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publication, in translation, of many of the best works
of Hebrew and Yiddish, in the English-Jewish periodi-
cals; and the growth of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
as a powerful news-disseminating force all these have
rored in the replies to the questionnaire of the National
Federation of Temple Brotherhoods.
American Jews are coming nearer to traditional-
ism. Their pride in their people's history and customs
is being translated in a manner worthy of the descend-
ants the prophets. The trend of the times as revealed
in the replies to the Brotherhoods' questionnaire proves
that the American Jewish community is gradually
moulding for itself a worthy place in world Israel.

$3.00 Per Year

Reviving Interest in the Sanhedrin.

To insure publication, all correspondence and news matter must reach thia

omen by Tuesday evening of each week. When mailing notices,
kindly use one side of the paper only

The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invitee correspondence on subjects of Interest to
the Jewish people, but disclaim. responsibility for an indorsement of the views
expressed by the writers .

Sabbath and Eighth Day of Chanukah Readings of the Torah.

Pentateuchal portions—Gen. 41:1-44:17; Num. 7:54-8:4.
Prophetical portion—I Kings 7:40.50.

December 14, 1928

Tebeth 1, 5689

Maccabaean Day.
The Jewish National Fund annually observes one
day in the Chanukah week as Maccabaean Day. Utiliz-
ing the national appeal of the holiday, the land-redeem•
ing gency for Palestine calls upon young and old to
work for and contribue to the fund which aims to make
Palestine's soil the inalienable property of the entire
Jewish people.
Seeking to regain for Israel the people's ancient soil,
the methods of the Jewish National Fund present an
interesting contrast to the Revolt of the Maccabees.
Unlike the ancient warriors who won national and re-
ligious freedom for their people with their sturdy mili-
tary efforts, the modern nationalists interpret literally
the admonition that "not by might nor by power, but
by the spirit" shall Israel be redeemed. By making the
soil of Palestine the property of the Jewish people,
and by settling on that soil pioneers ready to reclaim it
with the sweat of their brows, the Jewish National
Fund presents an appeal which it should be impossible
to ignore.
There is not a more effective way of celebrating the
Chanukah festival than by helping redeem more land
in Palestine with contributions to the Jewish National
Fund on the annual Maccabaean or Flag Day. Detroit
Jews should remember this fund when the Maccabaean
Day is observed here this Sunday.

Jews and Diplomacy.

Following the address of Joseph Remenyi, Hun-
garian editor, at the last meeting Of the Detroit Jewish
Open Forum, during which reference was made to the
regime of the Jewish Communist Bela Kun, Rabbi Moses
Fischer made an appropriate explanation with regard
to Jewish participation in the Communist government.
The rabbi first pointed to the fact that Jews suffered as
much as non-Jews from Communist rule, and secondly
that Jews were equally as active as the non Jews in the
ostrthrow of Bela Kun.
Now comes an interesting item from Vienna which
helps to prove Rabbi Fischer's point, in which Remenyi
concurred:

-

Vienna, Dec. 7.—(J. T. A.)—Economics is not an enter-
taining subject, but when one finds himself in jail with
nothing else to do, one is ever grateful to the man who
introduced him to this branch of science.
Thus the Austrian Grand Duke Josef Franz spoke of the
days when he, with Paul Sandor, Hungarian Jewish leader
aqd at present's member of parliament, were injail in
Budapest during the Communist regime under Bela Kun.
In an interview with the representative of the Wiener
Journal the Grand DUlte praised the courage of Deputy
Sandor who, he declared, had a great share of the bringing
relief to the Grand Duke and other members of the aristoc-
racy who were imprisoned. "For hours and hours Sandor
taught on the principles of economics, providing us with pro-
tection from boredom and with enlightenment," the Grand
Duke stated.

ti

This item, however, proves much more than that
Jews are to be found in anti-Communist as well as Com-
munist ranks. It even proves that you may find Jews
in royalist and monarchist ranks. More than that: it
proves that the nature of the people is to differ; it
proves what Louis Lipsky, president of the Zionist Or-
ganization of America, so ably described in his address
here last week as the Jewish knack for "diplomacy."
Every Jew is a diplomat, trained in the intimate councils
which met around the fireplaces of the Ghetto syna-
gogues to decide wars, create and destroy governments.
It is no wonder that these imaginary diplomats, when
they meet with factual conditions, should be found in
the ranks of all parties, regardless how divergent.

