mma Lazaru
Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of Her Death
By Philip Slomoi)itz-
October - 28, our nation marked the •seventieth anniversary of the
L AST.
unveiling of the Statue of Liberty. Presented by the pple of F as
eo
rance
a gift to the people of America, in tribute to the high Ideals
that animated the
birth of the United States, the world-famous- Statue of Liberty . has become a
permanent symbol of those ideals. • .
Standings on Bedloe Island, at the entrance to
New- - York harbor, this huge symbol of liberty
has
become an inspiration to tens of millions who had
fled to our shores from Oppression and tyranny
abroad. For seven decades and for three generations
the towering
figure has been a beacon of 'hope and
joy to suffering multitudes for whom a new life
began when they sailed past Miss Liberty with her
forearm outstretched in welcome.
-
SINCE THAT DAY 70 years ago—Oct, 28', 1886—when
President Graver Cleveland formally dedicated the Statue
of Li•erty,. millions. upon _millions of people have gone to
Bedloe Island to see it. These myriads of visitors Irani
every -
.
S,••
corner of the 'earth have marvelled at the colossal
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND
•
creation of Frederic August Bartholdi: They have been
-
thrilled as they climbed up into the head and squeezed
themselves into the torcn. On the way down they doubtless paused. to
tablets that tell of the group of Frenchmen who conceived Of the Statue read .the two
gift to her sister republic upon the _occasion of the
of France's
centenary of . its independence, and
of the voluntary contributions by ,thousands of Americans toward
the fund for build-
ing the giant pedestal..
NOT FAR Jrom these tablets is a third on which is • inscribed a poem, "The ' New
Colossus." The author of this poem, which singS the praises of the Goddess of Liberty
in language that has become inerasable from the record of mankind's aspirations for
freedom, was En'una Lazarus, one of the unforgotten geniuses of American Jewry. She
was one of the most brilliant writers of th e nineteenth century. Her life was tragically
short, but her literary creations today are hailed among
-
Jewish history. Her career had in it the ennobling and the most inspiring in American
- h
by the Statue 6f which she wrote with prophetic fervor.umanitarian
qualities symbolized
Daughter of Moses and Esther Lazarus; Orthodox Jews of aristocratic Portuguese
lineage, Emma Lazarus was born in New York City, July 22, 1849. Raised in wealthy
and sheltered
surroundings, she was educated by private tutors and spent her youth
among
the well-to-do.
44=
SHE WROTE her first poem at the age of 14. When she was 17, she . published a
collection of her own verses and some translations. These promising
early efforts
soo
flowered_
W
n
into real genius. By the time she
as
21,
the
literary
world
began
to
take
notice of Emma Lazarus, and her second volume of poems w
on acclaiin. from Ralph
Waldo Emerson and William Cullen Bryant.
p
Animated by a love of the classic poets and writers of France and Germany, the
mythology of the Greeks and the beauty of nature, Emma Lazarus' early W bore the
stamp of these influences. Her translations were devoted to the writingso rks
Heine and Victor Hugo and her original pieces reflected a genuine sense of
of Heinrich
beauty. •
DESPITE THE APPROVAL her poems had won from the public and from men
of her
letters,
she was yet to acquire. her greatest spark of inspiration. She reached the peak
of
greatness
as the result of the awakening within her of 'the Hebraic spirit. It had •
always -
been
but
was not brought to the 'surface until she was shaken out of her
reticence
and latent
literary
naivete
by the pogroms in Russia and Romania from 1879 to 1882. •
The tragedy of these events stirred
her -
so deeply that she turned her poetic genius to
the defense of her people.
With the zeal that takes possession of converts, Emma Lazarus abandoned the deli-
eateness and the purposelessness that had characterized her youthful writings,
plunged into the formulation of a solution to the Jewish problem: Fully a d and she
ecad-
e
ifore Dr. Theodor Herzl convened the First World Zionist Congress, her imagination
fired by the Palestine ideal and. she wrote a series of "
wa
bes
s
Epistles
the Hebrews" in which
he outlined
a plan for the to
repatriat
ion: of the Je*s in their ancien
IN PROSE AND IN VERSE, she pleaded impassionedly for t homeland.
justice to the • Jew.
