9ETROtTIEWisif 01110/41C1Z
PAGE FOUR
EWISII WIfl
w.
MOIrlaa WIMP AP=
•■ ••• ■ ••
Published Weekly by The Jewiek Chronicle PubLaded C•, Inc.
Joseph J. Cummins, President and Editor
Jacob H. Schakne, General Manager
bership in the Klan. What is our attitude? Should
we now feel pleased that we are in the circle of the
elect? Should we expand with pride because the Nordic
superiors have extended such a privilege to us? As
for us, we are just as unqualifiedly opposed to the Klan
as we have ever been. This sop has not lessened our
antagonism toward this organization which purposes
to keep alive prejudice and bigotry, which is making
every effort to pit one religion against another and to
embitter race against race, nation against nation.
We have learned from bitter and numerous experi-
ences that as long as any individual or group is dis-
criminated against, or as long as discrimination and
prejudices exist against the most humble and insignifi-
cant, there is an ever present danger that the discrimin-
ation, prejudice, bigotry and tyranny may be extended
AS WE GO
ALONG
with the precise manner in which the
present generation of Jews acquits
itself during the penitential period
Lamiumpa,
that precedes and immediately fol-
DOES the non-existence of a uni- intensity and composure which con-
lows the New Year need be highly
startlingly with the often bois.
General Offices and Publication Building
k
pleased. Indeed, not a few discern in
vernal
language
constitute
the
850 High Street West
the apparent rejuvenation of the re-
Cable Addreas: Chronicle
chief obstacle to world peace? Would p e or t e most part approach t
Telephone: Glendale 9300
ligious spirit of the Jew a most un-
concerns of the spirit. The month of
London Offices
a language which all peoples of the
welcome commentary on the extraor-
14 Stratford Place, London. W. 1, England
Ellul, which ushers in a season of re-
dinary weakness of mankind as it
world could employ with equal fa.
flection and inner-reckoning, sees a
ploughs through the scene of its tragi-
Subscription, in Advance. ....... ........... ............. — ..... $3.00 Per Year
cility effectively remove the barriers
re-assertion of a state of mind which,
comedy
year in and year out.
omedy yea
if persisted in, can have naught but
that stand between peace and con.
MI correspondence and new• matter must neck thto
7e insure pubikallon,
It probably would be unreasonable
office by Tuesday •rening of each week.
beneficent influence on Jewish condi-
flirt? To neither question can an af.
to expect that Jew's who yield to the
tions. But the question arises why
Ti. Detroit Jewish Chronicle in•e correspondence onsubjects of Interest
firmative reply be given.
for so Indorsmemat of ths
call of the high holy days should pur-
this annual spiritual splurge is only
t disclaim.
to the Jewish people, but
to others.
ters,
th•
Diverse languages hardly are the
r
sue throughout the year a mode of
esie mewed
Should the Klan by any chance actually permit all
conduct strongly in keeping with the
Ellul 13, 5684 Jews to membership we would still oppose it with all difficulty that unimaginative and dog-
manner in which they approach their
September 12, 1924
matic people think. It is not differ-
Maker on Rosh Hashonah and Yom
our vigor and influence, as long as it propounded doc-
ence in language that provokes dis-
Kippur. But there is ground for in-
trines which in their very nature were subversive of
cord but conflict in purpose. The ra-
sisting that a measure of consistency
pacity
which
urges
the
lion
to
devour
is the mark of the moral man and
the democratic creed.
It is not customary nor in the approved manner to
that a decisive return, on the morrow
the
lamb
cannot
be
tamed
except
by
By this time all our co-religionists should know the
of the Day of Atonement, to the
look a gift horse in the mouth but there are times when
a long process of adjustment which
fundamentals of the democratic creed in matters of
dubious indulgences of the recurring
the customary must be overlooked and good manners
enables it to come face to face with
years renders the religious flare in
race and religion, but it will scarcely be amiss to re-
the lamb without fiercely jumping
forgotten. The case we have in mind is the generous,
the autumn of the year a singularly
upon it forthwith. The language of
iterate
it.
