Rabbi
Joseph Herman Hertz, CH
(September 25, 1872- January 14, 1946) was a Jewish Hungarian-born Rabbi
and Bible scholar
. He is most notable for holding the position of Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom from 1913 until his death in 1946, in a period encompassing both world war
s and The Holocaust
.
Hertz was born in the then Rebrény, Kingdom of Hungary
(presently is part of Zemplínska Široká
, Slovakia
), and emigrated to New York City in 1884.
Because man is endowed with Reason, he can subdue his impulses in the service of moral and religious ideals, and is born to bear rule over Nature.
Everything in the Universe was as the Creator willed it — nothing superfluous, nothing lacking — a harmony.
Man must be a co-worker with God in making this earth a garden.
Men of all lands and climes are brothers.
Though man comes from the dust, sin is not a part of his nature. Man can overcome sin, and through repentance attain to at-one-ment with his Maker.
Not indolence but congenial work is man's Divinely allotted portion.
Man's most sacred privilege is freedom of will, the ability to obey or disobey his Maker.
A wife is not a man's shadow or subordinate, but his other self, his "helper," in a sense which no other creature on earth can be.
In spite of the pangs of travail, the longing for motherhood remains the most powerful instinct in woman.
Divine punishment is at once followed by Divine pity.