Inc ykraonSwisn (A aorna.r.
PAGE FOUR
CiXaW
HE JE MIT ThaSil
•
iremnrn
Published Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Cs., Inc.
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The Detroit Jow•h Chronicle molten correspondence on eubJects of Inlereet
to the Jewish people, but dieelalens reeponelbIllty for an Indere...I of the • .
views expressed by the writer..
October 31, 1924
Chealwan .3, 5685
Fruits of Folly.'
4
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American Jewry is called upon to raise $500,000
as an emergency fund with which to rescue and salvage
the 5,000 unfortunates in Cuba and those 10,01)0
stranded ones in the ports of Europe.
All this wretchedness, which really transcends de-
scription, comes directly from the new immigration
law, but were it not for the greed of unscrupulous
steamship agents, the folly of sentimentalists and the
downright desperation of our bedeviled people, even
the Johnson Bill would not have claimed such a toll of
human misery. From the reports on hand the immi-
grants are abld to pass the mental and physical require-
ments for entry but the quotas are long since fulled and
they cannot enter and, what is more, those in charge
are as anxious and scrupulous in upholding the law as
are the immigration officials themselves.
, These immigrants from Russia, Roumania, Hun-
gary, Poland and Galicia find themselves in a land of
tropical heat, without a knowledge of the language,
among people whose habits, customs and appearance
are strange and exotic. There is an insignificant Jew-
ish community; there are no agencies for assistance or
employment; funds are depleted and in most cases the
immigrants are penniless, without hope of procuring
employment. This picture is not at all overdrawn; if
anything, it is an understatement. If ever in our day
we witnessed a mad adventure it is this adventure of
Israel in Cuba.
Sometimes we wonder if that pathetic childish phil-
osophy that "all will be well, God will provide," is re-
sponsible for such tragedies as this Cuban affair, or
does it come from sheer desperation, aided and abetted
by false stories, woven by these birds of prey other-
wise known as steamship agents. And yet, not long
ago, the project of transporting the 10,000 European
refugees to Mexico was seriously considered. The mat-
ter is indeed vexing and troublesome, but it cannot be
solved by practically exposing men, women and chil-
dren to almost certain annihilation. Surely those who
are in comfort and well-adjusted need not become im-
patient, even though the harried and driven ones see
no prospect of escape except by taking the most dan-
gerous chances.
One appalling feature of the whole affair is the
plight of young girls and children. The men and ma-
tured women are already accustomed to hardships and
the hazards of life, but many of these immature ones
may have their whole lives blasted by this corrosive in-
fluence.
If American Jewry thinks its day of giving is past
it will have to revise that belief. This fund for emer-
gency relief is only a half million for the present. We
are certain more will be required before these wretch-
ed ones are settled in sonic place where there is a pos-
sibility of maintaining life with sonic degree of de-
cency.
This most unhappy condition may serve to awaken
our people to a realization that chasing the will-o-the-
wisp and the mirage is not the best pursuit for a sup-
posedly practical, hard-headed people. American
Jewry, however, must answer this present call with that
magnanimity which characterized its giving before.
Jewish intellectual and Manual worker. This advance
had been painful and laborious. The Jew had not
only the centuries-old antagonism of the Russian peo-
ple to overcome but even greater handicaps and bur-
dens were the traditions of the Ghetto, which viewed
manual labor as rather degrading and placed a prem-
ium upon Talmudic scholarship, speculation and trade.
The nimble-witted trader, trained in the school of hard
bargaining, persisted even in the artisan, and when the
necessity arose the skin newly-grown-on was shed with-
out much effort or persuasion. And that necessity did
arise with overwhelming and surprising swiftness and
force with the collapse of Russian industry in 1917.
