America
7111:1)unton; /twist' OKONICIL
PAGE FOUR
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of the most gifted, intelligent ministers in that church
who have renounced the miraculous in the Christian re-
ligion for the essence of the religion to live and practice
see ... wruneafteelueee.ne eon to
Published Weekly by The Jewieb talon, e PoblIshing Ca., Inc.
the teaching of the humble Nazarene. It is not an ac-
Joseph J. Cummins, President and Editor
cident that Bishop Brown, Reverends Percy Stickney
Jacob H. &balsas, Duetneee Messner
Grant, Guthrie, Fosdick and others are among the fore-
PPM et the Ito.tudlee it Detroit.
Entered a. Second-class matter March
most protagonists of social consciousness. They place
Minh
under the Ant of Mirth S. laic
greater stress upon the here than hereafter. In this
General Offices and Publication Building
they are on common ground with Judaism which has no
850 High Street West
hells or heavens. but asks of men only that they love
Telephone: Glendale 9300
Cattle Address: Chronicle
London °doe
mercy, walk humbly before Gott and be generous.
14 Stratford Place, Lander, W. 1, England
There is no hierarchy in Judaism. There are no cardi-
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nal tenets of the faith, a Jew is measured by his works
To Insure publication. allcorrespondence 4,11 nee. emitter moat reach ale
and acts and not this acceptance of miracles either
week.
oar. by Tuesday earring of each
symbolically or literally..
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites totreepontienee on • ubJect. of Interest
This is not the first time since the death of Jesus
to the Jewish people, but diselairn• reepoleihIllty for an indoreement of the
..Vneesci by the writer , .
that the position of Jewry has been justified in denying
Sivan 11, 5684 his immaculate conception, resurrection and divinity.
June 13, 1924
As a prophet, preaching a gospel of love, peace and
botherhood he has been acceptable to us, as he is to
Who Is to Blame?
that group of excellent men in the Christian Church
One of the most gruesome murders of the twentieth who are accused of heresy.
century is revealed in the killing of Franks by Leopold
The matter is not a matter of internal controversy
and Loeb. The hysteria has subsided somewhat, peo- in the Episcopal Church, it is a matter in which the
ple who realize that social problems are not solved by whole world is interested, and not least the world of
frenzy and blame are disturbed by this manifestation Jewry, for with the removal of the miraculous sur-
of the anti-social behavior for two apparently intelli- rounding Jesus much of the prejudice against our co-
gent young men.
religionists will disappear. Our age may yet witness
Anti-Semites find in the case justification for their a closer approachment between Judaism and Chris-
diatribes against our wealthy co-religionists. This tianity than in any day since the birth of the Christian
charge has not even the trace of reasonableness inas- Church. It will make for the better understanding,
much as these young men were as far removed from tolerance and neighborliness of which the world have
Judean influence as is conceivably possible. Their such a great need.
whole training, all their attitudes, their outlook on life
Bishop Brown is guilty of heresy in the Episcopal
were decidedly non-Jewish. If Judaism is in any way Church but not in the Christian world which axalts so-
responsible for this it consists in omission, and not in cial justice above dogma.
commission. The fundamental ethical concepts of Ju-
daism with its insistence upon human values were not
Russian Contradictions.
brought home to these young men, as it is not being
brought home to thousands of others similarly situated
Henry G. Alsberg, in an article entitled "Borguis
in our day.
and Communist Jews" in the Menorah Journal, throws
Thepunishment these two young men will suffer more light upon the condition of Judaism in Russia than
is of comparative unimportance: whether the barbar- have all the news reports which have come out of that
ous penalty of death or confinement to an asylum in no land of contradictions.
way touches the paramount question. Why did they
One incident which he relates and which is repro-
commit the crime? what and who are responsible for duced tells the tale very graphically.
this offense?
