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bETROITIEWISII &RONNIE

Published Weekly by The Jo Tish Chronicle Publishing Co

JOSEPH J. CUMMINS
JACOB H. SCHAKNE

S

Inc.

President
nary sad Treasurer

Entered as Second-clan matter March 3. 1916. at the Postoffice •1 Detroit,
Mich.. under the Act of March 3, 11 , 79.

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The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondent* on subjects of interest to
the Jewish people, but disclaims responsibility for an indorsement of the view.
expressed by the writers.

June 3, 1927

Sivan 3, 5687

$100,000 for the Yeshiva.

:AD

yo

Yeshiva College which is now in the process of con-
struction in New York City is appealing to American
Jewry at large for the two and half millions of dollars
that still remain to complete the building fund. Of
this sum Detroit is asked to contribute $100,000. De-
troit is the first city outside of New York that has been
appealed to for this purpose. New York City, where
approximately half of the Jewish population of Amer-
ica lives has already contributed half of the total
amount of the building fund, $2,500,000. This amount
was raised in pledges payable over a period of five years
in semi-annual instalments. Other communities are
now asked to contribute on the same basis.
What shall be Detroit's answer to the appeal of the
'Yeshiva?
We could plead that, as some put it, "we've been
driven to death with drives," We could plead, of
course, that we are even now in the midst of at least
two fund-raising campaigns—not drives, to be sure, but
campaigns to collect pledges aggregating $85,000-
$60,000 for the J. D. C., and $25,000 for the U. P. A.
We could plead poor business conditions. We could
put off the Yeshiva campaign till the fall or even later.
There is practically no end of things we could say or do
to evade the rt .uest of the Yeshiva at this time. Shall
we plead poverty or delay the campaign till some fu-
ture time?
In f):. e first place it must be remembered that while
the popular phrase is that "Detroit Jewry contributed"
this or that amount for such and such a cause, the fact
is that "Detroit Jewry" does nothing of the sort in the
strict sense of the phrase. Certain individuals are by
training, by education, by predisposition or by the mag-
ic of persuasive publicity impelled to contribute to cer-
tain causes and the sum total of these individuals and
the amount they collectively contribute is what we
mean when we say that "Detroit Jewry contributes."
Now, as we all know, every cause has its partisans,
some completely "sold on the proposition," others mere-
ly outside sympathizers. Although, theoretically, all
the money that goes from Detroit to the various nation-
al headquarters is contributed by Detroit Jewry, but
practically, it does not all come out of the same pock-
eta. Except for a few men in every community who,
having definitely embarked upon a philanthropic ca-
reer, give to every worthy cause, the bulk of the givers,
having limited means, give only to those causes that
they have most at heart.
Let us see how matters stand in our own commun-
ity. There are in Detroit about 2,000 Jews who con-
tribute regularly. The U. P. A. can usually depend on
about 2,000 contributors, The J. D. C. has about 3,000.
Obviously there is considerable over-lapping in the per-
sonnel of these to large bodies of givers. It is gener-
ally expected that about 75 per cent of the total reve-
nue, however, will come from about five percent of the
total number of givers. That is to say, that among the
2,000 regular givers, three-fourths of the money is sub-
scribed by 100 men.
It is to this hundred men that the Yeshiva makes
its appeal. Mr. Selig who is here in the interests of
the Yeshiva building fund has well said that an appeal
for a Yeshiva, a house of learning, or any other educa-
tional cause, cannot appeal to the large body of givers.
It must rely on the generosity of a few large givers, at
least for its building funds. Of this class of givers De-
troit can reasonably be presumed to possess at least 100
and, if big giving can be defined as a donation of $500
for a five year period, we could easily muster 200

givers.

Yeshiva College is an orthodox school. It will

train orthodox rabbis in its post-graduate rabbinical

seminary. To that extent it is an orthodox enterprise.
To that extent is has a sectarian bias. While Mr. Selig
and other of its protagonists define their orthodoxy as
"the Jewish religion," we can see some very well-de-
fined points of difference between orthodoxy and other
shades of religious belief and practice, for which other
protagonists make similar claims. The fact remains
that the Yeshiva will turn out orthodox rabbis to min-
ister to that section of American Jewry that desires or-
thodox forms of worship and shares the orthodox view-

point.

