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PAGE FOUR

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

at their task of the spiritual regeneration of Israel, undisturbed by
those who abuse and malign them, assured that so long as they
Issued Every Friday by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Company
ANTON KAUFMAN
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President have the allegiance of the rising generation, the future of the faith
they love is safe.

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Entered as second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Postotflee at Detroit,
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Reform Judiaism and the New Generation.

Any religious system that is essentially destructive becomes
by definition a failure. Any' school of religion that maintains itself
by the villification and the malicious attacking of interpretations
of religion other than its own, parades its own spiritual bank-
ruptcy. Any religious group that may hope for permanence must
build in the today, f or .onlorrow, upon a basis broad enough and
strong enough to permit lIf expansion according to the new needs
that may arise through changing circumstances. Any religious
party whose head is turned backward and that clings tenaciously
to an outgrown past presents a sorry picture in the eyes of for-
ward-looking men and women. The past may not be ignored by
religious thinkers, it is true. They who would interpret the today
without reference to yesterday', do not begin to understand the
psychology of history. On the past, in the present, for the future,
must men live. This, it may be fairly stated, is the basic philoso-
phy in accordance with which Reform Judaism has consciously
developed. Inspired by the past, it has not been a slave to it.
Catching the inspiration of his heroic history, the Reform Jew has
sought to inspire the life of today with something of the glorious
spirit that kept the hearts of the prophets and the sages of Israel
aglow with the fife of religious zeal.
Ile feels, too, the pressure of today's demands. Ile seeks to fill
the today with real service, being neither slave as has been said
to a dead yesterday, nor yet dreamer of a Utopia that shall realize
itself in the dint and distant future. Where the souls of men yearn
now for spiritual refreshment. he seeks ill the measure of his
power, to satisfy their yearnings. Where the bodies of men are
crushed and broken, he strives to give them succor. Social service
is with him by no means the but word in religion's mandate to
man but for all that, it is not unimportant to hint. The Reform
Jew feels that his mission is to humanity and yet, he is neither so
blind nor so conceited as to imagine that that mission will fulfill
itself until the Jew himself has been roused to a fine sense of
loyalty to the appeal of his father's faith. Neither denunciation
of Orthodoxy nor praise of Reform is-ill solve the problem of the
Jew as he understands it. The real Jew', he knows, must live his
Judaism. And it is in this sense, that the Reform Jew looks hope-
fully forward to the future. Ili!: is not a millennial dream, His
assurance for the future lies in the fact that he has the full loyalty
of the children of his household. They believe that modern Israel
has a destiny to fulfill and that it is their privilege to share in it.
Between them and their fathers, there is no wide and unbridgeable
gap. They go together to their house of worship. With the sa u te
forms and rites, they serve their God. They do not look upon the
religion practiced in their household as a thing foreign to them
which must be endured, but which in due time they will shake off.
To them, Judaism is a present, living, vital inspiration that affects
their daily living and thinking. Because they are Jews, they feel
that their moral and social and business standards must lie higher
than those of their non-Jewish neighbors. Because they are Jews,
they feel that they'must contribute in even higher measure than
others to the maintenance of civic and social ideals. Because they
are Jews, they feel that in every patriotic endeavor they must
stand in the front ranks.
But with them, religion is not a thing outward but inward, and
the test of their sincerity is essentially subjective. They practice
no forms, become mechanical through habit. They do not fool
themselves and they do not try to fool their God. ..\r, part of their
life routine, they associate themselves With a congregation or other
religious organization upon arriving at a state of independent man-
hood. For the most part, they are loyal to the spirit of their faith.
By far the smallest proportion of intermarriages today recorded
take place among the children of Reform Jews. Few and far be-
tween arc the converts from their ranks. Reared in an atmosphere
of freedom, they do not, like those who have been spiritually
Chained for years, mistake liberty for license when the shackles
arc broken. In their house of worship, thev have heard it pm-
claimed that the only liberty which is worthy of the name is liberty
under law. They feel t h at th ey do not represent in modern life, a

