THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
6
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
The Welcome to the Stranger Meeting
The meeting held at Temple Both El last Sunday evening under
President and General Manager the auspices. of the Young People's Society, was in every sense an
ANTON KAUFMAN -
epochal one. About seven hundred young - people, many of xyhom
Michigan's Only Jewish Publication.
being strangers in the city had heretofore had no Jewish affiliations
Editor whatsoever, found the hand of welcome and of fellowship extended
SAMUEL J. RHODES
to them. The meeting evidenced the tremendous need that exists in
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our city for organizations, religious and social, to take note of the
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tranger in our midst. Many of these young men and women are per-
Offices 701 Penobscot Bldg.
sons of the highest intellectual endowment. Among those gathered
Telephone Cadillac 2588.
together on Sunday night were to he noted teachers, musicians, en-
The Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of inter- gineers, chemists, electricians, and in fact members of practically all
est to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an indorse- the learned professions. What an element of strength they may come
ment of views expressed by the writers.
to represent to the Jewish life in Detroit in the future must be appar-
All correspondence and society notes to insure publication must ent to every one who was present at the meeting.
The Young People's Society is to be most heartily congratulated
be sent in so as to reach this office Wednesday morning of each week.
upon this advanced step that has been taken by them as well as upon
Post Cffice at Detroit. Mich., under the Act of
at the 1879
Entered as second class matter March 3, 1916,
Ma rch 3 ,
the splendid spirit in which the stranger was met. There was cordial-
ity but no patronage. Jewish young men and women met simply as
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1916.
friends who had much in common. From this meeting will undoubt-
edly go forth an inspiration to larger things. The experiment will be
Shakespeare and the Jew
watched with interest, not only in Detroit, but elsewhere.
Issued Every Friday by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Company.
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The recent tercentennary of Shakespeare's death has called forth
no end of magazine articles and pulpit utterances, hearing upon
Shakespeare's treatment of the Jew in his works. That Shakespeare
Politics
never knew a Jew at first hand is fairly well attested by historical
\\'e feel assured that we are by no means alone in sincerely re-
records. .Flowever, his Shylock has undoubtedly been an instrument
of greater injustice and misrepresentatiorrto the Jew than perhaps gretting that Ambassador Henry Morgenthau has seen fit to resign
Any other single character in fiction. Even Marlowe's "Barabbas" is his post as minister to Turkey, in order to take charge of President
incomparable to Shylock in its venomous influence if for no other Wilson's campaign for re-election. It is deeply regrettable that the
exigencies of politics seem to make it necessary for a man who has
reason than that Marlowe is not read as Shakespeare is read.
It is one of the results perhaps of unforeseen and unintended by shown exemplary fitness for a diplomatic position that required the
the great Bard, that as a result of his delineation of Shylock, there are utmost tact and finesse, to step down and out in order to pay a politi-
uncounted thousands of people who can conceive no Shylock who is cal debt to the President of the United States. It seems unworthy
not a Jew, or comprehend any Jew who is other than a Shylock. That both of the Ambassador and of the Pr,esident. . Nor does it taste any
the Jew was driven into usurious practices by reason of the fact that sweeter to Jewish lips because his successor is also a Jew, and inci-
all other avenues of gaining a livelihood were closed to him, makes no dentally the vice-president of the Free Synagogue of New York, of
difference in the judgment of these people. Nor are they influenced which Mr. Morgenthau is the president. Moreover, the whole situa-
by the truth that may be historically proved, that throughout the tion brings into relief the striking fact that the spirit of justice and of
Middle Ages Christians were infinitely harder upon their creditors brotherhood is not yet so far advanced as to make possible the send-
ing of a Jew as American Ambassador to any country with which the
than Jer had ever been.
That, as a matter of fact, the only historical Shylock was a Chris- United States is on terms of amity except Turkey. Even at the court
tian, while his victim was a Jew, is also a matter of indifference to of St. James, a Jew would not be acceptable. Politics is indeed a
those who would condemn the J CNN' unheard. The story is well strange game.
known. It happened in the reign of Pope Sixtus the Fifth, that
Secchi, a Roman merchant, lid laid with a Jew a wager of a pound of
the latter's flesh against one thousand scudi of his own, that Sir
Francis Drake had captured San l)oming - o. The Christian won the
wager and demanded his pound of flesh. The case \vas carried to
Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who wisely condemned both of the contestants
to the galleys, the Christian for making such a wager and the Jew
for accepting it. This is, in fact, so far as we know, the only his-
torical Shylock on record. But few know him. It is Shakespeare's
Shylock that Nye know—Shylock, the usurer,•Shylock who loved his
Parents make a mistake in shifting the full responsibility for the
religious and moral training of their children upon the Sabbath
School. The Sabbath School can only re-enforce the moral inspira-
tions that are rooted in the Jewish home. If the home is right, the
supplemental influence of the synagogue and religious school will
count for much, but if the home is essentially lacking, the task of
these other institutions is well nigh a hopeless one.
ducats better than his child.
In view of these facts, the campaign that has in recent years been
Why is it that the public press insists upon designating every
aggressively waged by Jewish leaders to exclude the "Merchant of
Jew who happens to be a petty offender against the law, as Jew? Is
Venice" from the curriculum of our public schools deserves unstinted
support. The argument that in the hands of proper teachers Shylock it ignorance? Is it malevolence or is it only thoughtlessness on the
may be sympathetically portrayed, is of no avail. Most teachers are part of editors, which nothing but constant rebuke at the hands of the
not gifted with the art of handling a character of this sort with great Jews will be sufficient to overcome?
delicacy and the result, in nine cases out of ten, is that the Jewish
pupils in the class are humiliated and embarrassed during the lesson
hour. It is not fair to them any more than it is fair to the Jew of his-
The appointment of Mr. Samuel Folz as Postmaster of Kalama-
tory. Nor can it be urged that the "Merchant of Venice" is the
greatest of Shakespeare's works. The spirit of the great Bard of zoo is a well merited recognition of integrity of citizenship and unsel-
may be gleaned as well from any one of a dozen others of his fish service to the community. Mr. Folz is an ardent Jew and a true
Avon
plays as from "The Merchant. of Venice." It is time that this fact American. His appointment will undoubtedly meet with the appro-
who have charge baton of all people who stand for the best in the community of Kala-
were generally recognized and acted upon by those -
of framing the curriculum in our public schools. mazoo and throughout the state.