liberate him.” After what has happened in the present, to say the words “I
liberate him” can only be understood as not being a bad contradiction if, as
the Jews believe, at the end of history the Messiah arises and leads the just
from all nations to Zion, and if the individual feels one with such promise
and tries to serve it and trusts it. If a father raises his child in this thought
and if a mother looks at the child in expectation, the child could serve that
infinite happiness and may even experience it. Also, if the parents themselves
have died, the child can continue to experience the love and is able to radi-
ate it again, which in the emphatic sense makes human beings human.
120 • Max Horkheimer