The Menorah Journal, Volume 1, 1915
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Title: The Menorah Journal, Volume 1, 1915
Author: Various
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MENORAH JOURNAL, VOLUME 1, 1915 ***
THE MENORAH JOURNAL
[Illustration]
VOLUME I
NO. 1
JANUARY
1915
Greetings: From Dr. CYRUS ADLER, LOUIS D. BRANDEIS,
Professor RICHARD GOTTHEIL, Dr. JOSEPH JACOBS, Dr.
KAUFMAN KOHLER, Justice IRVING LEHMAN, Judge JULIAN W.
MACK, Dr. J. L. MAGNES, Dr. MARTIN A. MEYER, Dr. DAVID
PHILIPSON, Dr. SOLOMON SCHECHTER, JACOB H. SCHIFF, and
Dr. STEPHEN S. WISE
A Call to the Educated Jew LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
Menorah: A Poem WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD
The Jews in the War JOSEPH JACOBS
Jewish Students in European Universities HARRY WOLFSON
The Twilight of Hebraic Culture MAX L. MARGOLIS
Days of Disillusionment SAMUEL STRAUSS
Three University Addresses--President ARTHUR T. HADLEY of
Yale University, Chancellor ELMER E. BROWN of New York
University, President CHARLES W. DABNEY of the University
of Cincinnati
The Menorah Movement HENRY HURWITZ
From College and University: Reports from Menorah Societies
PUBLISHED BY THE INTERCOLLEGIATE MENORAH ASSOCIATION
600 MADISON AVENUE, NEW YORK -:- -:- -:- 25 CTS. A COPY
INTERCOLLEGIATE MENORAH
ASSOCIATION
For the Study and Advancement of
Jewish Culture and Ideals
OFFICERS
Chancellor
HENRY HURWITZ
600 Madison Avenue, New York
President
I. LEO SHARFMAN
University of Michigan
First Vice-President
MOSES BARRON
University of Minnesota
Second Vice-President
LEON J. ROSENTHAL
Cornell University
Secretary
ISADOR BECKER
University of Michigan
Treasurer
J. K. MILLER
Penn State College
THE ADMINISTRATIVE COUNCIL
Composed of Representatives, one each, from every constituent Menorah
Society (The Representatives for 1915 will be announced in the next
issue of The Menorah Journal)
There are Menorah Societies now at the following Colleges and
Universities:
Boston University
Brown University
Clark University
College of City of New York
Columbia University
Cornell University
Harvard University
Hunter College
Johns Hopkins University
New York University
Ohio State University
Penn State College
Radcliffe College
Rutgers College
Tufts College
University of California
University of Chicago
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado
University of Denver
University of Illinois
University of Maine
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Missouri
University of North Carolina
University of Omaha
University of Pennsylvania
University of Pittsburgh
University of Texas
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin
Valparaiso University
Western Reserve University
Yale University
Office of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
600 Madison Avenue, New York
THE MENORAH JOURNAL
VOLUME I JANUARY, 1915 NUMBER 1
An Editorial Statement
THE MENORAH JOURNAL, in its efforts to carry forward the aims and
aspirations of the Menorah movement, will necessarily be far more than
merely an "official organ" for the Menorah Societies. That function,
indeed, becomes increasingly important as the Menorah Societies
multiply in number and influence throughout the country. In this
special appeal to Menorah members, however, the Journal will be more
than a news medium; it will supply important material for study and
discussion, and stimulate thinking and active effort in behalf of
Menorah ideals. And inasmuch as the furtherance of Menorah ideals
means the advancement of American Jewry and the spread of Hebraic
culture, the Journal should appeal to every one in America who
sympathises with these purposes. The Journal will be conducted with
this general appeal always in mind--with the desire, indeed, to make
it a model publication dealing with Jewish life and thought. To
publish a periodical that shall measure up to this high standard, with
its accompanying influence and power, is one of the aspirations of the
Menorah movement; and the Menorah auspices and conditions are so
peculiarly favorable to the achievement of this ambition as to lend
every encouragement to the effort that will be put forth to make the
Journal a genuinely significant publication for the whole of American
Jewry.
For conceived as it is and nurtured as it must continue to be in the
spirit that gave birth to the Menorah idea, the Menorah Journal is
under compulsion to be absolutely non-partisan, an expression of all
that is best in Judaism and not merely of some particular sect or
school or locality or group of special interests; fearless in telling
the truth; promoting constructive thought rather than aimless
controversy; animated with the vitality and enthusiasm of youth;
harking back to the past that we may deal more wisely with the present
and the future; recording and appreciating Jewish achievement, not to
brag, but to bestir ourselves to emulation and to deepen the
consciousness of _noblesse oblige_; striving always to be sane and
level-headed; offering no opinions of its own, but providing an
orderly platform for the discussion of mooted questions that really
matter; dedicated first and foremost to the fostering of the Jewish
"humanities" and the furthering of their influence as a spur to human
service.
It will undoubtedly prove necessary on more than one occasion in the
future to emphasize again the fact that the Journal is an
unqualifiedly non-partisan forum for the discussion of Jewish
problems; and that accordingly neither the Menorah Journal nor the
Menorah Societies are to be regarded as standing sponsor for the views
expressed in these columns by contributors. Nor will the Journal have
any editorials expressing the views of its editors or of the Menorah
organization,--particularly since the Menorah organization takes no
official stand on mooted subjects. The editorial policy will be one of
fairness in giving equal hospitality to opposing views; and space will
gladly be given to reasonable letters or articles that take exception
to statements or opinions published in these pages.
The Journal is singularly fortunate in having enlisted the
co-operation of the distinguished leaders of Jewish life and thought
who comprise its Board of Consulting Editors. The assurances already
in hand of important articles to come from our Consulting Editors and
from other notable men and women, both Jewish and non-Jewish, lend
strength to the editorial confidence that succeeding issues will more
and more repay the public interest. As an incidental but none the less
vital aim, the Journal hopes to be instrumental in encouraging our
young men and women, particularly in the Menorah membership, to devote
themselves to Jewish subjects as worthy of their best literary
effort,--with publication in the Menorah Journal as a prize to be
eagerly sought for. The Menorah hopes through the incentive of the
Journal to develop a "new school" of writers on Jewish topics that
shall be distinguished by the thoroughness and clarity of the
university-trained mind and inspired by the youthful, searching,
unfearing spirit of the Menorah movement.
With these aims and these aspirations, the Menorah Journal bids for
the favor of the public. Scholarly when scholarship will be in order,
but always endeavoring to be timely, vivacious, readable; keen in the
pursuit of truth wherever its source and whatever the consequences; a
Jewish forum open to all sides; devoted first and last to bringing out
the values of Jewish culture and ideals, of Hebraism and of Judaism,
and striving for their advancement--the Menorah Journal hopes not
merely to entertain, but to enlighten, in a time when knowledge,
thought, and vision are more than ever imperative in Jewish life.
Greetings
_From Dr. Cyrus Adler_
_President of the Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning,
Philadelphia_
[Illustration]
I AM very glad to be able through this first number of your Journal to
send a word of greeting to the Menorah men throughout the United
States. An Association which has as its object the promotion in
American colleges and universities of the study of Jewish history,
culture and problems, and the advancement of Jewish ideals, cannot but
fail to command my personal and official interest and support.
The Jewish people have a long and honorable record of literary
activity. Our Holy Scriptures, our Rabbinical Literature, our
contributions to philosophy, to ethics, to law, our poetry, sacred and
secular, our share in the world's history, all become part of the
program which you have laid out for yourselves as a means of
cultivation. In their due proportion they should (although they do
not) form a part of the outfit of every educated man. That they should
be especially cultivated by Jewish young people is self-evident, and,
for several thousand years, they have been.
You Menorah men have taken the modern form of association for the
purpose of carrying on these studies, of cherishing your Jewish ideals
along with your general culture or with your chosen profession, and it
was high time that you should do so. You already count thousands of
young people, and as time goes on you will gradually increase in
number. From among your group will come the future leaders of the
Jewish people in America, and your main body will form our
intellectual backbone. It is my hope and belief that your movement
will gradually tend toward the maintenance and promotion of Judaism in
this land.
We are now a population of nearly three million souls. That such a
vast body should be lost to Judaism or should maintain a Judaism
ignorant of its language, its literature or its traditions, is almost
unthinkable. Conditions abroad may shift the center of gravity of
Judaism and of Jewish learning to the American continent. Your
movement is one which will aid in training the group that may be
expected to measure up to our new responsibilities.
It has been a source of great personal pleasure to me to meet with
your Association in your annual convention and to have the privilege
of coming in personal contact with some of your Societies,--at
Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Boston Universities. I hope
to have the pleasure of meeting more of you and to derive more of the
stimulus which your enthusiasm gives me in my work. Speaking not only
in my own name but in behalf of my colleagues on the Board of
Governors and the Faculty of The Dropsie College for Hebrew and
Cognate Learning, I wish your Association and your Journal success in
all of your endeavors.
[Illustration: Signature: Cyrus Adler]
_From Louis D. Brandeis_
_Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist
Affairs_
[Illustration]
THE formation at Harvard University on October 25, 1906, of the first
Menorah Society is a landmark in the Jewish Renaissance. That
Renaissance, in which the Society is certain to be a significant
factor, is of no less importance to America than to its Jews.
America offers to man his greatest opportunity--liberty amidst peace
and large natural resources. But the noble purpose to which America is
dedicated cannot be attained unless this high opportunity is fully
utilized; and to this end each of the many peoples which she has
welcomed to her hospitable shores must contribute the best of which it
is capable. To America the contribution of the Jews can be peculiarly
large. America's fundamental law seeks to make real the brotherhood of
man. That brotherhood became the Jews' fundamental law more than
twenty-five hundred years ago. America's twentieth century demand is
for social justice. That has been the Jews' striving ages-long. Their
religion and their afflictions have prepared them for effective
democracy. Persecution made the Jews' law of brotherhood
self-enforcing. It taught them the seriousness of life; it broadened
their sympathies; it deepened the passion for righteousness; it
trained them in patient endurance, in persistence, in self-control,
and in self-sacrifice. Furthermore, the widespread study of Jewish law
developed the intellect, and made them less subject to preconceptions
and more open to reason.
America requires in her sons and daughters these qualities and
attainments, which are our natural heritage. Patriotism to America, as
well as loyalty to our past, imposes upon us the obligation of
claiming this heritage of the Jewish spirit and of carrying forward
noble ideals and traditions through lives and deeds worthy of our
ancestors. To this end each new generation should be trained in the
knowledge and appreciation of their own great past; and the
opportunity should be afforded for the further development of Jewish
character and culture.
The Menorah Societies and their Journal deserve most generous support
in their efforts to perform this noble task.
[Illustration: Signature: Louis D. Brandeis]
_From Dr. Richard Gottheil_
_Professor of Rabbinical Literature and the Semitic Languages,
Columbia University_
[Illustration]
I HAVE been asked to say a word of greeting to the readers of the
Menorah Journal. I do so with pleasure; indeed with much satisfaction.
The Menorah students at our colleges and universities will now be
bound together by a new bond, one that will give them a more unified
direction and converge their efforts toward the goal which the Menorah
has set for itself.
I should like to think that it is not entirely fortuitous that this
added impulse is given to our work just at this time. We all feel that
the present is a moment when the very foundations of our ethical
life--both as individuals and as groups--have received a rude shock.
At such a time--more than ever--we need to understand and to bear in
mind the great teachings which Jewish sages have given to the world,
as their and our contribution to the moral foundations of society.
Such teachings were, in most cases, not decked out in the tawdry
trappings of a recondite and far-fetched philosophy, nor garnished
with the decorations of superlogical terminology, nor even put forth
with lusty rhetoric. They were simple and to the point, because they
were founded upon deep religious convictions.
One of these teachings occurs to me as I write these lines: "The moral
condition of the world depends upon three things--truth, justice and
peace." Have we outgrown such teaching? Have the astounding advances
made during the last one hundred years in the science of physical
living brought us any nearer to the true inwardness of moral living
than the ethical principles put forth by these early teachers? As our
hearts are rent by the sufferings of those who are caught in the
meshes of the terrible war now raging, and as our intellects are
befogged by the various excuses advanced in justification of carnage
and wholesale destruction, do not the simple words of the old Hebrew
sage appear to us as a beacon-light in the surrounding darkness?
"Truth, Justice, Peace!"
Many similar lessons are awaiting those who will show some little
willingness to learn and to know. They are a part of the patrimony
that is ours, and which for the most part we refuse to claim. A voice
is crying to us out of our own midst. We do not hear; for our ears are
sealed as with wax. The Menorah Societies, which now are to be found
in most of our institutions of higher learning, have set themselves
the task of bringing our Jewish students to a consciousness of their
own past, to a knowledge of their history as members of a great
historic people, and to a just appreciation of the teachings of their
religion. It is only the knowledge of what we have tried to be that
will make us realize fully what we are and will enable us to see what
our future may be. The Menorah Journal is intended to bring this
knowledge to our young men, to harden their Jewish resolve and to
point the way along which lies the consummation of our Jewish hopes.
It sends its greeting to every Jewish student, whether or not he be a
member of a Menorah Society. We of an older generation look to our
university and college men as the Jewish leaders of the future. Let
them gather around the Menorah Journal in order to make it a true
expression of Jewish ideals, a powerful incentive to join the ranks of
those who are active in our cause. The word of the Prophet comes to me
again: "Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak; for
your work shall be rewarded."
[Illustration: Signature: Richard Gottheil]
_From Joseph Jacobs_
_Editor of The American Hebrew, New York_
[Illustration]
I GREET the appearance of the official organ of the Menorah Societies
something in the spirit of Ibsen's Master-Builder, who hears the
coming generation knocking at the door. I have long been of the
opinion that the future of American Israel lies with the academic Jews
of the American universities. The organ that represents them should
be, from this point of view, the voice of Israel's future in America.
If you can live up to that ideal, you have indeed a great future
before you.
[Illustration: Signature: Joseph Jacobs]
_From Dr. Kaufman Kohler_
_President of Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati_
[Illustration]
AS you wander through the ruins of the _Forum Romanum_ and are within
sight of the _Via Appia_ at the other end, your attention is riveted
by an exquisite white marble arch wonderfully preserved. It is the
Arch of Titus erected in memory of Rome's triumph over _Judæa Capta_.
As you look closer at the trophies chiseled on this famous monument,
you find there standing out most conspicuously the seven-armed
candlestick carried by the Jewish captives, the _Menorah_, regarded,
no doubt, by the proud victor as the most characteristic feature of
the destroyed Jewish temple. Yet how strange! It seems to be almost a
foreboding of the future dominion of the vanquished over the
vanquisher. Israel's state, with its temple, Israel's nationality was
trampled under foot by the Roman legions--Israel's religion remained
unconquered, the light of its truth remained undimmed; nay, it grew
brighter and stronger until the world was filled with its splendor.
Little did the Emperor Vespasian dream, when he granted Rabbi Johanan
ben Zakkai, the Jewish maker of learning, the privilege of building a
schoolhouse at Jamnia as a substitute for the hall of the judiciary in
the temple at Jerusalem, that this sanctuary of the Jewish law and
what it represents would by far eclipse all the power and greatness
of the Roman civilization. Yet this was symbolized by the Menorah.
Whether originally intended or not, it was the emblem of Israel's
mission of light. It indicated the task of the Jew, when scattered
over the wide globe, to be a light to the nations, the religious
luminary to the world. And if we be permitted to give a special
meaning to the seven arms of light of the Golden Candlestick, we might
find therein a suggestion of the lights of truth, justice and purity,
or holiness, on the one side, and the lights of law, literature, and
art, or wisdom, on the other, while the light in the center stands for
religion, from which all the other lights emanated and for which the
Jew throughout the centuries lived, suffered, and died, to preserve
intact as mankind's highest treasure to the very end of history.
These ideas I would offer as greeting to the editors and readers of
the Menorah Journal. The name "Menorah" was aptly chosen by the
founders of the pioneer Menorah Society with a view to the two-fold
task of the light-bearer, to enlighten a surrounding world, and to
foster self-respect in the hearts of the Jewish students by spreading
the light of Jewish knowledge among them. Now, if I understand
correctly the purpose of starting a Journal as the organ of the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association, it is to give to these endeavors
a more permanent and classical literary form, and thus successfully
defend the cause of Judaism. Wishing this enterprise all success and
Godspeed, I venture to express the hope that true to its name Menorah,
the Journal will become a real banner-bearer of light not only
dispelling clouds of doubt and of prejudice within and outside of our
camp, but also aiming to spread the truth of Judaism in all its
spiritual force and grandeur. Not nationalism, which in these days of
a cruel world-war with its barbarism puts our much-vaunted modern
civilization to everlasting shame and which has split the Jewish
people also into warring camps, but Judaism as a religion, which
notwithstanding the differences of its various wings as to form is in
its essentials and fundamentals one, should be the watchword, for it
is the light of the Torah that is both law and learning, religion and
culture, which is to unify and consolidate all the forces of American
Israel.
[Illustration: Signature: Dr. K. Kohler]
_From Irving Lehman_
_Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York_
[Illustration]
I CONGRATULATE the members of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
upon the fact that in their Journal they are obtaining a new
instrument to carry forward their work of bringing to the Jewish youth
knowledge of the old ideals and lessons of the Jewish past. During
these dreadful days, the Jewish students of almost every country
except America have been called from study, and preparation for a life
of usefulness, into pitiless war and useless destruction. The
oppressed in Russia, the student in Germany, and the free Englishman,
all have answered the call to arms of the country in which they live,
and each is fighting, firm in the belief that he is defending his
Fatherland against foreign aggression. The loyalty shown by our
brethren even in those countries where their treatment might well have
furnished at least an explanation for disloyalty, is a new
demonstration of the ancient spirit of devotion to their ideals which,
I believe, has always been the true spirit of the Jews. But the ideal
of national physical strength is not the ideal which we Jews had when
we were a nation and which we must strive to make the ideal of the
modern nations in which we live. Dark though these present days are,
yet humanity must progress into the light of a permanent peace, and
though the Jews are doing their full share of the fighting in this war
brought on by their rulers, we must do more than our share in bringing
to its fruition the ancient prophecy: "For the law shall go forth from
Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge many
people and rebuke strong nations, and they shall beat their swords
into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any
more."
The voice of this Journal may be only a weak, small voice, but if that
voice speaks in the spirit of the prophet and brings home to us the
worth of the prophetic ideals, it may well prove an important factor
in enabling Israel to fulfill its mission as a messenger of peace to
all the nations.
[Illustration: Signature: Irving Lehman]
_From Julian W. Mack_
_Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals_
[Illustration]
MY hopes are high that the Menorah Journal may prove a valuable means
not only of linking together the Menorah Societies of the country but
also of bringing to the individual members a clearer conception of the
culture, ideals and traditions of the Jews, thereby increasing their
interest in all things Jewish.
This would inevitably tend to strengthen the religious faith of the
Jewish members and to awaken in all of the members a keener and a more
intelligent appreciation of the contribution which Jews and Judaism
have made to human progress.
[Illustration: Signature: Julian W. Mack]
_From Dr. J. L. Magnes_
_Chairman of Executive Committee, Jewish Community (Kehillah) of New
York_
[Illustration]
I SEND hearty greetings to the members of the Intercollegiate Menorah
Association upon the publication of the Journal. If the Journal can be
put upon a sound business basis assuring its permanence, its
publication will mark an important event in the development of Judaism
in America. What we need above all things is sound thinking on Jewish
affairs. I have no doubt that proper action will result from sound
thinking. The Menorah Journal ought to become the medium for
publishing the best thought modern Jewry is capable of. The present
catastrophe overwhelming Europe has conferred upon the Jews in America
the leadership of Jewry. We can assume this historic obligation only
if our theories be clear cut and well thought out.
