The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1964, Side 22

20
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1964
relatively small number each year,
thanks to vastly improved and most
modern methods and equipment. To-
day the process may be said to be in
reverse. A number of young univer-
sity graduates migrate to other lands,
for the home land has its quota of
medical men, professors in advanced
studies, etc. This bears a shining wit-
ness to the ability of the nation. It
bolsters Ellsworth Huntington’s state-
ment where he writes about Iceland,
“A selected inheritance, when isolated,
protected, and kept up to the mark by
further selection, seems to be able to
persist indefinitely.”
A FEW COMPARISONS
Both nations are argumentative; both
wander over the face of the earth; both
are small nations; both have contribut-
ed to human progress much out of
proportion to their number. Both na-
tions have a love of books, both have a
hunger and a deep appreciation for
education.
The Jews have almost made educa-
tion a fetish, their “golden calf”. I once
attended a Seminar in St. Paul, Min-
nesota, for the clergy of that city, spon-
sored by the Synagogues there. The
lecturer was a Rabbi, a professor from
the Hebrew Union Theological Semin-
ary in Cincinnati. During the question
hour, which followed each lecture, I
asked this question; “The Jews being
first cousins of the Semitic people in
the Middle East, such as the Egyp-
tians, the Syrians and others, why is it
the Jews have forged ahead of all these
and reached the top in so many fields
of endeavour?” He answered, “You
have asked a good question. I have of-
ten asked myself that question but
cannot answer it. The best I can do
in attempting to answer it is to say
the Jews have always had a very high
regard for education. Let me give you
an example. When a young man, I
heard a lecture given by a well known
Jewish scholar. When I came home, I
said something critical about it. My
father was astonished and chagrined.
When he found his tongue he said,
emphasizing every word, ‘My son, he
is a highly educated man’.”*
Icelanders, too, value education. In
want and in suffering through die
centuries, they have never lost what
might be called their birthright, a
noble curiosity.
Now let us ask, what is it in the life
and characteristics of the Jews that has
enabled them to survive, keep their
identity, tradition and religion, though
scattered and homeless? Even to try
to answer such a question is a difficult
task. I shall not attempt an all-
inclusive answer but merely make a
few observations which are at least a
part of the answer. But let me
emphasize: the most important is their
religion.
The Jews are a people of boundless
energy, both of body and mind. They
are a gifted people, ambitious, stub-
born, with an unbelievable drive to
reach a set goal. This may explain their
success in business and achievements
in many fields, but it does not explain
how they have maintained themselves
as a people, preserving their rich in-
heritance of tradition and religion.
What has made this possible is their
religion. According 4o their scripture,
God chose them to be His people and
made a Covenant with them to be
their God and they to be Has people.
Thus they have the undying conviction
that the One true God chose them; led
them out of slavery; fought their bat-
* Is it not possible that the compensatory
“fortuitous variations” in the survivors may
be a part of the answer. —Ed.