If the rabbinical seminary were all that the Yeshiva

had to offer we would expect its appeal to be confined
to the orthodox community. But it appears that the Ye-

shiva is to be more, much more than a seminary for the
training of orthodox rabbis. It is to be a university of
higher education in all branches of Jewish and Hebrew
learning. More than that, it is to be at the same time
a school of secular learning. That being the case its
appeal is automatically widened to include all who have
at heart the education of Jewish youth whether in sec-
ular or religious scholarship. It becomes a Yeshiva of
the whole Jewish people. Practically all the institu-
tions of higher learning in America have a school of
religion or a special college for the training of Chris-
tian ministers attached to them.
The student who enters Northwestern University
in Evanston, for example, is under no obligations to con-
tinue after graduation as a student in the Garrett Bib-
lical Institute. Likewise in the Yeshiva the student
will enroll for instruction in Jewish and secular learn-
log. So far as Jewish learning is concerned there can
be little difference of opinion as to what shall be taught
and how it shall be imparted, especially in the elemen-
As long as the Yeshiva gives the
wry
Student a good foundation in the Jewish and Hebrew
:classics its makes little difference what the religious

convictions of its board of governors, or even its fac-
ulty, may be. With that foundation the student is free
to return to his chosen field of work a well-educated

•olVtfl'
"tset•oe

and Jewishly equipped person. If he wishes to enter
the rabbinate he can then decide for himself which de-
nomination of Judaism meets with the requirements of
his temperament or his inclinations and then choose the
rabbinical seminary that is maintained for the training
of rabbis for that domination. If he wants to be an or-
thodox rabbi he can enroll in the Yeshiva's seminary,
but he is under no compulsion to do so. In any event
he will be prepared.
Now that is no more and no less than any American
university offers its students--with this important ex-
ception, of course, that the American university does
not offer elementary instruction in Jewish learning. In
so far as it prepares the student for any kind of relig-
ious training it prepares him for Protestant Christian-
ity. Its elementary courses in Bible literature, religious
history, philosophy and kindred subjects are valuable
as preparation only for the Protestant Christian view-
point, and, as preliminary training for the ministry,
they are hardly adequate for the prospective rabbini-
cal student. If they can be considered in the light of
preparatory training for any ministry they are prepara-
tory only for the Protestant Christian ministry,
In all these things the Yeshiva will lay its emphasis
on the Jewish point of view. If there are any who are
afraid that the religious and even the secular instruction
of the Yeshiva will be colored by the orthodox bias
they can at least assure themselves that the instruction
will be Jewish and not Protestant Christian. Its bias
will be the Jewish bias.
Doubtless there are many Jewish young men and
women in America who desire, or whose parents desire
for them, a purely secular education. For such stu-
dents there are such schools, not an abundant supply,
but surely enough to supply the demand. But there are
certainly many other parents and many other young
men and 'women who would prefer a school with an
avowed Jewish purpose and a eurrieuituit designed to
inculcate Jewish ideas. For them the Yeshiva will be an
ideal institution of learning. From its large student
body, its thousands of graduates, the Jewish communi-
ties of America will draw their Jewishly intelligent
leadership and the rabbinical seminaries, orthodox,
conservative and reform alike, their rabbinical students.
That the job of building the first great Jewish house of
learning in America has fallen to the hands of orthodox
Jews is beside the point. It is first and before every-
thing else a Jewish house of learning and as such it
deserves the support of every Jew who has Jewish
learning at heart, whatever his religious convictions
may be. In fact, the more diverse the support that is
given to the Yeshiva the more certain can we be that
its instruction will be non-sectarian—that is, in all de-
partments except the rabbinical.
To return once more to the appeal the Yeshiva is
making to Detroit Jewry. There are, as we have
shown, at least 100 big givers in Detroit. It is true,
of course, that they have given to other causes.
But they are not among those who are now being
solicited for payment. of last year's pledges either by the
J. D. C. or the U. P. A. They paid their last year's
pledges last year as big givers invariably do. For them
the Yeshiva appeal comes at an opportune time.
Jewish education has not been a frequent or an
immoderate pleader for their support. Compared with
other causes education is asking for no more than the
crumbs of Jewish philanthropy. By comparison with
the gigantic foreign relief drives the Yeshiva campaign
is a mere pittance. The hundred or even two hundred
givers who are solicited for the $100,000 which has
been named as Detroit's share will have five years in
which to pay their pledges at the rate of ten per cent
every six months. That does not seem an immodest re-
quest to make even of a city that has undergone and
still is undergoing a business depression. If all who
are really able to do so will contribute to the Yeshiva
building fund in Detroit it will not be difficult to raise
the amount that is asked. But, unless a handful of the
biggest givers are to make up the amount among them-
selves, the money will have to come from all groups.
No one group can be expected to carry it alone.
We believe that the Yeshiva has a just claim on all
groups of Jewry. It will serve all. It should be built
by the help of all. Detroit is the first city outside of
New York that is asked to help. Let us help, and help
quickly' and liberally.