The duty of maintaining a unified Jewish community' in times
like these cannot be overemphasized. Men and women may differ
radically in their interpretations of Jewish history and Jewish des-
tiny and yet, stand ready to work together in the common inter-
ests of the larger community which they represent.
To permit religious differences among congregational leaders,
whether in the ministry or among the people, to militate against
the harmonious working together of all classes of Detroit's Jewish
citizenship, in causes that should be equally dear to all in a time
like this, would be reprehensible beyond words. It is gratifying
that up to this time as We hope may be the case in the future, the
Various sections of Detroit Jewry have stood together in great
civic, philanthropic and patriotic movements and the line between
Orthodoxy and Reform, between Zionist and non-Zionist, between
American and Russian, have never been sharply drawn. As evi-
dence of this, may be pointed out the splendid co-operation of all
parties represented in the Jewish life of Detroit in connection with
the United Jewish Charities, the War Relief Funds and various
patriotic campaigns. Nosy comes another opporttinity for a hearty,
unified endeavor on the part of our people. We refer to the moral
support that is asked fur the Hospitality House which is to be
formally opened on Sunday afternoon of next week under the
auspices of the Detroit Branch of the Jett ish Welfare Board in the
United States Army and Navy.. The maintenance of this home, it
need not be pointed out, is not the business of any one part of the
community. Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews arc equally inter-
ested in it. While its doors will be open in welcome to all men
in uniform. irrespective of sect or creed, it is but natural that its
first appeal should be to Jewish boys in the Army and Navy.
These boys come from homes representing every social stratum
and every shade of Jewish religious opinion. Irrespective of that
fact, however, once they are in the Army or Navy, they claim the
right to our recognition and to such hospitality as we may be able
to offer them as American soldiers and sailors who are ready to
lay down their lives upon the altar of our common cause. That
all Jet's and Jewesses in Detroit will deem it a high privilege to
do that they may to Make this home a real Hospitality House,
We have no doubt, The institution presents to the Jews of Dertoit
a unique opportunity to show that united effort and whole-hearted
co-operation on the part of the great community' can do in a Jew-
ish and a patriotic cause such as unitedly appeals to us.

Volunteers Wanted.

There is scarce an organization in Detroit, the forwarding of
whose aims and ideals is dependent upon volunteer help that is
not crying aloud for additions to its staff of workers. The various
Red Cross rnits, though they are magnilicently supported by hun-
dreds of earnest women, vet need more workers in order that their
quotas may be delivered on time. The Jewish Woman's Club in
the maintenance of its Penny Luncheons and Children's Canteen
is particularly short-handed. ulany organizations could use to
advantage clerical help for certain hours during each week.
In
fact, there is not an organization of which we know that is fully
manned at this time. And vet in the face of these conditions, there
are women in the community whose conscience permits them to
spend many idle hours or what is worse, to fritter twat their time
in pastimes that neither enlighten the mind nor exalt the spirit.
Young women, too, we klunw id. , who have so little sense of patri-
otic duty that without apparent loss of respect in their own eyes,
they give up many an hour of almost every (lay to selfish social in-
dulgences, and unashamed, give neither time nor thought or effort
to the great causes that arc calling to them for help.
To be sure. one has no right to pass unkindly judgment upon
all of those who fail to take an active part in Red Cross and other
patriotic activities for one can never know what thoroughly legiti-
mate causes are resp o nsible for their apparent lack of interest, but
on the other hand there is neither man nor woMail ill this time
who is so frail or so poor or so busy that he or she should not
feel duty-bound to give some time and some energy to one form
or another of patriotic work. Should these words reach the eve of
some idler among the turn or women of Detroit, may we hope that
it will also reach their heart and conscience! The great sin of the
hour anping our people is not the sin of commission. It is rather
the in of omission. Many arc they who might be described in the
words of Dante. "Not by dung but by not doing, lost." Nlay the
number of such in our community he steadily diminished.

Dr. Elliott on the Higher Criticism.

A significant sign of the times was furnished by Dr. I;eorge
Elliott, one of the foremost preachers of the Nlethodist Church
new interpretation of religious principle, hut only a re - assertion
when at a recent convention he delivered a scathing rebuke to
and a re-vitalization Of prophetic Judaism. It is as though to then, those 14
his fello• - pastors in the church who were unwilling to

had been spoken the consecrating words heard by Jeremiah. "See,
I have set thee this day over the nations and flyer the kingdoms to
root out and to pull down. to destroy and to throw down. but also
to build and to plant."
The children of the Reform synag,,gtw arc entirely clear upon
the point that the destructive tendencies in modern Judaism which
many have deplored, can be justified only by the fact that they
are intended to prepare the ground for real constructive work.
Forms that have lost their meaning, ceremonies that are born of
superstition and rites that are rooted in a civilization foreign
to
our own, must be cleared out of the way before religion can meet
the spiritual needs of the present generation. But a Judaism

---
bases none of its doctrines upon myth or miracle, though of course

our sacred records contain such. But none for instance would
read a Jew out of Judaism because he does not accept literally the
story of the division of the Red Sea before the oncoming hosts of
Israel or even because he does not accept the letter of the Revela-
tion story, What seems likely to happen as a result of the more
liberal spirit within the church is that the church will come nearer
and nearer to an acceptance of those principles of belief which the
Jew holds to be basic ; beliefs that touch upon God anti man's
relation to God and that sum themselves up in the main in that
prophetic question, "Have we not all one Father, hath not one
God created all of us:'" Accordingly, the progress of the scientific
criticism 'of the Bible at the hands of churchmen will be watched
with ever-increasing interest by the Jew. That it will make for a
inure liberal Christianity there can be no doubt. That it will make
also for a closer sympathy between the various denominational
religions is likely. This is a consummation to be wished.