Instantly the Jew became speculator, petty trader,
usurer, in short, a parasite. If his position before the
revolution was one of sufferance and it was the genu-,
ineness of his conversion to industry that was ques-
tioned. If his position in Russian life was indefinite,
unstable and untenable before the Bolshevist regime
was ushered in it surely became more so after t at
time. In the first days of the revolution the insistence
upon proletarian origins and the disfavor of bourgoise
connections made the position of the Jews more un-
happy than that of any nationality in Russia. When
the first enthusiasms• for proletarian superiority passed
away and the New Economic Policy was inaugurated
the position of the Jew improved slightly. But through
all the vicissitudes and changes in policy the pre-emi-
nence of proletarian origins persisted and the Jew, as
non-proletarian, has been'a pariah. Economically, the
Jew has been living on the edge of a knife. As a nep-
man he is treated with contempt and suspicion, even in
the best times, arid in times such as these which now
prevail in Russia, he is a leper, despicable beyond all
description, for some of 'them are well-fed and prosper-
ous while starvation is everywhere. The poverty-strick-
en Jews receive no consideration for the double reason
that they are nepmen and non-proletarian.
The situation is indeed tragic in the land of social
experiment. The Jew suffers most from these experi-
ments, for in no sense does he belong in the scheme of
things as they are in the Russia of today. But we are
hardly prepared to accept the catastrophic estimate of
these cautious reporters. There is no need to exagger-
ate. Even an understatement of the fact is enough to
fill one with despair.
Out of this hodge-podge of blunderings, famine,
unsound theories, prejudice and passion arrives one
group of clear-visioned, forceful and realistic men or-
ganized in the Ort. They are at, present trying to
raise $1,000,000 to extend their activities, which con-,
sist in the training of Jews in the crafts, arts and agri-
culture. The fact 'that the Ort is asking for $1,000,000
only is conclusive proof that the statement of the dele-
gates. is grossly exaggerated, for the Ort would not
hesitate to ask American Jews for $10,000,000 to save,
salvage and rehabilitate Russian Jewry.
Ilelp the Ort so that Russian Jewry will escape
from its untenable, anomolous position in Russian life.
Help the Ort so that the movement to give Russian Jew-
ry a respected position of equality with the other na-
tionalities in Russia may become a fact.
Three Million Jews Will Starve.
The three cautious American delegates who attend-
ed the Carlsbad Conference report that there will be
three million less Jews in the world unless the political
and economic conditions in Russia are remedied. We
wonder how many Jews in Russia would starve if the
delegates were not cautious or if they did not base their
conclusions upon facts, but rather upon vaporings and
fancy. There would not be enough Jews in Russia to
die, they would really have to import sonic of our Ga-
lician and Roumanian Jews to supply the angel of death
with enough victims of starvation.
No doe proposes to minimize the catastrophic fac-
tors in Russian life, nor would any one with an appre-
ciation of the serious economic malady in that land tat-
tehipt to dissipate the grave dangers which beset our
unhappy people by a picture of hope and cheer, when
the facts obviously contradict such a picture. The con-
clusions of the delegates are based upon the facts ob-
served in a Russia which is with a famine hardly less
serious than the Russia of four years ago. when the
failure of the crops in the Volga combined with the in-
adequacy of railroad transportation created a condi-
tion which taxed even the most pessimistic imagination.
The position of the Jews in the economic lifd of
Russia must be understood in order to appreciate in
some measure their present precarious situation. Be-
ginning With the abolition of serfdom in Russia, which
synchronizes with what may be called the Russian in-
dustrial revolution, the find the Jew definitely, though
slowly, breaking down the barriers of Ghetto economic
isolation and restriction. The putty trade, smuggling,
speculation and usury and the general occupations of
living by one's wits which characterized Ghetto Jewry
gave way to trades and callings which were clasilied
among the productive. When the world war broke
out in Europe the insignificant, practically negligible,
number of useful. productive Jewish workers of the
Ghetto days had grown until more than 50 per cent
were productive, useful workers. These were com-
paratively happy days for Russian Jewry despite the
discrimination and occasional pogroms. The Jew had
lost his parasitic position and was silently and inexor-
ably hewing out a place in Russian society where 'he
could point to his present accomplishments and not past
grandeur. Even the stubborn and apparently irrefrag-
able prejudices of Russian -bureaucracy were crumb-
ling in the face of this substantial contribution of the
iSgeS1<iii
rie
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Proommrsimummmonammail ,
AS WE GO
ALONG
Noted Jewish Men In Old Russia
Rejoicing.