"After a longer sojourn in Russia, you gradually come to
We want to make clear our position on one point realize
that the Jewish Communists have not been able to creep
before we proceed any further . These young men have entirely out of their old Jewish skins. A little incident, which I
stumbled
into in Vitebsk, sums up rather aptly what I have been
been called intellectuals with the result that the term
to drive home. I arrived early one morning in Vitebsk,
has become rather opprobrious and contemptuous. trying
anti strolled over to the office of the Ydgiskom. The same build-
These young men no doubt have achieved certain schol- ing housed all the town's Jewish official activities, Ydgiskom,
astic success, have acquired a certain amount of know- Evseksia, and the famous Jewish court established by a govern-
ment favorable to Communists. Finding no one in, I wandered
ledge, but they lack all the qualities of the intellectual into the court room, a large bare apartment with long windows
which are found in love, pity and understanding. They and wall spaces decorated with Yiddish versions of Marx: 'Only
who work shall eat; 'From defeat to defeat the proletariat
did not even feel the flame of genuine intelligence, let those
marches on to victory,' etc. The whole place looked like a room
alone a thorough tempering of their mental metal.
in one of the Orthodox 'Bethauser.' While I was looking around,
What these young men lacked most was a social a shrewd young lady, secretary of the Ydgiskom, came in. At
in a rather listless way, we fell to doing business, which in
consciousness. Their bravado, their reference to the once,
this case consisted chiefly of deciding on the distribution of a
power of money to free them from the gallows or pris- batch of food packages. In the middle of our discussion, entered
on indicate that they had no regard whatsoever for so- two Jewish workmen desiring to speak to the Ydgiskom. Who
are they? They show their trade union papers. What do they
cial obligations or responsibilities. Do they really want? Outside, there is a certain Yankele, a farmer from such
stand unconditioned? are they really unique? or do and such a village, where his is the only Jewish fancily. Ills
4-year-old boy died yesterday, and, since there was no place in
they actually represent the age in which we live? We his
village where a Jew could be buried, he brought the body to
talk of service, of social responsibility, and in our every
Vitebsk for burial. 'Well? What do they want of Ydgiskom?'
'The
Ydgiskom must see that the boy is buried properly.' Have
day life we practice the philosophy of each for him-
been to the Ispolkom?"Naturally, but the Ispolkom sent
self and devil take the hindmost, the worst form of they
them to the Ydgiskom.'
social individualism.
"The secretary grows very angry. What do they mean, coming
to the Ydgiskom for such a thing? Don't they know that the
Are the sins so very far removed from the parents?
Ydgiskom's business is to take care of living children, not dead
Lest we be misunderstood we do not under any possible ones?
"Enters now the chairman himself. In a trice he has the
circumstance wish to convey the impression that the
clear, not being a bureaucrat, but a ward politician.
parents are in any sense criminal, but have they not situation
'Bring in the Yankele !' Enter Yankele, a very fine type of Jew,
really proceeded on the theory of the devil take the the Arab type, small, delicately formed, sparse dark beard, and
hindmost in the accumulation of their wealth. Not Mr. liquid brown eyes. Ile says nothing, but leans silently against the
his beautiful profile silhouetted against the smudgy plaster.
Loeb and Mr. Leopold alone, but all who have been wall, "'Ile
should not have come without some paper from the local
caught in the whirlpool of materialism. As individuals medical authorities,' say the chairman. 'But never mind.' He
down, writes out a document, signs it, and then, with that
they are not responsible because our age has exalted site
infinite delight which this process always inspires in Russian
the golden calf above all things, and with it has come officials, seals it. 'Here, show that to the Gubsdrav' (Health
a rampant individualism. These youths have merely Department). Then, quite as if taking some money out of a cash
he turns to me and touches me for 500,000,000 rubles,
carried this individualism to its logical conclusion, firm drawer,
to 'make the funeral a bit better than a pauper's.'
in the conviction that they are the earth's chosen, not
" 'Don't you know,' I asked him, after the three had gone,
answerable to anyone and with the wealth of their 'that the money will probably be used for a rabbi and regular
funeral services of a very orthodox kind? How do you reconcile
parents able to escape the consequences of their act.
that with your principles as a Communist?'
The parents of these boys in a pathetic appeal have
" 'I don't,' he replied. 'But who sin I to deprive Yankele of
asked the public to give them a fair trial, and we most his only possible consolation?' "
earnestly join with them in this appeal. The parents
The Ydgiskom and Evseksia can hold conventions
are not wholly responsible for the acts of these boys, and pass resolutions abolishing the Jewish religion and
our whole society is responsible and by crying for their all other organizations connected with Judaism, but
blood too strongly we reveal our guilt.
