. Lhe mebrew word is, of course, shalom. It has,
however,
a
wider, richer KKKXEKEKXKX§XKXK§ connotation than the Englidx
word peace which Jay imply nothing more than the absence of Eeecv WA:
and a consequent state of tran,uillity.
conceived shalom
was an and
to be
She teachers of Judaism
in y-sit1vc terms. *he Rabbis said that sfialom
pursuea more energetically than any other, in
accordance with the verse in the 34th Eselm, Seek shalom and pursue
it. They sgeak of it as
a
blessing which cémgrehends within itself
all other blessings, and is therefore singled out especially in the
Priestly benediction and the various other benedictions. Again they
declare that the whole Torah exists only for the sake of shalom, for
it is written, its ways are ways of pleasantness and all its paths
are shalom. One Rabbi has this to say: "wreat is shalom, for if
the beings above, among whom is no .ealofisy or haté or contention
or wran~ling or quarrel a: strife or envy, need shalom, as it is
said, 'ue creates shalom in his high glaces', how much more do
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the beings beLOw, Wit» whom all these bad uualities age gresent,
need shalom." analom is not Just the absence of these "bad lualitiesfiz
even if we had‘got rid of them, we should still be in need of shalom.
Shalom is clearly
a
his and positive thing. it is not merely peace,
though peace is a part of it and an indispensable prequiSite for it.
The root meaning of shalom is that of wholeness or soundness.
«ence the adjective shalem which means complete. Apglied to the
community, therefore, shalom means its total well-being, physical
and spiritual.
Perhaps we may use the word welfare in that wide
sense. “as here is another link between Judaism and the United
Nations. For it is the avowed object of the United flatipns, not
only to prevent war between the nations, but also to promote the
welfare of all men. According to Judaism peace and welfare are
inseparable: the Unitea nations embrace both in their programme.
What exactly is involved in welfare, and how do the United
nations cndeavaur to foster it?
On the physical side welfare means
&bove all freedom from poverty.
The Lebislatprs of the Pontateuch
were clearly anxious to alleviate the evils of poverty; the Prophets
in their messianic visions looked forward to the elimination of
poverty, so th‘t every man will sit under his own vine and fig—tree;
and the Rabbis evolved an extremely efficient system of poor—relief
mzny centuries ahead of the rest of the world. 20—day many millions
of men still live in desperate poverty. Sue Specialised agencies
of the United nationS, esuecially the Food and agriculture
Crganisation, have done and are d;ing much to stimulate the
production and distribution of food by co—ogeretive effcrt.
-7‘he evil of disease is similarly being sought by the World
Health vrvenisation.
On the spiritual side welfare means freedom,
brotherliness.
jqice
andk
The insistence on ififiifiiflmfixxxgggggxgagggxgggg
.
XXKXKXSKflXfiXKfiXXKEXXKKXfiXKKKX the freedom of the individual basei
ugon the dignity of man as divine—created and having a divinely—
imposed mission is fundamental to Judaism and the world owes it
‘to Juaaism. No religion has condemned oppression so whole—heartedly
as Judaism” whether the cypression of K sub;ect by ruler or of
employee by employer. Ihe institution of the dabbath was one of
subs
the great conquests in the battle for human :reedom. flthe :ggtitution
of theocracy :gr absolutism was another. flfixflfififlfiflfifiXfiKXEEXKKEKXK
EXXKQKXXXfiflifiEXXXKXKKXXXXKXXXEXXK§%§XKX Passover we celeQrete
the Jews' escape firom political ouprcssion, and on Chanukmah their
wrest victory in the cease of religious liberty. The United Nations
work for national and individual freedom. Lhe Bill of Human Rights
and the éénucide Cunvention ~ although unfortunately not yet
ratified by all countries, including, to its shame, our own —
are great strides in that direction.
Lhe idea at justice is one of the dbminant themes 02 the
Pentateuch andtfihe rrcphets, especially AmOS, Isaiah and dicah.
by its fight against poverty and disease, by its plans for the
develOgment of underdevoped areSS, by its disseminttion of
Education, Science and Culture, and in many other Ways, the
United Raticns are helping to bring nearer the day when justice
wiLl roll down as water and righteousness as a mighty stream.
_ 8 _
~
in its deepest and most Sp ritual sense welfare means
§fi§flififi XKXKKKKKXXKX brotherliness — the ideal hinted at in
the verse :3 the lrd realm: "behold, how so¢a and how pleasantjt
is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" the thought that all
men are brothers and should behave as such is another of the great
thoughts which the world owes to Juésisg. It issued inevitably
from the canceptibn of a single, universal deity. "Have we not
811 one father?
eta not one God c*eated us?
m,
than, do we
deal treacherously gvery man against his brother?" DC‘AEIEChi
sums u; the whole
testjc
idea.
Lhe Rabbis also stress it
coustantly.gfifigssgmmg the; say that God aeliberetely created
only one m:n at the beginning so that all men might feel themselves
to be o£ common
descent and theVe: re brothers. Ehis brotherhood
admits of no boundaries or social status, race or nationality.
Ia desyise the cause of the nsnservent or the maidservant, says
Job, is to ccmmit a sin against &od: "Did not he that made me in
the womb make him? and did not one fashion as in the‘womb?"
fiven the nations most hostile to Israel share in tLis bretherh;od
ns God's children. "Blessed be Esjgt my geople and Assyria they
wcrknor my hands, and Israel mine inheritgnce."
fihe United nations are not the first attemgt to secure
world peace by creating an inter-national organisation. ;hcre
has been
a
Holy Alliance,
8
Concert of Earoge, a League of Nations.
but the Jnlted nations Oroanisstion differs from its predecessors
in that its pragramme goes far beyond the nere grovention of war.
It seeks to promote constructive co—operation figggg§gxggkxggfixggx
f
between a1} nations, in every field, in
brotheriiness.
a
sgirit of na{9pny and
The fundamental iaea underlying the establishment
or the dn'tca nations Organisation and its programme is the
idee a: universal brotherhood.
It is therefore tne idea of
Judaism.
It is therefore abundantly clear that the United Rations
Organisation deserves and demands our whole-hearted sugport as
Jews. Ls Liberal sews we have a sgecial opportunity for taking
an interest in
XX§X§KEX£XX§K§ and influencing its activities.
for through the World Union for rrogressive Judaism we afe
represented on two of its most important agencies in
a
consultativé capacity.
The Unite~ nations Organisatisn owes its underlying
ideology and therefore its ver; existence ultimately to Juaaism.
0n it must rest all hoges for the future yeace and welfare of
humanicy - welfare hbth in the physical and in th: sgiritual
sense. It is clearly a stage in the divine plan for mankind
gerceiveg by the nebrew ---phets in their messianic visions.
Future historians will remember the age in which we &re
privileged to live, not for its missmies and disarpointments,
but for its creation of an instrunent ~ uni.ue in the annals
of hmnsn life on this planet — for the world—wide, co—oper&tive
conquest of war and agpression, injustice and ignorance, disease
and poverty.
In the words of Lora Samuel, "Ihxough the Assembly
and the security Council and all these various agencieé
together
-9butween all nations and in every field of activity, in a spirit
of bibtherhooa that transcends naéional bbunaaries?
it is therefiore imite clear that the united dations
~
;10_
the pattern for the moral and material advancement of all
peoples is taking form.
i‘heg are a
loom, world—wide and
never resting, weaving the civilisation of the future.“
4-..»
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