To a Confirmand in the Year 1934

My dear young friend:

Next Sunday, on Shabuoth morning, you will be confirmed, along with thousands of other young boys and girls, into the faith of your people. I should like to address a few words to you. You are the latest link in that unbroken chain which began so many centuries ago and which must continue unbroken into the future. You must be a strong link.

The age in which you are entering into young manhood or womanhood is a very restless one. It is full of sharp and sudden and painful change. Many nations are in political ferment and revolution. Economically the whole world finds itself in the grip of a severe depression. Morally our age is in a whirl. Men seem unable to find a set of strong, simple, moral certainties upon which to build a positive and tranquil human life.

Jewish life, particularly, today is turbulant and full of the gravest problems. One of the most progressive Jewish communities in the world has been attacked brutally by a political regime whose ideals are medieval and whose methods are barbaric. Hatred of our people is sweeping over many parts of the world and is organizing itself against us.

On Confirmation Day, I would advise you to think of none of these things. I would invite you to turn your thoughts away from the things of the moment, to the things which are unchanging and immovable, to the values of life which are from everlasting to everlasting. There will be occasions enough in your future years to face these hard facts of existence and to wrestle with them. Life will not spare you. On the holy day of your confirmation I should like you to remember that whatever changes are taking place in the world, there are certain ideals which are permanent, which are indispensable to any age regardless of its political or economic arrangement. Without them no civilization can long endure. There are also qualities of personal character which were precious in the sight of man five thousand years ago and which will hold their identical worth among men ten thousand years hence-integrity, social-mindedness, self-restraint, courage, loyalty, fair play.

It is of these abiding values in our private and social life that I would have you think on that day. They are not new, or clever or smart or heady like a new wine. They are as unsensational and as inescapable as are the laws of nature.

Men talk a great deal today of nation, race, class and party, and most of the world’s unhappiness is due to the conflicts among them. The individual has almost entirely been lost sight of. May I suggest to you, dear young friend, that before we can set about perfecting the world we must try to perfect ourselves. How can we hope ever to build up a juster and lovelier world if we do not build it first within ourselves? Do not allow yourself to be persuaded that all human ills come from without-from government or society. Much of our sorrows and defeats come from within-from lack of personal courage, self-discipline, a sense of honor and sympathy. The most precious thing in society is a noble human personality. Think first of that and think of that always. That is more important than race or nation or creed.

Think next of the abiding tasks of man upon earth-the seeking of truth, of justice and of peace, and resolve to devote yourself to them. They alone give worth and dignity to human life. They are the timeless pursuits of the spirit of man. There are times when the race of man seems to be turning away from, rather than toward, these goals. But it always returns to them after having paid the severe penalities for its momentary defections. The future belongs to them. Let this be your unfailing confidence. The future belongs to truth, not to falsehood, to equality, not to injustice, to democracy, not to dictatorship, to peace, not to war, to good-will, not to intolerance; to freedom, not to oppression.

We older men are a bit weary and sadly confused. We have been caught in a trap of circumstances since the World War which we cannot break. But you are young. Put your hand confidently to the task and shape a happier world.

I would also have you think on the day of your confirmation, my young friend, of the abiding values of Jewish life. Think not of anti-Semitism on that day of days. That is not the essence of Jewish life. That is not the crown of our achievement or the secret of our survival. Think rather of the noble teachings of your faith which have made fruitful the life of the world. Think of the majesty of its moral code, of the sweep of its prophetic vision of justice, brotherhood and peace. Think of the glory of our literature. Think of the heroic quality of our national survival. Think of the great contributions which the gifted sons of our people have made and are making in every field of human endeavor. Think and take all that to heart, and thank God that He has burdened you with the glory and the weight and the challenge of such a heritage.