Judaism will persist just the same because it offers to
Not many weeks ago the girl bandit raised in pov- our people their spiritual sustenance, and no law,
erty and degradation aroused the whole country, now ukase or resolution can be substituted.
from the other extreme of the social scale comes an
Many have already learned to discriminate in the
even more appaling crime. There is surely a need of
matter of anti-Bolshevik propaganda, we must now be-
transvaluing values at this time. It is shocking that
gin to discriminate equally as much in the matter of
we are brought to a realization that something is rot-
pro-Bolshevik propaganda. The fact that a conference
ten through such cataclysms.
of Evseksia passed a resolution to destroy all Jewish
If there is one thing we must inculcate anew it is
houses of worship and the Jewish religion is not the
the preciousness of human life, something held in such
same as the accomplished fact. There are many noisy
contempt and so cheaply since the great war. This
organizations in America which pass all-embracing res-
alone is not sufficient: we must develop a higher social olutions but they are merely worth the paper on which
consciousness. We are our brother's keeper. The age
they are written and ofttimes less, if they are not ex-
old question must be answered in the affirmative. We
pressing a deep seated desire or conviction of the peo-
cannot live anti-social lives without producing anti-so-
ple. Even many laws which are more effective and
cial conditions and crimes. And above all the responsi-
persuasive than resolutions are inoperative when they
bility of the parent is paramount in this respect. For run counter to the beliefs and convictions of many peo-
the child who receives sympathetic honest instruction
from the parent in matters of social responsibility will ple.
We do not think Judaism is in very serious danger
be much more likely to have a wholesome social out-
in Russia despite the communists ogres, and we are cer-
look on life.
The spiritual leaders are challenzed by this act tain that anti-Semitism, pogroms and discriminations
more than is any group in our whole social structure. are buried in the limbo of a rude barbarian age, for
They have more work to do, greater love. pity and un- which we are very thankful.
The enfant terrible, the Jewish Communist, is ap-
derstanding to disseminate than ever before. Theirs
is an unremitting task which no truly spiritual leader parently much of a bogey who has frightened many
children, but cannot destroy a religion and philosophy
in Jewry or Christendom will shirk.
founded upon such solid rock as is Judaism.
THEIkritorr,Aviisit
4
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9t JCL
4
Ir
What Is Heresy?
Bishop Brown of the Protestant Episcopal Church
has been found guilty of heresy by an ecclesiastical
court. Ile is charged with a denial of the immaculate
conception and the physical resurrection of Jesus at
Nazareth. Ile cannot accept that which contradicts his
intelligence, he refuses to preach that which every one
knows is physically impossible and for this he is dis-
missed from the church. Ile is not charged with living
an unchristian life. Ile is not charged with any anti-
social beliefs and practices. The question naturally
arises what is really more important. To live as a
Christian, or to believe in the miracles of Christianity?
The Protestant Episcopal Church will have to answer
this question and very shortly too, for there are many
"All this frothing and slobbering over Henry Ford
makes me sick," declares Senator Reed of Missouri in a
speech on Muscle Shoals. We wonder how he would
feel if he had the complete record of the world savior.
Language would be pitifully inadequate to express his
disgust.
Editor Bernstein of the Jewish Tribune performed
a service of almost inestimable value when he told his
audience at Temple Beth El of the moral cowardice of
Henry Ford in deserting his "Peace Ship." When the ar-
rogant savior finds opposition he is ready to desert any
cause. A few more defeats and we may be rid of him
entirely.
4-74, ..„*;
-11,„
By ABRAHAM CAPLAN
In less than ten years the idea that
Returning?
America is to become the sanctuary
VIDF.NCE is not wanting that
America will sternly assert its
disapproval of the menace that is rep-
resented by those who regard them-
selves above the law and all.sufficient
in themselves. We sincerely hope that
the vigorous attitude taken by lead-
ers in both the Democratic and Repub-
lican ponies with reference to the Ku
Klux Klan is prompted not by consid-
erations of political advantage but by
a solicitude for the true and eternal
principles of justice and responsibility
in a government whose basis is law
and liberty.