Facing the Facts.

Louis Lipsky, president of the Zionist Organization
of America, in his statement to the press upon his re-
turn from London recently, revealed frankly and plain-
ly the present condition in Palestine. In tone and in
substaiffe -Mr. Lipsky was voicing the mood and the
judgeMents of the Actions Committee. The sum and
substance of the whole matter is that the Zionist Execu-
tive has decided to meet the course of changing con-
ditions in Palestine with a program of action better
suited to those conditions. In a word, they have decid-
ed to face the facts.
Let us say at once that the facts are not such as to
discourage anybody. It is true, of course, that there is
unemployment in Palestine, that doles have eaten into
the funds at the disposal of the executive, that immigra-
tion has been proceeding, until recently, at too rapid a
pace and that the Tel Aviv boom was largely a bubble
—while all these things are admittedly true, there is no
reason to despair. Such conditions are incidental to all
colonizing enterprises. To those zealots among the
Zionists who until now would tolerate no criticism or
heed no warning, Mr. Lipsky's statement will come as
a bitter disappointment. But in the eyes of thoughtful
Zionists and all fair-minded sympathizers Mr. Lipsky's
present attitude will only raise him in their esteem as
a clear-thinking and able leader.
Movements and causes have a way of hardening
into dogmas. They breed sacred shibboleths and sac-
rosanct persons. They become sensitive to criticism.
They are inclined to lose that pliancy and adaptability
that made them irresistable in their youth. In short,
they become institutionalized.
Zionism cannot afford these fashionable diseases.
It is not a mere collection of theoretical ideals however
lofty its aims may be. It is primarily a machine for set-
tling Jews on the land in Palestine and welding them
into a harmonious and economically sound society. Such
things cannot be achieved without all the hazards that
attend human effort. They must proceed by the method
of trial and error. That is all that even the so-called
"exact" sciences can claim. No one can expect more
of any movement. Mr. Lipsky and the Zionist Execu-
tive are to be congratulated on their present attitude.

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Tagtaxixts,, naxtztutau.,i ?.

ibo oifpliT5 "Echoes From Detroit Pulpits"

-H-.

I notice much talk in the Jewish press regarding the
merger of congregations. This is very likely due to the
merger of Temple Beth-El and Temple Emanu-El in New
York. But there is much more to this question than
merely that of economy. I am afraid that our congre-
gations are growing too large. And when we become too
institutionalized we lose an intimacy that I think is
essential to congregational welfare. And when I say
that I not not thinking of "welfare" in terms of income.
Before we realize it, we have become a congregation of
strangers. The pulpit find it impossible to even know
the entire membership, let alone trying to maintain
friendly contact with the members. I think rabbis and
boards of trustees will do well to make haste slowly in
the matter of developing unwieldy and cumbersome con-
gregations. There is grave danger that a great deal
more will be lost spiritually and culturally and, let us
add, sentimentally, than will be gained in reducing ex-
penses and increasing the income.
-
•
The other night I re-read Tobenkin's interesting book,
"God of Might," which deals in a most understanding and
analytical way with the question of intermarriage. And
as I read it the thought came to my mind that in most
cases, unless the Christian girl throws her lot with her
husband's circle of friends, and with his interests, the
situation becomes hopeless. In cities like New York and
Chicago and possibly Boston, where intermarriage occurs
in wealthy families, it seems to be the rule for the Chris-
tian influence to predominate and a church affiliation on
the part of the Jew or Jewess becomes the accepted mode
of procedure, carrying with it, in a modified way, social
prestige. But in the smaller cities, the Jewish influence
predominates, at least so it seems to me. Where there
are no children, of course the problem is greatly simpli-
fied. I think it would prove interesting, instructive and
illuminating resoling, if we had the actual experiences
of couples who have married out of their faith. There
is scarcely a month that I ant not asked by some one,
Christian or Jew, whether or not intermarriage as a gen-
eral rule is a success. And behind these questions I some-
times detect an anxiety, as if the questioners themselves
want to make a try of it. I think I shall recommend
Tobenkin's book to the next one who makes such an
inquiry,