The Desire for More Jewishness.

The National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods
sent a questionnaire to 17,500 Jewish laymen, asking,
among other questions, to indicate their preferences for
sermon subjects. From among the eleven subjects sug-
gested, the replies of 1,222 showed leading preference
for the following five:
Jewish movements, Jewish problems, spiritual
matters, social problems, Jewish history.
In response to a question relative to the use of Heb-
rew in the service, 85 per cent expressed a desire in
favor of the traditional language of Jewish prayer, one
man writing:
"No other language can express the religious feeling
of, or appeal to the soul as Hebrew."
Of the 85 per cent expressing a desire for Hebrew,
only 36 per cent read or understand the language. Of
the 15 per cent who expressed themselves against Heb-
rew., 83 per cent cannot read the language, and the
sentiment of one man in this group is:
"Hebrew is most annoying. Very few, except rab-
bis, care for it."
If it is possible to judge from the replies of 7 per
cent of the men to whom the questionnaire was sent, the
general impression made is that there is an increasing
desire for more Jewishness, and the men in American
Jewish temples are anxious for an increased amount
of Jewish learning and information on movements
affecting Jewish life throughout the world.
It is not difficult to understand the reason for these
Jewish sentiments. The Zionist movement on the one
hand and the gigantic efforts for the relief of war-
and pogrom-stricken Jews on the other hand have hel-
ped to bring American Jews nearer to their European
brethren. The progress made in this country by the
Hebrew movement; the growth of the Anglo-Jewish
press, through whose columns the hitherto more or less
assimilated Jew is learning more and more that his peo-
ple is a very active element wherever life throbs; the

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Dr. H. Pereira Mendes, on the occasion of a tribute
paid to his more than 50 years of religious and public
service, declared the time has arrived for the reconven-
ing of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court, "to
decide on religious questions brought up by modern
conditions." At a so-called "radio dinner" for Dr.
Mendes, at which the need for a world Sanhedrin was
urged, Dr. David de Sola Pool, rabbi of the Spanish-
Portuguese Synagogue of New York, the oldest in this
country, urged Jerusalem as the most appropriate
meeting place for a reconvened Jewish Supreme Court.
Thus interest is revived in one of the oldest and at
the same time most interesting institutions of ancient
Judea. This Supreme Court of 71 members is said to
have had its origin in the Mosiac Laws, which provided
for the appointment of judges to rule over the tribes
in Israel. Moses found the task of governing the peo-
ple too burdensome and was directed to associate with
him 70 elders who shared his burdens with him. This
body was charged with the duties of interpreting the
laws, of instructing the people, of maintaining order.
In later times, the Sanhedrin, which is the Greek name
for the Jewish Supreme Court, exercised the greatest
influence upon the development of Judaism.
Dr. Pool's suggestion that the seat of the Sanhedrin
be in Jerusalem recalls the fact that the Sanhedrin has
at different times met in different places, emigrating
from Babylon to Palestine. The Sanhedrin at one time
was even "a migratory body." We read in "Studies in
Judaism" by the late venerable Dr. Solomon Schechter,
about the "Patriarch R. Judah ha-Nasi, also called Rab-
benu ha-Kadosh, 'Our Master, the Saint,' but more fre-
quently Rabbi, 'the master,' without adding his name,"
that "he presided over the Sanhedrin, which during
this generation (160-220), as it would seem, a mi-
gratory body, shifting from place to place from Usha
to Beth-Shearim, and thence to Sepphoris to Tiberias."
Talk of the revival of the Sanhedrin finds a most
interesting parallel in modern times. The call issued
by Napoleon I (Bonaparte) to convene a Jewish San-
hedrin in Palestine in 1807 seemed for a time to have
connected the chain of a great Jewish institution brok-
en by centuries of Jewish dispersion. Nahum Soko-
low, in his "History of Zionism," devotes an exceeding-
ly interesting chapter to this strategic move by Napol-
eon, who is said to have issued the call for a Sanhedrin
to affect only French Jewry, but intended thereby to
befriend all European Jews. We are told by-M. Soko-
low that the call for the convening of a Sanhedrin came
"as a joyous surprise to the Jewish nation," and he
quotes a leading Jew of that time as having written:

A great event is about to take place, one which through
long series of centuries our fathers, and even we in our
own times, never expected to see, and which has now
appeared before the eyes of the astonished world. The
20th of October (1807) has been fixed as the date of the
great Sanhedrin in the capital of one of the most power-
ful Christian nations, and under the protection of the
great Prince who rules over it. Paris will thus show to
the world a remarkable scene, and this memorable event
will open to the dispersed remnants of the descendants
of Abraham a period of deliverance and prosperity.

a

It is interesting to note that some historians inter-
preted the deliberations of the Paris Sanhedrin as a de-
nial of Jewish nationality. The Zionist Sokolow denies
that however, when he tells us:

This view is wrong, and no conception of history could
be more contrary to the facts. A careful study of the
literature of that time will show that the Sanhedrin was
inspired by traditional Jewish ideas. One of the most
prominent French Jews, who was the first Jew to practice
in France as a barrister, M. Michael Herr, had sent a
request to all princes and nations "to release the Jews
from bondage." Another member of the Sanhedrin, M.
Lippman Cerf-Berr (1780-1831), said in his public speech:
"Let at forget our origin! Let us no longer speak of Jews
of Alsace, or Portugal, or of Germany! Though scattered
over the face of the earth, we are still one people, wor-
shipping the name God, and as our law commands, we are
to obey the laws of the country in which we live." This
is not the language of men who aim at assimilation and
at the disintegration of their nationality.

M. Sokolow's statement is, however, in great meas-
ure refuted by the decision of the French Sanhedrin on
the question of intermarriage. Napoleon put a num-
ber of questions before the Sanhedrin, and the most
heated arguments were heard on the one which asked:
"May a Jewess marry with a Christian, or a Jew with
a Christian girl?" The French Reform rabbis voted
for an affirmative answer. The Germans were for a
decisive negative vote. Arthur Ruppin in "The Jews
of Today", sums up the final decision as follows:

The Sanhedrin finally came to the conclusion that the
only marriage that was absolutely forbidden was marriage
with Canaanites; marriage with Christians ought probably
not to be celebrated by Jewish priests, but otherwise there
was no hindrance.

Such an answer sounds as if it was framed to suit
the desires of the questioner, who was anxious to se-
cure Jewish support for his world-empire idea, and is
proof that even under much more suitable circum-
stances the Sanhedrin convened 121 years ago could
not have succeeded in ripening into a world Jewish
Supreme Court. Furthermore, a Sanhedrin called to-
gether at the mercy of a non-Jew was neither natural
nor could it have been free to act as a Jewish body of
its type should.
The change in times, politically, socially and eco-
nomically, makes possible the reconvening of a San-
hedrin by Jews, according to their own desires; and
the influence of science on modern living practically
compels action at this time. Orthodox—for it is Or-
thodoxy that will have to press for the calling of a
Jewish Supreme Court if Dr. Mendes' ambitions ma-
terialize—find it difficult, at least insofar as teaching
the youth is concerned, in reconciling their Orthodoxy
with modernisms. The pressing of the electric button
and answering the telephone on the Sabbath are two
typical examples of interference with Orthodox beliefs.
These and many other problems ought to be solved by
a world Sanhedrin. reconciling modern thought and
science with Jewish practice. Dr. Mendes was right
when he urged the present as the most appropriate
time for the convening of a world Sanhedrin.

