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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
We may as well be perfectly candid in our analysis of conditions.
THEJEVVISH CHRONICLE. Under the present scheme of representation, representatives of liberal
or reform Judaism will be totally overshadowed not only by the
Issued Every Friday by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Company.
the
ANTON KAUFMAN - - - General Manager representatives of orthodox Judaism, but much more, and this is
only matter to be considered—by the delegates chosen to represent organ-
izations of Jews that ultimately have no Jewish purpose, and certainly no
Michigan's Only Jewish Publication.
religious ideal back of them. The mere fact that a society is made up of
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Jews does not make that society Jewish in fact or in spirit.
The crying need for American Israel to present a united front to •
Offices 314 Peter Smith Bldg.
the
world
in these critical times, must not blind us to the actual facts
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by which we are confronted. There is a possibility that in the face of
Editorial Contributor existing conditions, by our silence for the sake of seeming unity we
-
RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN,
The Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of inter- may do greater harm to Israel's cause than by lifting our voices in
est to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an indorse- earnest protest and by letting it be known to the world that there are
sections of American Jewry who believe themselves not to be repre-
ment of views expressed by the writers.
sented but only misrepresented by an organization such as the Con-
All correspondence and society notes to insure publication must gress promises to be.
We know, of course, that there are those who do not agree with
be sent in so as to reach this office Tuesday morning of each week.
us in holding that the Jew represents a religious idea and ideal, and
Entered as second-class matter March 3, 1918, at the Post Office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of
that Jewry ' is a religious community or it is nothing—wherefore its
- March 3. 1879
religious institutions, its congregations and the organizations directly
FRIDAY, MARCH 9, 1917
affiliated with the congregations , are the logical units of its repre-
sentation. But whether all agree to this or not, every right-minded
The Bible in the Home
man and woman within the household of Israel must agree that con-
, Now that the new translation of the Bible has actually been pub- gregational representation in an organization that is to speak for a
fished and distributed; it is timely to ask what influence will be united Jewry, must not and cannot with right be made subservient to
exerted by the Jewish Publication Society and the Central Confer- representation at the hands of socialistic organizations, of Arbeiter
once of American Rabbis, under whose joint auspices the stupendous Rings and of trades unions, however these may outnumber the con-
work of translation and publication has been accomplished, to put the gregations in point cA actual membership,
book into the homes of our people. The ignorance of the Bible on
This cry for democracy will be the undoing of American Israel
the part of the Jews can scarcely be overstated. It is the shame of and it is time that thinking men and women, both in the ranks of
the modernJew that he who produced the great Book of Books, Orthodoxy and Reform should be alive to the dangers that threaten.
knows less usually about its contents than anyone else.. Indeed, it is Since when has it come to pass that numbers are 'a token of suprem-
not a rare thing to find a Jew who scarcely knows the difference acy in Israel? If we read Jewish history aright, we are impressed
between a Bible and a prayer book. This can scarcely be otherwise with the idea that it has always been the minority in Israel, the
when there are'thousands and thousands of Jewish homes that contain "saving remnant" as it has been called, that has brought salvation to
no Bible, or where, if it is there at all, it is dust-covered from disuse our people. The prophet has always been the one man of his time
or is to be found only after the most careful search in the most incon- who dared to stand against the multitude. Indeed, if numbers were
spicuous place. of the most inaccessible shelf of the bookcase. Cer- to count, what would have become of the Jew through all these ages?
tainly it is no exaggeration to assert that it is only in the fewest of our He has ever been the handful among tremendous multitudes of op-
Jewish homes that the Bible is read with anything like regularity. pressors. But he survived to make n e w history while his oppressors
In this we have much to learn from our non-Jewish friends and neigh- and persecutors passed out of memory, because he had an ideal to
.bors. In almost every good Christian home a portion of the Bible strive for—and that ideal, Faith.
is read by the parents to their children at stated times—a fact that
It is a new thing that the religionless Jew shall be our spokesman,
accounts for the greater familiarity with Biblical literature on the That it is intended that he should be, a careful study of the allotment
part of Christians than of Jews.
of delegates to national organizations will make reasonably clear to
In some degree the religious school, too, is to blame for the un- those who are willing to see the truth. The pity is that the American
acquaintance of the Jew with his Bible. In these schools our children Jewish Committee yielded these many months .ago to the pressure •
are taught much about the Bible, but the Bible itself is seldom used as brought upon them to compromise when the question of Congress vs.
a text book. This is not as it should be. The last legitimate excuse Conference was under discussion. An open break is sometimes better
—that we had not an adequate English translation of the Bible—has than a running sore. It seems likely that the Congress, should it take
now been removed. The version which has just been issued is true to place when and as proposed, will not represent in any true sense all
the spirit of the original text and is moreover couched in fairly classic the Jews of America. It is, therefore, just as well that the Jews of
each community should in advance study the problems involved in
English.
The publication of this work should serve as an inspiration to our this movement with the utmost care for the purpose of deciding
people to turn once more to their Bible, to read it regularly in their whether the Congress will represent or misrepresent them and the
homes and to use it as a text book in the religious school. If the sacred cause they sponsor.
publication of this new version shall even measurably have this effect,
those who contributed to its making will have wrought better than
A Two-Fold Mistake
they knew. May we not then hope that among the Jews the Bible
Quite by chance it has recently come to our notice that in one
will come again into its own and not remain what it has been too
of
the
smaller cities of the state one of the public school buildings is
long, the unknown classic of the ages?
used after regular school hours for the instruction of the Jewish chil-
dren of that city in the study of Hebrew. Against this, custom we
Representation or Misrepresentation
protest from two standpoints, first from that of the American and
Those who have made even a cursory study of the apportionment second from that of the Jew. As Americans we hold that it is a viola-
of delegates to the proposed Jewish Congress to be held at Washing- tion of the basic principle of the separation of church and state that
ton next May, must wonder on what basis the allotment has been the public school buildings or any part of them should be used at any
made. To be sure, emphasis has been laid upon the democratic time by any denomination for sectarian religious instruction. It
character of the representation, which of course reduced to its ele- makes no difference to us whether Jews or Protestants or Catholics
ments, means nothing more nor less than that numbers—and numbers are the offenders. The offense is as great, in one case as in . the other.
only—count. Accordingly we cannot be greatly surprised to find But we also protest as Jews against the continuance of this custom.
that, for example, the National Workmen's Committee on Jewish It is not to do our people an injustice to say that we' are among the
Rights has three times as many delegates as the Central Conference first and the loudest in our protestations when other religious denomi-
of American Rabbis, and that the Jewish Socialist Federation of nations attempt directly or indirectly to use our schools for their
America has twice as many representatives as the faculty of any of special religious propaganda. It is, therefore, not only inconsistent
the theological seminaries. The Arbeiter Ring is entitled to three but unfair for any of our people to accept for themselves privileges
delegates, and the American Jewish Historical Society to one. The which they believe should not be given to others. It is our advice
Federation of American Zionists has six representatives and the and our earnest suggestion to those who have thoughtlessly offended
Union of American Hebrew Congregations just one-half as many.
in this matter, to make good their dereliction at the first possible
And so all along the line. The representation is purely upon the moment and if necessary hire a hall for the carrying on of their reli-
basis of numbers. This is, of course, what some people call democracy, gious instruction.
but it is democracy run to seed. For the fact stands out and it needs
at this time to be stated with considerable emphasis, that the demo-
cratic representation of the Jewish people, in affairs that call 'for the
most tactful and discreet handling, is likely to be a total misrepre-
sentation of the Jews and Jewish institutions and ideals.