We believe that the day is not far
distant when the now vociferous polit-
ical time-servers will slink into the
comforting folds of oblivion in order
tu live down their 'cart in an organi-
zation conceived in lawlessness but
posing as a defender of patriotism
and morality.
of the Jewish spirit has been generally
accepted. The scene of Jewish schol-
.
4
Not Unlike An Ancient Academy
AS WE GO
ALONG
E
astic efforts has, as for as we now
can see, shifted from Eastern Europe
to the United States. The winds of
circumstance may slightly alter the
trend of the movement, but Jewish
opinion agrees that the fortunes of
Israel's future are bound up with the
conditions which we are creating or
which we are permitting to obtain on
the western continent.
From whatever angle we approach
the American Jewish situation, we are
struck with the fact that we are con-
sidering, first, it moral question and,
second, an intellectual or spiritual
question. If Jews insist, and rightly
so, that the Jewish genius is morality,
morality must serve as the touchstone
of Jewish historic appraisal. And if
morality is ascertained thorough the
processes of religious intellect, it is
necessary to conclude that the pro-
gress of American Jewry, find world-
Jewry, too, is intimately associated
with the way in which we nurture the
principle of Torah.
It is the Torah-idea and the Torah-
motif that essentially differentiates
Jewish from nun-Jewish thought. The
knowledge of the Lord and this law
and life lived in accordance with the
ideals with which that knowledge
abounds, represent the Jewish outback
upon the moral problems of the world.
The pursuit of this knowledge and its
interpretation, insofar as the several
schools of American Jewish thought
are concerned, represent interesting
points of difference, In this article,
however, points of departure will not
be (knit with, but rather the situation
in one of these schools—The Rabbi
Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.
Child Labor.
T
HE Congress of the United States
has given its approval to a Con-
stitutional amendment empowering
the Federal Government to limit, reg-
ulate or prohibit the labor of children
under 18 years of age. The ratifica-
tion of this amendment is now up to
the States.
It is to be hoped that the amend-
ment will be adopted, because the
United States has long passed the
stage when it needed the labor of chil-
dren to build up its prosperity. Chil-
dren should fill the schools of the coun-
try and attain to manhood and wom-
anhood and citizenship under the guid-
ance of well-trained teachers rather
than in forbidding mines, mills and
factories. The country needs educa-
ted, cultural men and women who can
themselves and contribute
think
something of cultural and intellectual
value to the nation's diminishing mor-
al resources.
America will become a thousand
times mightier than it is today if its
first concern will be to give its chil-
dren as complete a moral and intellec-
tual training aspossible and its last
concern will be how soon its boys and
girls will become industrial automa-
tons.
for
Versatility.
1, 11E present age of specialization
in the industrial and professional
world has been also carried into the
social and avocational avenues in
which men find opportunities for self-
expression. That a man may ap-
proach life from a variety of angles
is a principle that of late has been
frowned upon. We must be special-
ists both in our Work and in our play.
We happened to see a painting of
an old-type Jewish woman reading
her Bible of a Saturday afternoon.
We like the sweet, pious face (per-
haps we some day shall write at some
length on this theme) and we inquired
as to the artist who painted the pic-
ture. We were shown the photograph
of a spiritual looking man wearing a
broad prayer-shawl. We were told
that he was a cantor, an expert chess
player, a thorough student of the Tal-
mud, a Hebrew writer and a painter.
It was his grandmother whom his
brush had delineated upon the can-
vas.
Not many men of his caliber and
character have been seen hereabout
in recent years. Nowadays people
are specialists, you know.
Unfortunate.
UCH that was conspicuously un-
fortunate characterized the meet-
ing of the Jewish Educational Asso-
ciation in New York recently at which
pleas were made to school teachers,
most of them non-Jews, to assist in
the promotion of interest among Jew-
ish parents in the religious education
of their children. Men like Judge Ot-
to Rosalsky and Rabbi David de Sole
Pool, according to press accounts, in-
voked the co-operation of Christian
teachers in the advancement of the
program of the Educational Associa-
tion.