Editorial .Note:—There were great Jews in the Russia of yo,-.
(lay, men who served their country and who were devoted to th,
people, far-seeing when it came to Jewish interests, courageous a ,
daring. Most of these men have passed on, but they have left Leh ;
them others who are carrying on the struggle to save their f,
Jews from pauperism and moral destruction. Below are told
life-stories of a few of these great Russo-Jewish leaders and t'
work,
H
AVE the Jews lost the art of
bringing to the fore the spirit
of joy in their religious activity? The
everlasting minor key which the Jews
employ in their synagogue worship,
whether the occasion be the Day of
Atonement, Simchas Torah or Pass-
over, has become irksome. Shedding
tears as one recites the line beginning
with "I rejoice in Thy promise" or
as one utters the buoyant psalms in
the flatlet service, contravenes the
spirit of faith and courage which is
the mainspring of Jewish spiritual
persistence.
All of which impels us to 'remind
the Jews of this city, particularly
those who have, as it were, accli,
mated themselves to the American
situation both materially and spirit-
ually, that they are developing a Ju-
daism which is weighted with sor-
row, fatalism and heaviness of spirit.
While many Jews in this community
and other communities throughout
the world were expressing the spirit
of Simchas Torah in colorful, though
restrained, demonstrations, not ' un-
mindful of the fact that rejoicing in
the law implies a realization of its
meaning in the life of the Jewish
people and in the. progress of human
culture, the most influential local
congregation adhering to traditional
concepts observed the festive event
in a most depressingly apathetic man-
ner. They seemed to forget that on
a certain memorable occasion King
David danced before the Ark of the
Covenant. He who wrote some of
the most stirring prayers in the liturgy
of the human soul knew the joy that
one realizes when he abandons him-
self to an exalted attitude of mind.
One of the losses which we believe
Reform Jews have sustained , is their
too rigid insistence upon the letter
of Biblical law with reference to the
holy and festive (lays. The tradi-
tion-minded Jew sees in the Feast of
the Rejoicing in the Law an occasion
for a notable testimony to the beauty
and freshness of his religious heri-
tage. His Sabbaths are rest (lays for
the body and the mind, bring sur-
ceases from dreariness and stimulates
him in the joy of living, the joy of
Jewish living.
Let us restore to synagogue wor-
ship the warmth of ardent personal
participation, the song of the lips and
the music of the heart. If we should
reflect the optimism and the assur-
ance which our prayers convey we
should feel our faces brighten with a
radiance that is all but totally absent
from our present mien.
Dangerous Assimilation.
From far-off Sumarkand comes news of the disin-
tegration of the Jews of Turkestan and Bockhara.
Many will ask, What do we care about Turkestan? How
can the facts of Jewish life in that benighted country
touch us in any fashion? But it seems that the causes
of disintegration are operative in one place as•well as
another. •
In a letter which shows • close, expert observation,
L. Matoff describes the sad state of Jewry. In a most
pessimistic vein he relates the following: "Still worse
is the situation with regard to Jewish education. The
result is that the young generation is Subject to assimi-
lative tendencies which are spreading here more rapid-
ly than in Russia. The young generation notices on one
hand the ignorance and backwardness of their parents
—a dark fanaticism. kbelief in charms and talismans
without a spark of real Jewish culture; on the other
hand lofty and promising tendencies, brought home by
the revolution, present a fascination to the young mind.
Having no cultural background of their own, they fall
victims to assimilation and abandon early their heri-
tage."
"The splendid isolation" of Turkestan and Bock-
haran Jewry from the rest of the world Jewry is a mis-
fortune. If this isolation is to continue, the Jewish com-
munities of Turkestan are doomed to national destruc-
tion.
If the names of some American Jewish communi-
ties were substituted for Turkestan and Bockhara
hardly any difference in the picture would be noted.
