HE JEWISH CHRONIC
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The only Jewish publication in the State of Michigan
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DETROIT, MICH., APRIL 1311917
Vol. II. No. 7
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'VERSION M.E.T.110,DS
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FROM 168 ,l3. C TO 1916
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A. D. .:: B y
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RABBI SAMUEL i 4)312.A
Kalamazoo, Mich..
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Jew
HE fact that th- e',AfnqiCan. Episcopal convention held recently in House of the HasmOneatis. Of right; then,' e the festival, Hanukah, is . .Con-
to secrated to the memory of those' heroes who. have redeemed Israel from
the city of St. Louis 'Where
.,. • the question of converting the
Christianity was distiSSed:'at. length, . occurred so close to the the hands of the pagans, who sought not only to destroy Israel's national
:1, ,
t . 7 i . fes tival of Hannukah when Antiochus Epiphanes sought actively to career, but to overthroW 4- et: faith as- Well,:tiwipe out forever, the doctrine
. i convert the Jew to Jupiter worship, furnishes one with much food for of Monotheism and to eStabliSh 'in its.SteFtea triumphant creed of POly-
'. thought. theism. . '. ' . • . • -
The methods of conversion used in the year 168 B. C. were not the Antiochus demanded that - all people should think alike, feel alike and .
same as those used in the year 1916 A. D. The blunt and bloody methods believe alike. 'He sought for a complete acceptance of his belief by all.
employed by the Graeco-Syrians of old differed materially from the wily, He wanted his empire to become Greek from one confine to the other, to
wicked tactics used by the American Episcopalians of today, yet when we make Jupiter worshippers of all the inhabitants of Judea. But the answer
made to this demand of Antiochus,
• look into the history of the times
based upon a fundamental error and .
and examine the causes at work in
contrary to the laws of God,:was
these as well as in other instances
the battle-cry of the Maccabees,
of conversion, we find that at the
"Who is like Thee,. 0 God! among
bottom of all lies the delusion of a
the gods !"
certain set of men, professing a par,
ticular creed, , that they possess an
The Fruits of Bigotry.
exclusive monopoly of all truth, and
that those who do not see things
T, is impossible to calculate
the cruelty inflicted upon the
4, through their eyes are accursed of
the devil, and, therefore, damned
human race by the bigotry that has
and doomed forever.
sought to compel men to renounce
one faith and accept the details of
Antiochus Epiphanes, the Proto-
another. The unnaturalness of the
,',
;, type 'of Modern Episcopalians.
position of such conversionists has
led to every phase of vindictive op-
rtURING the second century
pression in the past. The Festival
LI before' the Christian Era, An-
of Lights (which we celebrated re-
tiochus Epiphanes, a pagan tyrant,
cently), reminds us vividly that
who had succeeded in gaining a
these were the tactics of Antiochus
foothold in the Holy Land, dis-
Epiphanes. Similar methods were
patched an invading army under
followed in numerous countries
the command of Appolonious, a
where the Jews resided, but in the
• merciless individual, to Jerusalem,
end Israel showed that victory is
with instructions to murder men,
gained neither by might nor by
women and children, if any attempt
power, but by the Spirit of God.
was made to offer resistance. Ap-
Thus, the history of the Jews in
polonious succeeded in his mission,
Spain bears testimony to the futility
and soon Jerusalem became a Greek
of attempts to convert the Jew. To-
colony. AntioChus next turned his
ward the close of the 15th century,
attentions to the religion of Israel,
Tomas Torquemada, at the court of
',id, accordingly, a decree against
- Ferdinand and Isabella conceived
the practice of any part of Judaism
the idea that the Jews were a dis-
as issued. The altar of the temple
turbing factor in Spain. So power-
v'as desecrated by offering upon it
ful was his plea for forced conver-
'‘urnt sacrifices to the Greek idols,
sion, that, on one day, hundreds' of
:ind the dismay of Israel seemed to
thousands of Jews, who refused to embrace Christianity were ruthlessly
put• on a permanent appearance.
the strength of Judiasm.
exiled from Spain. Torquemada's crusade succeeded. But.at what a. ter-
But the bloodthirsty tyrant misconceived
He did not realize how strong would prove the courageous resistance of rible cost. With the cream of her financial and commercial talent, the
the Jewish patriots when he began to employ force in his efforts to ex- Jews, gone, deprived of her merchants and traders and that great middle
terminate Judiasm. Altars to the Greek gods had been erected, and class which is the backbone of every prosperous country, Spain sank deeper
iliroughout the extent of his empire, Antiochus sent generals to enforce and deeper into the slough of mediocrity—until today the nation which at
a uniform acceptance of Jupiter worship by all the inhabitants of Judea. one time was the proudest in Europe shares with Holland and the Balkan
But 'the officers were greatly astonished, when with the voice of an en- States the insignificant rank of a fourth class power.
raged lion, the head of the Maccabees addressed those who were present :
In the 19th century Russia, too, tried her hand at converting the Jews
"Whoever is determined to stand by the Lord shall come hither to me." to Christianity. The Greek Catholic programme differed in no essential
Straight-away, Judas Maccabees, at the head of the brave few marched detail from the plan outlined by TOrquemada. Massacre, pillage, rapine
Jerusalem and, within the space of two years' time, succeeded in de-
and plunder—they were the outstanding features of the. Russian cam-
feating the many Greeks on every side. The fate of Israel during this paign for the conversion of the Jews just as four centuries before they
critical period depended solely upon the bravery and achievements of the
.
RABBI SAMUEL J. ABRAMS
to