The idea of a capricious God dies hard. But liberal
Christians are surely beginning to consider more inti-
mately the idea of a God who works not contrary to the
laws which Ile has made, but in harmony with them.
This, of course, is destructive to miracles. Said the
Christian Century, with just a shade of irony:

It is gratifying to be able to state that, so far
as we have observed, there have been no efforts
to interpret the devastating floods in the Missis-
sippi valley as punishment inflicted by an outraged
deity upon the sinful dwellers in the lowlands. If
the calamity had been a tornado, a fire, an earth-
quake or a tidal wace, doubless there would have
been the usual outbursts of piously blasphemous
explanation that the divine patience was exhaust-
ed, and that the sufferers were getting what was
coming to them for their intolerable iniquities.
. . . The conception of a God who acts through
the orderly operation of laws rather than arbitrary
acts of will ih defiance of them is still hard to
grasp. One does not have to be a materialist to
believe that the reason for the flood in the bottom
lands is not that God is angry with Arkansas and
Louisiana, but that there is too much water in the
river to run off through the normal channel.

Nathan Straus, in a public address the other (lay, re-
ferred to Henry Ford as a contemptible coward. He had
in mind particularly the refusal of Mr. Ford to entertain
Mr. Straus' proposal made last year to submit Mr. Ford's
wild-eyed accusations of an international Jewish con-
spiracy based upon the Protocols to an impartial com-
mittee, composed of Christians and Jews, largely of the
former. Mr. Straus went on to say that he wouldn't ex-
change places with Ford for all his millions. One can-
not help but sympathize with Mr. Straus' indigation in
this stutter. But it is unfortunate that such a fine spirit
as Nathan Straus, beloved of the whole world, should
have to he irritated by a Henry Ford. Whether or not
he is a contemptible coward I am in no position to say.
But I am convinced that in view of his evasive tactics
In avoiding every opportunity to prove the worth of his
charges against the Jews, the world generally is agreed
that he has acted like a coward.

I am going to start with Elbert Hubbard, but I ex-
pect to finish with Rabbi Solomon Foster of Newark, N,
J., editor of the Jewish Chronicle of that city. I may not
reach him for a paragraph or two, but don't become im-
patient. A famous cartoonist by the name of Denslow
once drew a picture of Elbert Hubbard working on a
roadway. It was a very hot day. On a tense sat three
gentlemen wearing black. They looked like three black
crows and as they sat and watched Hubbard working in
the terrible heat, each croaked to the other: "I wonder
if he is sincere!" The reason this cartoon was drawn
was because so many persons accused Hubbard of being
insincere, whatever that means.
•
•
A couple of weeks ago I had occasion to refer to Pr.
Stephen Wise's bold declaration in favor of a rehearing
for Sacco and Vanzetti. And I remarked that Dr. Wise
was accused of being sensational because he spoke in
understandable language of certain individuals and issues
in present day society that were in his judgment inimical
to the welfare of society. I did not say that Dr. Wise
was a sensationalist, but I did say that he was accused of
being a sensationalist because he did these things. So I
concluded that if telling the truth in a bold way and call-
ing a spade a spade regardless of whom it hurt was sen-
sationalism then I thanked God that Dr. Wise was sensa-
tional.

