5. Jews are more familiar with the language spoken there than with any
West European language.
6. Palestine for sentimental reasons has a power of attraction that
would operate practically upon Jews wishing to emigrate, and a power
of inspiration which would flower in equally practical works when once
Jews were established there.
Zionism, as a "solution," sets forth, in the program of this
Congress, four ways to achieve its object:[9]
1. To promote the settlement of Jewish agriculturalists,
handicraftsmen, industrialists, and professional men. This would offer
an asylum for the persecuted Jew and assure him of an independent
livelihood, and so simultaneously relieve suffering, starving
Jewry--the immediate phase of the _problem_--and afford a substantial
basis for the prosperity and ensuing civilization of the State.
2. To centralize the Jewish people by means of general institutions
agreeable to the laws of the land. By institutions are meant
banking-houses, schools, etc., which would promote the welfare of the
people and render the growth of a culture more unconstrained.
3. To strengthen Jewish national self-consciousness and national
sentiment;--this to be accomplished by the establishment of newspapers
and societies throughout the world, so as to secure the aid or
interest of the Jew who does not want to assimilate in behalf of a
national center, and offer a road of return to the Jew who has become
assimilated at the cost of his spiritual happiness.
4. To obtain the sanctions of Governments necessary for carrying out
the objects of Zionism. This demand for legal assurances, for a
charter if possible, distinguishes political Zionism in the matter of
means from the mere small-scale colonizing efforts of the
philanthropists and the Chovevei Zion societies, precisely as the very
conception of a State distinguishes it in the matter of ends. In the
words of Herzl, "We do not wish to smuggle in any settlers, and above
all, we do not wish to bring about any 'accomplished facts' without
preliminary agreement. We have absolutely no interest in bringing
about an economic strengthening of Turkey without a corresponding
compensation. The whole thing is to be accomplished according to the
simplest usage in the world: 'do ut des.' We Zionists think it more
foolish than noble to settle colonists without any legal and political
guarantees."[10]
_The Variant Views of Zionist Groups_
Beside the political Zionists, a large group can be distinguished as
Opportunist Zionists, the chief representative of whom is Israel
Zangwill,[11] who in his eagerness to relieve the Jewish _problem_ has
become impatient with the slow and seemingly fruitless political
progress, and who desires to lead his people to any vacant, habitable
territory rather than wait for a charter in Zion. Other leaders in the
movement, such as Ussischkin, contend that until the charter is
granted, colonization in Palestine should continue, both to satisfy
the Jewish demand for emigration and to give weight to the justice and
necessity for autonomy.
In sum, the establishing of Zion, while in process, will rescue the
sorely oppressed, magnetize and concentrate the interests of Jewry at
large, and force the issue of suicide or salvation upon the race; and
the establishment of the State, once accomplished, will rejuvenate a
people. "They shall revive as the grain and blossom as the vine; the
scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon." (Hosea 14.7). In the
Zionist vision, assured not by the prophecies, but by the achievements
of a glorious past, this new wine, ripening and enriching its flavor
in a cup that had long been bitter, will be partaken of by the
nations, Jew and Gentile. Jewish culture in its widest sense,
embracing the realization of ethical, social, and artistic ideals,
nourished by a people living again a homogeneous, autonomous, national
life free as it has not been for eighteen centuries from outward
pressure--a life imperative for the production of culture--will go
forth as a pure vintage, taking its place with the vintages of other
nations, to satisfy the soul in dry places and make strong the bones;
and over this new wine a new Kiddush may perhaps be spoken. The Reform
Jew, the "assimilated" Jew, who finds himself to-day in what we have
nominated a _position_, in a conscious or unconscious inspiration and
pride induced by the resurrection of a motherland, as the German in
America is inspired by his national unity in Europe, will indeed find
his soul satisfied in dry places, and can more generously and
effectively contribute to the welfare of the fatherland of which he is
a citizen. The Jew who walks in the darkness of a Russia, where his
situation is a _problem_ and where existence itself is threatened,
will discover in this reawakened motherland a hope and possibly a
material aid which will make strong his bones that he may endure until
emancipation.