It is true that inherently there is
nothing objectionable in asking re-
ligious-minded Christians to lend their
good offices in the furthering of an
enthusiasm on the part of Jewish par-
ents and children for the spiritual and
moral values of a good Jewish relig-
ious education. But the fact that this
co-operation was asked means, for one
thing, that religious education for the
Jewish children of New York has
reached a sorrowfully low state and,
for another thing, that precious little
support for the purposes of the Jewish
Educational Association comes from
the numerous Jewish teachers in the
New York public school system.
to
Palestine Pavilion.
NE of the interesting booths at
the British Empire Exposition at
Wembley is that which represents
Britain's most recent colonial recruit
—Palestine. The products of the
Land of Israel are, it is said, attrac-
tively displayed. Kings and queens
and notables among the nobility, as
well as among the lesser clay, have
shown their interest in the fine fruit
of the Jewish farms and gardens in
the land that, until recently, was
looked upon as hopelessly barren.
Carmel wine made a fine impression
upon those who saw its lustrous color
and sparkle and tasted its unique
flavor. American tourists will do
well to remember that the Palestine
booth deserves visiting.
O
This article is written not because
the Yeshibah, as it is generally known,
is engaged in on effort to raise a suf-
ficiently large sum to enable it to move
to large, modernly equipped buildings
and to secure a respite from financial
worries. It is written because the
Yeshibah, with its 500 or more boys
and young men, the pick of Orthodox
Jewish youth in the United States and
Canada, as well as from other coun-
tries, is in many respects the success-
or of the great Talmudical academies
that, before the war, flourished in
Europe and now his are practically
extinct.
One who has read about but has not
seen a European Yeshibah and who,
mailing the gaonic rabbis and pro-
found intellects and men of spirit
whom the Yeshiboth produced, and
wishes he somehow might be trans-
planted into tole, may have his roman-
tic desire fulfilled by visiting the
Yeshibah, nestling among the gaunt
and unlovely tenements of East
Broadway at Srammel street, New
York.
Entering the school, you are im-
pressed with a number of things, the
outstanding fact being that, surround-
ed by noisy life and assailed by dis-
tractions that would fret strong men,
the students labor in the law even as
did the disciples of Millet, Shammai
and the other princes in the kingdom
of Jewish knowledge. They labor in
the law and they are happy. With Dee
equanimity they disregard the dismal
class-rooms and find joy. sitting at the
feet of their teachers and acquiring
Jewish lore with the avidity of true
scholars. Hours of instruction there
are none in the strict sense of the
term, not because ceaseless study is
imposed upon the students but because
the spirit that moves these boys nad
men does not rest and is ever alert.
In keeping with the custom that for
centuries was observed in the Euro-
peon Yeshiboth, sonic of the students
of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theo-
logical Seminary spend the whole of
Thursday night, week after week, in
energetic study, for Friday is the day
when the week's work abates in def-
erence to the Sabbath. This extra
work is not required of anyone and is
done joyously and with eagerness. He
who would experience a novel thrill
and catch a glimpse of the Jewish
spirit in the splendor of its faith and
power can do on of a Thursday eve-
ning at the Yeshibah.
Ile will hear young men intone the
funnier musical notes hummed in the
course of Talmudic inquiry, haunting
tunes that have been immortalized in
the music of the Hebrew Melodies. Ile
will see young men who defy ease
comfort not because they cherish pri-
vation, but because their deeire for
Jewish learning exceeds the power of
the Yeshibah to provide more than
the barest kind of physical accomte
dation.
To the Yeshibah have flocked the
scholars of religion who have been dis-
possessed from their homes and acad-
emies by the forces of turmoil in Eu-
rope. Young men and scholars who
studied in the Yeshiboth of Telz, Kov-
no, Wilna and Slobodka have turned
to the Elchanan Yeshibah as steel
reaches for the magnet, and Ameri-
can youths have come to it in such
numbers as to suggest that the law of
compensation, as it operates in Jew-
ish history, is functioning in its mys-
terious way once more.
Like the historic Babylonian acade-
mies of Sore, Nehardea and Puinhed-
itha, this unique institution of higher
Jewish learning is playing its part in
the romance of Jewish spirit. It is
not so much a training school for
teachers and a college for those who
desire to become rabbis as a scat of
Jewish learning in the traditional
Jewish sense. It is in its emphasis
upon Jewish scholarship as the pos-
session and advocation of the layman
that the Yeshibah is contributing its
particular message to American Jew-
ish culture.
