PAGE FOUR

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

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ANTON KAUFMAN
.
.
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•
President

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THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

the Jew it is fair to assert, none of the great religions that today
The Y. M. C. A. at Camp Custer
inspire the souls of men could possibly have been developed as they
have to be the primal influence in men's thinking and living. The
Those who have been lurid in their praise of the liberal policy
very best in all modern religious systems, no matter by what name
adopted by the Y. AI. C. A. in its relation to the various army camps
they call themselves, is Jewish to the core.
and cantonments throughout the country will share a sense of regret
\Ve do not forget in thus speaking of the past of the Jew as one
of triumph that he has been the victim of suffering and sorrow, but that recent happenings at Camp Custer indicate that the boasted

we know that every great spiritual achievement through all the ages
has been the child of suffering. It is only through suffering that
RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN,
Editorial Contributor
men and nations sound the depths of their own souls. Is it without
All correspondence to insure publication must be sent In so as to reach this cost of suffering and sorrow such as the world has never known
affiCe Tuesday evening of each week.
before that the world shall be made safe for democracy? Are we
not today bringing sacrifices so supreme thal other generations could
The Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on subjects of Merest to the
n ot even dream of them that great humanitarian principles might
Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an Indorsement of the views
expressed! by the writers.
triumph in the end?

l'hone: Cherry 3381.

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

Triumphant Israel

The times demand that the dwell upon Israel triumphant and no
longer upon Israel, the classic martyr of .the ages, as he is so often
portrayed. Too long and too constantly have our pulpits been ring-
ing with the talc of our martyr people. Too frequently have o u r
historians interpreted the narrative of Israel's career, that is not
without its element of high romance and of splendid victory, as one
of failure and of unrewarded effort. Men have conic to speak about
the Jew in tones of pity and commiseration. Writers of fiction have
dealt with hint either as an object of contempt or of the most abject
pity. Ills sufferings, his persecution, his exile, have been the single
string upon which they have been accustomed to play. They have
never ceased to speak of the darkness of his Ghetto, of the humilia-
tion of the Yellow Badge which he was compelled to wear, of his
tortures in the Inquisition and of his political inequalities and of his
social ostracism.

And shall we say that because of this we Americans are di nation
of martyrs ? history shall write us down, we Americans and our
Allies, as the spiritual masters of the centuries. And by that same
token we hold that in face of all his sufferings the Jew' has been a
master, not a martyr, and all the hardens that he has had to bear
have been compensated by the spiritual progress that, through hint,
humanity has made. So much then fur the past of the Jew.
What of his present? Is the Jest' today rightly an object of pity
and of sympathy at the hands of men? Or is it right that he should
be an abject creature in his own sight? If we arc to listen to the
indictment that is drawn against us by sonic of our present (lay
historians, see must feel indeed that we are the very worms of our
time trampled under the foot of the mighty. But, somewhow, we
cannot share that feeling. To its the persecution of the Jew in the
old world is as supreme a tragedy as it can be to anyone. We know
as well as others that he has been, it would seem, the football of
fate or the puppet to be played at the will of the persecutors who
hold the strings. We realize, too, though as a thing of minor
importance, the political inequalities and the social ostracism of
which here and there the Jest' has been the victim.• But this fact
stands clear, that though ns•n have persecuted the Jew and arc doing
so today, they yet come cringing before him in the time of their
need and that though they would destroy the Jew they have been
unable to make the least impression upon the efficiency of the work
which the Jew has been sent to do in the world.

liberality of that organization has been what sonic would be unkind
enough to call at species of camouflage.

The introduction of old-time church revival methods and the
active propaganda made by the organization there in behalf of even-
gelical Christianity is, to say the least, a refutation of any claim to

great liberality on the part of the organization and, as such, a great
disappoint men t to those who' have believed that the Y. Al. (:. A.

had risen tiliove the sectarian narrow ness by which at one time it
had been characterized.