These communities enjoy a "splendid isolation" and
have no spark of real Jewish culture, with the older
ones - steeped in fanaticism and with a wealth of super-
stitution that is not less than amazing.
The prospect of an increasing "splendid isolation"
has increased with the recent immigration legislation
and though the fanaticism and belief in talismans may
not repel the young. the absence of a Jewish culture
with backbone, clue to lack of spiritual values. may
have an influence not too easily overcome. As an active
force which may cause an accelerated assimilation is
the too great materialism of many of the elders.
When one can say of American Jewry in its "splen-
did isolation" that the Jewish population here, as a
whole. cannot boast of too much scholarship, and we
add this salt to the meat. that not much instructive val-
ue can be attached to the illegal Chedorim. because the
instructors here have not sinned greatly with an excess
of /01 0 NV ledge. then we are indeed on the high road to
destruction as Jews. ' •
, Cultures do not grow out of themselves. They must
be nurtured and _cultivated as much in America as in
Turf e•tan if they are to be vital and have backbone.
Half-baked intellectuals. pseudo scientists. are sure-
ly it pestilentual lot. Brazil has been singularly free
from anti-Semitism. A German anti-Semite has been
carrying on a poisonous propaganda against the Jews
in Brazil. If our South American neighbors will pay any
heed to this brood of hate-mongers we shall he much
mistaken. They really have too keen a sense of humor
and a too fine appreciation of life to pay any attention
to these clamorous disseminators of malice. Perhaps
this German anti-Semite want,rto assure Hitler. Luden-
dorf and the ex-Kaiser that the fool killer has not
reached Brazil yet.
.4R1 ph, •
Memorial.
BARON GINZBURG
ilan-
Baron Horace Cinzburg,
thropist and financier, was born in
1883 in southern Russia. While still
a young man, he assumed charge of
the banking house founded by his
father in l'etograd which occupied a
unique position throughout all of Eu-
rope, because it enjoyed the confidence
of the Russian government. Baron
Ginzburg besastue known 'as a patron
of art, science, literature and music,
giving liberal financial assistance to
young talent. It was through him
that the famous Itussiiin-Jewish sculp-
tor, Antokolsky, was enabled to com-
plete his studies at the Petrograd
Academy. In return for the services
which the baron rendered to the vo-
cational school maintained by l'rince
Nicholas, he was Iliad,' a life menther
of its council and appointed a member
of the government council of com-
merce and industry. His influential
position presented many opportunities
for intervention in favor of the Jews
and more than one administrative
measure directed against them was
prevented by him during the 40 years
of his close contact with the govern-
ment.
In 1882, following the first pogroms
in the south of Russia, Baron Ginz-
burg obtained permission fur the sum-
moning of a convocation of Jewish
committees, of which he was chosen
president. In company with a few
, other prominent Jews among whom
were Professor Nicholas
'
Bast, Sam-
uel Poliakov and Jacob Halpern, he
wa , invited to participate in the con-
ferences of the Count l'alen Commis-
sion for the revision of law's regula-
ting the rights of the Jews in the em-
pire. Ile presented several memor-
andums to the government, showing
the inevitability of disastrous econom-
ic consequences if the Jews were pro-
hibited from settling on the land as
agricultrists. In 1883, he took an ac-
tive part in the organization of the
Society for the Promotion of Culture
Among Jews and was its leader.
The future of Russian Jewry lay
close to Baron Ginzburg's interests,
and he sincerely believed that their
economic regeneration could come only
through productive labor. Together
with Poliakov and Professor Bata, he
was instrumental in founding in 1800
the Association for the Promotion of
Agriculture and Technical Trades
Aiming the Jews, generally known as
the (1rt. In 1892, after insistent urg-
ing on the part of Baron Hirsch, he
accepted the presidency of the Jew-
ish Colonization Association, though
he was not an advocate of emigration.
Later he succeeded in persuading the
association to allot funds fur the pro-
motion of technical trades and agri-
culture among the Jews in Russia, and
to found farm schools in Minsk, Novo-
poltava, Orgeiv and other sections.