[Illustration: Signature: J. L. Magnes]
_From Dr. Martin A. Meyer_
_Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco_
[Illustration]
IT is a pleasure to know that a journal is being launched in America
for the benefit of thinking Jews, which will stand between the
technical journal of the "Quarterly" type and outside of the purlieus
of our numerous "Weekly" gossip sheets.
Jewish journalism in America has done little, if anything, to justify
the numerous calls which it makes upon the people for support. On the
other hand, there is sad need for a journal representative of our best
thought, which will be readable and which will represent rather than
misrepresent us.
The field of Jewish culture and ideals surely has not been exhausted
by our European brethren. No matter what they may have contributed to
the exploitation of this field there surely remains ample ground for
the American Jew to express himself in the light of the old standards
of Jewish conduct and belief.
It goes without saying that your Journal will make its primary appeal
to the college man and woman. If successful, it will have saved for
Jewry its most valuable elements and enable us to build in the future
on a better and broader basis than the purely financial and commercial
leadership of the past.
From the far West we join hands with you in the far East and unite in
fervent hopes that the new Menorah Journal may grow from strength to
strength.
[Illustration: Signature: Martin A. Meyer]
_From Dr. David Philipson_
_Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati_
[Illustration]
SOME seventy years ago the celebrated Jewish scholar, Abraham Geiger,
charged the Jewish _intelligenzia_ of his day with indifference
towards Judaism and Jewish interests. This accusation of Geiger's has
since been repeated frequently. But a rift is appearing in the cloud.
To-day as never before our _intelligenzia_ as defined by university
training and education is identifying itself more and more with Jewish
life and aspiration in our country. And I feel that due credit should
be given the Menorah movement in our colleges for this change of
attitude of Jewish students and professors. This movement, still
young, has accomplished much in bringing together the young men and
women who form our intellectual elite into associations for the study
of Jewish history and the consideration of Jewish problems. It has
awakened an interest in Jewish matters in many who have been lukewarm
and indifferent. It has brought as lecturers to our colleges Jewish
men of light and leading from many communities, who have voiced their
messages and given food for thought to the future leaders now sitting
on university benches.
The call of the ages sounds to the intellectual nobility of our day
and generation. Learning has been extolled among Jews from earliest
times, and the wise man has been the accredited leader, so that it was
declared that "the wise man is greater than the prophet." I would have
the learned classes come again into their own. I would have our
university men in coming years the staunchest Jews in the community
through their intelligent interest in everything that makes for its
highest welfare.
To achieve this is the task of our university men. The possibility of
this achievement I see in such significant signs as the Menorah
movement, the institution of student congregations, and the launching
of this magazine by the Intercollegiate Menorah Association. What has
been called the "Jewish consciousness," a term which has done yeoman's
service during the past decade, is being aroused through these
agencies to an even greater degree. This aroused Jewish feeling will,
I am sure, be translated into active service more and more as the
years pass and the present generation of college men carve out their
careers in our communities throughout the country. This is the great
Jewish opportunity of the present generation; in this will they
reverse, such is my hope and my belief, that condition and that
attitude of the Jewish _intelligenzia_ in the past (and still largely
in the present) which evoked the statement of Abraham Geiger. May this
new undertaking prosper so that the young generation whom this
magazine represents may be helped toward a realization of its ideals,
and become an inspiration to all Jewry throughout the length and
breadth of the land.
[Illustration: Signature: David Philipson]
_From Dr. Solomon Schechter_
_President of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America_
[Illustration]
I WISH to send my hearty congratulations to the Intercollegiate
Menorah Association upon their undertaking the publication of the
Menorah Journal, which I have no doubt will prove greatly helpful in
promoting the knowledge of Judaism among the Jewish college youth. In
a liberal country like ours, with the eagerness of our people for
acquiring knowledge, there never was a lack of Jews in our Colleges
and Universities. But what the Menorah Association will accomplish
with the aid of the Journal is, I hope, to have Judaism also
represented in our seats of learning.
[Illustration: Signature: S. Schechter]
_From Jacob H. Schiff_
[Illustration]
IT is with much satisfaction that I learn of the launching of the
Menorah Journal, to provide an opportunity for a more general spread
of the high ideals of the Menorah Societies among our college youth.
When I received some time ago a copy of the publication entitled "The
Menorah Movement," I noted with particular pleasure the progress the
Menorah Societies had already made. After an attentive perusal of the
contents of this publication, I felt as if a copy ought to be placed
in the hands of every Jewish college and university student, and I
myself distributed a number of copies for propaganda purposes. The
Menorah Societies are to be congratulated upon their new venture in
issuing the Journal, upon which I wish them every success. It is to be
hoped that the Menorah Journal will help the Jewish student to
understand what Judaism means and what as Jews we should strive for to
become useful and worthy citizens of this country. We shall have to
face increasing problems because of the deplorable war in Europe,
which so tragically affects our co-religionists there, and it will
require much devotion and understanding on our part to properly deal
with the conditions which will necessarily arise. The Menorah Journal
should freely discuss these conditions, so as to inspire its readers
with the desire to aid and the courage needed in the situation which
is facing us. Thus, by "spreading light," the Journal can greatly
assist the Menorah movement, and render efficient service in and
outside of the university. Let me wish Godspeed to your new
publication and its managers.
[Illustration: Signature: Jacob H. Schiff]
_From Dr. Stephen S. Wise_
_Rabbi of the Free Synagogue, New York_
[Illustration]
I REJOICE to learn of the establishment of an organ by the Menorah
Association. The Menorah Journal will, I take it, serve the threefold
purpose of keeping the various groups of the Menorah throughout the
universities of the land in constant touch with one another, of
interpreting the ideals of the Menorah to widening circles of the
Jewish youth, and of confirming anew, from time to time, the loyalty
of the Menorah men to the Menorah ideal.
A truly great Jew said about fifteen years ago that a high
self-reverence had transformed _arme Judenjungen_ into _stolze junge
Juden_. I believe that the Menorah movement in this land is in part
the cause and in other part the token of a transformation among young
American Jews to-day parallel to that cited by Theodor Herzl. It marks
a sea-change from the self pitying Jewish youth, immeasurably "sorry
for himself" because of his exclusion from certain dominantly
unfraternal groups, to the Jewish youth self-regarding, in the highest
sense of the term, self-knowing, self-revering. That the
self-respecting young Jew command the respect of the world without is
of minor importance by the side of the outstanding fact that he has
ceased to measure himself by the values which he imagined the
unfriendly elements of the world without had set upon him.
The Menorah movement is welcome as a proof of a new order in the life
of the young college Jew. He has come to see at last that it is comic,
in large part, to be shut out from the Greek letter fraternities of
the Hellenes and the Barbarians, but that it is tragic, in large part,
to shut himself out from the life of his own people. For it is from
his own people that he must draw his vision and spiritual sustenance
if he is to live a life of self-mastery rather than the life of a
contemptible parasite rooted nowhere and chameleonizing everywhere.
Time was when their fellow-Jews half excused the college men, who
drifted away from the life of Israel, as if the burden of the Jewish
bond were too much for the untried and unrobust shoulders of our
Jewish college men, as if their intellectual and moral squeamishness
led to inevitable revolt against association with their much-despised
and wholly misunderstood Jewish fellows. Now we see, and our younger
brothers of the Menorah fellowship have caught the vision, that no Jew
can be truly cultured who Jewishly uproots himself, that the man who
rejects the birthright of inheritance of the traditions of the
earliest and virilest of the cultured peoples of earth is
impoverishing his very being. The Jew who is a "little Jew" is less of
a man.
The Menorah lights the path for the fellowship of young Israel, finely
self-reverencing. Long be that rekindled light undimmed!
[Illustration: Signature: Stephen S. Wise]
A Call to the Educated Jew
BY LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
[Illustration: _Louis D. Brandeis (born in Louisville, Ky., in 1856),
lawyer and publicist, is a distinguished leader in the voluntary
profession of "public servant." His extraordinary record of unselfish,
genuine achievement in behalf of the public interest--for shorter
hours of labor, savings bank insurance, protection against monopoly,
against increase in railroad rates, etc.,--gives peculiar aptness to
the appeal for community service made in this article, which Mr.
Brandeis has prepared from a recent Menorah address. From the
beginning Mr. Brandeis has taken a keen interest in the Menorah
movement as a promotive force for the ideals he has at heart._]
WHILE I was in Cleveland a few weeks ago, a young man who has won
distinction on the bench told me this incident from his early life. He
was born in a little village of Western Russia where the opportunities
for schooling were meagre. When he was thirteen his parents sent him
to the nearest city in search of an education. There--in
Bialystok--were good secondary schools and good high schools; but the
Russian law, which limits the percentage of Jewish pupils in any
school, barred his admission. The boy's parents lacked the means to
pay for private tuition. He had neither relative nor friend in the
city. But soon three men were found who volunteered to give him
instruction. None of them was a teacher by profession. One was a
newspaper man; another was a chemist; the third, I believe, was a
tradesman; all were educated men. And throughout five long years these
three men took from their leisure the time necessary to give a
stranger an education.
The three men of Bialystok realized that education was not a thing of
one's own to do with as one pleases--not a personal privilege to be
merely enjoyed by the possessor--but a precious treasure transmitted
upon a sacred trust to be held, used and enjoyed, and if possible
strengthened--then passed on to others upon the same trust. Yet the
treasure which these three men held and the boy received in trust was
much more than an education. It included that combination of qualities
which enabled and impelled these three men to give and the boy to seek
and to acquire an education. These qualities embrace: first,
_intellectual capacity_; second, _an appreciation of the value of
education_; third, _indomitable will_; fourth, _capacity for hard
work_. It was these qualities which enabled the lad not only to
acquire but to so utilize an education that, coming to America,
ignorant of our language and of our institutions, he attained in
comparatively few years the important office he has so honorably
filled.
Now whence comes this combination of qualities of mind, body and
character? These are qualities with which every one is familiar,
singly and in combination; which you find in friends and relatives,
and which others doubtless discover in you. They are qualities
possessed by most Jews who have attained distinction or other success;
and in combination they may properly be called Jewish qualities. For
they have not come to us by accident; they were developed by three
thousand years of civilization, and nearly two thousand years of
persecution; developed through our religion and spiritual life;
through our traditions; and through the social and political
conditions under which our ancestors lived. They are, in short, the
product of Jewish life.
_The Fruit of Three Thousand Years of Civilization_
OUR intellectual capacity was developed by the almost continuous
training of the mind throughout twenty-five centuries. The Torah led
the "People of the Book" to intellectual pursuits at times when most
of the Aryan peoples were illiterate. And religion imposed the use of
the mind upon the Jews, indirectly as well as directly, and demanded
of the Jew not merely the love, but the understanding of God. This
necessarily involved a study of the Laws. And the conditions under
which the Jews were compelled to live during the last two thousand
years also promoted study in a people among whom there was already
considerable intellectual attainment. Throughout the centuries of
persecution practically the only life open to the Jew which could give
satisfaction was the intellectual and spiritual life. Other fields of
activity and of distinction which divert men from intellectual
pursuits were closed to the Jews. Thus they were protected by their
privations from the temptations of material things and worldly
ambitions. Driven by circumstances to intellectual pursuits, their
mental capacity gradually developed. And as men delight in that which
they do well, there was an ever widening appreciation of things
intellectual.
Is not the Jews' indomitable will--the power which enables them to
resist temptation and, fully utilizing their mental capacity, to
overcome obstacles--is not that quality also the result of the
conditions under which they lived so long? To live a Jew during the
centuries of persecution was to lead a constant struggle for
existence. That struggle was so severe that only the fittest could
survive. Survival was not possible except where there was strong
will--a will both to live and to live a Jew. The weaker ones passed
either out of Judaism or out of existence.
And finally, the Jewish capacity for hard work is also the product of
Jewish life--a life characterized by temperate, moral living continued
throughout the ages, and protected by those marvellous sanitary
regulations which were enforced through the religious sanctions.
Remember, too, that amidst the hardship to which our ancestors were
exposed it was only those with endurance who survived.
So let us not imagine that what we call our achievements are wholly or
even largely our own. The phrase "self-made man" is most misleading.
We have power to mar; but we alone cannot make. The relatively large
success achieved by Jews wherever the door of opportunity is opened to
them is due, in the main, to this product of Jewish life--to this
treasure which we have acquired by inheritance--and which we are in
duty bound to transmit unimpaired, if not augmented, to coming
generations.
But our inheritance comprises far more than this combination of
qualities making for effectiveness. These are but means by which man
may earn a living or achieve other success. Our Jewish trust comprises
also that which makes the living worthy and success of value. It
brings us that body of moral and intellectual perceptions, the point
of view and the ideals, which are expressed in the term Jewish spirit;
and therein lies our richest inheritance.
_The Kinship of Jewish and American Ideals_
IS it not a striking fact that a people coming from Russia, the most
autocratic of countries, to America, the most democratic of countries,
comes here, not as to a strange land, but as to a home? The ability of
the Russian Jew to adjust himself to America's essentially democratic
conditions is not to be explained by Jewish adaptability. The
explanation lies mainly in the fact that the twentieth century ideals
of America have been the ideals of the Jew for more than twenty
centuries. We have inherited these ideals of democracy and of social
justice as we have the qualities of mind, body and character to which
I referred. We have inherited also that fundamental longing for truth
on which all science--and so largely the civilization of the twentieth
century--rests; although the servility incident to persistent
oppression has in some countries obscured its manifestation.
Among the Jews democracy was not an ideal merely. It was a practice--a
practice made possible by the existence among them of certain
conditions essential to successful democracy, namely:
First: _An all-pervading sense of the duty in the citizen._ Democratic
ideals cannot be attained through emphasis merely upon the rights of
man. Even a recognition that every right has a correlative duty will
not meet the needs of democracy. Duty must be accepted as the dominant
conception in life. Such were the conditions in the early days of the
colonies and states of New England, when American democracy reached
there its fullest expression; for the Puritans were trained in
implicit obedience to stern duty by constant study of the Prophets.
Second: _Relatively high intellectual attainments._ Democratic ideals
cannot be attained by the mentally undeveloped. In a government where
everyone is part sovereign, everyone should be competent, if not to
govern, at least to understand the problems of government; and to this
end education is an essential. The early New Englanders appreciated
fully that education is an essential of potential equality. The
founding of their common school system was coincident with the
founding of the colonies; and even the establishment of institutions
for higher education did not lag far behind. Harvard College was
founded but six years after the first settlement of Boston.
Third: _Submission to leadership as distinguished from authority._
Democratic ideals can be attained only where those who govern exercise
their power not by alleged divine right or inheritance, but by force
of character and intelligence. Such a condition implies the attainment
by citizens generally of relatively high moral and intellectual
standards; and such a condition actually existed among the Jews. These
men who were habitually denied rights, and whose province it has been
for centuries "to suffer and to think," learned not only to sympathize
with their fellows (which is the essence of democracy and social
justice), but also to accept voluntarily the leadership of those
highly endowed morally and intellectually.
Fourth: _A developed community sense._ The sense of duty to which I
have referred was particularly effective in promoting democratic
ideals among the Jews, because of their deep-seated community feeling.
To describe the Jew as an individualist is to state a most misleading
half-truth. He has to a rare degree merged his individuality and his
interests in the community of which he forms a part. This is evidenced
among other things by his attitude toward immortality. Nearly every
other people has reconciled this world of suffering with the idea of a
beneficent providence by conceiving of immortality for the individual.
The individual sufferer bore present ills by regarding this world as
merely the preparation for another, in which those living righteously
here would find individual reward hereafter. Of all the nations,
Israel "takes precedence in suffering"; but, despite our national
tragedy, the doctrine of individual immortality found relatively
slight lodgment among us. As Ahad Ha-'Am so beautifully said: "Judaism
did not turn heavenward and create in Heaven an eternal habitation of
souls. It found 'eternal life' on earth, by strengthening the social
feeling in the individual; by making him regard himself not as an
isolated being with an existence bounded by birth and death, but as
part of a larger whole, as a limb of the social body. This conception
shifts the center of gravity not from the flesh to the spirit, but
from the individual to the community; and concurrently with this
shifting, the problem of life becomes a problem not of individual, but
of social life. I live for the sake of the perpetuation and happiness
of the community of which I am a member; I die to make room for new
individuals, who will mould the community afresh and not allow it to
stagnate and remain forever in one position. When the individual thus
values the community as his own life, and strives after its happiness
as though it were his individual well-being, he finds satisfaction,
and no longer feels so keenly the bitterness of his individual
existence, because he sees the end for which he lives and suffers." Is
not that the very essence of the truly triumphant twentieth-century
democracy?
_The Two-fold Command of Noblesse Oblige_
SUCH is our inheritance; such the estate which we hold in trust. And
what are the terms of that trust; what the obligations imposed? The
short answer is _noblesse oblige_; and its command is two-fold. It
imposes duties upon us in respect to our own conduct as individuals;
it imposes no less important duties upon us as part of the Jewish
community or race. Self-respect demands that each of us lead
individually a life worthy of our great inheritance and of the
glorious traditions of the race. But this is demanded also by respect
for the rights of others. The Jews have not only been ever known as a
"peculiar people"; they were and remain a distinctive and minority
people. Now it is one of the necessary incidents of a distinctive and
minority people that the act of any one is in some degree attributed
to the whole group. A single though inconspicuous instance of
dishonorable conduct on the part of a Jew in any trade or profession
has far-reaching evil effects extending to the many innocent members
of the race. Large as this country is, no Jew can behave badly without
injuring each of us in the end. Thus the Rosenthal and the white-slave
traffic cases, though local to New York, did incalculable harm to the
standing of the Jews throughout the country. The prejudice created may
be most unjust, but we may not disregard the fact that such is the
result. Since the act of each becomes thus the concern of all, we are
perforce our brothers' keepers. Each, as co-trustee for all, must
exact even from the lowliest the avoidance of things dishonorable; and
we may properly brand the guilty as traitor to the race.
But from the educated Jew far more should be exacted. In view of our
inheritance and our present opportunities, self-respect demands that
we live not only honorably but worthily; and worthily implies nobly.
The educated descendants of a people which in its infancy cast aside
the Golden Calf and put its faith in the invisible God cannot worthily
in its maturity worship worldly distinction and things material. "Two
men he honors and no third," says Carlyle--"the toil-worn craftsman
who conquers the earth and him who is seen toiling for the spiritually
indispensable."
And yet, though the Jew make his individual life the loftiest, that
alone will not fulfill the obligations of his trust. We are bound not
only to use worthily our great inheritance, but to preserve and, if
possible, augment it; and then transmit it to coming generations. The
fruit of three thousand years of civilization and a hundred
generations of suffering may not be sacrificed by us. It will be
sacrificed if dissipated. Assimilation is national suicide. And
assimilation can be prevented only by preserving national
characteristics and life as other peoples, large and small, are
preserving and developing their national life. Shall we with our
inheritance do less than the Irish, the Servians, or the Bulgars? And
must we not, like them, have a land where the Jewish life may be
naturally led, the Jewish language spoken, and the Jewish spirit
prevail? Surely we must, and that land is our fathers' land: it is
Palestine.