The
people
of
the
United
States
are
guar-
irritating spectacle. If we owe
even magnanimous, offer of President-elect Calles of
war may be spoken in the harsh gut-
obedience to God on Rosh ilashonah
anteed
by
the
Constitution
the
right
to
worship
God
turals of the Teuton, in the softly
Mexico. Moved by the noblest and finest impulses
and Yom Kippur, we owe Him obedi-
fluent syllables of the Latin tongue,
as
they
choose.
They
are
assured
by
the
same
instru-
President Calles has offered a refuge to the thousands
ence on every day of the year. If we
or in the halting speech of a primi-
ment that there will be no discrimination by reason of
search our hearts during the ten (lays
of Jews stranded in the European ports by reason of
tive people. We cannot discern the
of the penitential season, we must
race, color or creed. These rights and privileges are
virtue of a universial tongue. The
the closing of America.
do likewise on every day thereafter.
universal
language
which
possesses
not for the majority alone but are to be enjoyed by
We realize to the utmost the precarious and
Man's conscience is not a commodity
any sort of merit is the language of
the most inconspicuous individual and the least influ-
that may be deposited in a vault for
wretched condition of our stranded brothers; they are
the heart and the mind, particularly
355 (lays in the year only to be taken
ential group. And as long as any organization seeks
of the mind. The selfishness and par-
literally between the devil and the deep sea. They
out and carefully fondled for a brief
tisanship and nationalistic passion
to nullify this in the least particular we are unalterably
week and a half. Is it religion that
cannot proceed to their destination, the Christian na-
which are pointed to as the begetters
we practice on the high holy days
opposed
to
that
organization.
of war will not be rooted out with
tions on whose soil they are sojourning are not at all
or is it the child in u.s that asserts it-
the adoption of a world language
The
democratic
creed
of
individual
liberty
in
mat-
pleased with these tourists and the countries which
self, the fear of doom and destruc-
code. The beginnings of a universal
ters of conscience and belief cannot be stressed or re-
tion that troubles us?
they left do not welcome them, nor do they care to re-
language
for
peace
would
be
realized
•
One must be led to the conclusion
turn for the reasons which prompted them to leave. peated too often. The harking back to fundamentals is
if, for example, the governments sub-
that the immanence of God is felt
mitting to the jurisdiction of the
The picture of downright misery and suspense needs always so necessary if we are to correctly understand
but feebly by the consciousness of
League of Nations would agree to
the community and of the individual.
little imagination or artistry to draw. In short, it and evaluate these phenomena which arise,
educate their nationals to the truth
The God who neither slumbereth nor
Only
when
the
Klan
becomes
an
American
organiz-
with
reference
to
the
"glory
and
strikes us that their plight is so desperate that almost
sleeps in the cause of righteousness
honor and godliness" of war and the
any plan of escape seems feasible as well as acceptable, ation will we approve it and not before. Their flirting
and of justice, neither elumbereth nor
"meanness and depravity" of the
sleeps in His reckoning with the daily
but yet, despite all this and with the magnanimous offer does not take us in. We want none of them as long
world at peace.
performances of men and of nations.
If
we
were
a
Filene
or
a
Bok
or
of Mexico held before our eyes, we still say that the as they draw lines of racial and religious demarkation
While the religious genius of the Jew
a Herman and possessed of abundant
gift horse should be examined. There are times when among our citizenry.
has evolved the lofty conception of
means, we would find better ways to
an appointed season for the assem-
make use of our money than to stage
even beggars should be choosers, for the gift may work
bling of the Court on Iligh, it frowns
contests for plans for peace. The
greater injury than the refusal to accept it,
upon the suggestion that religious in-
simpler our thought with reference
tensity is to be lavished upon a mere
President Calles purposes that these men and
peace, the more likely we shall be
Wednesday morning, Sept. 10, Judge John R. Cav- to
season of 10 days, that the peniten-
to
see
in
it
the
boon
that
the,
world's
women form a colony upon land which will be alloted
erly handed down his decision that Richard Loeb and
tial period is for the soul and the con-
best minds for ages have agreed it in
to them. The colony is to be financed to the extent of
science of the Jew and the Jewish
Nathan Leopold, Jr., be confined to prison for the term
community what the annual fair is
$2,000,000 to insure seed, houses, farm implements
Guarantee.
of their natural lives.
for the merchant, farmer and artisan.
no
one
who
is
familiar
y
and all things necessary for the maintenance of life.
