TRIUMPH OF THE SPIRIT
Day of Intercession, September, 1941
**Zechariah IV, 6.“NOT by might, nor by power, but by my spirit—saith the Lord of Hosts”.
These words seem to me to be the most appropriate for this Day of National Prayer; not only because the present war is more and more developing into a battle between good and evil, a struggle between the spirit and the sword, between immortal moral values and their utter denial by the barbarous forces of darkness; but mainly because, looking back at the second year of the war, we may say to-day that we were witnessing the great miracle of the spirit; the Spirit of God in man triumphant over ruthless barbarous force.
Looking back at the second year of the struggle, we may say that in this country we saw with our own eyes how material might and power were defeated by the spirit and by nothing else but the spirit.
1
Let us recall for a moment what was the outstanding feature of the past year. In this endeavour my mind travels back, first of all, to that Black Friday last summer when a stunned world learned the news that Paris, the centre of light in Europe, had surrendered to the forces of darkness. The following day, being a Sabbath, I had to preach in a London Synagogue, and, among other things, I said something like this to the bewildered congregants: “Do not despair; think for a while of our own Jewish life and be reassured. We ‘Asiatic’ Jews are the oldest among the nations of Europe. We have a better and a longer memory than any of them. And we Jews can say this to-day: We have known most of the great tyrants and tyrannies of the world. We have groaned under their yoke. We saw them all growing mightier and mightier. And yet, here we are to-day to proclaim that never did we see them ultimately triumphant. Here we are to-day to give evidence that as often as we witnessed their rise, we also witnessed their downfall. We knew them terrible and mighty, but there was not one among them whom we Jews have not seen down-trodden and wallowing in the dust”.
And I said to them in that London Synagogue: “Have faith. The very fact that we Jews are still here to-day, even though crouching under the whip of the tyrant, proves that it is not brute power or might that will conquer in the end”.
Surely, I said, there will be suffering, for there was sin, sin against the spirit by everybody everywhere. Think of the millions of murdered Chinese, murdered because armament manufacturers all over the world wanted more profit. Think of Abyssinia, left in the lurch by the Great Powers. Think of democratic Spain, left to its fate because reactionaries all over Europe wished the “gallant Christian gentlemen” to triumph over humanity. Think of Czechoslovakia, betrayed by the so-called democracies.
There was much betrayal of the spirit and because of it there is bound to be much suffering.
But, I said, have faith. Not for a single moment can we Jews doubt the ultimate issue of the battle, for we know that God did not create this world in order that it might be senselessly destroyed.
Yes, even then, at the most critical moment in the modern history of mankind, we Jews had unshakable faith. But we all knew that the hour of trial for these Islands, and with it for us all, was due to come any moment.
And when, just a year ago to-day, on September 7th, on that unforgettable Sabbath afternoon, the sirens sounded in London for the third or fourth or fifth time, we all felt that it had started at last. With the fall of darkness the London sky was glowing red and redder, not towards sunset, but towards the East; the ominous sign of the burning of the London docks.
We knew then that the hour had come and that from now on we would be tested as if by fire.
In the dark winter months that followed, when the bomber was roaming through the skies of Britain, we, let us confess it to-day, often wavered in our faith. We often asked ourselves how long can man endure all this, how long can man of flesh and blood stand up to such incredible trials. One single raid night appeared to last eternities; and this went on night after night, for weeks and months, and still there was no end in sight. A general breakdown of human endurance seemed a very near possibility and with it everything would have been lost.
But a miracle happened.
It is true, there was death and destruction, there was much suffering and sorrow, but in the midst of the tragedy a miracle was happening. In the midst of suffering the most deadly weapon which the devilish ingenuity of men could invent, the Bomber, had been defeated. And the miracle was that the defeat of the bomber was achieved not by the strategy of brilliant generals, nor by the night-fighters or the A.A. guns, but by human endurance. Steel and iron, high explosive and fire, had been defeated by human hearts of flesh and blood.
One of the greatest miracles in the history of mankind happened before our own eyes. With our own eyes we could see it: the Spirit of God in the hearts of men, conquering, defeating might and power. This Britain, the common people of this country, have conquered this time in the true Jewish manner, through suffering and by faith.
And this, we feel, will prove to have been the decisive victory in this gigantic struggle between good and evil.
2
Up to the Battle of Britain Nazi barbarism achieved amazingly cheap victories: not so much by means of its tanks and aeroplanes, but mainly because, wherever it moved, it found men who were prepared to surrender to the conqueror not only their weapons, but their hearts and their minds as well. Everywhere it was able to find accomplices, but only because, through the many betrayals of the spirit in the last two decades, the faith of men and nations in decency, freedom, and justice had been undermined; because these great ideals of mankind had become empty words; because in a world in which for years the holiest conceptions of mankind had been continually sacrificed on the altar of vested interests the only faith left was the faith in profit and the faith in the tank and the bomber. In such a world of moral decay there was no hope for the future.
But then, the bomber came to Britain. And the common people in these Isles rose to the occasion and through their exertions set an example to the world. Through their readiness to sacrifice everything rather than yield and surrender to evil, they have restored the dignity of man all over the world. They have begun to rebuild the faith of man and nations in the moral destiny of man. And all over the world people learned anew, and learned eagerly, that love and kindness and unselfishness had not died out among men, for they could point to the new and inspiring comradeship, the freely given mutual aid of the people of Great Britain. And to-day, the eternal watchwords of mankind, freedom, justice, truth, love, shine through the darkness with a new light and give new hope to the nations.
To-day we may look with more confidence into the future because we have more faith in man.
3
There is reason enough for us to thank God for all this to-day, to be grateful for the miracle.
But let us not forget for one moment that the time for jubilation has not come yet.
The trial is not over yet. We have gained the present breathing-space only because others, millions and millions of our fellow-men in Russia, are suffering all the time for us, just as we have suffered for them. And who knows what turn the storm may take next.
Let us remember the incredible amount of suffering that the second year of the war has spread all over the world.
Let us pay respect to the memory of the many innocent victims of the bomber in this country, of the innumerable victims of tyrannous lust for power in the enslaved countries of Europe and on the gigantic battle-fields in the East.
Let us remember the heartrending sufferings to which our own Jewish nation is being subjected in all the lands that are now being devastated by the hordes of the barbarians. Not even brotherly greetings, no signs of brotherly love, can reach them from us. They are alone in their sorrow. May God be with them. May He protect them.
Let us pray for this unfortunate, bleeding mankind. Let us pray for this Britain, the Britain of that common man in the street who once said to me: Victory, not for Britain, victory for justice.
Let us pray for the victory of justice, of truth, of humanity and kindness all over the world.
May God Almighty shorten this terrible period of suffering.
May He help us all to that **See Ezekiel XXXVI, 26.“new heart” and **See Ezekiel XXXVI, 26.“new mind” that will be needed for the upbuilding of a better and happier life for all men and all nations.
Out of the present world-wide brotherhood of suffering may there rise the brotherhood of peace, the brotherhood of sympathy and understanding among all men and nations, a brotherhood of happiness from which no one is excluded.