Rabbi Foster of Newark, reading this statement ad-
justed a sharp pointed arrow to his editorial bow and
shot it straight at me. I cannot agree with my good
friend in his conclusions. I know men in the pulpit who
have messages of a corrective character in relations to
social injustice, but they are so involved and so cau-
tiously expressed that they make no impression upon the
hearer and whatever good is in them is lost because of
the weasel words that ore'used. Roosevelt was a sensa-
tionalist in the some manner that Dr. Wise is. Ile had
to get his message to the people in the language they
could understand.

When I say that men should express themselves boldly
or courageously I do not say they should speak irre-
sponsibly. But it is completely unfair to charge a man
with sensationalism because he roughly attacks interests
and individuals which in his opinion are not playing the
game fairly. Judge Gary and every other steel manu-
facturer in the United States said that it was impossible
to work a plan of decent working hours for the men.
But strange to say after every social worker and then
the President of the United States, Mr. Harding, spoke
differently, it was found that the impossible wan possible.
Dr. Wise attacked Garyism, which was certainly an un-
Popular thing to dot, so I ask wherein was Dr. Wise a
sensationalist because he had the courage to name Gary
when he spoke of what he deemed economic injustices
represented in the steel industry. I don't say that I
agree with Dr. Wise. I am merely pointing out he didn't
skulk behind meaningless words when he meant the
United States Steel Corporation. So again I say if that
he sensationalism then I am glad that Or. Wise is a sen-
sationalist. I imagine that Lincoln, too, was the same
kind of a sensationalist when he went after slavery.
a
•
This should be extraordinarily heartening to every
college girl. A well known writer in Good Housekeeping,
on the subject of "What Shall I Do When I Graduate?"
says that
A group of college alumnae in a large city always
instructs every newcomer, fresh fro m the co ll ege
halls, to apply at once for 15 different jobs, be-
cause it is their experience that practically every
one will get a job before she reaches her fifteenth
prospect. If one is prepared to be turned down
at least ii times, much agony is saved.
Well, that statement may be true, but I am inclined
to classify it with the suggestion that if you want to cure
your warts. cut an apple in two, hide half of it under •
stone. When the half rots, your wart will disappear.
However, no harm will be done if a girl applies for 15
jobs—if she has to. In case she muffs the fifteenth, she
still has the opportunity to continue looking.

The Jew In English Life
and Politics.

By Dr. Israel I. Mattock,

Temple Beth El.

On Sunday morning, May 29, the
pulpit of Temple Beth El was occu-
pied by Dr. Israel I. Mattock who
spoke on the subject "The Jew in
English Life and Politics."
Dr. Mattock was introduced by
Rabbi Leon Frain who described the
speaker as the rabbi who revived
Judaism in Europe, and as the
founder of the World Union of
Liberal Judaism, the first confer-
ence of which in London Dr. Leo
M. Franklin attended last sum-
mer.
Dr. Mattock said:
"The treatment of the Jew in any
country is the barometer of the civ-
ilization of that country. Every
country has the kind of Jews it de-
serves. The brilliant service which
the Jew has been able to give to the
British Empire reflects the high de -
gree of civilization in the British
Empire. There is scarcely a great
office within the gift of England
which the Jew has not held. There
have been Jews in every English
Cabinet in the last quarter of a cen-
tury. If the Liberal party gains
sufficient strength to organize a
government, Sir Herbert Samuel,
the acknowledged leader of that
party, will in all likelihomd be Prime
Minister of England.
"There is no anti-Semitic move-
ment in England. The social anti-
Semitism which existed in America
long before the Great War and
which operates to exclude Jews
from America regards as the high-
est society—this social anti-Semi-
tism does not exist in England.
There is no social circle closed
against them, not even the circle
of royal society.
"At a recent Parliamentary elec-
tion held in a district which is
wholly Anglo-Saxon, one of two
candidates was a Jew. His rival,
believing this (levies, would bring
hint an easy victory, posted pla-
cards and distributed circulars say-
ing: Mr. So and So, my rival candi-
date for Parliament in this district,
is a Jew. The result was that the
Jew was elected by the most over-
whelming majority ever given a
candidate in that district.
"One of the finest illustrations of
the romance of Jewish achievement
in England is found in the career
of Rufus Isaacs, the Marquis of
reading. Running away from home
in his boyhood, he arrived in India
as 0 ship's boy. Forty years after-
wards, he returned to India as Vice-
roy. In the meantime, he had been
Lord Chief Justice of England and
Special Representative of the lirit-
ish government to the United
States government in the critical
negotiations which led to the co-
operation between the two coun-
tries in the prosevution of the war.
"These Jews, Samuel, Rending,
Mond, the Rothsehilds, the Monte-
tiores, never found it necessary to
surrender one jot of their Judaism
in order to attain these high places
in British government And British
society. They are, everyone of them,
pious Jews. Some of them are Or-
, thodox in the complete sense of the