Metered aa itecond•chms matter March IL DIA at the Postale. et Detroit.
under the Art of Berth k, 1373.
The month preceding the high holy
days is marked among Jews by an
Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth.
Loeb-Leopold Decision.
On the face of it the terms and conditions are fair and
reasonable, but on further examination the whole thing
strikes us as a mad venture, another Children's Cru-
sade. We cannot see anything but disaster ahead for
these men, women and children, should all parties
agree to the undertaking.
There is current a curious romantic conception
about the beauties of agriculture and the redeeming
quality of going back to the land. It should be under-
stood once and for all that western civilization is no
longer based upon agrarian culture and the days of
colonization belong to past centuries. Those who have
been hardest bitten by the industrial and commercial
culture of the twentieth century are the children of
Israel. They are not agriculturists and they are not
colonists, and an attempt to settle thousands of them
upon the land would be a piece of monumental folly
Some days before the decision was handed down
the daily press printed items to the effect that the bet-
ting was three to one that the boys would not be sen-
tenced to be hanged. This betting was a sort of straw
in the wind indicative of public sentiment. Apparently
the time between the end of the trial and sentence
served as a cooling peiiod for those who had become
Europe Crowns Yiddish Artists
By HENRY D. TRAUM
unsurpassed in our day.
Starting with these insurmountable difficulties you
are met with difficulties no less serious in the fact that
these stranded ones have no cohesion among them-
selves, no common understandings, because they are
gathered from all parts of Europe. The only things
in common are their religious beliefs and similar lan-
guage. Add to all the previously enumerated difficul-
ties a climate entirely dissimilar to the accustomed
climate and a native population with customs, lan-
guages and habits totally strange to them. The pic-
ture drawn is not at all exaggerated, for there are
special personal idiosyncrasies which can not be taken
into account in the broad outlines sketched. The whole
plan meets with our unqualified disapproval, for it has
not the remotest possibility of success and is pregnant
with indescribable woe for our already unhappy people.
It is a simple matter to be destructive and tear a
thing to pieces, but we have a plan which at least is
consistent with present migration methods. Inasmuch,
as Mexico has not closed its doors to European immi-
gration we would recommend that the $2,000,000, or
part of it, be given to the II ifte or some such organiza-
tion with expert knowledge in the handling of immi-
grants and that headquarters be opened in Vera Cruz
and Mexico City. The organization in charge will then
made it simple to place an in dividual
treat the immigrants as individuals and will distribute
them in industry, trade or farming, as the case may be. pigeon-hole. But humanity breaks the cast in which
This proceeding will merely be the continuation of the some would seal it and it was discovered that manly
work carried on by the Bias in the United States be- are mentally sick who cannot come within the legal
definition of insanity. Clarence Darrow recognized this
fore the doors were closed.
President Calles should be thanked for his generous and preferred to plead the cause, not before a friendly
T e t estimony
offer, but just the same, it should be refused.
opened its doors to Jews who have fought in the Ameri-
can army. What special virtue is found in this neces-
sary service which transmutes one of the lesser breeds
into one of the superior breeds? Does the Jew become
a Protestant because he has slept in a filthy trench or
bayoneted a German? Does he become a Christian
by the mere act of joining the American Expeditionary
Forces? The reason of these Klan leaders is egregious
and baffling, to say the least. Since the test of the
lesser breeds is military service in the late unpleasant-
ness, why are Catholics and negroes excluded from the
holy and righteous organization? We think the Catho-
lic and negro surely have a more sound claim to recog-
nition than the Jews, for Catholics and negroes accept
Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah while the Jews
do not.
Is this concession made to Jewish soldiers based
upon any valid or substantial ground? We think not.
The structure of the Klan is built upon racial and re-
ligious animosity which cannot swallow Catholicism or
black skin, and we cannot understand how it can pos-
sibly admit Jews.ander any circumstances and be con-
sistent. But consistency is not stressed by any group
which thrives upon prejudice and hatred, so we do
not expect consistency from it.
But let us assume that the report is correct and
Jews who fought in the war are now admitted to mem-
The case merely reveals the need for a more care-
ful study of our youth in the schools and colleges. It
means that we must exert ourselves to developing a
social consciousness and a finer recognition of the rights
of others.