The Messianic Speculations of
Three Jewish Mystics

The Jewish immigrant boys have merely made their
impress upon the skyline of New York. Aladdin and his
wonderful lamp never achieved more startling results in
his fortunes than have some of these men who landed on
our shores penniless. Gilbert Swan, writing for the N.
E. A. Service, says:
It is said of that vast new skyline which has
arisen in the midtown belt that it was built upon
needles and pins. And this is almost literally true.
For here is the heart of America's cloak and suit
trade. Within the past few years it has grown
from a scattered group of small buildings to one
of the most impressive canyons in New York—
and all on the needle trades. Czar of this belt is
A. E. Lefcourt, a man who owns a skyline all his
own. I have long since lost count of the number
of skyscrapers which bear his name. But they
constitute a monument such as no man who ever
lived could honor. Yet he was a lad who came
out of the New York slums--who began his career
by selling fans to passengers on street cars on the
East Side. His home then was the second floor of
a house in the tenement belt. But his young son
can point to a skyscraper as his own particular
plaything—a gift from his father a couple of
years ago. The second building czar of Manhat-
tan was also an East Side boy—Benjamin Win-
ter, whose people migrated from Europe, and who
lived to buy the home of some of New York's most
aristocratic families—and to tear them down to
put up giants of steel.
Yes, the Jewish boys of New York have done well
for themselves. Not all of them, of course, but enough
to make them a group of the most romantic adventurers
in the enchanted New World.

I am glad that Mussolini resents the terminology used
by Italian Zionists who constantly refer only to the
"llebrew people, the Hebrew race and the Hebrew na-
tion," without once mentioning religion. II Duce wants
to know if they consider themselves a nationality or a
religion.
Well, Mussolini isn't the only person that has asked
the same question and thus far without adequate reply.
I am being importuned constantly to settle this question,
which I confess I am unable to do, and thus far I have
been unable to find any authority who can definitely
decide it for me.

Zionism has done much to accentuate the nationalistic
and racial theories of the Jewish people. As far back as
I can recall I was taught by the leaders in Reform Jewry
to consider Jesse as members of a spiritual community, a
group of religionists. That whenever the word "Jew"
was used in connection with any institution there was a
religious implication. There was time that frequently
the word "Jew" used to creep in newspaper articles which
referred uncomplimentarily to the Jew, immediately a
hue and cry was raised. I was asked to become indig-
nant and to demand of the editors why they referred to
a Jewish peddler and not to a Catholic blacksmith or a
Protestant lawyer. Because it was urged upon me, that
the term "Jew" was religious in character, therefore it
was discriminatory and unwarranted to single out a man
and name him thus and so because of his religion. But
suddenly the picture has changed! If we are not Jews
by religion but by race and nationality, then we can no
longer protest against our being singled out for special
notice on occasion. But are we "Hebrews" nationally
and racially? I think not. If any one is in a position
to say yes or no authoritatively, I am prepared to listen
to him.

A writer in the American Mercury discusses "Sport
and Snobbery," and he has a very ingenious explanation
for the presence of Jewish students on football teams and
other important athletic groups. He says that they select
a boy like Izzy Zarakov, captain of the Harvard baseball
nine, and make a place for him on the football team be-
cause a social background and financial standing are no
longer no necessary as in former years. This has been
brought about by the fact that the influence of Greek
letter societies is far less than it was 15 years ago.
Then, too, college football has touched the realm of big
business. Vast stadiums are erected and high-priced
coaches are retained. A winning football team is no
essential that it is no longer necessary for a 200-pound
back to have his name in the Social Register. It is the
interfering nose of business that has made these changes.
Yet, be this as it may, I cannot help thinking that Phil
King, one of the football heroes of the past, was a Jew,
and yet made himself a great figure at Princeton. How-
ever, I agree wtih the writer that there are occasions
when one's name in the Social Register is necessary to
engage in "smart" tennis, or golf tournaments.

By the time our modern surgeon-critics finish dissect-
ing our heroes there doesn't seem to be anything left
about the subject that's inviting. The list is entirely too
long to even mention. Rupert Hughes shocked us to the
bottom of our boots with his operation on George Wash-
ington. Now along comes Matthew Josephson telling us
about "Zola and His Time." I always cherished the inno-
cent belief that Zola was a heroic figure in the matter of
the Dreyfuss case, and I can never forget what an uproar
he created when he wrote "Lourdes." But it seems that
I have been worshiping an idol with clay feet. Mr. Jo-
sephson tells us that "His (Zola's) courage in the Prey-
fuss business has been greatly exaggerated in the telling.
chiefly by English reporters, eager to make propaganda
against the French. He ran away at a critical moment
and frequently forgot Dreyfuss in thinking of Zola."
It may be true, but I am not going to believe it, be-
cause I can never rid myself of the thought that without
Zola Captain Dreyfuss would never have left Devil's
Island.

