THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

6

I 1 1

ii

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

Issued Every Friday by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Company.
General Manager
ANTON KAUFMAN

- Michigan's Only Jewish PubliCation.

-

Subscription in Advance

$1.50 per year

our conviction that we cannot look with favor upon an interpretatio n
of Judaism that denies its mission to be essentially and primarily
religious. Others who do not hold with us arc entitled to their views.
We do not attempt to read them out of the circle of Jews. But they
should be as tolerant of us. At the very least they should not attack
us going and coning. There should be fair play even in a religious
battle. But if they cannot be fair, let them leave us alone. Still if
they insist on carrying the battle forward they may be sure that they
shall find foemen worthy of their steel.

Offices 314 Peter Smith Bldg.

Phones: Cherry 3381 and 1526

RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN,

-

Editorial Contributor

The Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of inter-
est to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an indorse-
ment of the views expressed by the writers.

All correspondence to insure publication must be sent in so as to
reach this office Tuesday morning o' each week.

Entered as second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at Detroit,
Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879

FRIDAY, JULY 20, 1917

The Rabbinical Conference and Its Critics

Sortie people are hard to please. As usual the meeting of the
Central Conference this year has caused some gentlemen to dip their
pens in vitriol and to call the Reform Rabbis who had the courage to
stand up squarely for their convictions all sorts of names that do not
look well in print. However, we have become used to that sort of
thing through long experience and we would rather miss their ful-
minations did they hold silence. Their utterances, of course, do not
harm the Conference nor the cause of Reform. Calling names seldom
hurts anyone except those who indulge in the pastime of calling them.
However, as one reads the outpourings of wrath against the Con-
ference in the current numbers of our Orthodox contemporaries, one
wonders what they really want. What satisfies one is the very thing
that bitterly displeases another. One complains that the Reform
rabbis would read the Zionists out of the ranks of religious Jewry,
and another reversing the process speaks of these same Rabbis as
semi-Christians. The Hebrew Standard, that pillar of Orthodoxy,
commenting on the Presidential message of Dr. kosenau, says : "We
even go so far as to assert that we are sorry to note the absence from
Rabbi Rosenau's paper of those un-Jewish ideas which shocked and
surprised us by their blatant iconoclasm, but at any rate made us rub
our eyes when we read the reports of some of his many predecessors."
On the other hand the American Jewish Chronicle, an avowed organ
of the Zionistic propaganda, finds fault with Dr. Rosenau's message on
the .ground of its un-Jewishness. However, one scarcely knows
whether to laugh at the humor of the situation or to cry tears of pity
when he remembers that what in the opinion of the American Jewish
Chronicle makes Dr. Rosenau's message un-Jewish and his theology
Christian is that he quotes literatim et verbatim from the Prophet
Malachi, applying his words to the Rabbi in Israel. Since when is
Malachi no Jew, or is i t thinkable that the learned editor of the
A. J. C. having heard the Prophet quoted by some Christian preacher
jumped to the conclusion that the prophetic words were from the new
Gospel and not from the Jew's Bible? Or—since all things are possi-
ble—may it be that since the A. J. C. so strenuously objects to the
Conference's declaration of the religious mission of Israel as opposed
to a national destiny for the Jew that its editor is ready to - put the
Bible, as a text book of religion, on the Index expurgatorius?
And so it goes. A leader of the Zionists who refused to sign the
resolution of the Conference anent Zionism on the ground that it was
unjust and misrepresentative, now fills the public prints with a wordy
and utterly misleading account of "Zionism at the Buffalo Conven-
tion," in which he concludes that the resolution of the Conference was
in fact a victory for Zionism. And yet that resolution embodies the
clause, among others : "Your committee recommends that the Con-
ference re-affirm its traditional position that the essence of Israel as a
priest people consists in its religious consciousness and in the sense
of consecration to God and His service to the world. And that, there-
fore, we must and do look with disfavor upon any and every unrelig-
ious or anti-religious interpretation of Judaism and of Israel's mission
in the world." If Dr. Heller actually believes that its paragraph with
its preamble and what follows it actually makes the stand of Zionism
more favorable in the Rabbinical Conference, why did he refuse to
sign the report and insist upon presenting a minority report signed by
himself alone?
When all is said and done it comes to this. There are those who
will not be pleased because they do not want to be pleased. Hence
it is well for us who believe in the cause of Reform Judaism faith-
fully and fearlessly to sponsor that cause and to assert and re-assert