Before that Bedouin tribe is permitted to return to
Judaism. they should be furnished with Ford's "Inter-
national Je•," the works of Chamberlain, Stoddard
and a few other choice selections of neo-Nordic wisdom.
For Louis Marshall to proceed to Russia to inves-
tigate the colonization project in Crimea, as was sug-
gested by a New York newspaper, would run counter
the accepted graces. What will the official investi-
gators do if a mere layman. such as Mr. Marshall, is
deputized to inquire into a scheme involving large num-
bers of people?
The swearing in of new citizens in a court presided
over by a judge whose father was an immigrant, is as
telling an answer as may be imagined to the charge
that the alien cannot be assimilated. Those who persist
in decrying the alien may just as well deny that the
Lord "raiseth up out of the dust the poor" and "lifteth
up the needy from the dunghill."
Vh."1 ■. ..*P. —1116. •
'My
_
./A 11k,
461 .
impersonated. Of this mixture of
observation and desire for expression
the new acting was born. Felix Sal-
ten, the famous author and critic of
the Vienna Neue Freie Presse, seems
to have felt the spirit of vital youth
that emanates front this ensemble
when he writes: "From the stand-
point of acting, such a uniformity of
ensemble was not experienced here for
a long time. Memory must reach hack
very far—Stanislaysky, the first en-
semble of Dose, the period of Laube.
Garde at the Burgtheater."
In the present low state of the
European theater, this group of
American actors came like a meteor in
a dark night. Jazz, which is kept
here well within its natural hounds,
has infested every branch of public
It could not he said of this group
entertainment in Europe. The re-
of players that their imaginative real-
ception accorded to the Yiddish play-
ism is entirely of their own making.
ers was beyond the measure of ordi-
Having come from Russia, with its
nary appreciation. The gracious act
rich theatrical tradition yet their re-
of Miss MacDonald in bringing flow-
production of life is of a somewhat
ers for every actor at every perfor-
different nature; it is more intense,
mance speaks for itself. The enthu-
more alive, perhaps the result of their
siasm of the I,ondon critics finds twat
contact with the soil of their adopted
expression in an article by James
land. The Stanislaysky tradition
Agate in The Sunday Times. lie
seems only to have prepared the sub-
writes:
conscious mind for an independent
"I want my readers of The Sunday
development. In fact, the actors of
Times to take me at my word when
the Yiddish stage and the theater it-
I say deliberately, and weighing every
self are for the greatest part an
syllable, that the performance of 'The
American product.
Seven Who Were Hanged,' by these
Yiddish players, contains more great
There is, for example, the case of
acting than I have ever seen on any
the director, Maurice Swartz, who
stage in any piece," lie continues:
came here from England as a small
"The leavetaking scene in the prison
boy. The creator of the Yiddish
has a purely human quality of pathos,
theater, the poet Abraham Goldfaden,
and as it is played at the Scala is al-
came to America in the early days of
most beyond bearing." And then
his theater, expecting greater possi-
further: "It remains in my mind like
bilities here for his creation than in
music." "There was no flamboyance.
the land of its birth, Russia. In Rus-
But not Duse could have launched
sia the Yiddish theater was illegal in
you upon seas of diviner pity, nor
those days, for fear of revolutionary
Bernhardt have moved you to a great-
propaganda in a language which the
er quickening of the spirit." "I do not
very beneficiaries of parental deco-
petty official who served as censor
propose to forget anything which hap-
could not understand. America was
lion. The fact that the American lad
pens in this play."
at that time the only country where
wag not to be prepared for the cab-
On this tour those Yiddish players
a play in Yiddish could be produced
binate was sufficient reason for al-
not only succeeded in filling their
without any restrictions. Favorable
an
lowing him to remain a boor led
houses
at the time when all other
economic conditions were also of no
and the
ignoramus. Often is recalled
theaters were struggling for exis-
small influence.
t eta:r est. v t do.
the lLtircyh
tence, being in a way repaid for the
Si: it happened that, although
r
dotin g
successes of Europeans here, but also
America was hardly a center for Jew-
inc
competed artistically with the best.
ish literature previous to the war, the
In Vienna Reinhardt felt their pres-
Yiddish theater flourished here.
