ABSTRACT
Theirs was the true Jewish temper—the temper that has preserved Israel through the ages, and that will preserve him through ages yet to come. The truly disquieting feature would be universal acquiescence in a decline of the Jewish spirit. And yet the old Jewish instinct, the older Scriptural tradition, which give the palm to the younger brother, are right after all. But greater than individual Jews is Israel, and when the Jew, here and there, has perished of spiritual inanition, Israel will survive. Jacob is stedfast, with a soul which, beneath the material advantages of the birthright, can get some glimpses of its spiritual glory and blessing. There are those who, having Jacob for their progenitor, seem rather to have been created in Esau’s likeness. During the night of the recent Day of Atonement an obscure synagogue in the East End of London was burnt down.