_A Land Where the Jewish Spirit May Prevail_
THE undying longing for Zion is a fact of deepest significance--a
manifestation in the struggle for existence. Zionism is, of course,
not a movement to remove all the Jews of the world compulsorily to
Palestine. In the first place, there are in the world about 14,000,000
Jews, and Palestine would not accommodate more than one-fifth of that
number. In the second place, this is not a movement to compel anyone
to go to Palestine. It is essentially a movement to give to the Jew
more, not less, freedom--a movement to enable the Jews to exercise the
same right now exercised by practically every other people in the
world--to live at their option either in the land of their fathers or
in some other country; a right which members of small nations as well
as of large--which Irish, Greek, Bulgarian, Servian or Belgian, as
well as German or English--may now exercise.
Furthermore, Zionism is not a movement to wrest from the Turk the
sovereignty of Palestine. Zionism seeks merely to establish in
Palestine for such Jews as choose to go and remain there, and for
their descendants, a legally secured home, where they may live
together and lead a Jewish life; where they may expect ultimately to
constitute a majority of the population, and may look forward to what
we should call home rule.
The establishment of the legally secured Jewish home is no longer a
dream. For more than a generation brave pioneers have been building
the foundations of our new old home. It remains for us to build the
superstructure. The Ghetto walls are now falling, Jewish life cannot
be preserved and developed, assimilation cannot be averted, unless
there be reëstablished in the fatherland a center from which the
Jewish spirit may radiate and give to the Jews scattered throughout
the world that inspiration which springs from the memories of a great
past and the hope of a great future. To accomplish this it is not
necessary that the Jewish population of Palestine be large as compared
with the whole number of Jews in the world. Throughout centuries when
the Jewish influence was great, and it was working out its own, and in
large part the world's, destiny during the Persian, the Greek, and
the Roman Empires, only a relatively small part of the Jews lived in
Palestine; and only a small part of the Jews returned from Babylon
when the Temple was rebuilt.
The glorious past can really live only if it becomes the mirror of a
glorious future; and to this end the Jewish home in Palestine is
essential. We Jews of prosperous America above all need its
inspiration. And the Menorah men should be its builders.
[Illustration: Signature: Louis D. Brandeis]
_THERE are two things necessary in the Jewish life of
this country. The one is an heroic attempt to organize
the Jews of the country for Jewish things. That can be
done, I believe, primarily through the organization of
self-conscious Jewish communities throughout the
country. The other thing necessary is, that we have
vigorous Jewish thinking. We need a theory, a
substantial theory, for our Jewish life, just as much
as we need Jewish organization. We need to have our
college men think their problems through without fear,
courageously, by whatever name their theories may be
known, be these theories called Zionism or
anti-Zionism, Reform Judaism or Orthodox Judaism. We
need some vigorous Jewish thinking._--_From a Menorah
Address by Dr. J. L. Magnes._
Menorah
By WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD
[Illustration: _WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD (born in New Jersey in 1876),
Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, is the
author of several volumes of verse and literary criticism which have
won high praise,--notably "Sonnets and Poems," "Byron and Byronism in
America," and "The Vaunt of Man."_]
WE'VE read in legends of the books of old
How deft Bezalel, wisest in his trade,
At the command of veilèd Moses made
The seven-branched candlestick of beaten gold--
The base, the shaft, the cups, the knops, the flowers,
Like almond blossoms--and the lamps were seven.
We know at least that on the templed rock
Of Zion hill, with earth's revolving hours
Under the changing centuries of heaven,
It stood upon the solemn altar block,
By every Gentile who had heard abhorred--
The holy light of Israel of the Lord;
Until that Titus and the legions came
And battered the walls with catapult and fire,
And bore the priests and candlestick away,
And, as memorial of fulfilled desire,
Bade carve upon the arch that bears his name
The stone procession ye may see today
Beyond the Forum on the Sacred Way,
Lifting the golden candlestick of fame.
The city fell, the temple was a heap;
And little children, who had else grown strong
And in their manhood venged the Roman wrong,
Strewed step and chamber, in eternal sleep.
But the great vision of the sevenfold flames
Outlasted the cups wherein at first it sprung.
The Greeks might teach the arts, the Romans law;
The heathen hordes might shout for bread and games;
Still Israel, exalted in the realms of awe,
Guarded the Light in many an alien air,
Along the borders of the midland sea
In hostile cities, spending praise and prayer
And pondering on the larger things to be--
Down through the ages when the Cross uprose
Among the northern Gentiles to oppose:
Then huddled in the ghettos, barred at night,
In lands of unknown trees and fiercer snows,
They watched forevermore the Light, the Light.
The main seas opened to the west. The Nations
Covered new continents with generations
That had their work to do, their thought to say;
And Israel's hosts from bloody towns afar
In the dominions of the ermined Czar,
Seared with the iron, scarred with many a stroke,
Crowded the hollow ships but yesterday
And came to us who are tomorrow's folk.
And the pure Light, however some might doubt
Who mocked their dirt and rags, had not gone out.
The holy Light of Israel hath unfurled
Its tongues of mystic flame around the world.
Empires and Kings and Parliaments have passed;
Rivers and mountain chains from age to age
Become new boundaries for man's politics.
The navies run new ensigns up the mast,
The temples try new creeds, new equipage;
The schools new sciences beyond the six.
And through the lands where many a song hath rung
The people speak no more their fathers' tongue.
Yet in the shifting energies of man
The Light of Israel remains her Light.
And gathered to a splendid caravan
From the four corners of the day and night,
The chosen people--so the prophets hold--
Shall yet return unto the homes of old
Under the hills of Judah. Be it so.
Only the stars and moon and sun can show
A permanence of light to hers akin.
What is that Light? Who is there that shall tell
The purport of the tribe of Israel?--
In the wild welter of races on that earth
Which spins in space where thousand other spin--
The casual offspring of the Cosmic Mirth
Perhaps--what is there any man can win,
Or any nation? Ultimates aside,
Men have their aims, and Israel her pride.
She stands among the rest, austere, aloof,
Still the peculiar people, armed in proof
Of Selfhood, whilst the others merge or die.
She stands among the rest and answers: "I,
Above ye all, must ever gauge success
By ideal types, and know the more and less
Of things as being in the end defined,
For this our human life by righteousness.
And if I base this in Eternal Mind--
Our fathers' God in victory or distress--
I cannot argue for my hardihood,
Save that the thought is in my flesh and blood,
And made me what I was in olden time,
And keeps me what I am today in every clime."
[Illustration: Signature: William Ellery Leonard]
The Jews in the War
BY JOSEPH JACOBS
[Illustration: _JOSEPH JACOBS (born in New South Wales in 1854), noted
author and editor, was one of England's well-known scholars and men of
letters when he was called to America to become managing editor of the
Jewish Encyclopedia. He has held the chair of English literature at
the Jewish Theological Seminary, and is now editor of the American
Hebrew. He is the author of many authoritative books, including "Jews
of Angevin England," "Studies in Jewish Statistics," "Jewish Ideals,"
and "Literary Studies."_]
IT is of course difficult to conjecture what will be the ultimate
effect of such a world-cataclysm as the present European war on the
fate of the Jews of the world. The chief center of interest naturally
lies in the eastern field of the war which happens to rage within the
confines of Old Poland. This kingdom, founded by the Jagellons,
brought together Roman Catholic Poland and Greek Catholic Lithuania
and could not, therefore, apply in full rigor the mediaeval principle
that only those could belong to the State who belonged to the State
Church. Hence a certain amount of toleration of religious differences,
which led to Poland forming the chief asylum of the Jews evicted from
Western Europe in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As a
consequence here lies the most crowded seat of Jewish population in
the world. From it comes the vast majority of the third of a million
Jews in the prime of life who are fighting for their native countries
and often against their fellow-Jews. Probably three hundred thousand
Jewish soldiers are under arms in this district. Besides the
inevitable loss by death of many of these and the distress caused by
the removal of so many others for an indefinite period from
breadwinning for their families, there must be ineffable woe caused by
the fact that this district is the scene of strenuous conflicts, which
lead to the wholesale destruction of the Jewish homes in a literal
sense. When one reflects that one out of every six of the inhabitants
of Russian, Prussian, and Austrian Poland is a Jew, the extent of the
misery thus caused may be imagined. One meets friends whose
birth-place changes nationality from week to week, according as the
different armies take possession. The Jewish inhabitants of Suwalki,
for example, must be doubtful whether they are Germans or Russians,
according as Uhlan or Cossack holds control of their city. But
whichever wins, for the time being, the non-combatants suffer by the
demolition of their houses, the requisition of their property, and
above all by the dislocation of their trade. The mass of misery caused
by the present war in this way to the Jews of Russian, Prussian, and
Austrian Poland is incalculable.
Nor is this direct loss and misery compensated for by any hope of
improved conditions after the war is concluded. One may dismiss at
once the rumor that the Czar has promised his Jewish soldiers any
alleviation of their lot, on account of their loyalty and bravery.
Such rumors are always spread about when the Russian autocracy needs
Jewish blood or money. Besides, we all know the value of the plighted
word of the crowned head of the Russian Church; the emasculation of
the Duma is sufficient evidence of this. And even if the Czar carries
out his promise of giving autonomy to Poland, including any sections
of Prussian and Austrian territory which he may acquire by the present
war, the Jewish lot will not be ameliorated in the slightest. For,
unfortunately, Poles have of recent years turned round on their Jewish
fellow sufferers from Russian tyranny somewhat on the principle of the
boy at school who "passes on" the blow which he has received from a
bigger boy to one smaller yet.
_The Probable Strengthening of Anti-Semitic Influences_
BUT the chief evil which will result from the present war, whatever
its outcome, will be the increased influence of just those circles
from whom the anti-Semitic movement has emanated throughout Europe for
the past forty years. It is, in my opinion, absurd to think that
militarism will be killed or even scotched by the present war;
militarism cannot cast out militarism. Even if Germany is defeated, it
is impossible to imagine that she will rest content with her defeat,
and practically the only change in the situation will be that "La
Revanche" will be translated into "Die Rache"; and in Russia, the
defeat of Germany will simply increase the prestige and influence of
the grand-ducal circles from which the persecution of the Jews has
mainly emanated.
In the contrary case, if Germany gets the upper hand, the influence of
the Junkers in Germany, with their anti-Semitic tendencies, would be
raised to intolerable limits, while the Reaction in Russia, even if it
loses prestige, will yet be granted more power in order to carry out
the projected revenge.
_Diminished Chances of Emigration_
ANOTHER unfortunate result for Jews from the present war will be the
decreased stream of emigration from Russia and Galicia to this
country, so that the escape from the House of Bondage would be still
more limited. Many will be so impoverished by the war that they will
not be able to afford the minimum sum needed for migration. Death on
the battle-field or in the military hospitals will remove many
energetic young fellows who would otherwise have come to this country
and afterwards have brought their relatives with them. Conditions here
too, in the immediate future, are likely to be less attractive for the
immigrant from the economic point of view owing to the dislocation of
trade caused by the current conflict.
Altogether, as will have been seen from the above enumeration, I am
strongly of opinion that the Jews will suffer even more than most
peoples concerned in the present war. They have nothing to gain by it;
they are sure to lose by it.
[Illustration: Signature: Joseph Jacobs]
_SURELY a law, the essence of which is mercy and
justice to one's fellow men, is not a narrow rule of
life, to be discarded by us today on any plea that we
have outgrown it; surely a history of thousands of
years' devotion to spiritual ideals is not a history
to be forgotten. America is a land of divers races and
divers religions. Each race and each religion owes to
it the duty of bringing to its service all its
strength; it derives no added strength from a race
which has forgotten the lessons it has learnt in the
past, a race which deliberately discards the spiritual
strength which it has obtained by devotion to its
ideals._--_From a Menorah Address by Justice Irving
Lehman._
Jewish Students in European Universities
BY HARRY WOLFSON
[Illustration: _HARRY WOLFSON (Harvard A. B. and A. M. 1912), a member
of the Harvard Menorah Society since 1908, was the Hebrew poet at the
annual Harvard Menorah dinners for four years, and won the Harvard
Menorah prize in 1911 for an essay on "Maimonides and Halevi: A Study
in Typical Jewish Attitudes Toward Greek Philosophy in the Middle
Ages." On graduating from Harvard he received honors in Semitics and
Philosophy, and was appointed to a Sheldon Traveling Fellowship. As
Sheldon Fellow he spent two years abroad, studying in the University
of Berlin and doing research work in the libraries of Munich, Paris,
the Vatican, Parma, the British Museum, Oxford and Cambridge. The
present article is based upon the impressions he gathered during this
period. He is now pursuing graduate studies in Semitics and Philosophy
at Harvard._]
THE Jewish student is no longer a _déraciné_. Deeply rooted to the
soil of Jewish reality, he is like the best of the academic youth of
other nations responsive to the needs of his own people. If in spots
he is still groping in the dark, he is no longer a lone, stray
wanderer, but is seeking his way out to light in the company of
kindred souls. A comprehensive and exhaustive study of native Jewish
student bodies in countries like England, Germany, Austria, France and
Italy, as well as of the Russian Jewish student colonies strewn all
over Western Europe, would bring out, in the most striking manner,
contrasting tendencies in modern Jewry. But that is far from the
direct purpose of this brief paper. As a student and traveler in
various European countries during the years 1912-1914 I had the
opportunity of observing Jewish student life and Jewish conditions in
general abroad, and it is merely a few random impressions of certain
aspects of these European conditions that I have here gathered
together for the readers of the Menorah Journal.
_In England_
JUDAISM in England, though of recent origin, is completely
domesticated. The Jewish gentleman is becoming as standardized as the
type of English gentleman. But more insular than the island itself,
Anglo-Jewry, as a whole, prefers to remain within its natural
boundaries, and is disinclined to become the bearer of the white Jew's
burden. Two of her great Jews, indeed, had embarked upon a scheme of
Jewish empire building. The attempts of both of them, however, ended
in a fizzle, for one was an unimaginative philanthropic squire, and
the other is an interpreter of the dreamers, himself too wide-awake to
become a master of dreams.
Yet within its own narrow limits, Anglo-Jewry is active enough to keep
in perfect condition. Over-exertion, however, is avoided. Cricket
Judaism is played according to the rules of the game, and the players
are quite comfortable in their flannels. The established synagogue of
Mulberry Street is as staid and sober as the Church of England, the
liberalism preached in Berkeley Street as gentle and unscandalizing as
the nonconformity of the City Temple, and the orthodoxy of the United
Synagogue as innocuously papish as the last phases of the Oxford
movement.
In England it is quite fashionable to admit Judaism into the parlor.
Parlor Judaism, to be sure, is not more vital a force nor more
creative than kitchen Judaism, but it seems to be more vital than the
Judaism restricted to the Temple. At least it is voluntary and
personal, and, what is more important, it is engaging. So engrossed in
the subject of his discussion was once my host at tea, that while
administering the sugar he asked me quite absent-mindedly: "Would you
have one or two lumps in your Judaism?" "Thank you, none at all," was
my reply. "But I am wont to take my Judaism somewhat stronger, if you
please."
_Jewish Student Groups at Oxford and Cambridge_
AS compared with ourselves, English Jews have a long tradition behind
them, in which they glory. That tradition does not at present seem to
stand any imminent danger of being interrupted. The younger generation
follow in the footprints of the older. Nowhere is there so narrow a
rift between Jewish fathers and sons as in England. Hence you do not
find there any prominent organization of the young. Last winter an
anonymous appeal for the organization of the Jewish students in
England ran for several weeks in the _Jewish Chronicle_, but it seems
to have resulted in nothing.
Independent local organizations of Jewish students, however, are to be
found in almost every university in England. In Oxford and Cambridge
they are organized in congregations, having Synagogues of their own,
in which the students assemble for prayer on every Friday night and
Saturday morning. In Cambridge they hold two services, an orthodox and
a liberal, both well attended. In Oxford they have recently published
a special prayer book of their own, suitable for the needs of all
kinds of students, it being a medley of orthodoxy and liberalism,
which if rather indiscriminate in its theology is, on the whole, made
up with good common sense. English liberal Judaism, it should be
observed, is markedly different from its corresponding cults in
Germany and in the United States. In Germany, reformed Judaism has its
nascence in free thought, and it aims to appeal to the intellectual.
With us liberalism is stimulated by our pragmatic evaluation of
religion, and is held out as a bait to the indifferent. In England it
arises from the growing admiration on the part of a certain class of
Jews for what they consider the inwardness and the superior morality
of Christianity, and is concocted as a cure to those who are so
affected. As a result, English liberal Judaism is more truly religious
than the German, and more sincerely pious than the American. In a
sermon delivered before the Oxford congregation, a young layman of the
Liberal Synagogue of London apostrophized liberal Judaism as the
safeguard of the modern Jews from the attractiveness of the superior
teachings of Christ.
_Social Service Work of Jewish Students_
ENGLAND is the classic home of old-fashioned begging and of
old-fashioned giving. You are stopped for a penny everywhere and by
everybody, from the tramp who asks you to buy him a cup of tea, to the
hospital which solicits a contribution to its maintenance "for one
second." Pavement artists abound in Paris as much as in London, but in
Paris it is a Bohemian-looking denizen of the "Quartier" posing as a
pinched genius forced to sell his crayon masterpieces for a couple of
sous, whereas in London it is always a crippled ex-soldier trying to
arouse your pity in chalked words for a "poor man's talent." But
England is also the classic home of modern social service of every
description. The Salvation Army had its origin in London, where also
Toynbee Hall, the first University settlement of its kind, came into
existence. Likewise among the Jews, there are, on the one hand, the
firmly established old-fashioned charitable institutions to help the
"alien" brethren of the East End, and on the other hand, there are
also the equally well organized boys' clubs for the "uplifting" of the
"alien" little brethren of the same East End.
The Jewish University men in England take an active interest in both
these branches of philanthropy. It was a fortunate coincidence that
when I came to Oxford the Jewish students there had among them a
social worker of the latter type, who had come to make arrangements
for the reception of a squad of Whitechapel boys who were under his
tutelage. When I afterwards went to Cambridge I found there a delegate
of some charitable board of the London Jewish community, seeking to
enlist the aid of the Jewish students in his work.
_What the Bulletin Boards Told at Berlin_
AT the University of Berlin I did not have to go far to find traces of
the presence of Jewish students. With their far-famed efficiency the
Germans have contrived to turn the large university hall into a medium
of information more adequate than our University Bulletins and
Registers combined. The bulletin boards covering every vacant spot on
the walls told me the story of all the phases of Jewish activities in
the University, professional, social, vocational and, if you please,
also gastronomical, more fully than the frescoed walls of Dido's
temple told their story to pious Æneas. In the announcement of courses
by the various faculties, well-known Jewish names stand out quite
prominently,--none of them above the rank of Honorar-Professor, to be
sure, but in popularity and achievement they are among the foremost.
Among the long rows of the variegated Wappen of the Korporationen, the
Borussias, Teutonias and Germanias, there hang the insignia of the
Jewish students' societies, the yellow and white of the Sprevia and
the black and gold of the Hasmonea, both announcing the dates of their
Kneipe held in their respective places in the students' quarters
around Linienstrasse and Charlottenburg. In another nook of the hall,
from the midst of a jumble of little slips of paper enumerating in
minute detail in microscopic German script what dishes are offered at
the paltry sum of so many pfennig in the various "Privat-Mittagtische"
and "bürgerliche-Küche" there looms up unblushingly, proud in the
clearness of its square characters, the Hebrew word כשר over the
notice of a Lebanon restaurant run by a Palestinian Jew. Still further
on the wall, students of unmistakably Jewish names offer instruction
in almost all the languages spoken, while a German young lady wants to
exchange lessons in Russian with an _orthodox Christian_ and one who
hails from the mendacious little country, cautiously states, as an
inducement to a prospective pupil in the Roumanian tongue, that the
would-be instructor is a _true_ Roumanian. Here you have a picture of
Jewish life in the Berlin University, in its outer paraphernalia, in
its cosmopolitan character, in its relation to the rest of the student
body, in its freedom and restriction, as portrayed in the unjaundiced
tales of bulletin boards.
