The questions may be asked, Why should a Jew become a Christian Scientist? What good thing does Christian Science supply that centuries of Judaism have failed to provide? When one realizes the steadily increasing influx of Jews into this twentieth century religion, these questions are seen to be pertinent to the hour. Centuries of unswerving devotion on the part of a race to a cause must call for a strong incentive to impel them to find interest in another cause. What justifies this step? It must surely be a mighty influence which can lead a hitherto unchanging people to change.
Spirituality is the element which Christian Science supplies. It is for this "good thing" that the Jew leaves the religion of his forefathers and gladly embraces Christian Science. My fervent and humble desire is to point out, step by step, the mental process through which I passed on my way from Judaism to Christian Science. From the earliest awakening of conscious being I have always felt an intense longing for something higher, better, than daily life afforded. The first mental step to record this reaching out came to me at the age of two years. It was a dark night, and my young aunt was taking me for a short stroll in front of our cottage. Evidently it was my first glimpse of night out of doors. I distinctly recollect gazing, awestruck, into the heavens and trying to express in words the dark blue of the sky, the immensity of space. I was trying to express my sense of the unsearchable.
My mother was a deeply religious orthodox Jewess. Although our family belonged to the temple, it was her proud boast that she observed the entire ritual of her orthodox upbringing. I was seven years old when we started out on a four-year tour of the United States. Not once during the entire trip did a bit of "unclean" meat pass my mother's lips; the meat killed and prepared according to Mosaic law was the only kind she would eat. I well remember the efforts of my broader-minded father to locate places where a "kosher" meal could be bought for her. Although she became thin and ailing, my mother clung to her sense of devotion to her religion. This is an example of the way in which religious observances were inculcated in me.