_The Communistic Aims of the Social Zionists_
Under the stimulus of a new creative vision, many poets, practical or
otherwise, have brought their own tints to add to the rosy prospect,
and these we have designated to be Zionism as a "fulfillment." Just
prior to the birth of these United States, Thomas Paine, who in a few
respects was the Herzl of the new republic, rapturously exclaimed in
his pamphlet _Commonsense_: "We have it in our power to begin the
world over again. A situation similar to the present hath not happened
since the days of Noah!" Stimulated by the potentialities of an empty
country and a great race eager to reoccupy it, modern theorists have
likewise, and with some reason, discovered in Palestine a land of
promise.
Basing their faith in the inherent demand for social justice which
racial genius, as witnessed in the Deuteronomic experiment and the
whole social trend of the prophetic writings, has created as a
permanent characteristic of the Jew and which the injustice of
centuries has accentuated, a group of Jewish socialists have entered
the Zionist cause in the hope of establishing a form of the
communistic principle as a foundation for the new society. The
communistic ownership of land is particularly urged. Past experiments
of this nature--the Brook Farm and the French Commune as a small and a
large example--have failed partly for lack of scientific guidance and
sufficient exact knowledge of actual conditions, and partly because of
the social unfitness of the participants. Social Zionism, however, has
secured for its director an acknowledged authority in communistic
economics, Dr. Franz Oppenheimer of the University of Berlin; and it
is counting on the Jewish heritage of social instinct to furnish the
proper human material for its purpose. Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa,
who came down from his mountain in 750 B. C. to storm at the
capitalistic greed of Israel, raised the first plea in history for
social justice. The successful consummation of the prophet's ideal in
the new Israel would be a contribution to the world distinctly Hebraic
and possibly the most valuable of the modern Jew.
_The Yearning for a Spiritual Revival_
To Ahad Ha-'Am,[12] the leading writer of to-day in Hebrew, a
"spiritual revival" should be the desideratum of the Zionists.
Spiritual is of course not used in the restricted religious sense, but
as the opposite of material. Although Ahad Ha-'Am concedes the
establishment of a center in Palestine to be a necessity, he considers
it only a means to the end of an "awakening" of spiritual forces in
art, morals, and national consciousness among Jewry at large; and, to
hasten this end, he urges the establishment of a University, an
art-school, and bands of workers in the spirit--poets, painters, and
all manner of creators--for he conceives the Jews not to be a young
race who must climb from satisfying the needs of the belly to the
needs of the brain, but an old people who can and must satisfy both
demands together.[13]
Finally, the great mass of European Jewry, who weep on the Ninth of
Ab, who send their pittance to the Jews of the Holy City in order that
they may devote their days to lamenting at the old Wall, who pray each
Passover "next year at Jerusalem," and who treasure their little
casket of Palestinian earth, which some day will be placed over their
shroud, look to Zionism as a "fulfillment" in its literal, Biblical
meaning. Although the yearning for such a fulfillment may never be
satisfied, it constitutes the impelling force, the prime motive,
behind the people who are to settle once again in Canaan, and who are
the stuff of which the philosophers' dreams are to be made.
The opportunists who work for the day when the plowman shall overtake
the reaper, the politicals who plan that the house of Jacob may
possess its possessions, the culturals who behold upon the mountain
the feet of him who bringeth glad tidings, the socialists who strive
to draw righteousness and peace within kissing distance, and the
devout who pray that out of Zion shall go forth the Law, are all
intermingling composites of the Zionist dream. That the dream is not
in vain, there is no positive assurance; but somewhere it is written
that Palestine _is_ the Land of Promise.
_The Organization of Zionism_
Sophistication makes for sluggishness of action; and a sophisticated,
practical people, such as the Jews, surrounded by an equally
sophisticated world, have not marched upon Jerusalem with the
flag-flying alacrity of the Crusaders. However, their sophistication
has substituted for speed a broad measure of surety; and a summary of
the organization of the movement and the work accomplished within and
without Palestine gives promise that, if the will behind Zionism be
sustained, the Jews who wail at the Wall may profitably direct their
energies elsewhere.