_The Opposing Views of Student Societies at Berlin_
OF the two Jewish organizations mentioned above, the Hasmonea is a
branch of the inter-varsity K. Z. V. (Kartell Zionistischer
Verbindungen), whereas the Sprevia belongs to the K.-C.
(Kartell-Convent der Tendenzverbindungen deutscher Studenten jüdischen
Glaubens). The former, as the name implies, is Zionistic; the latter
is opposed to Zionism. Their relation to each other, however, is not
like that between the Menorah and the Zionist societies in American
colleges. The Hasmonea and the Sprevia are mutually exclusive, rather
than complementary to each other. The German Jewish student does not
come to the university with a mind open and free as to Judaism. He
comes there with definite views on the subject which have already been
crystallized under the influence of early training. Judaism, of
whatever shade it may happen to be, is more potent a factor in the
domestic life of German Jews and in the bringing up of the young than
it is with us here. Jewish boys there evince a keener interest in
Judaism than do Jewish boys in America. Their intelligent
understanding of Judaism is therefore not necessarily preceded by a
period of indifference and lack of knowledge. It steadily grows and
develops with them from their early youth. And so by the time they
enter the university, at an age somewhat older than that of our
average freshman, their Jewish consciousness is mature and fixed. They
are able to judge whether they can work for or against Zionism, for to
them Zionism is the only vital question in present-day Judaism, a
question which they are willing to face squarely and once for all
determine their position towards it; and it is on this question of
Zionism and the future destiny of the Jews as a nation that the two
leading student organizations radically differ.
There is another quite as notable distinction between our Menorah and
the Jewish students' organizations in Germany. With us the Menorah is
primarily an undergraduate society. When graduate Menorah Societies
arise, they may be confederated with the undergraduate organization,
but they will of course retain their separate character. In Germany
this distinction between undergraduate and graduate does not exist.
Matriculation in the University, not the taking of a degree in it,
introduces one into the society of the educated with its appellative
"intellectual" corresponding to our "high-brow" rather than to our
"college grad." Joining the membership of a student organization marks
the entrance into that large class of "intellectuals." And once you
join such an organization you are a member ever after. In Germany, in
fact, nobody graduates from a university in the same sense that we do.
There the taking of a degree is merely an episode. If you take it, you
will thenceforth be addressed as "Herr Doktor"; if you do not take it,
you will keep on printing on your visiting card "Kandidat Philosophie"
all the rest of your lifetime, and be addressed by the uninitiate as
"Herr Doktor" just the same. Thus the achievements generally ascribed
to Jewish students' organizations in Germany are in reality the
collective work of all the Jewish men of academic training, and not
necessarily of students actually engaged in university studies. Read
over the names of contributors to publications issued by what are
known as "student organizations," and you will notice how loosely that
term is used.
_Intellectual Problems of the German Jewish Youth_
THE Jewish university men in Germany, whom we commonly call Jewish
students, take more interest in Jewish life than do our university men
in this country. This is chiefly due to the peculiar position of the
modern Jews in Germany. German Jewry, by the total disappearance of
its laboring class during recent times, has ceased to be a people by
itself and has become a part of the middle class of the general German
population. Among the native Jews of Germany, if Berlin is to be
taken as a typical example of Jewish communities in large cities,
there is no organic social body, complete in itself, consisting of
various classes, following all imaginable trades, ranging from the
chimney-sweep and the cobbler to the merchant prince. Such
communities, forming organic wholes in themselves, you may find in
Russia, Galicia, Roumania, and in the newer Jewish settlements of
England and America. You do not find them in Germany. Higher up in the
social scale, Jews are represented everywhere, but lower down you
cannot find any native Jew below a shop clerk or master tailor. Being
thus interspersed among the middle class of the general population,
that part of the population which more than any other sends its
children to universities, the number of academically trained men
engaged in liberal professions among the German Jews is exceedingly
large. These professional Jews encounter greater difficulties in their
careers than those engaged in commerce. While the latter are given
free range for the development of the native Jewish talents, the
former find their road toward recognition blockaded. Consequently they
are hurled back upon their Judaism, and their energies not finding
vent elsewhere turn into Jewish channels.
The activities of Jewish university men in Germany are chiefly
literary and intellectual, for the problem with which they are faced
is quite different from that of ours. With us the problem of
Americanism and Judaism is in its ultimate analysis the possible
conflict between two sets of social duties, in themselves not
necessarily contradictory, which can be easily reconciled by a working
program adjusting the practical demands of both without curtailing the
scope and efficiency of either. For Americanism in the abstract has no
existence. The American mind is as yet unknown in its essence; it is
only manifest by its functions, of which Jewish activities may form a
complementary part. In Germany it is quite different. If Germanism
stand for Aryanism and Occidentalism, Judaism must inevitably stand
for Semitism and Orientalism,--and can the twain ever meet? That the
Jew manifests in his works and actions good practical patriotism does
not radically solve the problem; that the Jews are capable of being
good patriots is no longer questioned, but can they be genuine ones?
Will not the Jews always remain the carriers of an alien culture,
unabsorbable and unassimilable, despite their conversion and
intermarriage? It is this problem that confronts the Jewish
intellectuals in Germany, in the over-hanging shadow of which the
"Sorrows of the Jewish Werther" was written, and the martyrdom of Otto
Weininger, self-inflicted, was made possible. Hence the great
introspective literary activity of the German Jewish youth.
There is, on the one hand, the great, ever-increasing inrush of the
Jews into the inmost sanctum of German cultural life, where their
Germanic protestations are more vociferous than those of the native
Teuton,--and they sometimes have, too, as must be admitted, a false
ring. Ludwig Fulda openly proclaims that as to his relation with
Judaism there is none: Goethe is his Moses and the German war of
liberation is his Exodus; and Jewish "Gymnasium" seniors inundate the
columns of the _Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums_ with introspective
analyses of their Teutonic souls. On the other hand, there are those
who, while quite as good Germans as the others, so far as practical
patriotism is concerned, do not renounce the intellectual and
spiritual heritage which is their own. Their self-imposed task is
therefore the cultivation, enrichment, and modernization of Jewish
thought and tradition. Hence the great output of highly meritorious
literary works on purely Jewish subjects which, if not as scholarly as
those of the German Jewish scientists of the past generation, are far
more stimulating and of greater educational value.
(_To be concluded_)
_IT may interest you to know that in this country,
during the early years of our leading universities,
Hebrew not only formed, a subject of instruction, but
also appeared upon the Commencement programs. Upon
such grandiloquent occasions you will find that side
by side with a poem in Greek there figured a speech in
Hebrew. What the Hebrew was like that was poured out
there I have difficulty in imagining. But that the
instruction was of much use to the student, I have
grave reasons to doubt. Will you allow me to read to
you a note written in regard to that famous professor
of Hebrew at Yale towards the end of the eighteenth
century--Ezra Stiles. Stiles was a very learned
Christian Hebraist. One of his pupils wrote about him:
"For Hebrew he possessed a high veneration. He said
one of the Psalms he tried to teach us would be the
first we should hear sung in Heaven, and that he
should be ashamed that any one of his pupils should be
entirely ignorant of that holy language."_--_From a
Menorah Address by Professor Richard Gottheil._
The Twilight of Hebraic Culture
_The Transition from Hebraism to Judaism_
BY MAX L. MARGOLIS
[Illustration: _MAX L. MARGOLIS (born in Merecz, Russia, in 1866), one
of the leading Biblical scholars of America, received his education in
Russia, Germany, and the United States (Columbia Ph.D. 1891). He has
held important professorships of Semitics and Biblical Exegesis at the
Hebrew Union College and the University of California,--and since 1909
has filled the chair of Biblical Philology in The Dropsie College for
Hebrew and Cognate learning. He has been engaged also, as
Editor-in-Chief, in the monumental task of the new English translation
of the Bible by American Jewish scholars. He is the author of numerous
learned papers and books on Biblical lore and theology._]
SO long as Jewish psalms are sung in the cathedrals of Christendom and
Jewish visions are rehearsed by Christian catechumens, the Synagogue
will continue to hold in veneration the chest where reposes its
chiefest glory. Surely a book which thrills the religious emotions of
civilized mankind cannot but be an object of pride to the people that
produced it. Stupendous as the literary output of the Jewish people
has been in post-biblical times, the Scriptures stand on a footing of
their own. Throughout the era of the dispersion they have held their
unique position and have exercised a most potent influence on the
Jewish soul. And the modern man taught by Lowth and Herder, and the
modern Jew under the spell of Mendelssohn and the Haskalah, have their
minds open to the æsthetic side of the "Bible as literature."
To the Jew, however, the Scriptures are possessed of an interest
beyond the religious and literary. They are the record of his
achievements in the past when his foot rested firm and steady on
native soil, of a long history full of vicissitudes from the time when
the invaders battled against the kings of Canaan to the days when the
last visionary steeled the nation's endurance in its struggle with the
heathen. They are the charter of Jewish nobility, linking those of the
present to the wanderer from Ur of the Chaldees.
As a finished product the Hebrew Scriptures came after the period of
national independence. When canon-making was in its last stage,
Jerusalem was a heap of ruins. The canon was the supreme effort of
Judæa--throttled by the legions of Rome--withdrawing to its inner
defences. The sword was sheathed and deliverance was looked for from
the clouds. The Scriptures were to teach the Jew conduct and prayer,
and the chidings of the prophets were listened to in a penitential
mood, but also joyfully because of the consolations to which they led.
The canon-makers had an eye to the steadying of a vanquished people
against the enemy without and the foe within. For there arose teachers
who proclaimed that the mission of the Jew was fulfilled: free from
the fetters of a narrow nationalism, of a religion bound up with the
soil, he was now ready to merge his individuality with the large world
when once it accepted that measure of his teaching suited to a wider
humanity. The temple that was made with hands was destroyed, and
another made without hands was building where men might worship in
spirit and truth. The dream was fascinating, the danger of absorption
was acute, because it was dressed up with the trappings of an ideal to
which many believed the Scriptures themselves pointed.
There was a much larger range of writings in Palestine and a still
larger in Egypt. The list included historical works carrying on the
story of the people's fortunes beyond Alexander the Great; novelistic
tales like that of the heroic Judith luring the enemy of her people to
destruction, or that exquisite tale of Jewish family life as
exemplified by the pious Israelite captive Tobit; books like the wise
sayings of Jesus, son of Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, or the Psalms
of Solomon, all modelled after patterns in the canon; midrashic
expositions of the law, like the Little Genesis; apocalyptic visions
going by the name of Enoch and the Twelve Patriarchs and Moses and
Isaiah and Esdras, whose prototype may be sought in the canonical
Daniel. Over and above the three parts which the Synagogue accepted
there were a fourth and fifth; but by an act of exclusion the canon
was concentrated upon the three and the others were cast overboard.
The canon was the creation of the Pharisaic doctors, who drew a line
at a point of their own choosing, and decreed that writings "from that
time onward" did not defile the hands.
_The Making of the Canon by the Pharisees_
THE Pharisee held the ground when the nation had politically
abdicated. The war with Rome had been brought on by the intransigent
hotspurs of Galilee and the commune of Jerusalem. John, son of Zakkai,
parleyed with the enemy that Jamnia with its House of Study might go
unscathed. There the process began which culminated in the gigantic
storehouse of legal lore which was to dominate Jewish life and Jewish
literature for centuries, commentary being piled upon commentary and
code upon code. For in the sum total of Scriptures the Torah was
admittedly to be the chief corner-stone, albeit prophecy and wisdom
had not lost their appeal; and in moments of relaxation or when
addressing their congregations worn out with the strife of the
present, the scholars of the wise brought out of the ancient stock
many a legend and quaint saying and even apocalyptic vision,
transporting the mourners for Zion into the ecstasies of the future
redemption. While official Judaism was committed to the dialectics of
the Halakah, in the unofficial Haggadah mysticism exercised a potent
influence by underground channels, as it were, issuing in later days
in Kabbalah and offsetting the rational philosophies borrowed from
Hellas. For the time being, however, the dominant note was legistic,
Pharisean.
The Pharisees had been lifted by the national catastrophe into the
leading position. They had previously been a party among many parties,
and their Judaism one of the many varieties. The Sadducees, their
chief opponents, had a literature of their own: the day upon which
their "Book of Decrees" was consigned to destruction was made a legal
holiday upon which fasting was prohibited. But even writings which
were lightly touched by the Sadduccee spirit were frowned upon: the
Siracide was barely tolerated on the outside because he made light of
individual immortality, and believed in the eternity of Israel and the
Zadokite priesthood. The Pharisees had been on the opposition during
the latter period of the Maccabeans: so with partisan ruthlessness
they excluded from the canon the writings commemorative of the
valorous deeds of those priest-warriors who freed the people from
foreign overlordship and restored the Davidic boundaries of the realm.
Because the apocalyptic visions inclined to teachings not acceptable
to the dominant opinion, they were declared not only heterodox,
heretical, but worthy of destruction. Had the stricter view prevailed,
the sceptical Preacher--now, to quote Renan, lost in the canon like a
volume of Voltaire among the folios of a theological library--would
have shared the fate of Sirach and Wisdom and the other writings which
Egypt cherished after Palestine had discarded them. And there were
mutterings heard even against the Song, that beautiful remnant of the
Anacreontic muse of Judæa. It was then that Akiba stepped into the
breach and by bold allegory saved that precious piece of what may be
called the secular literature of the ancient Hebrews.
The process concluded by the Pharisees had begun long before. The
Pharisee consummated what the scribe before him had commenced, and the
scribe in turn had carried to fruition the work inaugurated by the
prophet. Just as the Pharisee decreed what limits were to be imposed
upon the third part of the Scriptures, the scribe in his day gave
sanction to the second, and at a still earlier period the prophet to
the wide range of literature current in his days. Sobered by national
disaster, the scribe addressed himself to the task of safeguarding the
remnant of Judæa in the land of the fathers. There were schisms in the
ranks, and all kinds of heresies, chief among which stood the
Samaritan. The nation's history was recast in a spirit showing how
through the entire past faithful adherence to Mosaism brought in its
wake national stability, and conversely a swaying from legitimacy and
law was responsible for disaster. With the Torah as a guide, prophecy
was forced into the channels of orthodoxy. Heterodox prophets, the
"false prophets," were consigned to oblivion. Their opponents alone
were given a hearing. Secular history there was to be none; there was
room only for the sacred. We may take it for granted that the
"prophets of Baal," as their adversaries triumphantly nicknamed them,
had their disciples who collected their writings and recorded the
deeds of _their_ spirit. But they were one and all suppressed. The
political achievements of mighty dynasts had been recorded by
annalists; the pious narrators in the so-called historical books of
the canon brush them aside, gloss over them with a scant hint or
reference; what is of absorbing interest to them is the activity of an
Elijah or an Elisha, or the particular pattern of the altar in the
Jerusalem sanctuary. In their iconoclastic warfare upon the
abomination of Samaria, the prophets gave a partisanly distorted view
of conditions in the North which for a long time had been the scene of
Hebrew tradition and Hebrew life.
_The Death-blow to the Old Hebraic Culture_
WHAT these upheavals meant in the history of Hebrew literature and
culture can only approximately be gauged. One thing is certain: they
all and one dealt the death-blow to the old Hebraic culture. When the
excavator sinks his spade beneath the ground of a sleepy Palestinian
village, he lays bare to view from under the overlaid strata, Roman
and Greek and Jewish and Israelitish, the Canaanite foundation with
its mighty walls and marvellous tunnels, its stelæ and statuettes, its
entombed infants sacrificed to the abominable Moloch. Similarly if we
dig below the surface of the Scriptures, we uncover glimpses of the
civilization of the Amorite strong and mighty, which generations of
prophets and lawmakers succeeded in destroying root and branch. On the
ruins of the Canaanite-Amorite culture rose in the latter days Judaism
triumphant; the struggle--prolonged and of varying success--marked the
ascendancy of the Hebraic culture which was a midway station between
the indigenous Canaanite civilization on the one hand and that mighty
spiritual leaven, Mosaism in its beginnings and Judaism in its
consummation, on the other. The Hebraic culture was a compromise. It
began by absorbing the native civilization. The danger of succumbing
to it was there, but it was averted by those whom their adversaries
called the disturbers of Israel. And even to the last, when the sway
of Judaism was undisputed, the Hebraic culture could not be severed
from the soil in which it was rooted. It was part of a world-culture
just as it contributed itself thereto.
Whether living in amity or in warfare, nations influence each other to
a marked degree. They exchange the products of their soils and their
industry--they also give and take spiritual possessions. Culture is a
compound product. The factors that are contributory to its make-up are
the soil and the racial endowment recoiling against the domination
from without which, though not wholly overcome, is resisted with might
and main. Cultures are national amidst an international culture. They
express themselves in a variety of ways, chiefly in language and
literature. For while blood is thicker than water, the pen is mightier
than the sword. Out of a mass of myth and legend and worldly wisdom
the Hebrews constructed, in accordance with their own bent of mind,
their cosmogonies and ballads and collections of proverbs. At every
shrine the priests narrated to the throngs of worshippers the
marvelous stories of local or national interest.
_The Difference Between Hebraic Culture and Judaism_
THE chief feature of the Hebraic culture was that it was joyous. The
somber seriousness of latter-day Judaism had not yet penetrated it.
Israel rejoiced like the nations. The young men and maidens danced and
wooed in the precincts of the sanctuaries which dotted the country
from Dan to Beersheba. The festivals were seasons of joy, the
festivals of the harvest and of the vintage. The prophets called them
carousals and dubbed the gentlemen of Samaria drunkards. Probably
there were excesses. But life was enjoyed so long as the heavens
withdrew not the moisture which the husbandman was in need of. The
wars which the Kings waged were the wars of the Lord, and the exploits
of the warriors were rehearsed throughout the land--they were spoken
of as the Lord's righteous acts. National victories strengthened the
national consciousness. Taunt songs were scattered on broadsides. The
enemy was lampooned. At the height of national prosperity, when Israel
dwelt in safety in a land of corn and wine moistened with the dew of
the heavens, the pride of the nation expressed itself in the pæan,
"Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, a people victorious
through the Lord, the shield of thy help, and that is the Sword of thy
excellency!" Excellency then meant national independence and welfare.
It was the period of the Omrides whose exploits are merely hinted at
in our sources, whose sway marked the nascent struggle between
Hebraism and Judaism. For the time being, Hebraic culture was on the
ascendant, successor to the indigenous Canaanite civilization which it
had absorbed, remodelled, developed.