The vigor of her writing and the patient sincerity -
of her pleas gave notice that a giant
advocate had arisen .
to defend the rights of the Jews. In poem'. after poem,coun-
seled a Zion rebuilt, depicted the tragedy of a harassed Israel and created word pictures
which, for prophetic and beautiful exiiression..
of the age-long
cry of the Jews, -
seldom been equalled.
.,..
have
. .
.
.
It was inevitable that her new inspiration should'have led her
to the storehouse of her
people's read
..literary
months
the treasures. • She made a study of the Hebrew language, and within seven
Hebrew
Bible in the original. From her p
e
of the finest gems of
medieval Hebrew poetry. •At first she n came translations of some
German versions of Hebrew classics, but wh en she acquired a nslated into English
lire from
c knowledge
from the original works of Solomon
Ibn Gabirol, Judah Hal of He brew she
Ezra and other writers
e7, Moses Ben
of the golden age in Jewish literature. • •
.
—
Internatiohal Photo
This remarkable closeup of the Statue of '
_ Liberty was made frorn a French helicopter. -
THE WRITING
of "The New Colossus," which links .
Emma Lazarus? name for all time with the Statue of Liberty,
was a direct outgrowth of her belated but passionate interest
in the plight of her people. -Despite her deliCate health, she
spent many days visiting the haggard and ragged Jewish im-
- migrants from Russia and Romania who crowded the irrnni-
gration station on Ward Island in 1881 and 1882. The sight.',--C„
the refugees from pogroms had stimulated her fervor as muckl
as
-
had the news of the persecutions in Europe.
Those were the years when Americans were asked to
contribute to the $300,000 fund to build the pedestal on which
the Statue of Liberty was to stand. Money was slow in coming
in. Many devices were utilized to obtain the needed funds.
Public-spirited citizens held mass meetings and social-minded
women organized rummage sales and sold souvenirs.
CONSTANCE GARY HARRISON
was one of this group of
women. •She
was collecting poems, drawings and stories for
publication in a souvenir book to be sold for the benefit of
the pedestal fund. When she appealed to Emma Lazarus for
a contribution in the book, the Jewish poetess at first declined.
A modest person, she was not inclined to write for souvenir
journals. But when Mrs. Harrison
reminded Miss
"of
the Goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder Lazarus
in the bay
and holding out her
torch to those Russian refugees of yours
whom you are so fond of visiting," she was galvnized
into
action. Miss Lazarus' contribution to the souvenir a
"The -
book was
New on
Colossus," a poem of such tender beauty that it was
inscribed
a tablet fastened to the inside of the Statue's base.
EMMA LAZARUS' declaration of faith in the Great Lady
of Liberty, who is perpetuating her message of "Give me Your
tired, your poor, your huddled masses . . . I lift my lamp be-
side the golden door," continues to inspire America.
the great symbols of the freedom advocated
Among
by the Goddess of
Liberty are the broken chains at her feet. There
is a re,
Minder of the great democratic American ideals in the tablet
the Great
Lady holds in her left hand; with the inscription
JULY
IV M
DCCLXXVI-LJuly. 4, 1776.
The poem by Emma Lazarus, coupled with this re-
minder of the Statue's guardianship over American
grin-
ciples, at the Golden Gate of our land
jointly cement an
imperishable ideal.
imperishable
It is one of the ironies of fate that the life of the brilliant
Jewess, of Emma Lazarus, Liberty's Bard, should have been
cut short in its prime. She died Nov. 19, 1887, at the age of 39,
a year after the Statue of Liberty was dedicated.
"THE NEW COLOSSUS" has only 14 lines, but in them
are expressed with prophetic instinct all of
the indestructible
and noble ideals symbolized by the Statue of Liberty. These
lines, written by Emma Lazarus more than 70 years ago, re-
main author.
the credo of Americanism and a striking memdrial to
their
By Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand,
A mighty woman, with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lighfning, and her name'
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon hand -
Glows world-wide welcothe; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin. cities frame.
"'Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp !" cries she
With silent lips: "Giye me your• tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free;
The *retched refuse of your teeming shore —
end theni, the homeless, temp est-
tossed, to me —
I lift my lamp beside the
golden door !"
.
44.111111
: •
111MINIA LAZARUS. POET OF FREEDOM
July 22, 184'9 - Nov. 19, 1887