I am interested in the Arnold Rothstein case in New
York, to the extent of speculating on the undue propor-
tion of Jews who are connected with such underworld
activities as gambling, bootlegging, racketeering games
of all kinds, and the like. I am well aware before you
start to•say a word that we are not alone in that nefari-
ous presentation. But we have entirely too many Jews
identified with tainted activities. Instead of trying to
expose it and condone it and to explain it, to my mind
the thing to do is to condemn it. Frankly, I am less
interested in being denied admission to the Westchester-
Biltmore Country Club in relation to Jewish interests
than I am in the mud. Of course, America is money mad
and naturally everybody living in America becomes mad
about money. So if they can't get it one way they get
it another. And unfortunately our standards are so low
that regardless of how a man gets his money, if he has
enough of it, and contributes some of his ill-gotten gains
to the welfare of society, he occupies a fairly respect-
able position among his fellows.

Therefore, with money as the end desired we have
too many of our people cutting corners in order to get it.
So there is a Jewish element in every large city, an ele-
ment entirely too large, that engages in underworld
activities and thus directly and indirectly intensifies the
prejudice that minorities normally enjoy (7). That's why
I become angered at those Jews who encourage these
"without the law" and "within the law" enterprises.
With one hand they go good, but with the other they do
infinitely more harm. The fault lies in the fact that
most of us are cowards. We lack the moral courage to
take a position in relation to other people. They can be
guilty of the worst actions, they can do things that no
decent Jew should tolerate, yet they are tolerated. Our
best people patronize gambling joints conducted by Jews,
stupidly not understanding that these Jewish gamblers
and others of their kind ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
PRESENT RESTRICTIVE IMMIGRATION LAWS
THAT HAVE VIRTUALLY STOPPED JEWISH IMMI-
GRATION TO THE UNITED STATES.

I would never insult my own intelligence if for a sin-
gle moment I entertained the thought that through this
article I would be able to accomplish anything. I know
human nature too well for that. The only thing that
makes people stop, look, listen and take action is when
some sensational incident occurs that makes a minority
crowd more into itself. There is no need to mention such
incidents at this time. It is sad that we spend time talk-
ing, talking, talking, everlastingly talking about the dis-
advantages the Jew labors under. when many of the very
Jews who complain and complain and complain are re-
sponsible for the added prejudice. Don't misunderstand
me. Prejudice, like the poor, will always be with us.

.......

........ ' .... ....

.

h.*

A Review of Max Brod's "Reubeni" and Salomon

Poliakoff's "The Rejected Messiah."

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

REUBEN!: PRINCE OF TILE JEWS. By Max Brod. Pub-
lished by Alfred A. Knopf, 730 Fifth Avenue, New York
($3.00),

THE RF:JECTED MESSIAll. B y Salomon Poliakoff. Published
by A. & C. Boni, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York ($2.50).

