THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

The only Jewish publication in the State of Michigan
Devoted to the interests of the Jewish people

Vol. II. No. 28

DETROIT, MICR., SEPT. 7, 1917

$1.50 per Year

Single Copies10 Cents

Rights and Duties of International Jewry

By Samuel Schulman, New York

T

HIS is the critical time in the
history of our people. We must
make a united effort to obtain
complete rights for the Jews in every
land in which they are still oppressed,
exploited or dealt with unjustly, he-
cause deprived of their inalienable
rights. That is the real meaning of
the coming Jewish Congress. That
is its only purpose. It is a temporary
union
ion of American Jewry, i in order to
make its voice heard on behalf of the
emancipation of our brethren abroad.
There is no difference of opinion with
respect to the duty of all governments
to give the Jews complete equality, to
bestow on them full political, civic
and religious rights. We arc all
united on that issue. These rights
arc to be obtained in the light of the
world war and, as we hope, as a re-
sult of that world war. But what are
the causes of this tragic world con-
flict which is threatening to destroy
European civilization? What are the
profound underlying forces which
have burst forth into this cataclysm?
To me they seem to be nationalism,
based on the idea of race, and coin . -
mercial ambitions, striving for the
material mastery of the world. In
the cast it is a conflict between races
—racial nationalilms, pan-Germanisms
and pan-Slavisms. In the west it is
commercial rivalries, material ambi-
tions. It is not a competition of cul-
tures, which can always he carried on
with peaceful methods. It is an ef-
fort to supplement the yardstick with
the sword. There is no greater hu-
miliation for humanity than the fact
that two such countries as Germany
and England are engaged in this
world war.
Now it is, in the light of the causes
which have brought about the tragic
world conflict, that we interpret the
rights of the Jew. The salvation of
the Jew is hound un • with the salva-
tion of humanity. His tragic problem
will never be solved unless the prob-
lems of humanity are solved at the
same time. We claim that the Jew
has a right to live in any part of the
world. We are a scattered people,
whose destiny, I believe, is to remain
scattered all over the world. There-
fore, we must emphasize the right of
the individual to life, to liberty, to the
opportunity to unfold his powers, to
a happy existence, because of this un-
foldment. We cannot, for one mo-
ment, grant the contention that any
race or any nation which limits its
nationality to any racial origin has an
exclusive monopoly of right to any
part of the earth. In the last analysis
all such claims rest on might and not
on right. Historically, they are to be
traced back to the acquisition by the
sword. We claim that every human
being has a right to live in any place
on the earth, provided he gives of his
best self to serve the world. The
earth belongs to God, as is said in
connection with the covenant made
with Israel. Therefore, neither racial
origin nor character of occupation
can exclude any human being from
the right to live as a citizen in a mod-
ern state. Claiming the right for the
Jew as individual, we also claim the
right of conscience for the Jew to
maintain his religious individuality in
the midst of the peoples of which he
is a part. The right of conscience
will guarantee the future of Jewish

life, as the life of a group. The soul
of our group-life is religious, worship
of the Eternal and loyalty to the laws
of the Eternal by which men live.
And we need no other guarantee for
the perpetuation of Israel.
The Jew cannot afford to base de-
mocracy on racial nationality. If he
should do this he would shut himself
out front the possibility of participa-
tion in European and American na-
tional life. Democracy is a much
larger and more inclusive conception
than racial nationality. The Jew
must be a champion of democracy.
Ile must stand for the modern state.
And the modern state is based on the
rights of men. It has room for citi-
zens of every kind of racial origin and
religious profession. It fosters all
kinds of cultural traditions. It util-
izes the energy of the individual on
behalf of social efficiency, on behalf
of the economic power and the wel-
fare of the state. Such a state, it is
true, produces a new kind of nation,
a truly free and democratic nation,
like the United States. And I believe
that the United States will some day
become a model for a European union
of states in a real democracy.
We are witnessing a great event.
The revolution in Russia is a splendid
spectacle. It is magnificent to see a
people rise and sweep away all the
dark forces, the obscurantism, the re-