ence considerably, and there they also
Dramatists of the old world were scion
succeeded in attracting and actually
by favorable prospects for
luring away a great Reinhardt star
the enrichment of the theater and its
in tne person 01 011911 Din none.,
growth. The actors, however, were
his son.
came here to play in the Yiddish Art
mostly
recruited
from
the
ranks
of
The ignorance of a great portion of
Theater. A few years ago Lia Rosen
the factories of the garment trades.
the second generation of Jews of
was discovered by Alfred Kerr, the
Among these there were always to he
eastern European extraction is ap-
Berlin critic. When barely a child of
found students who were compeikd to
palling. Their Judaism, if Judaism
1G she War engaged by the Vienna
leave their studies abroad on account
it may be called, is as distinct as a
Burgtheater, where she played leading
of restrictions by' the government, in-
gray.colored object in a I.ondon fog.
parts in plays ranging from "Anti-
Their devotion to Jewish causes is as
tellectuals of that peculiar auto-
gone" to Strindberg's "Christine."
keen as the interest of a photo film
didactical type horn under the Rus-
Subsequently she played for Rein-
magazine reader in Plato's "Repub-
sian oppression in the small towns
hardt in many of his productions. Af-
lic." For all practical purposes, the
of the Pale. These formed the in-
ter a retirement of five years she was
offspring of eastern European immi-
tellectual backbone of the acting body.
engaged by Reinhardt for a produc-
grants represent a lost battalion, an
Later that" ranks were augumented
tion of "The Dibbuk," a play produced
unknown quantity sharply setting off
by proselytes from other stages. The
here by the Yiddish Art Theater,
the immigrant Jew who was riveted
elder Schildkraut and Morris Morri-
which Stanislaysky is to produce for
to the synagogue as a result of the
son, now dead, belonged to a period
Reinhardt during the latter's sojourn
momentum of ancestral devotion of
of the Yiddish stage which resembled
in these states. Miss Rosen is now
centuries-long standing from the
the late classical period and the early
to open in the same play here.
clear-cut, intelligent and positive-
lbsenite of the German theater. To
minded young American Jews who
this period also belonged the great ac-
seem to be edging their way toward
The official opening of the technical
tors produced by the Yiddish theater,
the center of American Jewish life.
institute in Haifa, Palestine, has been
David Kessler and Jacob Adler.
The Jewish layman who is at once
fixed
for October. The board of gov-
The Yiddish theater of today, as
a man of the world in his daily in-
ernors has delegated Arthur Blok of
represented by the Yiddish Art
terests and a fervent Jew in the realm
London
to superintend the inaugura-
Theater, has preserved very little of
of religion, Jewish knowledge and na-
tion arrangements and to take over
the tradition of that time. The new
tional causes was sorely needed in the
the
direction
of the institute for the
Russians preferred to begin where
early decades of American Jewish ev.
first year. Mr. Blok is on the per-
the Russians from Moscow seemed to
perience, but he war denied exist-
manent staff of the Board of Trade,
show dangerous symptoms of indura-
ence. Fathers now wring their hands
which has granted him leave of ab-
tion. It was not a distinctly inten-
in despair and feel the flush of shame
sence to enable him to undertake this
tional
choice
of
art
philosophy,
but
a
burning their cheeks. They can do
mission. He has had large experi-
subconscious adjustment to the things
nothing. For what they neglected to
ence on both the scientific and the
imbibed
from
the
surroundings
and
and
by
do, their sons, strange to say
administrative sides of technical edu-
an application of these principles to
an involuntary impulse, as it were,
cation.
the
types
that
were
waiting
to
be
may compensate.
,X415-
The tour upon which the repertoire
players of the Yiddish Art Theater
were taken by their director, Maurice
Swartz, at the end of last season
turned into a vertible triumph for
American acting and producing, al-
though it was rendered in a language
which can hardly be called American,
for its use never outlasts that short
period preceding Americanization of
the immigrant. It speaks quite well
for a group which, even in the transi-
tory period, does not neglect its cul-
tural heritage, and by its serious as-
pect of values and no little amount of
self-sacrificing idealism helps to en-
rich the sum total of American
achievements in the field of the
theater.
MP
,•■■ ••
.1%.,41 1e.
1
Ie. re.
.1".• 1•40 .21:"
.Yin•