I believe that it is one of the positive aims of the Menorah Society
to recognize the Jewish side of much that enters, or should enter,
into our daily life, to develop our full consciousness of all that is
essentially and fundamentally Jewish, and thus enable us to live
positive and constructive Jewish lives. It is a noble aim, to which I
unrestrictedly subscribe. Whenever I hear public speakers or writers
pat Jews and Judaism on the back, and patronizingly tell us, "Oh, you
Jews are all right," I am, as no doubt most of us are, deeply
chagrined, to use a mild expression. What we want is not that others
should appreciate us and tell us that we are all right. What we want,
and what we need, is that we should appreciate ourselves and that we
should take ourselves seriously and at our full value. Not that we
should over-appreciate ourselves and think ourselves alone the salt of
the earth. There is such a thing as over-appreciation that must in the
end lead to futility and vanity. But equally, there is such a thing as
self-depreciation, and to a certain extent I cannot but feel that we
Jews have been more or less guilty of that in the past, have more or
less, particularly in our college and university life, assumed a
deprecating attitude, apologizing as it were for our existence as
Jews, and, probably unconsciously, have kept the fact of our Judaism
in the background, and suffered our education and our culture to
influence almost everything but our Jewish knowledge and our Jewish
life.
For right appreciation, which shall be neither over-appreciation nor
under-appreciation, but true appreciation, based upon a correct
estimation of all essentials, the first requisite is knowledge,
thorough knowledge of all conditions, forces and influences. And the
second requisite is pride, pride in this knowledge and in the object
of this knowledge. And this, translated into the Menorah language,
means, as I understand it, correct knowledge of Judaism, of our Jewish
history, our Jewish past, our Jewish heritage, our Jewish religion,
and pride in all this Judaism--a knowledge and pride that alone can
enable us to know what Judaism truly is, and what its work and its
mission for the present and the future must be, that alone can enable
us to live positively and constructively as Jews and perpetuate our
Judaism for the blessing of ourselves, our children, and all mankind.
So I interpret the Menorah movement. And I heartily welcome such a
movement, whose aim is the awakening of our Jewish college young men
and women to a wholesome and genuine appreciation of themselves, of
the Jewish side of their lives, of their Jewish consciousness and
Jewish obligations, of the full meaning and responsibility imposed
upon them by their subscribing to the name Jew, and their adherence to
the religion of our fathers. We must look to our college-bred Jewish
men and women to become the guiding spirits in our Judaism of
to-morrow and of all the future. And I say, "Thank God for any
movement that must surely lead to this goal."