Baron Ginzburg personally contribu-
ted large sums of money to the Jew-
ish agricultural colonies in South Rus-
sia, particularly when they suffered
temporary setbacks, as the result of
crop failures. In 1006, he was elected
president of the Oct. Ile died in 1900
in Petograd.
IF there is anythig which Judaism
resents it is superstition. And if
there is anything which the rabbis
should seek to restore to a foundation
of reasonableness it is the institution
of memorial services. We know how
prone men are to let themselves go
when their thoughts hark back to
their departed loved ones. The ra-
tionalist of the day before becomes a
hopeless sentimentalist and he who
usually styles himself as free from
the incubus of religion for about 360
days in the year will, stealthily per-
haps, wedge his way into a synagogue
during the memorial services on
Passover, the Feast of Weeks, the
Day of Atonement and the Feast of
Conclusion.
Butand here is the saddening as-
pect of the situation—just as soon as
the service is ended, out go these erst-
while worshippers and return to their
businesses and occupations, as mind-
ful of the true significance of me-
morial services as they are of the
snows of yesteryear.
To give thought to those who have
gone before us, to contemplate the
essential uncertainty of life, to seek
understanding in the process of life
and death, to comprehend what our
duties are as men and women and
as adherents to Judaism by putting
ourselves aright in our relation with
our ancestors and posterity—to do
these things Ls to render a memorial
service an occasion of inspiration and
dignity. But to pray for the repose
of the dead and to give hardly a
thought to our part in the communal
situation is not Jewish and suggests
superstition and fear for our own
status when we no longer inhabit the
earthly scene.
JACOB HALPERN
Jacob Halpern, prominent lawyer
and social worker, was born in \Vilna
in 18 10. Ile studied law at the 'Uhl-
versa). of Moscow and was appointed
to an important post in the ministry
of justice. Ile was active in Jewish
communal movements and after the
death of Baron Ginzburg he became
president of the Society for the Pro-
motion of Culture Among the Jew's in
Russia. Ile' was a member of the con-
vention of Jewish deputies and of the
Count Palen commission for the revis-
ion of laws affecting the Russian Jews.
But the greater part of Halp•rn's en-
deavors were directed toward the at-
tempts to interest Jews in productive
labor. Ile was one of the charter
members of the Oct and became its
president in 1909, after the death of
Professor Mixt. Until his death in
1916, he guided the destinies of the
organization, and it was and..
pervision that the statutes ..1
were perfected.
SAMUEL POLIAKOV
Samuel Poliakov, famous P,
railroad builder, financier and
thropist, was born in 1036.
the first to design a working id 4
system in Russia and fur that co
taunt, as well as for his estaldol
of a net of real estate banks, I,.
made a noble by the Czar. A
interested in Jewish lift.,
gave financial support to varlet,- d
ish institutions and was invited
the Count Palen commission, 'Ile
for the organization of the Ill
his, and resulted from the pogr.,
I
1880-1881.
Professor Bast, 1;sed i
Ginzburg and he were the actual (die-
ders of the association. Poliakev orig-
inated the plan fur a reserve find f.r
the Ort, which, in an enlarged fern,.
has become the million dollar m.—m;-
struction fund now being raised to tin
rope and the United States. Pididledi
was the president of the Ort unto 11,
death in 1085, and a great part
the
deficits of the organization dune; di
first years were covered by hint p.r.
sonally.
DR. LEO KATZENELSON
Leo Katzenelson, scientist, pii)o•
cian, writer and communal
was born in Tchernigov, Itto,a, in
1817. After completing a rald.orlial
school, he entered the Petrograd Med-
cial Academy. On his return from
- the Russian-Turkish war of le•7, is
which he served as physician, lir.
