""••191,

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE •

6

work which is entrusted to him
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE particular
forthcoming only from Jews.
Issued Every Friday by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Company

and such moneys can be

It is estimated that for the carrying on of this work, we shall
require approximately one million dollars, a comparatively small sum
when we consider the numbers and the wealth of the Jews in America.
Michigan's Only Jewish Publication.
That they will give generously to this cause as they have to every
other worthy cause that has made its appeal to them since the begin-
$1.50 per year ning of the war, we have no doubt. This editorial is written, however,
Subscription in Advance
to make clear in the first place that Jews should, in the measure of
Offices 314 Peter Smith Bldg.
their powers, contribute to the Welfare Fund being raised by the Y.
Phones: Cherry 3381 and 1526
M. C. A., and in the second that such contribution should in no wise
be
considered as the complete fulfillment of duty on the part of the
Editorial Contributor
RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN,
Jew. Both organizations are doing splendid work and, bothserve
All correspondence to insure publication must be sent in so as to our support. But that phase of the work which is specifically Je
reach this office Tuesday morning of each week.
can logically look to none but Jews for support. Under these circum-
stances, all doubt as to the duty of the Jew should be removed.
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.
A Contrast

ANTON KAUFMAN

-

General Manager

By President Woodrow Wilson.

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

FRIDAY, NOV. 23, 1917

The Y. M. C. A. and Jewish Welfare Work

Because of some haziness apparently existing in the minds of many
people as to the relationship obtaining between the Young Men's Chris-
tian Association and the Welfare Work for Jewish. Soldiers in the
various camps and cantonments, it seems essential that a definite
statement as to the relationship existing between the Jewish and
Christian association be made. This is the more important at this
time when both the Y. M. C. A. and the Jewish Board for Welfare
Work in the U. S. Army and Navy are making great drives for funds
for the support of their work.
At the very outset it should be said that the Y. M. C. A. has nobly
risen to its opportunity and duty in this time of world crisis. There
is scarcely a corner of the world where men are enlisted for battle that
the flag of this organization has not been raised as a symbol of help
ready at. hand. Indeed it is exceedingly questionable as to whether
at any time in history a single organization dedicated to welfare work
among men has so completely justified itself as has the Y. M. C. A.
in this time.of strain and stress.
Nor has it been narrow in its sympathies. While from a religious
standpoint the Y. M. C. A. is normally a sectarian organization, it has
put denominational considerations of every kind and character to one
side in the forwarding of its welfare work in the army. Jews and
Christians have been put on a plane of absolute equality in its eyes
and those of our. co-religionists must be abnormally sensitive who
have regarded themselves as unwelcome guests in the Y. M. C. A.
shacks at•the various cantonments, Every recreational facility that
the organization has had at its command has been at the disposal of
every red-blooded American in the service of his country.
More than this need hardly be said to clarify the situation, though
it might be added that an elaborate plan of co-operation between the
two organizations was worked out shortly after the beginning of the
war by representatives of the Y, M, C, A, and the Jewish Board for
Welfare Work in the U, S. Army and Navy,
And the question then as to whether Jews should contribute to the
fund being gathered by the Y, M. C. A, for welfare work in the various
camps and cantonments can be answered in only one way, Even if
Jews as Jews received. no direct benefits from the work undertaken
by this great organization, they would yet be obligated as Americans
desirous of sharing in every activity snaking for the greater efficiency
.of our army, to do their part; but since the Y, M, C, A, has placed all
of its facilities at the disposal of our workers, doubly great is the
duty resting uponour,142wo to come to the support of this work,
And yo Ws Is only 0114 side of the question tio far as the Jew is
concerned, 111'44 light of the above statement, none, will misconstrue
our attitude 14eiviad the Y, M. C. A, when we add that an el(411 greater
bi
duty confrontothe Jew as Jew And that is in the support of such work
Welfare
Work
in
the
us 'Ili being audertalsch by the jewish board for W