It is not unlike an ancient academy
in which sages and martyrs and teach-
ers wrought the matchless literature
of the Talmud and preserved for the
Jewish people what the nations were
bent upon destroying. In its very
poverty, it is like the schools of Baby-
lon, but like the seats of learning
which have gone before it, it is a
dwelling place of Jewish genius, light
and promise.
The great city, with its hordes of
population, has yet to prove itself a
blessing rather than a curse to man-
kind. The concentration of masses of
men and women in small geographical
areas has aided the development of
modern inudustrialism, but has
brought in its trail tragic social prob-
lems. None is more acete than the
problem of the so-called "gangster,"
always present In the metropolis, but
more conspicuous within the last dec-
ade.
Since the war, several causes ac-
centuated the menace of the gangster.
The unspeakable congestion due to the
housing shortage has bred vice and
crime, and little relief seems in sight.
The lawlessness which accompanied
our resort to arms and our preach-
ment of the gospel of force in war has
reaped a peace-time harvest. The con-
tempt for law in the incessant and
condoned violation of the Prohibition
amendment has placed the citizen-
critic of the police system in the posi-
tion of a hypocrite. The lack of ade-
quate recreational facilities for young-
sters whose only playground is the
city street, the weakness of our set-
tlement and summer-camp movement,
the over-crowding in the public schools
—all play their part in perverting the
normal team instinct of the growing
boy into the organization of the gang.
In our effort to grapple with the
problem, we must penetrate deeper
than the surface-remedy of an im-
proved police force. We must provide
not hovels and kennels for the masses,
but true homes with air, sunlight and
space. We must increase our school
facilities, and equip them with modal
agencies for meeting the medical, men-
tal and financial needs of stricken
families. We must build more settle-
ment houses, and encourage prosper-
ous Jewish families to set aside sums
of money, not merely for the summer
recreation of their own children, but
for the suffering children of the tene-
ments. Jews must do their duty, not
by minimum but maximum, donations
to Federation! We must follow a
proper theory and practice of "Am-
ericanization" as that the gulf be-
tween immigrant parents and Ameri-
can-born children may be happily
bridged. We must modernize our re-
ligion so that the boy and girl of the
cities may find in the synagogue and
community center a place of light, en-
joyment and inspiration, where intel-
ligent and sympathetic friends may
help them over the trestles of youth
and early maturity.
We must not cease to promote the
cause of industrial justice. We must
agitate for a distribution of our im-
migrant newcomers throughout the
open spaces of the country. We most
ask the employer not merely to deal
justly, but generously with his work-
men, so that the children of the new
generation may not, through poverty,
ill-health and vicious environment, he
led out of the paths of upright dd.
zenship into the career of crime. For
"even the poor among men shall re-
joice in the Holy One."
Before My King
In prayer prone before my King,
I bend to Him my face and knee,
My heart His sacrifice shall be,
My tear His liquid offering.
In waiting for the sun's caress,
In watching for the morning light
To scatter all my godless night,
My soul consumes in weariness.
The Dark Brows Leaf.
4drir. 10...140 1c
,
By RABBI LOUIS I. NEWMAN
EWISH
•
ry
t
THE GANGSTER: HIS CAUSE AND CURE
agriculturists in Palestine
J recently have taken to the culti-
vation of tobacco with a great deal of
earnestness. Not only have Euro-
peen Jesus with an eye for commercial
enterprise come to Palestine for the
purpose of developing the tobacco in-
dustry, but farmers who heretofore,
had paid scant attention to tobacco'
crops have been devoting more and
more acreage to the cultivation of the
pungent leaf. It looks as though Pal-
estine Jewish farmers are bent upon
smoking out those who at present are
monopolizing the tobacco growing in-
dustry in the Near East.
le. -.26,
.
-re, .2*• . st.
Though He delays, shall I not start
To seek His face? Nay, of a sooth
I yet shall find his word of ruth
Bring comfort to my bitter heart.
The promise Zechariah gave,
How sweet it tastes in this our woe!
My soul shall bid my heart to know
I trust the living God to save.
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL
(Translated by Israel Zangwill.)
.
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