Marvelous History
of Italian Jews

(Continued From Page One.)

Though their number is small, there
being but about forty thousand of
then, in Italy, their influence is strik-
ing, seeing that in every sphere they
have risen to exalted positions, un-
surpassed, in this respect, if equaled,
by their brethren in any other part
of the world.
\\lien we try to account for this,
various facts have to be considered.
First, there is the condition of the
country. Then, the character of the
people. And, finally, the part of the
Jew himself.
For hundreds of years Italy was
broken up in many independent towns
and rival principalities, competing and
contending with one another, which
frequently proved to the advantage of

If the Jews of Italy are said to have
invented the letter of credit, thanks to
Jewish immigrants in Lombardy pos-
sessing valuable interests in other
countries from which they had been
expelled, and thus to have added an
important instrument to the conduct
of commerce, they were no less con-
spicuous in the diverse manual occu-
pations.
And the Italians. knowing the value
of commerce and the crafts, stood
ready to appreciate the worth of the

je N% less remarkable has been the
spiritual history of the Jews of Italy.
Iklacauley depicts the Italians as pos-
sessing a spirit so proud and fine as
to make them equally eminent in the
active and the contemplative life.
Even if this description did not hap-
pen to apply to all Jews, it certainly
would be applicable to the Jews )4
Italy. What would all their distinc-
tion in the industrial and commercial
the Jew, who, when driven from one life have signified it they had failed
to•maintain their spiritual ideals? As
part, found refuge in another.
Then. the Italians have always been a matter of fact. it is herein that the
known for their love of liberty, and Jews of Italy have been especially
justice, of education and enlighten- fortunate.
Rabbis, Poets.
ment, in addition to being a pre-emi-
nently practical and commercial peo-
From the very beginning to this
ple. This, in its turn, could not help day, as a French writer has put it,
but make them hospitable to the Jews. the lire has never died out upon their
But all this would 1101 have availed altars. They were always among the
to make the history of Israel in Italy leaders in Jewish learning and loyalty.
illustrious were it not for the Jews Their rabbis were among the most fa-
themselves, and for what they have mous in the world. Sonic of their
accomplished in various spheres. It is works are among the great classics of
these latter things particularly that Jewish scholarship—such as the .Nrukh,
we must consider in a survey of the the great Talmudic cyclopedia of
Jew's history in Italy.
Rabbi Nathan, of Rome, or NIalmad,
the popular homiletic work of Rabbi
Merchants, Bankers.
Jacob Anatolia or the Nlesiloth Vesh-
There is, first of all, the mint of the
arim, the celebrated ethical treatise of
Jew in the commerce of Italy, as well flayyfin David Luzzatto. Some of
as in her industries.
their poets are among the most fa-
This we may name first, because his-
mous and permanent, like the satirist
tory makes it quite clear that the Jews Immanuel of ROIIIC,
said to have been
were first welcomed and appreciated the friend of Dante.
in Rome and her dependencies and
Perhaps nothing testifies so clearly
neighbor-cities because of their com-
of the intellectual and spiritual energy
mercial ingenuity and enterprise. Vt'ell,
of the Italian Jews s the promptness
there is good reason for believing that
with which they adopted the art of
as far back as Augustus, the Jews had
printing and the vast number of He-
begun to play an important part in
brew hooks they issued soon after the
commercial factors between Italy and
invention of the art.
other countries.
The tirst Hebrew printed work ap-
In the middle ages, however, they
peared in l475-76, and in the sixteenth
became the commonly recognized
century Ferrara, Bologna,
bankers of Italy, particularly in the
Cremona. Mantua, became veritable
southern parts. so much so that in
centers for the publication of Hebrew
some cases the JeWs Were (Wen com-
Bibles, the Talmud. the /mbar, and
pelled to maintain banks and in some
other rabbinic works. It is interest-
instances their doing so was made
ing to note that the first Spanish
part of diplomatic treaties between
translation of the Old Testament ap-
cities as when Venice making an al-
peared in Ferrara, and was the work
liance with Ravenna, in the fifteenth
of a Jewish exile. who by the mal-
century. it was stipulated by Ravenna
treatment of Spain was not estranged
that the Jews should conduct a bank
from the love of her language.
there, and • in one case, at least, on
Moreover, the culture of the Jews
record, in Gubbio, a Jew was paid a
of Italy even centuries ago had some-
salary by the city for maintaining a
thing
that was lacking among their
bank.
contemporaries elsewhere — it had
In this way the Jews were expected
to contribute to the trade of the town breadth, resulting from contact with a
cultivated and enlightened people.
and the relief of the needy, though in
Some of the foremost rabbis were also
the course of time they were called
physicians. and were sought as such
usurers for engaging in this sort of
by popes, prin ces, cardinals, and other
business• and it was made the cause of
men lmPe
of :1;s1) t r o i l l:'
propaganda against them, and of per-
Frequently we find Jewish scholars
secution.
Nor is it fair to suppose that the acting as teachers and translators for
Jews of Italy were merely engaged in (liristian scholars and pa-
money-lending and commerce. His- irons of Ieanaing. as. for instance,
Jacob \natmli. Leo Hitless, i?lijah
tory tells us that they were also L e , ita, and othe ,
largely represented in the various
Phis breadth of culture is the reason
trades and industries.
The dye-making industry formed why some of their lines) works were
one of the chief occupations of the written in Italian. such as The Dia-
logues of Love. by Leo Helmet), in
Jews in Italy in the thirteenth cen-
tury. In Sicily, documents relate, al- the beginning of the sixteenth century.
most all iron workers were Jews. In and several of the religions and eth-
Sardinia thert• were among the Jews ical treatises of such celebrated schol-
ars as Leo Modena, Samuel David
so many blacksmiths. locksmiths,
weavers, and silversmiths that Ferdi- Luzatto, and Elia Ilenamozegh. For

