Book Description

Excerpt from Zionism, the Jewish National Movement: With Appendices of Diplomatic Documents and Contemporary Articles and Reports Kindness to children and to animals, relief to the indigent, succour to the wayfarer, and the feelings which prompt humane action in general, ante-date by centuries the organised efforts for their pursuit characteristic of the present day. In point of fact, Jewish organised effort is one of the earliest phenomena of the Hebraic civilisation, and "Hebroth" or Societies for the co-operative exercise of the "Mitzvoth" or precepts of life existed long before the modern prototypes of combined endeavour - and thus the present Jewish philanthropic associations arc really grafts of the form of current systematic methods upon a very ancient Jewish foundation. But Jewry has a practical bent, and centred its energies in the past upon the practice of that which had to be done - not upon the affirmation of an idea which was undisputed, nor in the vain endeavour to achieve that which was beyond human reach. The doctrine of the Restoration did not need to be preached - there were then no unbelievers. To endeavour to achieve the Resettlement politically was unthinkable in times when scarce in any part of the world Jewry had the legal capacity of being politically articulate. It was not only "Orthodoxy," but the foresight of sound sense which then projected the realisation of the ideal as a "divine far off event," just as it is not only "Orthodoxy" but also practical politics now to place the endeavour within the ambit of contemporary effort. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.