“Return to the Bible! This must become the slogan of the Jewish renaissance movement if Jewry is to fulfill the mission which is peculiarly its own,” Captain Alexander Aaronsohn, D.S.O., declared in an address before a meeting of the West Side Chapter of the Hadassah at the Hotel Majestic Tuesday afternoon.
“The day will come,” the speaker declared, “when, from the soil of Palestine, a new religion will spring, bringing salvation to humanity by teaching the idea of one God and by making mankind realize in life the supreme teachings of the law — to live the law of God – instead of satisfying itself with lip service.
“There is no need to look for new carriers of the living Hebrew word. It is right there in the ancient book of the Jewish people, the Bible. Those who claimed that Hebrew was a dead language were mistaken. It was we who were dead to the language and are now beginning to awaken to it. The Palestine pioneers, in reviving the language and reviving the form of simple living, of living the law of God, laid the foundations for the new era.
“Living the law as the law of life and the relation of the human being to his Creator is best exemplified by the Mosaic Dietary Laws. Thousands of years ago these laws were framed with the purpose of training the body for correct eating and for the observance of the law of nature. In order that the human body would not be stuffed with dead carcasses the many restrictions were placed by the Mosaic Laws on the eating of meat, with the logical idea behind them that men should confine themselves to the eating of vegetables and fruits.
“The world war has proven the failure of mankind’s civilization. Humanity is juggling with words. The immense structures erected for synagogues and churches seem to be intended to imprison the word the word of God and to confine it to a lip service once a week. Humanity needs a new revitalization, to stop juggling with words and to live the law. This message will come from the place whence it came before–from Palestine,” Captain Aaronsohn declared.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