Even if the policy which has been assumed by the Y. M. C. A.
leaders at Camp Custer shall be changed, it will take long and hard
work to regain for the organization that respect and confidence
which it had won at the hands of the men who, irrespective of
denominational differences, had felt themselves to be its welcome
guests. the greater is the pity because the machinery' at the
disposal of the Y. Al. C. A. is so well organized that perhaps no
other single institution is equally equipped to carry on the work
that needs to be done among the men in the cantonments.
It is to lie hoped that the resentment that has shown itself among
all classes of men at Camp Custer will serve to make clear to those
responsible for the narrow policies introduced the error of their
ways, and that there will be no repetition of attempts at evangeliza-
tion in army camps either at Custer or elsewhere.
Should the incident at Custer repeat itself, there seems but one
course - .)pen, and that is that the government shall commandeer the
buildings, and, if necessary, the workers, to carry on all welfare
work under its own auspices in a broad, liberal spirit and without
reference to any form of denominationalism. But it is to be sin-
cerely hoped that such a drastic course will not be necessary.

If their sympathies have been with the Jew they have pampered
and flattered hint and fawned upon hint as they would upo-
The Charities' Year Book
helplessness of infancy or upon the greater helplessnes- -
In a word, Jews may occasionally be at a disadvantage, but
age. They have not looked upon the Jew as
The annual report of the United Jewish Charities has this week
ofisin, which is the fruit of the Jew's spirit, goes on and on and
triumphant personality whose past has
root strength to strength, sweeping the thought of men before it• been mailed to all subscribers to that organization, and it should
future holds endless possibilities.
is that uncounted thousands who call themselves any ('hris- be read by them from cover to cover.
antes
Jew was given the recognit: .
thinking the thought of the Jew today, are being
Comparatively few are the people in the commtniity who know
mspiredi by his ideals and are patterning their lives after the pattern
portion men constrt ,
host: multifarious is the work carried on by that splendid organiza-
laid out by him. Ina word, say what our detractors may and what
No wonder tl•
as indttl-
the short-sighted ones within our own ranks may believe, the world tion. fast people have a vague idea that with the giving of direct
gence
.
tS.- •
,,ace his especial of civilization is slowly and unconsciously, but none-the-less thor- relief to a few traveling schnorrers its activities begin and end.
oughly, Judaising itself. The ideals for which civilized nations are They have no notion of the variety of interests that are represented
Jew, and because they have fighting today are the saute ideals for which the Jew, through the by the different departments of this Society, nor do they understand
s mistreated him. But to the very centuries, has nobly- and unflinchingly struggled. The religion of the methods that are pursued, not merely to relieve temporarily but
• .selves., are responsible for this condition today is shaping life, according to his preachments, and whether to rehabilitate men and women so as to make them useful members
they know it or not, the preachers of all denominations are preach-
not understood ourselves, a fact that manifests
ing the Jewish thought, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," of society. These things, however, will become clear to those who
_ plainly today, perhaps, in these times of supreme testing, and are asking the prophet's questionc"Ilave
see not all one Father? read the annual report of the Society carefully.
•
it ever did before. Even today we construe ourselves the Ilath not God created all of us?"
Nor will it be without interest to read the last pages in the book
martyr people. How then shall we expect the world to have other
And so in the present of the Jest' is seen the triumph of the ideal in which are set down the names of the contributors to the organiza-
opinion of us? Even today when some petty politician gives the which he has set before himself and the fulfillment of the message tion and the amounts of their gifts. More than one gasp of shocked
Jew the slightest recognition, do we not hail him as Our saviour? which from the beginning he has believed that it was his to sound surprise is likely to mark the reading of these pages. That prosper-
into the ears of men.
ous business and professional men should be willing to discharge
Even today when a Christian writes of justice to the Jew, do we