The chief difference between the Hebraic culture and Judaism which
supplanted it consists in the fact that, whereas the latter was
bookish, transforming its votaries into the "people of the book," the
former was the sum total of all that goes to make up the concern of a
nation living upon its own soil. Bookishness, literature, has a place
in the affairs of a nation, but it contributes only a side in its
manifold activities. The spoken word precedes the written. The writer
has an eye to aftertimes. He lives in the future. The speaking voice
addresses itself to the present and its varied needs. Saints are
canonized after death. The act of canonization means the verdict of
the survivors who from a distance are able to gauge the merits of past
deeds. When a literature is pronounced canonical or classical, it is
no more. In its dying moments it is reduced to rule, and its range
becomes norm. But normalization is an act of choosing, of accepting
and excising. A living literature is far from being normalized. Much
that is written serves a temporary purpose, but is none the less
effective while it has vogue. However, it is only a part of the
national activities, mirroring them and commenting upon them. So is
religion another part of the national life. Government policy and
legal procedure and the arts and the crafts occupy a nation's living
interests. The Hebraic culture meant all that. It is now a thing of
the distant past. It speaks to us from beneath the Hebrew Scriptures
by which it is overlaid, themselves the remnant of what in times gone
by stirred the nation's spirit. A revival of that culture may come,
but when it comes it will be tempered by Judaism. And the Hebrew
Scriptures which constitute the bridge between them both will act as
the peacemaker.
[Illustration: Signature: Max L. Margolis]
_JEWISH knowledge to me is valuable in the sense in
which the word "knowledge" is employed in Hebrew. For
"to know" in Hebrew_ (yada) _does not merely mean to
conceive intellectually, but expresses at the same
time the deepest emotions of the human soul; it also
means to care, to cherish, to love. It is remarkable
indeed that the only Hebrew expression which in any
way approaches what in modern languages we call
religion is_ daath elohim, the knowledge of God. _It
is no less remarkable that the fundamental concept
formulated by one of the greatest thinkers who
proceeded from Jewish loins, by Baruch Spinoza, is_
amor Dei intellectualis, _"the intellectual love of
God," that is, the mental and yet emotional conception
of the Supreme Power that rules the universe. If I
were to wish for anything, it would be for an_ amor
Judaismus intellectualis, "_an intellectual love of
Judaism," not shallow love and hollow self-complacency
that cover every sin. We want to be frank about our
Judaism, we want to be clear about our faults, we want
to remedy our faults whenever we can, but at the same
time we want to have the sympathy that goes with
knowledge._--_From a Menorah Address by Professor Israel
Friedlaender._
Days of Disillusionment
BY SAMUEL STRAUSS
[Illustration: _SAMUEL STRAUSS (born in Des Moines, Ia., in 1870), was
publisher of the Des Moines Leader from 1895 to 1904, and became
publisher of the New York Globe in 1904. Since 1912 he has been
associated with the management of the New York Times. Mr. Strauss has
taken an active and effective interest in many worthy movements for
Jewish betterment. He is a member of the Graduate Advisory Menorah
Committee and of the Menorah College of Lecturers. His impressive and
stimulating talks have given him marked popularity with the Menorah
Societies._]
WE are at present witnessing an instance of the truth that a great
crisis is always a test for genuineness. Since August 1st a number of
things seemingly vital have come tumbling to the ground as mere
inflated delusions or comparative trifles formerly viewed out of all
perspective. Men are beginning to realize that they have been
deceiving themselves, and the immediate effect is disappointment.
What profit will be derived from it all is as yet merely a matter for
speculation. Not yet have men been able to think of the conflict in
other than negative terms, to see in it other than despair, crippled
industry, a fall from civilization, all that belongs on the debit side
of the ledger. But there is also a credit side: and to realize that
the effects of war are positive as well as negative is by no means to
condone war, but only to accept it as a fact.
History teaches us to expect that the positive result of this struggle
will be in the nature of a physic--a dissolving away of delusions, and
simultaneously a bringing into relief of some essential facts. This
clearing of the ground will not wait until the war is over; it has
already begun, though men are yet but half-conscious of it, and then
only in the guise of profitless disillusionment. This state of mind is
understandable enough. The spectacle of thousands going out by
trainload to settle differences through slaughter has been a terrible
shock. Individuals, having progressed beyond that stage, had assumed
that collectively, too, men must share the same aversion to so
illogical a method as murder for the solution of differences. This
assumption has had root in a justifiable belief in the world's
attainment to a higher plane of civilization. The quality of to-day's
culture may not be so fine as that of Judæa, of Greece, or Rome, or of
the Renaissance, but surely in no period of history has its extent
been so great. Never had the entire world been nearer denationalization,
never had the economic interdependence of nations been more complete.
Jingoism has seemed obsolete, cosmopolitanism had seemed the ideal, as
the horizon of an increasing number of individuals broadened out, and
prejudice gave way before enlightenment. But now this assumption is
suddenly discovered to be mere delusion, and at once much scorn is
heaped upon "our alleged civilization." How much justification there
is for disappointment over the failure of culture to influence action
is difficult to determine. There is much confusion of thought on this
point. To conclude that because nations go to war, individuals have
therefore made practically no advance from the original state of
barbarism is absurd. What should be clear is the danger of
generalizations from the individual to groups of the individual--two
psychologically different entities. It may be that even as communities
we have progressed more than we believe, as some future reaction to
this war may indicate, but what is brought to the surface now is the
old fact that the progress of groups of men is at snail's pace,
however men may forge ahead as individuals.
This refreshed realization is by no means of negative value. It is
rather a positive benefit, and should be fixed in the minds of all men
who are striving collectively for various ends. For political parties,
socialists, suffragists, all and sundry reformers, this realization
should be the starting point from which to readjust programs when the
cataclysm is over.
For the Jewish people this realization is peculiarly significant.
Though the outlines of the general situation the world over are as yet
indistinct, some problems of the Jews have already been brought out
into sharp relief. Like the rest of mankind, the Jew has had his eyes
cruelly opened, and the clear boundary between truth and delusion
which this war has made should be stamped upon his memory, to remain
vivid after negative feelings of wrongs and disappointments have been
forgotten.
_The Delusion of Assimilation_
IN the past hundred years, the Jew has had more reason than at any
time since the dispersal to consider himself assimilated in all save
the Slav countries. Not that anti-Semitism had disappeared; but it had
seemed to be, and indeed is, so much less important when viewed
against the background of the Jew's positive advance to light and
freedom. Explained more recently as a survival of many prejudices
which do not die overnight, including the old religious differences,
physical and mental antipathies, economic jealousies--the force of
anti-Semitism was not only weakened by the increasing breadth of
vision, the cosmopolitanism on which the world has plumed itself, but
dwarfed by the achievement of the Jew himself. He has come out of his
Ghetto; softened by a more liberal attitude on the part of his
individual neighbor, he has largely laid aside his resentment and his
hostility. There was a feeling that adaptation and assimilation had
advanced so far that the Jew, by his own progress and with the consent
of his neighbor, had become a citizen of his community, differentiated
from the rest, if at all, only by what he chose to keep of his
religious belief. Those who have most zealously argued for
assimilation as the sole solution of the Jewish problem have had
little need of late to push their gospel further; the process seemed
to be taking excellent care of itself. But after all, it was not real.
A drastic crisis like the present one was required to brand it as
delusion. The attitude of the occasional individual was construed as
the attitude of the entire community. This has been a double-edged
delusion. The Jew has not judged himself as a community in relation to
his neighbor, and he has misjudged his individual neighbor as a
community in relation to himself.
It takes two sides always to make up the full truth, but from both
sides, from the Jew and from his neighbor, there is circumstantial
evidence in the events of the past five months that gives abundant
support to this conclusion.
In this time of crisis the world has thrown aside its pretense, honest
and well-intentioned pretense though it may have been, and revealed
its underlying feeling toward the Jewish people. Suddenly, without any
absolute change in their status, the Jews are singled out and set
apart. Special inducements are held out for their support. The Czar,
though this was reported upon dubious authority, addresses his
"beloved Jews;" a non-commissioned Jewish officer is recommended for
the Order of St. George; Dreyfus is decorated in France, his son made
Lieutenant; Austria issues a special appeal to the Jews of Poland; an
English Jew voices England's hope of their loyalty; in Germany
anti-Semitic newspapers suddenly announce their discontinuance.
_The Test of Jewish Patriotism_
IT is not a new story. Doubt of the Jew's place in time of war has
been continuous. Through the centuries there has been report that he
has dodged his war tax wherever he could, that he bought soldiers to
fill his place in the ranks, that as financier he offered his gold
without scruple to the bitterest foes of his own fatherland. How much
of this is based on blind prejudice is beside the point. What is
important is the effect that this doubting attitude has had on the
Jew's normal impulse to render patriotic service. The Jew to-day who
feels most keenly the cause of Germany, or of France, or of England in
this war, who most unreservedly throws in his lot with his
compatriots, glorying in a privilege long withheld, moved to an
intense fervor of patriotism, cannot but be disheartened at the
spectacle of his neighbors as in one way or another they give evidence
of their lack of faith in him.
Why this feeling of distrust? How has it been engendered, what are
its roots? Again the answer is to be found both with the Jew himself
and with his neighbor.
As far as the present situation is concerned, the Gentile world has
had lying dormant in its subconscious mind the notion that the Jew was
inferior, and by its own action it has kept this subconscious notion
alive. For while the world has admitted the Jew to its political life,
while it has modified much its religious and its economic prejudices
and jealousies, it has not broken down every barrier. Without fully
realizing its attitude, it has still held the Jew to be different and
of lower quality. The Jew's neighbors have had an honest sort of
delusion about their attitude toward the Semite; because they had
discovered the individual Jew, and taken him, as it were, into the
arms of their community life, they have fancied that all prejudice,
even toward the Jew as a class, had become obsolete. Here again there
is evidence of the fact that feeling toward Jews as individuals has
been mistaken for feeling toward the Jews as a race group.
This delusion has its base in something more fundamental, to which may
be accredited perhaps the distrust against which the Jews have been
battling for centuries. It is not the stranger who inspires continued
suspicion, for he soon ceases to be a stranger, but it is the wanderer
and the gypsy. There is imbedded in human nature a distrust of
shifting things and a respect for what is long established in any one
place, and it is in the wandering class that the Jew is placed in
spite of all talk of assimilation. He has had no point of departure
and hence no place of arrival. The French have crossed over the
Channel and become Englishmen; one would hardly know that the Romans
still live on in the Tyrol; but the Jew has always remained Jew, for
he has no established place from which to come and whither to return.
_"A People Without A Home"_
NOT only have the Jews been looked upon by others as a people without
a home; subconsciously they have always regarded themselves as such.
To-day a gigantic fund is proposed for the relief of the Jews affected
by the present war, by the very ones who have argued most persistently
for adaptation and assimilation. Yet this is a relief fund not for
Belgian Jews, nor French Jews, nor German Jews, but for all Jews
irrespective of the side on which they fight. The Jews are not
thinking of themselves in terms of citizens or subjects of this or
that country, but only as members of the Jewish race, who have no
unity save as members of that race. It is the surest indication that
beneath all self-delusion the Jews have subconsciously realized
themselves as a homeless people, men without a country. Is it strange
that the rest of the world should regard the Jew as alien when he
cannot but hold himself as such?
It would seem that this argument leads along a straight path towards
Zionism as its conclusion. But practical Zionism, like all other
programs of reconstruction, must await a time which will admit of
reconstruction, and that is not the present. It may be that when this
war is concluded, world conditions will have so completely changed
that Zionism and its geographic program will no longer be the answer
to the problem of Jewry. All that is certain of it now is its
uncertainty. But the spirit of which Zionism is the expression, and
which has made of it more than a mere experiment in colonization,
still remains, emphasized by the self-realization to which the Jews
have been brought in the present conflict.
_The Persistence of the Jewish Faith_
IN every crisis, even in those which have swept whole nations from
existence, the Jew has always found himself with one inalienable
possession--his faith. There is something mystifying about the
persistence through so many vicissitudes of a religion which commands
respect from neighbors who see in it a powerful inspiration, while the
Jew himself, especially the Jew more fortunately placed in the general
community, endeavors so often to cast it off as outworn and
impracticable. It is the Jew himself who has misled the rest of the
world into a delusion. He has seemed to consider himself, and the
faith with which he is bound up, inferior. In his endeavor to take on
the color of his environment, he has sought to lay aside all that was
old, and of this the religion of his fathers was a part. But a faith
as strong and as far-reaching as Judaism cannot be dropped out of the
life into which it has been ingrained, and hence the Jew has been hard
put to cover it up, to hide it, or to attempt its modification to fit
the fashion in religions. The inevitable reaction on the non-Jewish
part of the community has been a feeling of mystification, and,
following on that, suspicion and distrust.
It is this which has undermined confidence in the Jews as a
people--their negation of that which is their valuable heritage. For
Judaism is not merely tradition, a thing to be reverenced as a relic;
it is a thing to be put to everyday use. This practical and vitalized
Judaism is the real salvation for which the Jews have been groping,
all the while under the delusion that it was anywhere but near at
hand. Such a rejuvenated faith would mean an end of that homelessness
which is accountable for much of the Jew's displacement in the world's
life. And though the remedy has been intimate to him these many years
he has failed to make positive use of it. It is true that the Zionists
have been striving for a geographical base for Judaism. But a
geographical base is never more than an outward expression of a
people's unity; it is an excellent starting point, but as an end in
itself it is nothing. The Jews had a geographical base for their
start; thereby they were enabled to build up a unified result, the
Jewish spirit. It is this which, if recognized as a positive fact,
will take from the Jew his feeling of homelessness, and from his
neighbor the notion that the Jew is a member of a tribe forever
unestablished and purposeless. It is around a spiritual core that the
Jews as a people must build, around that central force which has thus
far held them intact.
_The Spiritual Service of the Jew_
AND never has there been a time, it would seem, when not only the Jews
themselves but the world at large were so ready for this
reconstruction. If in the very near future, as seems probable, the
Jews are again to play a prominent rôle in history, it will be more
largely through the pressure exerted by the world outside than through
their own initiative. Men are coming more and more to need what the
Jewish people, under certain conditions, are peculiarly qualified to
bestow. The period of materialism now undoubtedly coming to a close
has brought with it a heavy burden of discontent, and there has been a
turning from tangible comforts, a reaching out for spiritual
consolation. Under the rule of enlightenment religion has gone away,
and the world begins to feel its lack. One may not prophesy that
religion is soon to return, but the suggestion of its coming is in the
air. What the Jew will then be able to furnish may now be an open
question, but the great fact of his religion is undeniable. It should
be remembered that only in things spiritual has the Jew been able to
render world service; in material progress he has been able to do
little more than march with the rank and file. Should the Jew again
lead in the world, it must be in a time when the things of the spirit
are paramount in men's desires. With the hope that such a time is near
at hand, the Jew should retrim his lamp, in the faith that it may help
to illuminate much that had fallen into darkness.
[Illustration: Signature: Samuel Strauss]
Three University Addresses
I
PRESIDENT ARTHUR T. HADLEY _of Yale University_
_Before the Yale Menorah Society, October 14, 1914_
[Illustration]
IT is a great pleasure for me to speak to the Menorah Society, and a
double pleasure when I see beside me the Menorah emblem, the emblem of
light, "the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual
grace." Jewish history is embodied in a great literature, and a
literature which is worthy of deep and earnest study. It is the common
heritage of all mankind, and should be studied by every man who lays
claim to culture and education.
By studying the literature of the Jewish race, men at Yale and
elsewhere can do a great work for the learning and for the inspiration
of our country; especially can this Society do a noble and inspiring
work. History is in large measure made by the study of the literatures
of ancient races. What was it that waked Europe during the dark ages
from her apathy and ignorance but the discovery and the revival of the
Greek and Latin classics by enthusiastic scholars? In the various
centres of learning at the end of what we call the "dark ages," we
find groups of earnest young men devoting themselves to this study,
and in these groups we find the influence which roused Europe from her
period of intellectual torpor.
Classics are the literatures which thus make history; which serve the
needs of all peoples, voicing truths of universal application. And
though it is to the Greek and Latin that the name classics has been
often confined, yet the Hebrew classics are being recognized more and
more as worthy of a place beside if not above them. Interest in the
Jewish classics never utterly perished. Throughout all ages the
theologian kept alive his interest in those writings; but there is
something of more than mere professional interest in these studies,
something which closely touches every man's development and
experience.
It is not for me to attempt to say what these writings mean to
humanity. Biblical writings are far above any individual praise. But I
may with propriety say the reading of the Hebrew writings in English
has meant much to me personally. As a boy I read fewer books than do
youngsters of the present day, and among them the Bible was one of
extraordinary interest. I read the Psalms and Isaiah as wonderful
poetry, and turned to the Bible as to a storehouse of historical
literature.
Hebrew history has been of great importance in the early history of
our country. The early settlement in America was due to the same
causes as the settlement of Canaan by the Hebrews. To the Pilgrim
Fathers the Old Testament was a supporting hand and a guide for them
in all matters. They took the Jewish theocracy as their model of
government and, in the measure that they patterned after a good model,
they achieved good results. So largely are the early history and
institutions of the United States a copy of Jewish institutions that
the spirit of the American people both before and after the Revolution
cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of Hebrew literature.
These early settlers were imbued with spirit and desire for the best
in life by reading the Bible. It was their one book, and "a man of one
book makes a strong man." And perhaps it is the Old Testament rather
than the New Testament the knowledge of which is of greater
consequence for the best understanding of the peculiar conditions of
the early American people.
Therefore I welcome your Society first because it represents something
which has done much for learning in our great centres of learning, the
universities; and second, because as Americans, Jewish history means
much to us in understanding the early development of our own country.
II
CHANCELLOR ELMER E. BROWN _of New York University_
_Before the Menorah Society of New York University, May 12, 1914_
[Illustration]
IT seems to me that it is not only of value to the Jewish students,
but to the whole university, that there should be a body here devoted
to the study of Jewish tradition, Jewish literature and Jewish
history. You are emphasizing something that is of permanent value to
your associates here in the University who are not of the Jewish race
and the Jewish faith. The Christian Church finds in the Jewish
Scriptures some of the finest and most precious of the things it
cherishes from the religious point of view. Our civilization in these
occidental countries is deeply indebted to the history and the
literature of the Jewish race. From time to time that indebtedness
comes to stronger expression, and we may expect that in the future the
sense of that indebtedness of our whole people to that which is the
immediate concern of the Menorah Society will be more keenly felt.
If you go back in the history of this country you will find a time
when our New Englanders were especially indebted to what they as
Christians called the Old Testament. There was a time in Colonial
days when the earlier portions of this literature exercised a mighty
influence over these new commonwealths. As you read the history of New
England you cannot help being profoundly impressed by the influence of
the Hebrew literature upon the life of the seventeenth century. The
names and references to the Jewish people are all interwoven with New
England history. I was thinking of a curious illustration of this fact
only a short time ago. You know the old poem of "Darius Green and His
Flying Machine" that has come into astonishingly new popularity in
modern times. It contains, you will recall, an enumeration of the
brothers of Darius, and four of the five names are taken from Hebrew
history. The appearance of these Jewish names in such large numbers is
coincident with a reappearance of Hebrew spirit in our Colonial times,
all modified of course by Christian tradition, but presenting a most
important and essential ingredient of the time. This apparently
trivial illustration simply shows that which is to be found in our
whole culture. It is profoundly significant in regard to our American
culture.
So it seems to me that the Menorah Society has work of two kinds--to
bring together our Jewish students on a higher plane of sentiment, and
at the same time to put new emphasis, in all parts of the University,
on the invaluable things which the Jewish race has contributed to the
civilization of the world. So I feel that I may look to you of this
organization to bring to New York University a new emphasis upon these
great things which are the common heritage of our scholastic society.
I trust that you will feel that there is a genuine warmth and a
genuine interest in the welcome that I extend to you,--not a welcome
to the University alone, but a welcome to this new service in this
University, in which every movement such as this has work to do for
the good of all.