The President and the Jewish Congress

It is exceedingly unfortunate that the name of the President of
the United States should have been dragged into the controversy
anent the desirability of holding the proposed Jewish Congress, and
our regret is only heightened by the fact that gentlemen of high stand-
ing give different versions of his attitude toward the matter. On one
thing, however, both Dr. Stephen S. Wise and the Hon. Simon Wolf
are in agreement, and that is that President Wilson has suggested a
postponement of the date originally set for the meeting.
With commendable promptness the Administration Committee
of the Congress, acting on this suggestion, decided to postpone the
meeting from September to November. That was to be expected of
them. In times like these the expressed will of the President in
matters of public policy should be a command to all American citizens.
Should the President intimate that further postponement is desirable
we have no doubt that his wishes will be acceded to. Should the
meeting be put off until the conclusion of the wai, and until the time
arrives for the discussion of peace terms it is likely that many who
now stand in absolute opposition to the Congress will take a different
view of the situation. At any rate the longer the Congress is post-
poned the greater are its chances of reflecting the sentiments of a
united American Israel.

The Hoover Pledge

The appointment of Dr. Krauskopf to the Food Conservation
Committee calls especial attention to the duty resting upon our Jewish
women not only to sign the so-called Hoover Pledge, but to live up
strictly to its provisions. Waste of food at this time is nothing short
of criminal. Every ounce of food thrown into the waste heap at a
time like this is just that much taken away from some starving indi-
vidual. But there are many forms of wastefulness. • Over-indulgence
in all its forms falls under this category. While anything approach-
ing self-denial is as yet not called for, so far as food is concerned, it
is an undoubted duty resting upon every man, woman and child in
our country so to limit self-indulgence as to make a fairly equitable
distribution of the necessities of life possible. If we use too much
there is bound to be too little left for others.
Perhaps this word of reminder is especially needful for some of
our Jewish mothers who pride themselves upon setting "the best table
in the world" for their families. It is time that we remembered that
wifehood and motherhood imply other duties than to provide for the
material sustenance of those who sit at our table. No time is more
opportune than this to impress upon our children not only that "we
do not live by bread alone," but that sacrifice sweetens and sanctifies
the bread we eat. A general observance of the spirit of the Hoover
pledge will mean much not only to our country and its allies, but it
will go far to redeem the individual fro.m an unwholesome lust for the
flesh-pots.

Dr. Freund's Appointment

The appointment of Dr. Hugo A. Freund as a member of the
Detroit Board of Health is a deservedly popular . one. Dr. Freund
has in a remarkably few years, because of native ability and the right
sort of ambition, forged his way well to the .front ranks of his profes-
sion. His rapid rise and the fine recognition that has come to him
from many quarters sets at naught the plaint recently uttered by an
Eastern physician in the public press that a Jewish physician is
always at a disadvantage because of his religion in matters of prefer-
ment. The fact is that in medicine, as elsewhere, the individual
usually gets what he deserves. Dr. Freund proves it.

Death of Rabbi Samuel Margolies

The untimely death of Rabbi Samuel Margolies of Cleveland is
not only a distinct loss to the Congregation which he served so faith-
fully, but as well to the cause of Judaism. A consistent and enthu-
siastic Orthodox rabbi, he won the ardent love of the people of his
own congregation and the respect of the entire community. He was
intensely interested in the education of the Jewish youth, and was
untiring in his devotion to the Talmud Thora of Cleveland. His
passing away leaves a void that will not be readily filled.