And what of the future? Will the future find the Jew a dis- their community duty in so niggardly a fashion as is suggested by
• not exalt him as one worthy of all praise? Do we not even yet, like
appearing quantity, his numbers growing less and less, his influence the amounts set beside some of their names is indeed surprising.
martyrs, lick the hand that patronizingly would pet us? And why?
among men weakening and his power to endure undermined? That But some names, many names, indeed, are wanting altogether from
Because in very truth we do not understand either our triumphant this is the hapless fate in store for hint is preached by some of our the list. Ile must indeed have a low opinion of himself who is
past or our glorious present. Because we believe the tale that has friends. Indeed, they are saying that forces both within and with- content not to place himself upon this Roll of I lotion
Other cities just now are putting on campaigns for increased
been dinned into our cars that the Jew has been a failure in the out are compassing this end. Without, they tell us, the forces of
world; that he has battled against unequal odds for naught and anti-Semitism grow stronger day by day, and within, the hosts of support of their local charities. Certain local conditions make it
that With hint or without hint, the world would be the same. We assimilationists, who, for a mess of pottage, would, like Esau, sell unwise to institute such a campaign in Detroit just at this time,
their birthright, constantly increase.
but even a cursory survey of the situation makes plain the fact that
even bear patiently, some of us, with the cry that we are in Goluth;
Neither one of these charges nor the other is warranted by fact. the number of contributors to the United Jewish Charities should
that is, that in a land like ours, we are vet exiles, and that our They do not read correctly the signs of the times who can believe be doubled at the very least and the income at its disposal for the
redemption shall lies in our self-segregation and in our being cut If that after this great trial through which the nations are passing, carrying on of its work should be correspondingly increased.
Will you, reader, do your part to make this possible?
front contact with OM fellows in the world.
prejudice of man against man and of nation against nation can
And so long as this is the case, we shall neither receive nor merit survive in its full strength. I.et them bear in mind that this world
the respect and the recognition of men in the world. The knowledge war is mot merely a battle of political principles, but it is the strug-
Foes to Be Proud of
gle for supremacy of a high ideal over a low conception of human
of the fine past that the Jew has played in history must give us a
life. In the promised victory of democracy over autocracy and of
In a recent issue of his paper, the American Jewish Chronicle,
new appreciation of our heroic past, a new sense of dignity in our humanity over tyranny and of freedom over the enslavement of
published
in New York, the editor has denounced the Reform Jew
today, and it must deepen in us the conviction that the Jew as Jew men's bodies and souls, there shall triumph the principle of the
in
a
fashion
that makes the well-known "Tochacho" of Deuteronomy
brotherhood
of
man,
and
by
that
token,
anti-Semitism
with
its
allied
has a tremendously important service yet to render to humanity.
forms of prejudice will be given its death blow.
seem
mild
and
innocuous. But his particular wrath falls upon the
What of our past? I las it been that weak and yielding martyr-
We confidently look to the end of this war, not with high hopes head of the leaders of Reform, the Rabbis, to whom he invariably
dom which men, Jews and non-Jews, are eager to have its believe?
Have there been in Israel's past no great heroic world-changing for the political autonomy of the Jew, as some of our friends and refers as the "Christian Rabbis."
triumphs? Have no splendid heroes of Jewish fame and faith glori- co-religionists do, but for the recognition of this equal citizenship
In fact, in the article referred to, which he writes under the cap-
fied human history? I lave all these thousands of years of upward everywhere and for the larger part that shall be his to fulfill in the
tion,
"Are They Still Jews?" he decides definitely and absolutely
striving counted for naught? Who that reads Jewish history with world of men and not in some segregated curlier of the world.
that
Reform
Jews are not Jews and that it has been a mistake for
And as to the charge that assimilation is growing among us, we
insight can hold to such opinion? True the victories of the Jew'
laugh
it
away
because
of
our
knowledge