III
PRESIDENT CHARLES W. DABNEY _of the University of Cincinnati_
_Before the Cincinnati Menorah Society, November 19, 1914_
STANDING as it does for the study of the history and culture of the
Jewish people, and for the advancement of their ideals, the Menorah
Society is welcomed to the University of Cincinnati. This University,
of all institutions, should welcome every such organization. The
University of Cincinnati claims to represent the idea of the democracy
of the higher education, the equality of opportunity for the highest
culture in its latest form. The American idea is that the university
should be as free to all cultures as our country is free to all races.
Standing for this idea more distinctly than any other type of
institution among us, the American state university has been called
the characteristic institution of the republic. But the municipal
university is destined to democratize the higher education even more
completely than the state university. The state university makes the
higher education free to all who can come to it, but the municipal
university takes it to the poorest citizen at his home.
For these reasons, if for no other, we should welcome the Menorah
Society into our midst. As I was just informed that the national
convention of the Intercollegiate Association is about to take place,
let me, on behalf of this University, say to you, Mr. Chancellor, as
the representative of the national organization, that we are glad to
extend an invitation to your convention to meet in our halls.
There are special reasons, too, why we should welcome the Menorah
Association here. We believe that the University and its members need
this Society for several reasons. In the first place, a great
democratic institution like this can grow only when all the races
bring into it their peculiar customs and ideals. I believe the
non-Jews need it as well as the Jews. It takes varied elements to make
up the democracy, and America, and Cincinnati, and its University all
need the spiritual resources of the Jew. I am impressed with the
statement of the purposes of the Menorah Society as explained by the
Chancellor in the address to which we have just listened.
He tells us first of all that its object is to promote the study of
the history of the Jewish race. Your ancient books are the sources of
all history; in fact, I cannot conceive of the study of history unless
it begins with, or takes up very early, these great historic books of
the Bible. They furnish the Ariadne's thread for the wanderer through
all history; they are the fountain head also of the philosophy of
history. The old Jewish historians always took the teleological view
of the world and looked from the effect back to the cause,
interpreting human events in the terms of God, the designer, the
creator, and the governor of the world. In fact, their great
contribution to history was this doctrine of God's hand in human
events.
The Jew had also, it seems to me, throughout his whole history, a
special talent for theistic truth, for those verities that are
eternal. With an insight and a power almost surpassing all other men,
he discovered truths which have ever been, and always will be,
essential factors in all religion. The first of these ideas is his
conception of Jahveh, not only as a sovereign, powerful, and terrible
Being, but as a personal, holy, righteous, and good Father, "who
pitieth his children." Your Bible, however, nowhere tries to prove the
existence of a God; it everywhere assumes it. "It is the fool who says
in his heart there is no God," declares the Psalmist.
For the same reason, your great books are the world's text book of
comparative religion. I cannot conceive of any one studying religions
without going to them, for above all others the Jewish religion is
original. For these and many more reasons, we hold that the history,
religion and philosophy of the Hebrews is fundamental and
indispensable for the student of these subjects--in fact, for all
students of the humanities.
It was the Jew who discovered conscience, also, and produced in due
time an order of men who made themselves the conscience of their
nation. Moses first formed a law declaring the word of God and
teaching men their relations to God and to each other. Other nations
have had priests and augurs who received the oblations of the people
and gave them advice about their affairs, but the Jewish nation was
the first to produce real prophets who dared to denounce the sins of
the people and remind them of their duty as men and nations. What the
world needs today is another line of such prophets.
To the young men assembled here tonight, I would say, therefore, it is
your duty to study the history, philosophy and theology presented in
these ancient Scriptures, and thus inform yourselves how to instruct
this great democratic people. Be prophets like the prophets of old to
guide the people into the truth!
The Jews were the first people to uphold the sacred character of
patriotism, the patriotism of principle, not of mere power, the
patriotism that teaches that it is not might that makes right, but
right which makes might. How sadly the European powers need to learn
this lesson today! Only "righteousness exalteth the nation" and gives
it the power and the right to lead in the world. If nations would seek
righteousness as a means of winning leadership, they would never need
to go to war, and the exercise of might would never be necessary.
Because this Society proposes to study the great history and
literature which teaches these things, we give it a welcome tonight,
and pray that the light held up by the Menorah may shine not only for
the people of Cincinnati, but for the people of America, and the
world, that all the nations may be guided into that righteousness
which leads to Peace.
The Menorah Movement
BY HENRY HURWITZ
_Chancellor of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association_
I
THE MENORAH MOVEMENT is now in its ninth year. Starting at Harvard
University, where the first Menorah Society was organized in October,
1906, the idea spread to other colleges and universities in various
parts of the country. Societies arose at Columbia, College of the City
of New York, Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, Minnesota, Michigan,
Chicago, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri. Before long a common
desire was felt for closer relationship and co-operation. This led to
the holding of two intercollegiate conferences early in 1912: one, an
eastern conference, at Columbia University, in January, with delegates
from six Menorah Societies, and another, a western conference, at the
University of Chicago, in April, where also six Societies were
represented. As a result of these preliminary gatherings, the first
national convention of Menorah Societies was called at the University
of Chicago, in January, 1913. Delegates of twelve Menorah Societies
from universities in both the East and the West came together, and
seven other Societies were heard from. At this national convention,
the Intercollegiate Menorah Association was formed.
In a period of less than two years since this first convention, the
number of Societies has grown from nineteen to thirty-five. There are
Societies now at the following colleges and universities: Boston
University, Brown, California, Chicago, Cincinnati, College of the
City of New York, Clark, Colorado, Columbia, Cornell, Denver, Harvard,
Hunter, Illinois, Johns Hopkins, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,
New York University, North Carolina, Ohio State, Omaha, Pennsylvania,
Penn State, Pittsburgh, Radcliffe, Rutgers, Texas, Tufts, Valparaiso,
Washington, Western Reserve, Wisconsin, and Yale. New Societies are in
the process of formation at several other universities.
This development of the Menorah movement has from the very beginning
been a natural, unforced growth. The Intercollegiate Menorah
Association makes no effort to organize new Menorah Societies; its
policy is rather to encourage and assist the efforts of students who,
wishing to join in the movement, have undertaken on their own
initiative to organize Menorah Societies at their colleges and
universities. Hence every Menorah Society is the result of a
spontaneous desire among students to organize for Menorah purposes.
The first Menorah Society started with sixteen members. Now the total
membership of Menorah Societies approximates 3,000. The Menorah idea
is firmly implanted in leading colleges and universities throughout
the country, from Massachusetts to California.
II
EVERY Menorah Society is organized to promote at its college or
university the study of Jewish history and culture and contemporary
Jewish problems. First of all, the Menorah Societies aim to spread a
knowledge of the Jewish humanities--Jewish literature, religion, and
ideals--and of their influence upon civilization. In other words, the
Societies aim to promote a true appreciation of the spirit and
achievements of the Jewish people, from ancient to modern times.
Particular study is made of contemporary conditions and problems, and
of the ways in which Jewish culture may not only be conserved but
advanced. To this end, the Menorah Societies strive to inspire the
Jewish student with an intelligent and spirited devotion to Jewish
ideals, and with the desire to develop and contribute to the community
what is best in his Jewish character and endowment.
Thus, in endeavoring to promote knowledge, culture, idealism, the
Menorah Societies are in keeping with the university spirit which has
helped to call them into existence. The Societies are an expression of
the liberality and freedom of American universities. Membership is
open to all students and instructors. College and university
authorities have heartily welcomed the Menorah Societies, have aided
them in carrying out their objects, have enhanced their influence
among the students at large, and have been most generous in
recognizing the definite contribution which the Societies make to the
intellectual and idealistic life of their universities.
Not only the university authorities, but the graduates, too, and other
public-spirited men and women outside of the universities, have warmly
welcomed the Menorah Movement. They see in it the expression of a
spontaneous and earnest desire on the part of growing numbers of
Jewish students for Jewish knowledge and idealism, for a realization
of the Jewish _noblesse oblige_; they see, too, that this movement is
bound at the same time to help bring about a more just and liberal
attitude on the part of university men and women in general toward the
character and ideals of their Jewish fellow-citizens.
Through the encouragement and generous support provided by a Graduate
Advisory Menorah Committee, under the chairmanship of Justice Irving
Lehman of New York, the Intercollegiate Menorah Association is being
helped materially in carrying out its objects.
III
WHILE the purposes of all the Menorah Societies are identical, they
are free to carry out these purposes in any ways they choose, along
lines that best suit their local conditions and are in keeping with
the academic and liberal character of the organization. Certain
activities, however, are followed in common by most of the Societies.
To begin with, it may be stated that all of the Menorah Societies
strongly encourage their members to take the regular courses in Jewish
history and literature wherever such courses are a part of the
curriculum and are devoted not so much to technical learning as to a
liberal and humane study of Jewish culture. Where such courses are not
offered--and it is unfortunately true that many institutions are
deficient in this regard--the Menorah students are creating a demand
which, it is hoped, will be met in time by the offer of appropriate
courses. It is even hoped that a number of the leading universities
will eventually have special Chairs in Jewish history and culture.
Meanwhile, however, whether to supplement or to take the place of
regular courses, the Menorah Society enables its members--or, rather,
all the members of the university who so desire--to pursue their
interest in Jewish studies in less formal manner. Thus, the Societies
have lectures on Jewish subjects by members of the faculties, or by
men from outside their universities. In this connection, the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association has been of considerable service
to the various Societies. The Association has established the Menorah
College of Lecturers, consisting of a number of Jewish scholars,
publicists, and religious leaders, who have undertaken to lecture (for
love) before the Societies. Their lectures, which are generally
followed by informal discussions, are, as a rule, open to the whole
university, and are often held not merely under the auspices of the
Menorah Society, but also in conjunction with some department of the
university, or with some other student organization. At times, the
Menorah lecturers are invited by the university authorities to address
the whole student body at assemblies and convocations.
At other Menorah meetings, the members themselves present papers and
carry on discussions upon Jewish topics of historic and literary as
well as current interest.
Not content, however, with such lectures, papers, and discussions,
most of the Societies provide their members with opportunities for
intensive and systematic study. Study groups are formed, under the
leadership of older students or of competent men from outside the
universities, for the purpose of regular study in Jewish history,
religion and literature, or contemporary Jewish conditions and
problems, or the Hebrew language, or any other special field of
interest. The work of these groups is carried on along the lines of a
regular class or seminar, though, of course, with less rigor and
formality.
IV
AS an incentive to original investigation on the part of the students,
several Menorah Societies have been enabled to offer prizes to their
universities for the best essays on Jewish subjects. Thus, at Harvard,
since 1907, through the generosity of Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, of New
York, the Menorah Society has offered an annual prize of $100 for the
best essay written by any undergraduate on some approved Jewish
subject; and similarly, at the Universities of Wisconsin and Michigan,
through the generosity of Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, the
Menorah Societies are enabled to offer prizes of $100 each to their
Universities upon the same terms. (Menorah Prize Essays will be
printed from time to time in this Journal.) One or two other Societies
have been enabled to offer smaller prizes. All of the Societies are
anxious to be of similar service to their universities, and it is
hoped that the Intercollegiate Menorah Association may be enabled next
year to offer prizes open to the undergraduates of all American
colleges and universities. This should help materially to stimulate
Jewish study among students throughout the country.
Perhaps the most essential requirement for carrying on Jewish study is
an adequate supply of books. Except at the larger institutions, there
has been a notable lack of Jewish books at American colleges and
universities, mainly, no doubt, because Jewish studies as a whole have
been neglected. The Intercollegiate Menorah Association has
fortunately been able to remedy these conditions to some extent at the
institutions where Menorah Societies exist. With the assistance of the
Jewish Publication Society and a number of individuals, the
Association has sent Menorah Libraries of Jewish books to the various
Menorah Societies. These books are for the use not only of Menorah
Societies, but of all the students in their universities. That the
Menorah Libraries have helped the work of the Societies, and have
added appreciably to the library facilities at the various
institutions, is abundantly shown by the gratitude expressed both by
students and authorities.
Yet the work of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association has only
begun. Its field is almost unlimited; and with constantly growing
membership, both of undergraduates and of graduates, with the
increasing encouragement and support from men and women in all parts
of the country, the Association is gathering strength for enterprises
that must prove beneficial not to universities alone, but to the
community in general. Thus, the Menorah Journal is launched this year
in response to a desire not only on the part of the students, but of
men and women throughout the country who have been wanting such a
Review of Jewish life and literature in America. Other literary
enterprises are contemplated for the future. Besides syllabi for the
study groups, pamphlet essays, and similar facilities designed
especially for students, one large scheme in mind may appropriately
be mentioned here as of interest to all the readers of the Journal,
namely, the plan for the Menorah Classics. These are to be the
selected treasures of the literature of the Jewish people, from the
Bible to Bialik, printed in attractively handy form, with translations
and notes designed for the general reader as well as for students. In
this way, it is hoped to place the gems of the great store of Jewish
literature within the reach of all.
V
THE work of the Menorah Societies is not designed to make Jewish
scholars of the members. It is meant to gratify their desire to
understand their heritage, to stimulate them still further to study
that heritage, to help them realize the honor and the responsibility
they share as the heirs and trustees of Jewish tradition. And though
the earnest work of Menorah Societies partakes largely of the spirit
of the class-room and the lecture-hall, the pursuit of Menorah aims
expresses itself incidentally in sociable ways as well. Smokers,
dinners, pageants, literary and dramatic evenings, testify to the
pleasure which the members find in their association together for
Menorah purposes.
Menorah Societies, however, do not assume the character of social
organizations. Menorah Societies are all-inclusive, not exclusive;
they promote democracy, mutual respect, and understanding between
different types of Jewish students who have often in the past retained
toward one another the prejudices of their elders. The Menorah
fellowship expresses and promotes the common sentiment of all students
who have come to appreciate Jewish knowledge and ideals, who accept
their common Jewish heritage and Jewish hopes. In other words, where
in the past snobbery and spinelessness were not lacking among Jewish
students at our universities, there has grown up now a spirit of
democracy and of manly frankness, which has not escaped the
observation of older men, both within and without the universities.
But these qualities in the Jewish students of to-day have merely been
revealed by the Menorah movement. The movement has definite moral
purposes of its own. The Menorah idea embraces not merely the study
but the enhancement of the Jewish heritage. And this requires not
moral enthusiasm alone, but vision and action. To accomplish their
full purposes, the Menorah Societies endeavor to inspire their members
with the will to throw themselves into the heart of Jewish life, to
join hands with other men in the active effort to advance its
interests and solve its problems.
While this participation in Jewish life must be the personal outcome
of Menorah enthusiasm and activity--as indeed has been proven already
among students and graduates--the Menorah organization, as such,
maintains its non-partisan character. A Menorah Society is neither
orthodox nor reform, neither Zionist nor anti-Zionist, but rather an
open forum for presenting and discussing every point of view, a forum
hospitable in true academic spirit to the open-minded pursuit of
truth.
VI
IN sum, the Menorah movement represents an organization and an idea.
If the organization has grown in extent and importance beyond the
fondest expectations, it is because the idea, conceived by students
and carried out by them, has found a welcome home in the American
university. And one of the reasons why the Menorah idea has seized
upon the imagination and caught the heart of the university man is
because it appeals both to his independence of mind and his pride. A
Menorah Society imposes no dogma, no ceremony; the independence of
thought so dear to the bosom of youth is given full scope. A Menorah
Society aims, first of all, to satisfy an aroused intellectual
curiosity with respect to the past and present and possible future of
the Jewish race.
But the real source of Menorah strength lies far deeper. Consciously
or unconsciously, from the very beginning of his affiliation with a
Menorah Society, the Jewish student responds to a call within himself
of _noblesse oblige_. It is pride of race--not vanity or brag, but a
pride conscious of its human obligation--that animates Menorah men and
women throughout the country. Knowledge and service, which may be
regarded as the very cornerstones of Jewish idealism, constitute the
twin motives of the Menorah movement.
The Menorah movement is the answer of the Jewish academic youth to the
challenge of American democracy. American institutions give us the
opportunity to develop all our capacities in freedom. The endeavor of
Menorah men is to preserve and enhance, for America and for mankind,
the best in us that may flourish in freedom, our Jewish heritage and
endowment.
From College and University
_Reports from Menorah Societies_
[_It is not planned to have reports from all the Menorah Societies in
any single issue of the Journal. A complete list of Menorah Societies
may be found on the inside of the front cover._]
=University of California=
THE California Menorah Society has begun its fourth year under most
promising auspices.
The first meeting of the year, on Monday evening, August 31, was the
finest ever held by the Society. It had been announced before the
entire student body at the University meeting in Harmon Gymnasium, and
all interested were invited to attend. Eighty men and women of the
University were present. The theme of the meeting was the Menorah
Idea. Mr. Samuel Spring, Harvard, '09, a former member of the Harvard
Menorah Society, spoke on "The Menorah and the Community from a
Graduate's Standpoint;" Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin of Stockton, now a
graduate student in the University, spoke on "The Menorah and the
Rabbinate," and the chief speech of the evening was delivered by Dean
D.B. Barrows on "The University and the Menorah." Professor Barrows
greatly approved of the organization and characterized the California
Menorah Society as the most, useful student organization on the
campus.
The second general meeting of the Society, held on September 28, was
devoted to the topic of Immigration. Professor Ira B. Cross, of the
University Economics Department and of the State Industrial Accident
Commission, delivered an excellent address on "Streams of Immigration,
Past, Present and Future." Mr. R. J. Rosenthal, of the California
State Commission on Immigration and Housing, spoke a few words on the
Jewish side of the question. A selection from Mary Antin's "The
Promised Land" was read. Appropriate literary and musical selections
were rendered. About fifty-five members were present.
On Monday evening, October 12, a Study Circle meeting was held. Rabbi
Edgar F. Magnin conducted a discussion on "Dominant Notes in Jewish
Poetry." Among the poems read were the Song of Deborah, the 23d Psalm,
the Wine Song of Gabirol, selections from Emma Lazarus, and "The
Jewish Soldier" and "The Sweatshop" of Rosenfeld.
At the general meeting of the Society on Monday evening, October 26,
Rabbi Jacob Nieto of San Francisco spoke on "The Modern Viewpoint of
the Bible" to an audience of over sixty, including several non-Jews,
who were so favorably impressed with the meeting that they declared
their intention to be present at future Menorah meetings. Rabbi
Nieto's talk stirred up a great deal of discussion among the members.
The first chapter of Isaiah and the Song of Moses were read, and there
were musical selections.
On Monday evening, November 9, Mr. Harry Hart, Assistant City
Attorney, led a discussion in the Study Circle on "Early Jewish
Philosophers."
The last general meeting was held on Monday evening, November 30.
Professor William Popper gave a most interesting talk on "Jewish
Education," in which he traced the history and methods of Jewish
pedagogy through the Biblical, post-Biblical and Talmudic periods.
Musical and literary numbers were rendered, the "Menorah Quartet"
making its debut at this meeting. The attendance was about sixty, of
whom ten were non-Jews.
The constitution of the club has been revised to meet the expanding
needs of the Society. Three standing committees now exist. The
executive committee, composed of the four elected officers and three
other members elected by the general body, will be the administrative
arm of the club. The club's policy is largely determined by this
committee. They decide what business is to be brought before the club
members, and they set in motion all innovations looking to the
betterment of the club.
The membership committee, composed of a chairman, appointed from the
three elected executive committee members by the President, and nine
other students, selected from the different colleges of the
University, has the duty of increasing the membership roll of the
Society. This committee began active operations in the summer.
