v. ,
2
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
"The American people seem to relief to the afflicted and the strick-
me to have suffered nearly all of en. \1 list we indeed, wait to be
the moral damage which may be asked and searched out, seeing for-
caused by war and the inevitable sooth how easy it is to find the
sequels of war without having needy, for they are not individuals
reaped any of the gains. Though but peoples. Shall we not seek the
I abhor war and believe that the out and will to help ? Shall we post-
time has come for beginning to cure pone our human service to them
rather than continuing to endure it, until they lie at our thresholds cry-
war must needs bring with it some Mg for very agony of their souls ?
great and ennobling gains. Itit these "It is the business of an enlight-
gains cannot be reaped save by those •ned philanthropy and brotherliness
who have, as it were, paid the price to search out our brothers who aro.
therefor. in want and to relieve them not for
"I conceive that the present war an hour nor for a day, but
is unutterably damaging to the soul adequately, enduringly. Not only
of America because outwardly we is such service of relief as wc can
have gained by the war and the bring uniquely precious, but it is
measure of our gain has blinded neutral and unpartisan in character.
the eyes of many of us to the truth The American people can and ought
the damnable things to unite in offering help to the
about war,
which make war and the damnation stricken of all peoples and all faiths
to which war leads. At a time and all races and all tongues. What-
therefore, of moral hurt and spirit- every may be our judgment and our
ual loss such as the present day sympathy \vith respect to the groups
prosperity of America is inflicting of combatants in the war, we have
rather than bestowing upon us. any no right to deny our sympathy and
movement must be hailed as a belie- our help to . the wounded and the
faction which leads men to enrich suffering among the nations, irre-
themselves on the moral side thru spective of the banner under which
war service of any worth-while they march and battle.
If it be asked, Why should special
kind.
"'War means the breaking of help be vouchsafed to Jews, my
bonds. It means the annulment of answer is, Because, alas, our fellow-
human ties. That is in very truth Jews have for a generation—multi-
the blackest crime of war, that it tulles of them—been in need of our
not only slays men but annihilates help and brotherly furtherance.
relationships, that it ends -those This war has not created Jewish
associations of neighborliness which misery. It has but deepened and
are the very essence of human life. intensified it. The need is some-
One of the few gains that have what more acute and critical than it
come to us from the war, almost ordinarily appears to be. Our
compensating for the outward brothers, to the shame of the world
prosperity which threatens to en- be it said, fare badly enough at all
gulf us, has been the circumstances .times in Eastern Europe, and this
that we have set out, though only war has placed a new burden upon
half-consciously, to establish and to them and added yet another to the
re-establish human relationships, tragedies of their lot.
For Israel in East European
and at a time when it would seem
as if nevermore could the old-world lands, three things are needed : first,
neighborliness be re-established we relief and immediate help,—help in
have set ourselves the task of forg-, truth, that must not be grudging
ing anew the shattered bonds of the and partial, but ample and benefi-
human race. cent. On the morrow, after the
"We have lived since the second Avar shall have ended, something
day of August, 1914, in a world of more than mere relief will be needed
strife and divisiveness, and during ..hy our brothers, whose problems no
these nearly two years, one of the measure of charity can permanently
few unifying tokens of our life has solve, whose problems cannot be
been the service of succor which met save in the spirit and on the
the American people have in some high level of the justice which the
part, though insufficiently, rend- spirit of statesmanship alone suf-
.ered to the bleeding and broken fices to create.
And yet something more the pco-
- peoples involved in the war. \Teri-
tahly, that work at its highest has pie of 'Israel need. It needs abiding
been an anticipation of the work peace that it may live. Not in vain
that is to be performed by peace have our fathers accounted peace
and under the beneficent eggs of as the highest of human blessings,—
peace when it shall have been re- that peace which the prophet finely
established. For what America has called the work of justice and
done for the warring peoples, and righteousness. For when war set-
above all for the innocent victims ties upon a land, particularly under
among them of bloody strife, has the conditions which obtain in the
been to renew the amities of serv- world today, the Jew suffers first
ice, to widen and deepen the be- and suffers most and suffers last.
neficence of helpfulness. A world On all grounds,—on the grounds of
in need and in pain would in truth his traditional teaching, on the
be helped if but we were able to do grounds of his immediate necessi-
two things—namely, first, to vis- ties,—the Jew ought to stand firm
ualize the situation as it is, and against everything that makes for
next, to form the high resolution militarism, that like militarism
that the needy should not go un- makes war inevitable.
The Jews of America, aided in
succored and unneighbored by us,
even though we know and have some part by their non-Jewish f el-
seen them not. I dare believe that low citizens, have done something,
if the suffering millions, Jews and yea much, on behalf of their suffer-
Christians and unbelievers in Eu- ing brothers. But more, much more,
rope, could knock at our doors we needs to be done, for when the task
-would open them wide and we of immediate relief shall have been
would do what in us lay to bring accomplished, there must be faced
4
The "Tiffany Store" of Detroit
Have you seen it?
Did you know it's larger than most stores on the "Avenue?"
Does more business and carries larger assortments of perfect
blue - white Diamonds and standard guaranteed makes of
Watches, Jewelry, Cut Glass, Toilet Articles, Clocks, etc.?
And can duplicate any "downtown" offerings for 1 /4 to Ya
less money, owing to great savings in rent and other expenses?
A five minutes' walk or ride will bring you here. If you're
buying gifts of Jewelry you'll find it a trip well worth making.
Right on
Corner
Right on
the Corner
the
ERLICH BLDG.,
Adams and Hastings
A list of 12 $1,000 pledges was
then read from the platform. The
spirit of the meeting gained en-
thusiasm, and scores of people held
up their hands to offer large sums.
Many who had pledged sums of
$200 to $500 raised their gifts to
$1,000 until 24 such gifts were re-
corded. Fifty thousand dollars was
thus raised in the first 30 minutes.
Mr. Freud then declared that if
the crowd would raise $190,000 he
would give another $10,000. That
brought loud cheers and the giving
of smaller amounts began with
great enthusiasm.
When a total of over $110,000,
the third largest amount ever raised
by Jews of the United States at a
single meeting, had been reached,
Over $100,000 in Forty Minutes
Rabbi Wise stopped. The great
After the prolonged applause mass meeting at Arcadia Hall had
which followed his address had sub- become history.
sided, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise called
for contributions. The venerable
Julius Freud arose and laid upon
the alter his gift of $10,000. David
M. SCIIECIITER, Ph. G.
A. Brown followed with a donation
Prescription Druggist
of $5,000. Then ensued a pause
475
IIastings
St., Cor. Division
which was broken by the announce-
DETROIT,
MICH.
ment of Harry and Sam Frank that
Phone Cadillac 3299
they would give $2,500.
the problem of permanent rehabili-
tation of a people plunged into a
very agony of need and suffering.
I call upon iny fellow Jews not to
forget their brothers in the war-
maddened and war-affrighted lands,
but to remember their highest,
holiest duty to them in a crisis
which they have done nothing to
bring to pass.
As an American And as a Jew, I
call upon my fellow Americans, my
fellow Jews, to relieve, and to re-
lieve, and to relieve yet again ; to
succor and to succor and to succor
yet again ; to serve and to serve and
to serve yet again ; to claim for
themselves the high and blessed
privilege of serving their brothers
in an hour of need.
Olp fttri3rtig Starr
•