of
the
Jewish
Soul.
Jews
Orthodox
Judaism
to patiently bear with them so long. Thus he
have not been those of the battlefield. Martial heroes, like David
or the Maccabees, hate risen but seldom from his ranks. Character- may drop their outworn forms and their ceremonials become obso- reads us and every member of a Reform Congregation out of the
istically, he has not been the aggressive soldier, though he has never lete, but the spirit of the Jew cannot be cast off like an outworn circle of Judaism.
garment. Nor is there a desire to put it off. Nay, among the
flinched before his foe when he knew his cause to he just.
Interested as the editor thus is in all things pertaining to the wel-
But the triumphs of the Jew have been spiritual triumphs. Ms Reform Jews in particular, it is true that there is the desire to live fare of Judaism, it is surprising that in his most recent issue he makes
their Judaism among men, manfully and without shame, and not to
heroes have been heroes of the spirit. (ireat prophets whose words
no mention of the fact that is surely of vital importance to American
slink for its performance into the Ghettos and by-ways of the cities,
are words of inspiration to present as to past generations express
Jewry, that the founder and proprietor of his paper, one Dr. Isaac
but rather to preach and to practice the faith Of their fathers where
the Jewish genius at its highest. Better to have given to the world
Straus, has been arrested by the Federal authorities and is at the
all men may see and be inspired by it.
all Isaiah or a Jeremiah than an Alexander or a Napoleon or a
present moment confined in the Alien Enemy Detention Prison at
When the Jew puts over the archway of his synagogue the
Von Moltke.
Ellis Island. It is said that he came to this country with Bernhard
prophet's words, "My house shall be a house of payer to all the
Dernburg in the fall of 1914 with the purpose of winning the masses
And the gifts of the Jew to the world have also been spiritual.
nations," or when he adopts as his synagogical motto the words of of Jews in this country to pro-Germanism.
True, whenever discriminatory laws did not inhibit the outpourings
Isaiah, "Thy gates shall be open continually," he does not mean that
Whether his paper, which has been the most rabid propagandist
of his genius the Jew has contributed to every field of science and the spirit of devotion shall leave through the open door of his temple,
for Zionism of any publication in this country, was intended to be
of scholarship, to art and to music, to statesmanship and to govern-
but rather that from out those open doors there shall pi forth an
used as a vehicle to that end, is now being investigated by the gov-
ment. 'Without hint the science of medicine would have lacked its
influence unto men of all creeds that shall awaken in them the thirst
ernment authorities. Whether the charge against Straus and his
foremost names. Without him music would have missed some of to know the living God.
paper be upheld or not, the Reform Jew need worry but little about
its greatest masters. Without him the classic literatures of the world
These thoughts and others like them pressed themselves upon
would have been poorer than they are, and other realms of secular us, when, this week, on Purim we read the Book of Esther. Unhis- hots' the proprietor and editor of that paper rave and rage concerning
him. \Ve remain Jews despite them and their ilk. We rejoice to
scholarship would have failed to achieve for humanity much of what
torical its scenes and characters may be, and vet they deepen the
count them among our enemies. But it is interesting just the same
is now credited to them. But the real contribution of the Jew to
truth that so long as the Jew remains true to his God, God will
to note what sort of creatures are wont to revile Reform and Re-
civilization is not to be read in these realms. Neither the Ileines
remain true unto him. It is the story of the Jew's triumph, a story
formers. To paraphrase the Biblical word, "Their thoughts arc not
nor the Meyerbeers nor the Felix Mendelssohns nor the Karl Marxs
distorted and misunderstood, but which more truly than any tale of our thoughts, and their ways are not our ways."
nor the Disraelis nor the Zang•ills express the Jewish genius at its martyrdom reflects the Jew's true place and part in history.
,highest. For the real gift of the Jew to the world has been the
God grant a further triumph for the principles of Israel's religion
deepening of the religious consciousness in men and the clearer and
in the future so that all men be brought nearer to the living truth
nearer •harmonization of man's life with the life • divine. Without of the living God.