"Jews have also distinguished
themselves in English literature.
Palgrave the editor of the "Golden
Treasury of English Verse" is a
Jew whose original family name is
Cohen. Sidney Lee and Gollanez
are Jews who are the greatest of all
Shakespearian scholars. It is per-
haps in literature that we shall find
the (due to the friendship between
Britain and Jew. English litera-
ture is based upon the Bible, and
the Englishman has always had a
sense of gratitude for the people
whose creative soul is bound up
with the creative soul of England.
It is highly significant that the
Englishman's respect for the Jew
is founded upon his respect for the
Jew's greatest contribution to hu-
man life—the visions and the wis-
dom of the Bible.
"Front the days of the Babylon-
ian Exile tot, the Jew has chosen to
describe himself as the servant of
God, or the servant of humanity.
Ile has always been willing to give
of the best that was in him for the
sake of his fellows. Wherever he
has been given an opportunity, he
has contributed richly to the life
of those about hint. Even when he
has been suppressed, he has given
and other lands of freedom have
given the Jew a great deal. But
who will gain-say me when I assert
that the Jew has given them more."

The Establishment of Jewish
Arbitration.

By Rabbi Joseph Thumin,
Congregation Beth Abraham.

I am very much interested in Mr.
Lappin's proposal le establish a
court of arbitration, and in his plan
in general, as outlined in The De-
troit Jewish Chronicle.
For some time now, I have been
working on such a plan, of estab-
lishing a Jewish Court of Arbitra-
tion composed of rabbis and busi-
ness men, to settle certain disputes
that arise among the Jewish peo-
ple. I has several conferences with
the late revered Rabbi Levin—sich-
rono librucho--who was in complete
harmony with me as to the impor-
tance of such a court.
.A court of this nature is especial-
ly necessary to settle those cases
which arise among Jewish organ-
izations and between indivduals
which, if brought into a court of
law, do not reflect glory or honor
upon the Jewish people, and which
may lead to a Chilul Hasimm.
I therefore voice my appreciation
of Mr. Lappin's timely interest in
this matter, and in anticipating a
future Jewish arbitration court.
But while I am in accord with the
general plan of such a plan, as out-
lined by Mr. I.appin, I do not be-
lieve that it will be successful, un-
less provision is made to include
rabbis in this court. Ms reasens
are these:
In contested rises, that is, where
there is an affirmation and • denial,
an oath administered in accordance
with the religious custom and pro-
cedure by a rabbi will necessarily
he more effective than that admin-

istered in a court of law, and i.
more likely to win the confidence o
litigants. And even where uncoil
tested ease, where there is no dis
pate as to the facts, and where eon
ciliation is sought, the decision to
be in accordance with the rules it
justice, it is advisably to consul
the Jewish law as set forth in the
"'Shol-Oruch," for it is based upon
reason and justice. Furthermore
the Jewish people would be likely tt
accept it and be satisfied with the
decision and obviously the rabbi i.
the best authority, when such a law
is involved. It is also to be consid-
ered that the Jewish litigants would
be more willing to accept the de-
cisions when the same is a wardol
by a rabbi, because of the confi-
dence stool the surety as to his im-
partiality, which confidence they
would nut be as likely to place in
laymen.
Therefore, for the above men-
tioned reasons I suggest that a
court of arbitration be established,
and a rabbi should be made a part
of this court to assist in the proced-
ure and decision. It mild be advis-
able that every month or two a dif-
ferent rabbi of the local rabbis be
appointed to this court.

•:,-

-4 1

+4

: IA 7

.4

Thoughts On Abandoning
a Synagogue.

