The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1964, Page 23

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
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ties with them; brought them hack
from exile; and through the faithful
remnant of Israel He will work his Div-
ine purpose on Earth. When Disraeli
was asked by Queen Victoria for his
proof of the existence of God, he said,
“Oh, the Jews, Your Majesty”.
In brief, they believe 'that God chose
them; He will work His will through
them (“salvation is from the Jews”,
John 4:22); send His Messiah to them,
who will establish God’s kingdom of
righteousness; forgive sin; abolish war;
usher in prosperity and eliminate
death forever. Apart from this, Jews
cannot be understood. And it follows
as night follows day, that all this de-
pends upon God having kept their
blood pure. Intermarriage with Gent-
iles is strongly discouraged.
Nothing comparable to this is found
in the history of the Icelandic people.
In fact we do not have a divine man-
date that God is especially our God
or that His purpose is to be achieved
through us. One could sincerely wish
that such was the case, for then to us
nothing would be impossible. This
may prove to be the greatest obstacle
to the fulfillment of our dream—to
preserve our cultural heritage. We,
here in North America, have no hesita-
tion about marrying outside our ethnic
group. In that respect we have retained
a characteristic of the Vikings of old.
“ Ehey conquered only to be absorbed
by those they conquered.”
The driving force in the Jews is their
religion and it is here they have made
their greatest contribution and the
world owes them the most. If they
were not the first to conceive of One
Hod, they have taught the world to
accept this revolutionary idea. But to
this there follows a strange corollary.
Religion has given them fortitude in
all their struggles, but at the same
time it has set them apart as “peculiar
people” through which they them-
selves have suffered immeasurably.
Herbert L. Willett says in his book
“The Jew Through The Centuries”:
“They have suffered as the result of
their abilities as well as their peculiar-
ities. If they had been less forceful, ag-
gressive, clever and peristent, less loyal
to their law and their traditions—they
might have escaped the odium and the
oppression which they have encounter-
ed.” Yes, it has been their religion
that has been the reinforcing power
which held them together as one
people; yet it has made them a prey,
the very biblical scapegoat of evil men.
The price of survival has been high.
So also has the gain for the world been
great.
When any nation is compared to
them from the point of view of religion
the comparison overwhelmingly favors
the “chosen people”. While Iceland
has produced men of spiritual power
and deep consecration, they cannot
stand comparison with the men of
Israel. What nation can? We will spare
ourselves the hurt of further pursuit
here.
If we are right in assuming that it
has been the religion of the Jews that
has enabled them to survive, what will
enable the Icelanders to survive outside
of Iceland? No nation has ever con-
tributed as much to progress of the
human spirit as have the Jews. Yet
Iceland is a close second. We must re-
member that Icelanders number only
200,000 while Jews count many mil-
lions. For this reason Huntington’s
words have a ring of truth in them,
when he says, “It (Iceland) may almost
claim that in proportion to its popula-
tion its contribution to human progress
has been greater than that of any other
region except ancient Greece and
Palestine.”
—Sveinbjbrn S. Olafsson