accept the latest lindings of Biblical science. With withering scorn
in his wire and in unambiguous language, if press reports are to
be believed, he flayed those who would still refuse to understand
the comparative values of different portions of the Bible record
but who insist upon giving myth and legend an equal place with nand the Catholic felt impelled to breadth as well las s versatility. the
prmdnrts
Israel's spiritual
well attested history and who would assign to certain legalistic make a law against their plying their
in Italy have never been excelled.
noisy trades on Christian holidays.
chapters in the Bible set down for the guidance of a primitive
Warrior Citizens.
Jewish Craftsmen.
people, the same moral value ;is to many of the ethical chapters
Finally, one can not study the his-
It k hard for some people to get
in Scripture whose universality of application is their distinctive
tory of the Jew without realizing .the
away from the notion that the left is depth and ardor
attribute.
nothing but a merchant. No 'natter
sands
of Jews
in various
much
they engaged
hear of tens
of thou. "From the lowest to the highest. an
That such an address could lied a place in such a gathering indi- how
ialia
Italian

-

''the
cates that the thought of men in all the denominations is slowly
certainly
ain
)is ce
Jew
patriot "
whose Chief work is destructive cannot hope for survival. It must
trades, to the extent of haying trade
be affirmed
but surely throwing off its trammels and that sooner or later, all unions of their own, they still cling to may
'Italian
writer has o s f the Italian
build and plant. It is our firm conviction that because the con-
He
has
always
stood
for
Italy,
and
their preposterous notion that the is always a
men will have arrived at that truth which sets men free.
d her e ri ttl'i hi
been ready to def en dbilsierPatt
structive task of Israel is being increasingly emphasized in
Jews
are
a
people
of
merchants
only
td
the
A real emancipation from dogmatism within the church and
Reform synagogue, it is holding ever more firmly the allegiance of
W hen
. in the year 536, Belizar, the
synagogue is bound to come as the processes of education go stead- change their tune and charge all Jews
its own young people and without any attempt at missionary effort
commander of Justinian I., besieged
ily. forward. The effect of such emancipation will, however. not with being socialists, which certainly Naples, it was the Jews who opposed
on its part, winning the loyal support of many of those who cor-
is not the special characteristic of
be the same in the synagogue and in the church—and for very merchants).
the surrender of the city, and offered
rectly or mistakenly believe that they have outgrown the creed
It is equally wrong to assume that not only to participate in the defense.
obvious reasons. Orthodox Christianity has budded its theology
and the methods of Orthodoxy. Certain it is that Reform Judaism
y. o time with
upon a If:gelid, beautitul, it is true—but none the less—a legend. n the Italy of the past. the Jews were but to support the popu l them was
money during the siege. T
need have no fear for its future. Its opponents in these days are
only
bankers
and
merchants:
no,
they
With the explaining away of that legend, the superstructure to (though every now and then they will assigned the defense of the most dan-
were also artisans, engaged in all
many and they are very loud in their accusations and bitter in
which it is basic is bound to fall. In Judaism, however, no such kinds of trades, including agriculture, gerous section of the sit facing the
their attacks. Complacently, the leaders of Reform may continue calamity can
sea, and when the city was captured
happen. Judaism, even in its most Orthodox forms, and as such they were of vast impart-
Ince to their country.
(Continued Oa Page Six.)