"Much material was taken fron
old chronicles and the represtnta
lions of historians, but mach too
was added at the dictates of t h e
writer's soul, a soul related by
blood."
To Brod, therefore, Reubeni is
more than an ambassador from the
lost ten tribes of Israel in the
desert of Chabor. Ile opens his
story in Prague where he intro-
duces us to young David Lemel
whose soul is torn between various
conflicts affecting his people. Ile
argues on sin, and is influenced by
the thought that if Jews were to
sin more, and were to include the
physical sins of the Goyim in their
practices, they would be more re-
spected. Ile develops it respectful
regard for physical strength and
has thereby led himself into be-
lieving that Jews could restore
themselves to national independence
by means of the sword of war. He
is the Labstinsky type of Zionist.
"False Messiahs."
In Prague, also, David's acquaint-
ances
include the false Messiah
In the fifteenth and sixteenth
Asher Laernmlein, and all his early
centuries there appeared on the
activities,
including his illicit love
Jewish scene men who succeeded
in arousing in the Jewish masses affair with the Gentile girl, Monica,
hopes of a return to Zion. These are the novelist's explanatory de-
men, classed in Jewish history as tails justifying the later activities
"False Messiahs," were mystics of the hero who ceases to be David
and crazed Cabbalits, but they were Lemel and becomes David Reubeni.
The Reubeni - Molcho Conflict.
not all deliberately "false," or
The first part of "Reubeni" deals
hunters for honors and, what would
he styled in a modern term, "pub- with this early l'rague life of David
Lewd.
This portion, pictured apart
licity." Sonia were actually labor-
from existing historical facts by
ing under the inspired notions that
they were chosen by the highest the novelist's license, is in itself
an excellent romance. It is in the
spiritual powers to save their peo-
ple and to lead Israel out of exile. second portion of the book, how-
ever, that we are taken to the
Without a doubt the most ro-
mantic figures among the false realm of history. It is here that
Messiahs, who left the deepest im- we are taken by Reubeni to the
pressions on history, by their ac- Pope at Rome and to the King of
Portugal. It is here that we are
tivities among their people, were
David Reubeni and his associate, presented with a great story of the
eight
years' (1524-1532) efforts of
Salomo Molcho and Sabbatai Zevi.
Reubeni to win the sanction of an
So widespread was their influence
during the time they propagated important government to man a
number of warships with Jewish
their claims as saviors of their
warriors who should battle the
people, and so deep-rooted was the
faith they instilled in Jewish hearts, Turks for the possession of the
Holy Land. Here also we meet
that a study of Jewish history is
incomplete without a study of the the important historical characters
and the second hero of the story-
activities of these "False Messiahs"
Salomo Molcho,
and the conditions which brought
Graetz, comparing the two,
them about.
wrote:
Two Worth-While Books
"Molcho
was a deluded enthusi-
It is no wonder, therefore, that
two important Jewish novels of the ast, whereas David was an adven-
turer
intentionally
deceiving
present year should deal with the
life stories of these three men who others."
The
Molcho
of
Brod's
story is
played such an important part in
the Messianic speculations of Israel never questioned in his enthusiasm.
The
Reubeni
in
the
story
is
occa-
Max Brod's "Reubeni" (Alfred A.
Knopf) and Salomon Poliakoff's sionally found reproving himself
for
defrauding
his
people's
confi-
"The Rejected Messiah" (A. & C.
Boni) fill a two-fold need: They dence. But we are given little
reveal the abundance of romance reason to believe that he was "in-
in Jewish history and, by their tentionally deceiving." There is
excellent treatments of their re- rather a note of confidence in Ru-
beni in Brod's novel. Reubeni's
spective subjects, serve to encour-
age a deeper study of the charac- studied plans, his diplomatic genius,
his
determination, present a char-
ters treated, the conditions of the
times they lived in and the motivat- acter who is sincere in his plans
and
means only the good of his
ing forces which drove them to
people.
passionate spiritual extremes in
lint
with the appearance on the
their efforts to unite Jews in favor
scene of Molcho, the reader is in-
of their schemes for national re-
troduced to a more powerful mystic,
birth.
to a greater enthusiast. The in-
Brod's "Reubeni" is both romance troduction of Molcho presents a
and history. The author has taken conflict of two entirely opposite
the character of David Reubeni and spirits. Mokho is the supremely
has drawn around him a most fas- faithful, for whom there is no
cinating story. The German-Jew-
greater glory than to die in the
ish novelist has searched the pages name of the Lord. Molcho, whose
of history and has incorporated in first appearance on the scene of
his story not only the young, mys- history is as a Marrano, and whose
tically-affected, Salomo Molcho, but
joy in his return to Judaism dom-
an well Machiavelli and Michael-
inates the rest of his life, seeks
angelo, who call Reubeni their nothing more than a martyr's
friend, and Joseph Karo, the author
death, and in achieving it on the
of the "Shutchan Aruch," who was auto da fe of the Inquisition he
inspired in his work by Molcho.
accomplishes his life's ambition.
History and Legend.
Reubeni, on the other hand, having
In every sense, the author of suffered the miseries of the Ghetto,
"Reubeni" has contributed a mas-
seeks the recreation of a strong
terful work. While the historian
Jewish nation to the elimination of
Graetz speaks •of Reubeni as one
suffering.
who "suddenly appeared from deep