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action, the corruption and the autoc-
racy which had been sucking its life-,
blood. It is an event of profound and
many-sided consequences. It presents
the world conflict in a new light. A
new democracy has entered that con-
flict. No one can foretell the results.
Such things, are catching. Europe
may be confronted with the phenom-
ena of 1848. We hail this event with
joy, with hope and with patient vision.
As Americans, we rejoice in the
spread of liberty and democracy. The
Russian people have great possibili-
ties. A people that gave Tolstoi to
the world has much to contribute to
culture and civilization. And while
we rejoice as Americans we hope as
Jews. We hope that Russia, in its
sacred enthusiasm for freedom, which
after years of martyrdom of its best
sons is about to be realized, will not
forget the Jew. We hope that Russia
will give to its Jewish citizens full
and complete equality of political,
civic and religious rights. We hope
that a perfect democracy, whatever
be the form of government, will be
established in Russia; that it will be
a democracy resting not upon the em-
phasis of any racialism but on the
recognition of universal human rights.
And the Jew can do much for Russia.
Ile has already proven himself to be
a martyr on behalf of liberty in Rus-
sia. He can help to make Russia be-

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come a great industrial and commer-
cial power. The Jew will give to
Russia various types. Jews are em-
ployers and employes, capitalists and
laborers, financiers and socialists, in-
tellectuals and workmen. They will
prove a splendid asset for every as-
pect of Russian life. And while we
hope, we have a patient vision that
the modern state will eventually come
to be established in Russia and every-
where else in the world. And when
this state is established the Jew, as
man, will have a place and a home in
any part of the world. When peace
collies to the world we contend that
room must be found in European life
for Jews, a half million of whom are
bravely fighting, with unquestioned
loyalty and heroism, on various bat-
tlefields. for their respective coun-
tries. We demand for the Jew, as in-
dividual, the right to live all over the
world. And we demand also the right
for the Jew to retain his religious in-
dividuality, without any discrimna-
•on or prejudice against him. Sons
of the covenant, which God made with
Israel. we are, and we intend to re-
main loyal to it. And at the same
time we can become loyal sons of any
country in which we live.
The rights of international Jewry
imply duties. If the Jew enters the
modern state lie receives, but he also
must give. Assuming that Jews exist
for their religion, and their unique in-
individuality is expressed in it and they
are given the right.to live and develop
themselves in freedom, what are their
duties? All their duties can be summed
nn in saying that they must adjust
themselves to their environment. If
they claim to enter the modern state
they have a duty to coalesce with the
citizenry of the modern state, without
loss of their religious distinction,
which can very easily be maintained.
I welcome this opportunity to express
once more the attitude of those who
are non-Nationalists and non-Zionists
with respect to the great questions
which now divide Jewry. Those who
have maintained the philosophy of
Judaism, as a religion, and have ob-
jected to a nationalistic interpretation
of Jewish life, have had great injus-•
tice done to them. It has been made
to appear that they do not love their
people sufficiently. We resent such
a charge. Let it be once for all un-
derstood that we are not "anti" any-
thing. There is no such thing as anti-
Zionism. No Jew is opposed to any-
thing that will help Jews. The real
meaning of our refusal to adopt Zion-
ism and a nationalist interpretation of
the Jews' persistence in the world is
that we hold that Jews misunderstand
the spirit of their individuality, that
they misread their past and that they,
at the same time, encumber them-
selves with unnecessary practical dif-
ficulties, if they emphasize the fact
that they are a nation, in the current
acceptation of that term; that they
are at present a homeless nation, that
a new home must be provided for
them and that a new center must be
created in order to perpetuate Jewish
life. No one objects to helping Jews
in any place in the world. And if
Jews in sufficient numbers, say two
million of them, shall, for practical
reasons, be transplanted to Palestine
we want equal rights for them. And
if Jews in Palestine, or in any part of