Katzenelson began to write under t h e
pseudonym of Bouki Ben Jogli.
short stories and novels are ratisid
with the best symbolic 110111.'W I It ■ ra•
lure of the time and of his sci,
articles one, entitled " ,,,The At,c riy
(Normal and Pathological) it I•,•
-
eient Hebrew Literature and I
• ,"
latial to Ancient peek
was translated by Trotest.or
lir.
for his "Ilistorische Stialico
Katzenelson was unc of the odd
the Jewish Encyclopedia in Ka
was active in the Society for tl,,
motion of Culture, and t.,entu,
A d
came its vice-president.
of Isaac Bar Levinson, who ode..
the idea of agriculture among .1,
early as the beginning of the
.1
teenth century, Dr. Katzenelson
• t
his novel "Ilasomir" as a
-
pressing his own support of the
ment. In 1892, he was elected t.
executive committee of the Olt
from then until his death in Pill
was active in the work of the a• .•
tion.
PROFESSOR BAXT
Professor Nicholas Baxt, prom
Russian physiologist, writer and
mann) worker was born in Is II
studied at the University of P. Ito-
is ms g
grad and in 1067, after
from Germany, where he had
tritl.r.try
sent or a fellowship by the
of (situation, was appointed assi•tabt
professor of the university. Ile I,.
canto known as the greatest
on nervous physiology in Ittit.sia; his
b u nks anti essays on 4he subject were
considere4iVrtinlartl works. Later he
'Was n membdr of the faculty of the
Woman's Medical Institute and mils ,
a member of the scientific comink-
of the ministry of education. Pedds-
sor Mod served on the Count P.,ict
commission and was a strong soon 't
er of the idea that the future two , •
is happiness of the Jews was aft ••:
able only through the protnoti ■
technical trades and agricolt .t.
among them. This conviction led
to become one of the founders
Ort and the first quarter of a (TT
-
in the life of that organization
assured entirely by him and by•
uel Poliakov. Professor Bazt
most of his energies toward th ,
tablishnient of Nl•ational
tool supply systems throughout ' -
country. Ile died in 1901.
trESIMW23111311 1111P3111716111 Mill"agal3a61111111W""U113g11"111MiniGI'l;
Distinction.
'T'llERE is a Republican, Demo-
' erotic or Progressive, if not a
royal, road to greatness in these
United States, For three and one-
half years in every four it is closed
to public use but for six months it is
free from all tolls and other interfer-
ence. Do you want to be distin-
guished? Here is the recipe.
Suppose you are an editor of a
weekly paper, the president of a
Iodize or a preacher in an obscure
congregation. l'ou know you are a
man of uncommon faculties and intel-
lectual power. You realize you are
a leader whom the public benightedly'
has ignored. You are entitled to rec-
ognition.
So you betake yourself to the
White Howse at Washington or in-
clude yourself in a delegation of "dis-
tinguished Jewish scholars and com-
munal leaders" and you tell the Presi-
dent that you and the masses whom
you represent are going to vote for
hint and that in consequence he is
going to win by an overwhelming ma-
jority. For the moment you forget
that previously you upbraided the
President for certain sins of omis-
sion and commission and that you
waxed hotly eloquent in calling him
to task for various and sundry atti-
tudes which reacted hurtfully upon
your people.
But being a man of distinction, one
of the noted men in your calling, you
forgive and forget; and being a duti-
ful member of one party rather than
another you rise above petty consider-
ations and rally to the support of
that gre-e-at man who is your party's
standard-bearer.
The recipe is a workable one.
To My Soul
Be wise, my precious soul, and haste
'f o bow to God in reverence.
Let vanities no more be chased,
Bethink Thee ere this world lies waste,
The world that waits Thee going hence.
Thy life to God's life is akin,
Concealed like His beneath a veil,
Since Ile is free of flaw or sin,
Like purity Thou too canst win,
To reach perfection wherefore fail?
Y
•
lL
And as his arm upholds the sky,
Do thou thy dumb brute body lift,
Thou, soul, to which we can descry
No like on earth-0 magnify
The God of whom thou art a gift.
4(1.
Greet then, my soul, thy Rock with praise,
Hail him, my inmost heart, with song
Unceasingly throughout my days,
And let all souls thei? voices raise
My benediction to prolong.
—SOLOMON IAN GABIROL.
(Translated by Israel Zang-will .1
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