By Rabbi Moses Fischer,
Congregation B'nai Moshe

Since the destruction of the
Beth Hamiktiosh, the central sanc-
tuary in Jerusalem, a silent but
efficient law is at work swaying
the fate of the synagogues and
houses of learning in accordance
with which all of them become up-
rooted and abandoned in the
course of time. It should suffice
the servant to be treated like his
master and it should satisfy the
synagogues 1411(1 houses of learning
to be overwhelmed by the some
fate as the Beth Hamikdosh itself.
There is a way, but only one,
for a Jewish community to show
its loyalty and its love for the de-
serted and desolate house of the
Lord. That way is to commence
immediately after the abandon-
ment of the old walls, the building
of the new structure. The law
commands that soon after aban-
doning the old shul the congrega-
go on ceaselessly day and night on
the new edifice. It might indeed
be impossible to take with them
the timber and the materials of
the old temple and work them
into the new edifice, but the spirit
that ruled the old temple—self-
sacrifice, self-sanctification, holy
joy, the "simcho shod mizvoh," the
spiritual element which pervaded
the old temple and lent it its glory
—must Be saved and carried along
and become part and parcel of the
new structure.
The sages of old taught that
there were four sanctuaries. Cen-
tral houses of worship were built
by Israel at large in the period of
its national independence. Two of
them were built by the people at
large by their voluntary offerings.
Two were built, radiant with
beauty and the splendour of pomp,
by the might and power of kins.
See how different are the fates
that befell thou. The two humble
buildings that were erected by the
love of the people were never de-
stroyed, never fell a prey to the
devouring flames of the forces Of
destruction. They were hidden
away mysteriously or rebuilt in
all their former beauty. flow dif-
ferent was the destiny that over-
took the sanctuaries built by the
enforced work of the servants of
Solomon and Herod! The first was
destroyed by the wild hordes of
Nebuchadnezzar. The second by
the cruel soldiers of Titus. How
eloquently does this fact teach
that it is not the outward pomp
and splendor that pleases the Lord.
It is the loving, humble, obedient
heart and spirit that the Lord re-
quires.

7

4-

:4 +

•0

4

Rabbi Nfair of Ruttenburg, the
•-s
k:4+
great martyr and saint, on hear-
ing that the unbridled rabble had
J.4 1
broken into the synagogue of
Prague and snatched the Torah-
scrolls from the holy ark and dese-
crated and burned them, ex-
claimed in the anguish of his soul,
"Almighty, doest Thou write an-
other Torah in Thy heavenly abode
that Thou sufferest that the Torah
:t4)+
given on Mount Sinai shall be con-
signed to flames?"
In the same spirit a n d mood, as
often as my feet tread the path to
the sacred places where they are
wont to walk in gladness of heart
to the service of the Lord, and my
eves rest on the places once elo-
;4 1
quent with the Glory of God and
the upward-rising spirit of man,
the gloomy wings of desolation
now brooding over all, with all its
vessels of sanctification aban-
doned—the question arises from
7, 4,7
the sorely-Oleo] and afflicted heart,
"Israel, doest thou build so many
synagogues that thou doest aban-
don them and leave so many ruins
to mark the holy habitations of
old?" •:41.7
Rabbi Akiba and his colleagues
were walking one day on the Tem-
ple mount when their gaze fell
:s
upon the demolished ruins of the
sanctuary. All except Rabbi Akiba
broke into plaintive lamentations
at the sad sight, but Akiba pre-
served his calm and his lips were
s
wreathed in A smile. Asked for
his reasons the martyr answered,
"My soul in never as hopeful and
as sure of the rebuilding of the
Temple as when I behold such
ruins. Out of the darkness of de-
•:f-
struction the sanctuary will rise.

It must rise in renewed splendor,
bright as the morning star that
flushes the horizon. God ran not
suffer and Israel can not suffer
that its hotly places shall be
marked by abandonment and
gloom. The guardian of Israel
never slumbers and Israel's heart
is awake and throbs with holy ems-
tion even while it seems asleep.
Great as is the destruction of the
sanctuary, incomparably greater
shall be its glory in the future."
May the vision and the prophecY
of the Rabbi become true of all
the synagogues and
houses of
learning which now mourn their
departed glory.

.4.

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