The Zionist organization comprises all Jews who subscribe to the
Zionist program and pay the annual contribution, known as a shekel,
varying from 15 cents to 25 cents in different countries. The program
is that formulated at the First Zionist Congress (Basel, 1897): "to
obtain for the Jewish people a publicly recognized and legally assured
home in Palestine." The members are grouped in local societies which,
in turn, are organized into national federations, to be found at
present in Argentina, Belgium, Bukowina, Bulgaria, Canada,
Croatia-Slavonia-Herzegovina, Egypt, England, France, Galicia,
Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Roumania, Russia, South Africa,
Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. Unfederated societies
exist in Palestine, Morocco, Servia, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, China,
Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.[14] In short, the atlas is
practically exhausted. With a representation proportional to the
number of shekel-payers, a Congress convenes bi-annually in a central
European city (usually Basel), resolves, and prosecutes all work
incumbent upon the furtherance of Zionist purpose. The executive
power, although formerly invested in a president, is now exercised,
since the death of Herzl (1904) and the resignation of Wolffsohn, by a
commission of five, acting as the head of a committee of twenty-five,
who constitute a permanent body meeting at intervals between the
sessions of Congress.[15] The Congress itself is divided into
party-groups, based on policy, and representative of the different
theoretic elements that guide the movement.
The original Government party, which stood shoulder to Herzl in his
brilliant but unsuccessful diplomatic schemes to secure a charter from
the Sultan, upon the overthrow of the autocracy in Turkey (1908), has
abandoned purely political Zionism, for the expedient reason that the
Young Turk government has naturally been reticent in the granting of
broad concessions. Political Zionism, of which Max Nordau and David
Wolffsohn[F] are the leading protagonists, has through the accidents
of Turkish politics been rendered ineffective; and the actual work of
Zionism rests now upon the policies of the Opportunist wing, although
the creation of a State, autonomous in as great a degree as possible,
is the cardinal aim of the Zionists, and must be, in order to
distinguish the movement from a large-scale philanthropy.[16]
_Parties in Zionism_
The Opportunists were divided into two groups--the followers of
Zangwill who urged immediate colonization anywhere, and the Ziyyone
Zionists (Zionists toward Zion) who favored immediate settlement in
Palestine. The first party broke from the Zionist movement at the
Seventh Congress, instituted the Jewish Territorial Organization
(ITO), and have vainly devoted their energies toward securing lands in
North, East, and West Africa, Mesapotamia, and Australia.[17] The
Ziyyone Zionists, however, possess the controlling vote, and in the
last Congress (1913) annulled the Basel program, temporarily at least,
by securing from the Congress a recognition of the work of settlement
in Palestine as the primary task.[18]
Socialistic Zionism is represented by the Po'ale Zion, a small but
vigorous group, who are endeavoring to secure at least the adoption of
the communistic ownership of land in the pursuance of the Opportunist
program.
Dr. Franz Oppenheimer, lecturer in economics at the University of
Berlin, has recently issued a pamphlet disclosing the success of the
Merchavia Colony, a co-operative settlement near Nazareth, and
demonstrating that the only practical method of achieving large-scale
colonization is by this means.[19]
Strong in numbers and in influence, the Mizrachi party represents the
orthodox wing of Jewry, who "believe a faithful adherence to the Torah
and Tradition in all matters pertaining to Jewish life constitute the
duty of the Jewish people."[20] In the assemblage of futurists, the
Mizrachi stands as the spirit of the past, to whom all plans must be
justified, and whose power has its source in the religious fervor of
the majority of eastern Jews.
Finally, the Cultural Zionists may be said to find representation in
all parties, for the furtherance of spirituality is inseparably bound
up in the aims of every Zionist.