California being a State university, its student body is made up
almost entirely of residents of California. Hence through the
assistance of Rabbis in different sections of the State, the committee
has been enabled to get in touch with many of the newcomers to the
University this fall. To them, as well as to the old members of this
Society, a circular letter was sent. The aims of the Menorah were
briefly outlined, and the dates of monthly meetings stated; the office
hours and location of several members of the Society during
registration were named, and all freshmen were advised to consult with
them for any information or aid desired.
In this way the committee has been able to reach newcomers at the
University and impress them with the Menorah idea before the entrant's
viewpoint has been beclouded by any false attitude toward a Jewish
organization on the campus. After the college year has begun, the
committee scours the campus for those Jewish students who have not yet
been enlightened as to the work of the Menorah. The California Society
does not bow down before numbers, but it feels that the benefits of
the Menorah should be enjoyed by the largest possible number of Jewish
students.
Upon the third committee, however, the Social committee, which plans
the programs, rests the major responsibility for the Club's success.
Taking the Harvard plan as a pattern, the California Menorah has
created what is for the present called the Menorah Study Circle. This
meets bi-weekly. On the other hand, a general meeting of the Society
as a whole is held every month. These general meetings are more
popular in nature, for the many elements of the Jewish body must here
be conciliated, as well as those of non-Jewish faith who are
interested in the purposes of the Menorah. Due to the complex and
many-sided character of the Jewish student group, a concession to the
various interests must be made in the form of a cultural-social
program for the evening. Lecturers are secured; informal discussion is
encouraged; musical and literary programs are arranged--all, of
course, in the effort to present in attractive form such cultural
material as the diverse elements in the body of Jewish students can
absorb.
The Study Circle meetings have a different viewpoint. They are of a
more specialized nature. Through them the serious phases of the club's
activity are furthered. The personnel of the Circle is made up of
those who are seriously interested in the distinctly intellectual work
of the Club. The demand for the Study Circle arose spontaneously from
these students. A faculty member, or Rabbi, or outside scholar, is
occasionally asked to present an address. Discussion follows. Jewish
literary, religious, economic and social problems are thus handled.
The recent arrival of the Menorah Library has greatly pleased the
members. The books will be a great aid in the work of the Society. The
attention of all the students in the University is being called to the
Library by a statement in the _Daily Californian_ and by other means.
Efforts are now being made to introduce a Menorah prize for the best
essay on a Jewish subject. LOUIS I. NEWMAN
=University of Cincinnati=
THE University of Cincinnati Menorah Society was organized on April
25, 1914. Our first task was to place the Society in the right light
on the campus, to emphasize the absolutely unsectarian, academic,
cultural nature of a Menorah, and the fact that membership is
"invitingly open to all the members of the University," irrespective
of creed or sex. We accomplished this by continuous announcements in
the _University News_, by the open character of our meetings, and by
the actual composition of our membership.
Though we organized late in the year, we succeeded in having several
large meetings at which addresses were delivered by men who are
authorities in their respective subjects. At the initial meeting,
preliminary to organization, Dr. David Philipson, '83, spoke, and Dean
F. W. Chandler of the College of Liberal Arts cordially welcomed the
Society. The first meeting after our organization was addressed by
Professor Julian Morgenstern of the Hebrew Union College, who spoke on
"The Judaism of the Future." Addresses at subsequent meetings were
delivered by Mr. A. J. Kinsella of the Greek Department of the
University of Cincinnati on "The Greek and the Semite in the World's
Civilization;" by Dr. Edward Mack, Professor of Old Testament at the
Lane Theological Seminary, on "The Influence of Hebrew Literature on
the World's Thought and Literature"; and by Rabbi Louis L. Mann of New
Haven, Conn., on "Christian Science and Judaism." These meetings had
an average attendance of seventy.
Among the meetings held so far this year the most important was on the
evening of November 19th. Chancellor Henry Hurwitz of the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association delivered an address on the
purposes of the Menorah movement, to which President Charles W. Dabney
of the University responded, heartily welcoming the Menorah Society to
the University and extending a cordial invitation to the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association to hold its next annual Convention
at the University. (The address of President Dabney is printed above,
page 47). Dr. David Philipson spoke on the significance of the
Menorah, and lighted a large Menorah on the platform. Music was
rendered by the Girls' Glee Club. Dean F. W. Chandler sent the
following greeting:
"With the modern drift of attention away from the classics and away
from the Bible, it behooves those of us who would count as the friends
of culture to welcome every effort to stimulate interest in either.
The Menorah Societies which are finding a place in our chief
universities have assumed a laudable task. They are striving to hold
before the minds of the youth of this land the fine ideals of the
ancient Hebrew literature. In such efforts they should be encouraged
by Jew and Gentile alike. For we are all heirs of Hebrew tradition; we
are all brothers engaged in a common undertaking. We believe it to be
our duty to learn from the past whatever is best, to the end that we
may enrich with that knowledge the present and the future. We welcome
therefore all that the Menorah Society can give us of inspiration
toward making the most of our heritage. We rejoice that through this
agency we may be kept constantly aware of what a great people has
contributed to our civilization."
The Cincinnati Menorah Society is delighted that the Association has
accepted the invitation of President Dabney to hold the next
Convention at this University. Preparations are now being made for the
Convention and for the entertainment not only of the delegates but of
all Menorah men and women who will come. We ardently hope to welcome a
large number of our fellow-Menorah members.
It will be of interest to relate that, after reading a copy of "The
Menorah Movement," Miss E. McVea, Dean of Women and Assistant
Professor of English, suggested the following three subjects for
twenty-page essays in one of her English classes: "The Contribution of
the Jew to Civilization," "The Integrity of the Jewish Race," and
"Zionism."
Early in the year Mr. Louis D. Brandeis of Boston spoke under the
auspices of the Menorah Society at a meeting open to the whole
University upon "The New Science of Efficiency"--the subject being
chosen at the request of President Dabney. In introducing the speaker
President Dabney expressed the indebtedness of the Faculty to the
Menorah for the pleasure of having Mr. Brandeis at the University.
ABRAHAM J. FELDMAN
=College of the City of New York=
DURING the past year the Menorah Society of the College of the City of
New York has made very important gains. First, in numbers--from 165,
reported at the last Convention, we have increased to 327. There are
still about 500 Jewish students who are not yet members, and these we
intend to gain over. Second, in prestige--from a position of mere
toleration we have gradually risen to the position of the recognized
and accepted exponent of Jewish culture in the College, and as such we
have set the College its standard of a cultural society. Third, in
influence--we have inspired a large number of students, including many
who for some reason or other have not yet become members, with a
lively interest in things Jewish and a serious desire for collegiate
Hebrew instruction. At present the College lacks such instruction; but
we hope before long to report progress in remedying this condition.
Meanwhile we are attracting the favorable attention of a considerable
number of the alumni--men who in their college days would not or could
not join the Menorah Society. This is indeed remarkable; that old
graduates, who never knew the Menorah, should manifest toward it the
highest interest and approbation is a most eloquent sign of the
influence of the Menorah idea.
Our plan for the organization of the graduates as associate members is
the same as Harvard's. But their dues are disposed of in a different
way: out of the two dollars one goes to our Library Fund, and the
other is sent to the Menorah Journal as the associate's subscription,
for we feel that this is the best way to keep him in touch with
Menorah activities. This system has a further advantage in that it
spreads the Journal everywhere.
There were held during the past year thirty regular meetings and
lectures--one each week. At the meetings the average attendance was
36, at the lectures 155. The principal lecturers were: Professor M. M.
Kaplan, "The Menorah Idea"; Professor Richard Gottheil, "Jews in
Various Lands"; Mr. Jacob H. Schiff, "Zionism and Jewish Nationality";
Professor A. Marks, "Persecutions of the Jews in the Middle Ages";
Rev. Dr. David de Sola Pool, "Jewish Education"; Professor Israel
Davidson, "Hebrew Literature"; Rev. Dr. M. A. Hyamson, "The Mishnah";
Rev. Dr. Harry S. Lewis of London, "The Jews and Democracy"; Rev. Dr.
H. P. Mendes, "Traditional Judaism"; Professor Stephen P. Duggan,
"Tradition as a Static and Dynamic Force"; Rev. Dr. Stephen S. Wise,
"What's Wrong with the Jew?"
There were four courses taught. The average attendance at a course was
16. Rabbi Nathan Blechman led the course in "An Extensive Study of the
Bible," Professor M. M. Kaplan taught "Essentials of Judaism," and
Rabbi Samuel Margoshes gave the course in "Jewish Philosophy and
Literature." At the request of a number of students a course in
"Elementary Hebrew" was also given for a time.
Two social meetings were held during the year. The first was a
reception in the vestry rooms of the Temple Beth-el tendered us by the
Menorah Society of Hunter College (formerly Normal), in recognition of
our help in the organization of their Society. The second was a
"smoker" held at the College in the Faculty lunch-room. The guests of
the occasion were Professor Israel Friedlaender of the Jewish
Theological Seminary, Professor A. J. Goldfarb of the College, and
Rev. Dr. D. de Sola Pool.
For the first semester this year, four regular Wednesday evening
meetings have been scheduled, four public lectures, six study circles,
and four courses. The courses--"Modern Movements in Judaism" (one
hour), "Elementary Hebrew" (two hours), "Post-Biblical History" (one
hour), and an "Extensive Study of the Bible" (one hour)--will be
conducted by Rabbis Stephen S. Wise, J. L. Magnes, Max Reichler,
Rudolph Grossman, Maurice Harris, C. H. Levy, H. S. Goldstein, and A.
Robinson. The study circles, which will meet once a week, under the
leadership of Dr. Joseph I. Gorfinkle and Dr. A. Basel, will read the
"Essays of Ahad Ha-'Am," Schechter's "Studies in Judaism," the "Book
of Job," the "Book of Jeremiah," "Pirke Aboth," and the "Five
Scrolls."
With the respect and co-operation of the student body, the faculty,
and the alumni, the prestige of our Menorah bids fair to increase
until, it is hoped, it will not be exceeded by that of any other City
College organization.
GEORGE J. HOROWITZ
=Cornell University=
THE Cornell Menorah Society has this year issued a prospectus which
has met with much favor among undergraduates, graduates and faculty,
and has been very helpful in our work. It contains an explanation of
"The Menorah Idea," accounts of the history and activities of both the
Cornell Society and the Intercollegiate Association, and the address
of President Schurman of November 24, 1913, by which he welcomed the
Menorah Society to the University. There is also included, besides the
general program for the year, the announcement of the Cornell Menorah
prizes. These are three prizes of $25.00 each, offered by the Cornell
Menorah Society to all the undergraduates of the University for (1)
the best essay on any subject relating to the status and problems of
the Jews in any country; (2) the best essay on any subject relating to
Jewish literature in English; and (3) the best essay or poem in
Hebrew.
The first meeting of the year, on October 7, was very successful. It
was attended by more than eighty students and several members of the
faculty. The meeting was devoted to an exposition of the purposes and
ideals of the Menorah movement. Professor W. A. Hurwitz and Professor
Hays spoke very enthusiastically of the accomplishments and the hopes
of the Cornell Menorah Society. About thirty new members were
enrolled, bringing our membership list up to one hundred. This number
includes five members of the faculty and about a score of graduates.
Several men who had come to the meeting to scoff stayed to enroll. The
subsequent meetings have also been well attended. Our organization is
gaining greater and greater prestige on the campus.
In the plans for this year, the work of study circles has been
particularly emphasized. As compared with two circles last year,
meeting more or less irregularly, we have at present six circles
meeting very regularly and doing really splendid work. More than half
of our members are now enrolled in one or several of these circles.
The subjects of study are: (1) Elementary Hebrew, (2) Advanced Hebrew,
(3) The Bible, (4) Jewish History, (5) Sociological Problems of the
Jews, and (6) Zionism. Though we have been feeling very keenly the
need of suitable syllabi and text books, each circle has chosen the
texts considered most suitable and available for its purpose. Most of
the men have bought their own text books, and have subscribed to
various Jewish periodicals. Thus, the beginners in Hebrew are using
Manheimer as a text; the members of the advanced Hebrew circle are
also using the Bible as a text and have each subscribed to the
_Hatoren_ (a Hebrew monthly of New York). The Bible circle is also
using the Bible as its text, and the Hebrew and Bible circles
contemplate procuring jointly several Jewish Commentaries, like those
of Rashi and Kimchi, for general reference in the University Library.
The circle in Zionism is using Professor Gottheil's book, and the
members have each subscribed to _The Maccabæan_. The history circle
has recently decided to use Dubnow's Essay as a text. It may be
mentioned here that the books of the Menorah Library are receiving
very good circulation and the standard reference works, such as
Graetz, Ginsburg, Schechter, and others, have been of great value to
the members of the study circles in their work. It is hoped that a
number of Jewish periodicals may also be made available in the
University Library.
It is planned to hold meetings of the Cornell Menorah Society in
conjunction with one or two other university organizations for several
lecturers whom we expect through the courtesy of the Intercollegiate
Menorah Association. One meeting in particular that is planned for the
future may be noted. Annually, in February, occurs what is known as
Farmers' Week in Ithaca. During the week thousands of farmers from
all over the country visit the College of Agriculture, where a most
elaborate program is arranged for their benefit, consisting of
lectures, demonstrations, exhibits, and addresses on the various
phases of agriculture and country life. Last year, Mr. Joseph M.
Pincus, Editor of _The Jewish Farmer_, addressed a large audience
under the joint auspices of the Menorah Society and the College of
Agriculture on "The Jew as a Farmer." The lecture was illustrated with
a fine selection of lantern slides, and the meeting as a whole was
very successful. In planning for the coming year, we have tried to
emphasize even more strongly than last year our part in the program
for Farmers' Week. Mr. Pincus has kindly consented to come again, and
probably we shall also have Mr. Leonard G. Robinson, General Manager
of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, who will speak
on "Jewish Agricultural Co-operative Associations."
We are now trying to make arrangements for our Society to take care of
an exhibit which will show by charts, photographs, and other suitable
material, the activities of the various Jewish agricultural
organizations and the progress of Jewish farmers in America within
recent years. It may be of interest to add that as a direct result of
the Menorah meeting last year during Farmers' Week, one of the
students was appointed by the Extension Department of the College of
Agriculture to go out with an "educational train" during the summer
and carry on certain extension work among the Jewish farmers of New
York State.
LEON J. ROSENTHAL
=Harvard University=
THE opening meeting of the ninth year of the Harvard Menorah Society
was held on October 13, 1914. The meeting was the largest in the
history of the Society, over 150 men being present. The purposes of
the Society were explained to the new men by the officers, and Le
Baron Russell Briggs, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
extended a welcome in behalf of the University. He said in part: "I
was present at the foundation of the Harvard Menorah Society in 1906,
and was very much impressed by the fine earnestness of the leaders. If
I were a Jew, I would be so proud of the history and traditions of my
race that I would welcome the opportunity that this Society offers.
For this reason I have always taken a great interest in the Menorah
Society."
The plans for this year include as usual a series of fortnightly
lectures by men of learning and prominence. Among the speakers for the
first half year are Dr. Cyrus Adler of Philadelphia, Professor Richard
Gottheil of New York, Mr. Samuel Strauss of New York, Dr. A. A. Neuman
of Philadelphia, Dr. Martin A. Meyer of San Francisco, Dr. D. de Sola
Pool and Dr. S. Benderly of New York. In addition, there are planned
three study circles, each of which will meet every alternate week. One
of these circles is to be devoted to Jewish history, another to the
study of the Hebrew language, and the third to the consideration of
modern Jewish problems.
The prospects for this year are even brighter than ever before. The
enthusiasm is as great as it has ever been, and the membership will
undoubtedly exceed all past records.
It is of interest to note that more and more members of Menorah
Societies at other Universities all over the country continue their
Menorah activities in our Society when they come to study in the
graduate departments of Harvard University.
ISADORE LEVIN
=Hunter College=
THROUGH the influence of the Menorah Society of the College of the
City of New York, a Menorah Society was formed at the Normal College
of New York (for women), with the approval of the Dean, in May, 1913.
Owing to the change of name of the College, it is now known as the
Hunter College Menorah.
During the first year of its existence, under the leadership of its
first President, Miss Selma Blechman, and the hearty support of its
members, the corner-stone for its present greater work was laid. A
program of lectures was planned to be held on the third Friday of
every month. The lectures were to cover the several periods of Jewish
history from ancient to modern times. This was done with great
success.
This year, in addition to the lectures, the Society is planning to
give courses in (1) Hebrew, (2) Jewish History, and (3) the Bible.
This project has met with the hearty approval of both the President
and the Dean, and the Menorah hopes to enter soon upon active work in
these subjects.
A word about the membership of the Hunter Menorah must be said. When
the Society started it had a membership of one hundred, of whom ninety
were active members. It now has about twice that number, with an
active membership of one hundred.
The Society has acquired such repute that students who are not members
attend the lectures and are very enthusiastic about them. Indeed, the
Hunter College Menorah sees before it a very rosy future.
At the recent Bazaar given by the College Athletic Association for the
Red Cross Relief Fund, the Society had a booth and sold appropriate
articles, like brass Menorahs, books and small Hebrew scrolls, objects
of Jewish art, and candy and almonds from Palestine, thus adding a
considerable sum to the Fund. Besides, the members have contributed
over $100 for Jewish relief in Palestine.
JULIA MITCHELL
=University of Michigan=
IN 1910 a group of Jewish students at the University of Michigan
formed a society and assumed the Menorah name. After a rather
checkered course of three years, marked by misunderstood ideals and
activities not always well-considered, the organization suddenly
became more alive to the consideration of the vital problems which had
been the ultimate excuse for its existence. A few men, sacrificing
personal ambition for the common welfare, spurred the Society on to
more serious and genuine work.
The rejuvenated Menorah Society enjoyed this period of prosperity only
for a few months when a new organization for Jewish spiritual
development at the University was formed. It calls itself the Jewish
Student Congregation, and its aim, as distinguished from the Menorah
goal of cultural research, is purely religious. The weekly prayer
meeting, marked by sermon and ceremony, is now offered to the Jewish
students in addition to the weekly study circle of the cultural
society.
However true or untrue may be the oft-repeated statement that the
Menorah has blazed the way for the Congregation, it still remains a
fact that the new organization was not confronted with the difficulty
of gaining a following, such as the parent Jewish society had
experienced. Though the attendance of the Congregation shaded off
quite considerably the last few months of its first year, there were
always enough to show their appreciation by their presence at the
services and to guarantee the continuation of the services in the
future. One noteworthy fact calls for special mention here--a certain
group of students seemed to be more religious than devoted to cultural
interests. Only a few of this class, however, were really inspired by
a religious zeal; for there were some who expressed this preference
because there still rankled in their thoughts the stigma which a few
thoughtless pioneers had allowed to attach itself to the Menorah in
the early days of its formation.
That the Congregation would appeal to a certain number was evident
from the first. The Jewish service was fraught with that sociable
spirit which became more lacking in the Menorah the more it devoted
itself to its primary motives of research and investigation into
Jewish history, culture and ideals. Though there unquestionably exists
a strong feeling of fellowship in the Menorah, it cannot compare with
the atmosphere of fraternalism in a religious meeting.
Moreover, the student can come to the Congregation to relax. He can
sit back passively and draw inspiration from the service. But a
Menorah meeting is virtually a class-room lacking a few formalities.