S, Army and Navy, for the especial hello''t of our Jewish boys,
Tlpt these are sissy problems distinctively Jewish in $114140444
ing our boys none who ichow the
4;4411 for one moment .doubt.
ps-414ut
Pi;
Ai
eri,:an
Jacob
11,
Schiff
fcglo that Irmo 4;414111
Su
as
an~l~ la flu problons of the Jew in the army ego be met only by ,),'wish
their belie( 11)41
organi/ations,
j► 16 MO of 1; 16 typo' Are
bviire840
J the mott-Jew iei i4ie Joni)/ in
14 ) 14W 010411 1 1 not
1i ► tt4r of fccrealio ► al finaiti44 it, ar itambly 4440.444411 that the

o pwiec

0. 1,14■0 of Pito *at 1i eim

ig:0$400040 .444 j4 W101) .141411040 ,
44/11011104 iii40
..440140 / 14441 $

4; titmigi40160, With the ,64440

101$ 10.006644 YiO40

Niot 41$44 by"

M ; IS
with the
1;olon ► litio, jcW1*11 i44011

bc of 11410i 11/ ► 41) sttyya4I

►

if)

of the

"We have been given the opportu-
nity to serve mankind as we once
served ourselves in the great day of
our Dcclartaion of Independence, by
taking up arms against a tyranny that
threatens to master and debase every-
.where and joining with other free
peoples in demanding for all nations
of the world, what we then demanded
and obtained for ourselves.
"In this day of the revelation of our
duty not only to defend our own
rights as a nation but to defend also
rights of free men throughout the
world, there has been vouchsafed us
in full and inspiring measure, the reso-
lution and spirit of united action."

From an Unsigned Editorial in The
American Jewish Chronicle.

"If the Jews go to Palestine, they
must live there with the object of
building up in the country of their
forefathers a new Jewish life and
establishing a Jewish homeland there,
they must do it as Jews only, not as
Russians or Germans, not as Britons,
Austrians or Italians, but as Jews.
They must consider themselves an ob-
ject of themselves, They must, first
of all, look after their own affairs and
their own happiness. While always
having the welfare of humanity in
mind, they must not consider them-
selves the protege of a certain state or
race or nation, and they must not be

under the impression that, when given
the possibility of living a national life
of their own, they are called upon to
defend interests other than their own."

In printing these two quotations side by side no words of com-
ment seems to be necessary. In one there breathes forth the spirit of
that sanctified sense of duty to all humanity which has become the
hall-mark of the true American in these days of stress and strain.
Here, through the President of the United States is proclaimed a new
internationalism in whose behalf we are laying as precious offerings
upon our country's altar, not merely our possessions but our very lives
and the lives of our sons. We are fighting not for ourselves but for
humanity. We are fighting not for America only but that to men of
every name and every clime there may come the opportunity of en-
joying those same rights and privileges which Cod has granted us
upon this blessed soil.
In the other quotation, written by one who does not sign his name
and published in a journal of wide circulation among Zionists, we have
a declaration that in every respect voices a sentiment in contrast with
that of our President.. "If the Jews go to Palestine," it says, "they
must not be under the impression that when given the possibility of
living a national life of their own, they are called upon to defend inter-
ests other than their own." And again it says, "They must first of all
look after their own affairs and their own happiness," This state-
ment, which we trust and believe, does not reflect the attitude of all
Zionists, even in the moment of their exultation at their apparent vic-
tory, is the embodiment of a degree of selfishness of which we did not
believe that any Jew any where wa-s—capable, To hold that having
achieved the right of nationality in the land of one's forefathers, the
Jews are no longer called upon to defend interests other than their
own, is to turn back from that high idealism which the r im has spun •
cored through the centuries to a moral barbarism which holds that
self-preservation is not only the first, but also the last and the whole
duty of man,
if the triumph of Zionism (and of course that triumph is very
problematical) is to bring about such an interpretation Of Jewish
duty, then all that its most rabid opponents have had to say about it is
if Judaism is to become a political system whose care for
humanity is simply incidental and to be exercised only when it does
not interfere with the Jew's own selfish interests, then wk
Juidc
with 11 ► joyful anticipation to the future of the Jew,

lint we believe that this N2111111)111t, 41041 hives unchallenscd
publicity in the organ of the Zionistic pally: dot's not fairly yelled the

opinion C1411 4n . a Iiiiijigny

111 1. 4;441 vic Jo)1 of the

it iigN6 Ih,t IM4ijd

a vvri‘st. Je v 111 Ainclicii who is loyal both to his
fa ith god his country, We Are willing to put the two sentiments side
by side, 'I bey form 44 strange contlast. jut shall we doubt which of
fi ► io codwocil 'OW $J1 the Nesidc ► ii
of the United Iliates 4A • Shill 411 WI 4119004 ► iVrilif

ivW1b11 1 10 .14111v

NriV Yidt