It is easy to explain the Cabbal-
istic craze, the mysticism and the
Messianic fanaticism that ruks1
Jewish life in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. The Inqui-
sition in Spain, the Chmielnicki
pogroms in Poland, the general
breakdown of Jewish life through-
out Europe as a result of the per-
secutions of the Middle Ages—all
these called for a remedy, and the
remedy inevitably came in the
imagination of mystics and in the
Messianic hope.
Had it not been for the Mes-
sianic hope, it is doubtful if the
Jewish people could ever have sur-
vived the ninny centuries of suffer-
ings brought about by the Cru-
saders, by Cossack bandits, by re-
ligious bigots who killed Jews in
the name of a religion and a god.
The Messianic dream supplied a
hope, and this undying hope gave
life to a people; it gave joy where
only gloom was possible.

obscurity" from the distant East,
Brod went very much further. The
closing sentence of his historical
novel explains a great deal:

Historical Facts.

The interpretations of the tragic
Reubeni; of Molcho, happy in his

(Turn to Next Page).

Gems From Jewish Literature

Selected by Rabbi Leon Fram.

A TALE FROM THE. TALMUD
Our rabbis have taught: It hap-
pened that R. Simeon B. Eleazar
once came from the house of his
teacher at Migdal-Geder. He was
riding leisurely on an ass along
the lake-shore and felt greatly elat-
ed over the fact that he had ac-
quired so much learning. "Are all
the people of thy town as homely
as thou artr "Go to the artisian
who made me," the man replied,
"and say to him: 'flow ugly is this
vessel thou halt made'!" As soon
as R. Simeon realized his error he
'alighted from the ass and bowing
before the man said: "I submit
myself to thee, forgive me!" "No!"
the man replied, "I will not forgive
thee, until thou guest to the artisan
who made me and sayest unto him,
'0 how ugly is this vessel which
thou hest made!" R. Simeon fol-
lowed him 'til he reached his town.
When he arrived there, people of
the town came to meet R. Simeon
and greeted him with the words,
"Peace be with thee, Master!" The
man then asked them, "Whom do
you address as Master?" "Him
that folows thee," they replied.
"If this man is a master," he said,
"may there not be many like him
in Israel." "Why? God beware!"
they exclaimed, "What did he do
to you?" "So and no he behaved
toward me," he answered. "Nev-
ertheless, forgive him," the people
pleaded. "for he is • great schol-
ar." "I pail forgive him," the man
said, "but on condition that he
should never act in this manner

again." R. Simeon b. Eleanor there-
upon entered the Bet Hamidrash
and lectured: "A man should at
ways be soft as a reed and not
hard as a cedar tree. And it is be-
cause of its softness that the reed
was privileged to be used for the
making of pens with which Torah
scrolls, phylacteries and mezuzot
are written."
(Tractate: "Fast Days)"

"THE BEST BEROCHO•
Most prayers of My childhood days
From memory ha•e tied.
No prayer at meals. at rising.
Nor when I to to bed.
But nn e I hold in high esteem.
And loorn• in Bowe PeoPortionai
MY stay It is in happy hours.
And staff in my misfortune.
And would you know this pray'r of mine,
Mos•le Interwoven 7
It is the ncient formula
Buret Peri Hagofen.
—HEINRICH HEINE.

AN OLD SONG"
In the blossom-land Japan
Somewhere thus an old song ran.

Said • warrior to • smith
"Ii•nner me a eword forthwith.
Make the blade
Light as wind on water laid.
Make it long
As the wheat at honest song.
Supple, swift
As • snake. without rift.
Full of lightnings, thousand ered(
Smooth as silken cloth and this
As the web that spider. spin.
And merciless as pain, and cold.**

"On the hilt what shall be told•"

On the sword'. hay. my rood man,"
Said the warrior of Japan.
"Trate for me
A running lake. • Cork nl sheer
And one who sing. her child to
"

—YE110ASII

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