There the student must actively discuss the problems placed before
him; he must earnestly dig for the Pierian waters before he can hope
to quench his thirst.
The average Jewish student comes to Michigan wofully ignorant of
matters pertaining to Judaism. Many of them have been reared in small
towns, where the efforts of parents to train their children in Jewish
ways, if tried at all, barely passes the first two or three pages of
the "Siddur"; while those who have been raised in the city are
generally the victims of the lax system of Jewish training prevalent
there. At the most they have only a superficial knowledge of Jewish
culture, of the great Jewish movements of the past and present. The
Synagogue or Temple represents to the mind of the average Jewish
student all that there is in Jewry; and so, while he will readily and
voluntarily support a movement for the establishment of the Jewish
church, he will have to be persuaded to help or join an organization
devoted to Jewish culture. For in the latter case he must first be
made to understand that there are other vital forces in Israel than
the Jewish church as it stands to-day in its conventional form.
The Menorah at Michigan faces the problem of attracting that element,
forming the big majority of the student body, which, though it proudly
upholds the high scholastic standard generally credited to the Jewish
student, still has its eyes closed and its brains dulled to many of
the vital Jewish problems which press for solution. With the
co-operation of the Intercollegiate Menorah office, the Society is
gradually molding the sentiment of the individual student toward a
more intelligent and favorable attitude. That the Menorah is already a
vital force on the campus may be seen from the work being done, the
zeal and enthusiasm displayed by the officers and members, many of
them among the University leaders. Those who formerly scorned or stood
aloof, including some who were in the position to mold student
sentiment, have begun to show a sympathetic interest, bordering in
many instances on actual participation.
The Jewish Student Congregation does not conflict in any way with the
Menorah Society. There is room for both on the campus. Each has its
own purpose. Menorah members participate in the conduct and the
services of the Congregation.
JACOB LEVIN
=University of Minnesota=
JUDGING from the interest and enthusiasm displayed at the opening "get
together" meeting, arranged especially for the benefit of new arrivals
at the University, the Minnesota Menorah seems certain to make this
year the most successful in its history. The meeting, which follows an
established custom at Minnesota, was well attended by both students
and alumni, and enabled both elements to become better acquainted. The
early part of the evening was devoted to a general reception; this was
followed by a short entertainment, and then a very interesting
discussion of Menorah ideals and duties by various members of the
faculty and alumni.
The plans of the Society this year look more than ever before to an
intensive study of Jewish subjects by the students themselves.
Although various outside speakers will be asked to address the
Society, the bulk of the work will rest with the student body.
DAVID LONDON
=New York University=
THE New York University Menorah Society is unique in its make-up and
in the form of its administration. The Society is really two
organizations within the one university. This dual composition is
necessitated by the division, geographically, of New York University
into colleges in the downtown section of New York City, and into
colleges in the far uptown section of the Bronx, the distance between
these divisions being some twelve miles. It has therefore been found
necessary to organize one Menorah Society at University Heights, the
Bronx section, and another at Washington Square, the downtown
section.
Each of these Societies has its own officers, and each is active in
its own section. The Executive Councils of both Societies meet jointly
as a Board of Governors at least once in two months. This Board
directs Menorah work pertaining to the whole University, at the same
time considering the problems arising in the work of each Society.
The University Heights chapter is the older, having been organized
December 22, 1913. Its membership is about 75 at this time, and an
increase to 100 is expected by the end of the present academic year.
Formed by the zeal of some twenty-five men, and looked upon at its
inception with indifference by the college community, it has made
itself respected at University Heights and has become, young as it is,
an institution in the college life.
Its work during the first half-year was directed chiefly to the
internal strengthening of the Society, the increasing of its
membership and the institution of smooth working machinery of
administration. At the same time, however, the Society offered a
number of valuable lectures which attracted wide interest. Among the
speakers of that half-year may be mentioned Professor Israel
Friedlaender, Dr. Madison C. Peters, and Dr. Theodore F. Jones of the
faculty.
The activities of the University Heights Menorah Society for this year
are extensive. It has arranged a program of lectures, among which may
be mentioned the following: "The Talmud," by Dr. Clifton H. Levy; "The
Jew in English Literature," by Dean Archibald L. Bouton; "The Jews in
Medieval Spain," by Dr. D. de Sola Pool; "Conservative Judaism," by
Dr. Jacob Kohn; "Historical Beginnings of Christianity," by Dr. A. H.
Limouze; "Reform Judaism," by Dr. Isaac Moses. Besides these lectures,
some meetings are devoted to discussions by members of such subjects
as Zangwill's "Melting Pot," "Zionism," and others of current
interest.
The Society does not limit its work to these meetings. It conducts
regularly, every Thursday evening, classes in elementary Hebrew and in
Post-Biblical History, and on Tuesday afternoons a class in Advanced
Hebrew and the reading of Hebrew Literature. The Thursday evening
class in Hebrew is under the direction of Dr. Max Reichler. The course
in History is divided into several periods, and as the course proceeds
to a new period in the history a different instructor takes the class.
Among the men giving the course are Dr. M. H. Harris, Dr. Reichler,
Dr. Moses Hyamson, and Dr. Joseph Gorfinkle. The class in Advanced
Hebrew is conducted by Mr. Max Kadushin of the Jewish Theological
Seminary.
Through the kindness of the Jewish Publication Society of America and
the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, and by its own additions, the
Society has placed a collection of books in the University library,
which, according to the Librarian's statement, is used more frequently
than is any other collection of books placed in the library by a
society.
All these activities have caused favorable interest on the part of the
student body, faculty, and college authorities. Aside from these
academic efforts, the Society has made its members feel something of a
social friendliness toward each other and has brought together men who
might otherwise not have come in contact at all.
The Society at Washington Square promises an exceedingly good future.
At the present writing it is only several weeks old, but it already
has a membership of over one hundred and fifty. Judging from the
strong beginning it has made, it is bound to become a factor in its
section of the University.
CHARLES K. FEINBERG
=Ohio State University=
THE year 1913-14, the fourth year of the Menorah at Ohio State
University, proved to be the most successful in its history. In accord
with the nature and purpose of our organization, we strove to be
academic, sociable and non-sectarian, and accomplished this end, even
beyond the expectations of the more optimistic. During the year the
Society carried on a lecture course in Biblical History, by Professor
Morgenstern, of the Hebrew Union College, in such a creditable manner
as to attract attention even outside the University. The lectures of
Dr. Israel Friedlaender and Dr. H. M. Kallen met with similar success,
and after their lectures at the University they addressed large
audiences at our local Temples.
The new University library opened its doors this year, and we are
greatly indebted to our beloved friend, Mr. Joseph Schonthal, of
Columbus, for placing upon the shelves a set of the Jewish
Encyclopedia; and to the University, the Intercollegiate Menorah
Association, and the Jewish Publication Society for books and
periodicals. The trustees of the University considered our proposition
for the establishment of a chair in Jewish History and Culture, but it
was agreed that conditions were not yet ripe for this move. These
several undertakings, in connection with the entertainments, held the
members steadily interested throughout the year. The bi-monthly
meetings, the programs of which were made up by the members
themselves, were inspiring and beneficial.
A successful close was marked by a "Farewell Banquet" to the seniors,
among whom were several of our best workers--pioneers of our Society.
Of the guests present, only our old friend Dean Orton made an address.
He was greatly impressed with the work of our Society, and assured us
that the faculty is in full sympathy with our aims.
With the passing of a good year we are looking forward to a still
better one, and are predicting a big year for Menorah work. Such men
as Dr. J. Leonard Levy, Dr. Washington Gladden, Dr. Moses J. Gries,
Prof. I. Leo Sharfman, Dr. David Philipson, and Dr. Louis Wolsey are
among the speakers this year.
Our program committee has been working up attractive plans, and expect
to carry out discussions and studies in Jewish history, literature and
problems. The social part of our program is taken care of as the year
progresses, and forms only so much of our work as is justifiable to
keep the members together.
The Ohio State Menorah takes this opportunity of extending its best
wishes to the other Menorah Societies and of expressing its perfect
readiness to co-operate with them. The members will eagerly welcome
the first number of the Menorah Journal, both for its own sake and as
a means of strengthening the bonds with the other Menorahs.
HENRY GREENBERGER
=University of Pennsylvania=
OUR Menorah at Pennsylvania has passed through a crisis which for a
time threatened its welfare, but happily the present internal
condition is healthy and assures the new administration the hearty
support of the entire membership. Despite difficulties our work has
been successful and varied. Last year fourteen regular meetings were
held, some devoted to programs by our own members, others to outside
speakers.
Among those who addressed us last year were Dr. Cyrus Adler, '83,
President of the Dropsie College; Rabbi Henry Berkowitz, Chancellor of
the Jewish Chautauqua Society, on the "New Teaching of Religion"; Dr.
Henry M. Speaker, Principal of Gratz College, on "Jewish Literature";
Rabbi Haas of the Baron de Hirsch School, on "Woodbine, a Jewish
Town"; Dr. Isaac Husik of the Semitic Faculty, on "Philosophic
Movements of Medieval Jewry"; and Dr. Henry Malter of the Dropsie
College, on "The Written and the Oral Law."
In addition to the regular meetings we have been for the past three
years conducting a Jewish Discussion Group, led by Rabbi Marvin Nathan
of this city, which has proved very popular. The group meets at the
noon hour and attracts also non-Menorah men, women students, and
liberal-minded non-Jews. This year in order to accommodate the
students whose schedules prevent their attending this group, we expect
to institute another to be conducted either like the present or in
such a way as to utilize the services of the Rabbis and other
prominent Jews of Philadelphia.
Our policy this year concerning new members differs decidedly from
that of the past. While we are by no means more restrictive or
exclusive than heretofore, we feel that the method of "rushing" men
into membership is psychologically wrong. It cheapens the organization
in the eyes of non-members and thereby defeats its own end. Instead of
attempting to cajole freshmen into joining, we shall endeavor to
attract the serious-minded men on the campus by the quality of our
programs and the variety of our activities. With the strong men in,
the others will follow, and in this way our membership will be one of
both quality and quantity.
Another innovation this year will be the acceptance of women students
as members. The attitude of the University toward mixed membership in
organizations that meet on the campus has been unfavorable and as a
result women students have been admitted only to the Discussion Group
and to public meetings. Their wholesale application for admission into
the Society, however, prompted us to intervene in their behalf, and in
view of the seriousness of our purpose the authorities consented to
make the exception. Hereafter, therefore, we shall be able to offer
membership, on an equal footing, to all students.
Although our attention this year will be directed mainly to intensive
work, the Menorah will continue to act unofficially as the medium
between the Jewish students here and local communal activities. In a
quiet way, also, we intend to exert our influence upon local Jewish
organizations so as to induce them to take a more active interest in
Jewish affairs. They will be invited to attend our public meetings and
assistance will be offered them in arranging programs along Jewish
lines. We shall further offer to furnish them with speakers from among
our members.
A real need of our Menorah, and probably of other Menorahs, is some
extra incentive to induce the writing of Jewish papers. The
establishment here of a Menorah Prize would, we feel confident, work
wonders in stimulating interest in Jewish problems. We look forward to
the early filling of this need.
Of our work this year we are very optimistic. Several papers have
already been prepared by members and others are promised. A number of
notable men, including Provost Edgar F. Smith, of our University, and
Professor David W. Amram, '87, of the Law Faculty, will give us
addresses. We are in addition organizing a Menorah Orchestra with the
idea primarily of presenting to the public the best Jewish music, and
we hope in this way to combine business with pleasure.
JACOB RUBINOFF
=Penn State College=
THE Penn State Menorah was organized on April 27, 1913. Our activities
from the beginning were characterized by a willingness on the part of
the members to devote a great deal of their time to the mapping and
carrying out of our weekly program. The significant fact that the
Society has held forty talks during the past year, most of which were
delivered by its members, is in itself proof of the conscientiousness
and devotion that the men of Penn State bring to the Menorah Society.
As is quite natural, our organization did not at first strike all the
Jewish students as something worth while, but in a comparatively short
time we found that ninety per cent. of the Jewish students of the
College were members, and that our attendance for the past year
averaged thirty-five out of a possible forty.
Our meetings are held every Sunday morning from ten to twelve o'clock.
Our constitution states that any member who absents himself for three
consecutive meetings without a legitimate excuse is automatically
expelled. Thus far no man has been expelled. Members of the Menorah
Society are excused from the chapel by the Dean, provided they attend
all the Menorah meetings.
Our Society has also striven to get desirable lecturers. Owing to our
limited treasury, we must depend upon the Intercollegiate Association
for support, else we can make but very little headway.
The Menorah Library has proved a big boon, for practically every man
is making use of the books for his own reading and in the preparation
of papers for our meetings.
We were very fortunate in having been offered the services of
Professor O. F. Boucke as a lecturer for the Society and as teacher of
a special course of study on the Old Testament. Professor Boucke's
assistance is bound to add materially to the prestige of the Menorah
on the campus. At an early meeting this year we had a most interesting
and inspiring talk by President Sparks, who is taking a deep interest
in the Menorah movement.
It is our belief that the Menorahs in colleges and universities that
are isolated from the large cities (a good example of which is Penn
State) are bound to have by far the greater success, because the
students enjoy more opportunity of being together and doing more
things in common. In our Menorah Society the Jewish students find
their chance not only to study things Jewish in common, but to come
together and exchange their thoughts on all subjects in which they are
interested.
M. TRUMPER
=University of Texas=
THE Menorah Society closed a successful year with a banquet held May
18, 1914, at the Hotel Driskill, Austin. In addition to forty-three
students and faculty members, there were present four honored guests:
Dean W. J. Battle of the University of Texas, Rabbi Henry Cohen of
Galveston, and Messrs. J. Koen and N. Davis of the Austin Jewish
community. The opening address was delivered by the President of the
Society, Mr. L. W. Moses, who traced the growth of the Menorah Society
of Texas from its beginning in 1907 through its affiliation with the
Intercollegiate organization and its consequently renewed vigor. Dean
Battle, as head of the department of Greek in the University, spoke on
"Hellenism and Hebraism," discussing the essential principles of the
two cultures and comparing their influence on modern civilization. Mr.
H. J. Ettlinger of the University Faculty elected as his subject, "The
Menorah in Its Relation to Other Student Activities," and he
elaborated on the many reasons why the Jewish student should select
the Menorah Society as one of his extra-curricular activities. Rabbi
David Rosenbaum of Austin and also of the University faculty, taking
excellent advantage of his position as a representative of both the
University and the community, gave an instructive talk on "What
Judaism Expects of the Student."
Rabbi Henry Cohen, speaking eloquently on "Judaism as a Factor in
Modern Life," took up each one of the Ten Commandments and summarized
their influence on society to-day. A poem written especially for the
occasion was read by Mr. Israel Chasmin, and piano selections were
rendered by Miss Beatrice Burg and Miss Minna Rypinski. The program
closed with the installation of officers for the year 1914-15.
We lost ten members by graduation last June, but our membership has
none the less increased on account of the greater number of Jewish
students at the University this year.
The opening meeting of the year was attended by fifty out of the
fifty-eight Jewish students. In enthusiasm it resembled a football
rally, and the new students caught the spirit of the occasion. Since
then a number of other meetings have been held, with an average
attendance of forty. At the first meeting, Professor L. M. Keasby of
the Department of Institutional History gave an eminently just
interpretation of Jewish history from the point of view of the
economic development of mankind. At the next meeting, Israel Chasmin
reviewed Dubnow's Essay on Jewish History. At the last meeting, Rabbi
J. Bornstein of Houston, Texas, spoke on Jewish Music. We are looking
forward to an illustrated lecture by Professor Gideon of the
Department of Architecture on "The Architecture of the Synagogue, Past
and Present."
Through the fund for local speakers which we are raising and through
the aid of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, we hope to have a
speaker at least every month for the rest of the year.
The Menorah Library which we have received through the Intercollegiate
Menorah Association is greatly appreciated by the University and will
be of much help in the work of the Society.
H. J. ETTLINGER
=University of Washington=
IN the summer of 1913 several Jewish students met and discussed the
feasibility of organizing a Jewish society on the campus. As a result,
a meeting was called at the Y. M. H. A. rooms in the first week of the
1913-14 semester. Cards for the meeting had been sent to all men
students known to be Jews. There was an enthusiastic discussion of the
purposes of the meeting, and it was decided to effect a permanent
organization, which should include the Jewish women students as well,
and to begin active work. Our purposes were then somewhat different
from what they are at present. We felt that if our union could bring
about a better understanding between the various Jewish elements in
the city of Seattle and throughout the State of Washington, we should
be accomplishing something worth while. The fact that the student body
itself was composed of these various elements would aid us, it was
believed, to bring that result about speedily and effectively.
And so members of the Menorah Society joined the Jewish lodges in
Seattle, Jewish synagogues, and the "Modern Hebrew School," so that
they might effect their objects both from within as individual members
and from without as the Menorah Society. Our members volunteered to
teach at the Modern Hebrew School, an orthodox institution, one day in
the week. The offer was accepted gladly and greatly appreciated. At
the same school, a class was conducted by one of our members for the
instruction of Jewish men in the fundamentals of citizenship, and over
twelve of this class passed the examinations and secured their
citizenship papers. Another member organized an athletic club among
Jewish boys, and still another member did much valuable work at the
Settlement House.
At the meetings of the Society, which were held in the quarters of
Jewish organizations downtown and at members' homes, papers bearing on
Jewish questions were read.
During the past summer it was felt that by affiliating with the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association greater impetus would be given to
our Society, and steps have already been taken for admittance into
that body. President Henry Landes of the University has expressed, I
believe, the favorable attitude of the whole University toward the
Society, as shown in the letter quoted below.
This year we shall devote more time to the study of Jewish culture and
ideals. A course of lectures is being arranged which will bring noted
Jewish men of the Pacific Coast to our University. It is hoped also
that we may have the benefit of speakers from the Intercollegiate
Menorah Association. Of course, the work we began last year down town
will be kept up, but it will now be done unofficially.
EIMON L. WIENIR
_From a Letter of Acting President Henry Landes of the University of
Washington to the Chancellor of the Intercollegiate Menorah
Association:_
"In behalf of the University it gives me great
pleasure to endorse this movement and to assure you of
the satisfactory university standing of the students
who are members of the local society. The scholarship
of the students is good, several of the number having
obtained highest grades in most of their studies. I
feel sure that the organization in every way is worthy
of recognition by the Intercollegiate Menorah
Association and that such recognition will be of great
assistance to these and other students in the
formation and conservation of the culture and ideals
of the Jewish people. The University recognizes the
large debt modern culture owes to these ideals and
feels assured that the Menorah organization among us
will be of the greatest assistance in keeping alive a
keener consciousness of this fundamental part of our
civilization.
"The University will be glad to assist the Association
by permitting it to use University rooms for its
meetings, under the usual regulations governing the
use of rooms by student associations.
"Personally I shall be glad to co-operate in any way I
can to make the work of the local Society successful.
"HENRY LANDES,
"_Acting President_"
=University of Wisconsin=
TO have the student members of the Society furnish the largest part of
the program has been the policy of the Wisconsin Menorah for the past
two years. Because of its advantages, the same policy has been adopted
for the current year.
In the past, the programs have been of a diverse nature, many phases
of Hebrew life and letters having been touched upon. The program
committee has put forth special efforts to assign to members those
subjects in which they have special interest.
The work of the past year came to a close with a large banquet, at
which Professor I. Leo Sharfman, Judge Max Pam of Chicago, and
Professor Joseph Jastrow and Dr. H. M. Kallen of the F
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