_The Financial Institutions of Zionism_
The financial instruments by which the practical Zionist aims are
seeking accomplishment are (1) the Jewish Colonial Trust,[21]
incorporated as a limited company in London (1899) with a capital
stock of $20,000,000 and a paid-up capital of $1,324,000; (2) the
Anglo-Palestine Company,[22] an offshoot of the Colonial Trust, with a
paid-up capital of $500,000, which finances Zionist undertakings in
Palestine, and declares annual dividends of 4 1-6 per cent.; (3) the
Anglo-Levantine Banking Company,[23] the financial institution of the
Zionists devoted to their undertakings in the remainder of Turkey,
with a capital of $125,000 declaring 6 per cent. returns; (4) the
Jewish National Fund,[24] whose object is to acquire land in Palestine
as the inalienable property of the entire Jewish people, with a
capital of $650,000 raised by individual contributions; (5) the
Palestine Land Development Company,[25] with a registered capital of
$87,500, organized for the purpose of (a) acquiring, improving, and
dividing into small holdings large Palestinian estates, (b) laying out
and cultivating intensive crops, (c) systematically settling and
training agricultural laborers in Palestine.
Of late the Jewish Colonization Association, which is backed by the
forty-million dollar fund of Baron de Hirsch, is co-operating with the
Zionists in the purchase of Palestinian land to be administered by the
Palestine Land Development Company.[26]
The actual achievements, which these instruments have been the means
of effecting, may be summarized in two classes--Palestinian and
non-Palestinian. In both fields, the several branches of Zionist aims
have borne fruit.
_What Zionism Has Accomplished in Palestine_
Palestine in 1880 contained 30,000 Jews, who studied the Law, wailed
at the Wall, and lived miserably on the alms (the Chalukah) of pious
Jewry at large. In 1911 the Jews comprised 100,000 out of a total
population of 700,000. In Jerusalem are 50,000 Jews, 7,000 at
Tiberias, 8,000 at Safed, and 10,000 at Jaffa. A large proportion, it
is true, are settlers of the Ghetto type, but the young generation is
rapidly being changed by the growing school-system.[27]
Numbering about fifty, Jewish agricultural colonies extend the length
of the Holy Land and support some 5,000 Jews in their yield of olives,
dates, wine, sugar, cotton, grain, and cattle. Broad streets, clean
homes with gardens, and orchard land characterize the standard of
living in the colonies, as machinery and agricultural school students
characterize their modern standard of gaining their livelihood.[28] A
constantly increasing number of emigrants are streaming into the Holy
Land, although the Zionists are devoting their main endeavors toward
firmly establishing the resident inhabitants and bettering their
condition. On April 3, 1914, the London _Jewish Chronicle_ reported
the emigration from the single port of Odessa as numbering 250 persons
a week.[29]
In 1886, $1,800,000 of trade passed out through Jaffa, the port of
Palestine; in 1909, the value of the exports rose to $7,500,000.[30]
Rischon-le-Zion, the oldest colony and containing 500 inhabitants,
annually produces, alone, more than a million gallons of wine.[31]
The schools of the older class--Talmud Torah and Yeshibah--still
dominate; but, following the example of the Alliance Israelite, a
modern type of school with a modern curriculum taught in Hebrew has
been established in every colony, and culminates in a Gymnasium at
Jaffa as the principal national educational institution. The
attendance of the colonial schools number about 1,500, and in the
Talmudic schools number several thousands. The Mikveh Israel
Agricultural School, near Jaffa, is the center of vocational
instruction in Palestine, and aids materially the work of the
colonists. Funds for a Hygienic and Technical Institute have likewise
been started to further practical education.[32]
_The Revival of Jewish Culture_
The cultural revival in Palestine is plainly apparent in the excellent
work of the Bezalel,[33] the school of arts and crafts in Jerusalem,
named after the builder of the first tabernacle in the wilderness,
where are devised carpentry, copperware, wood-carving, basketry,
painting, and sculpture "of cunning workmanship" and of distinctly
Hebraic design. Another sign of great hope springs from the
widespread revival of ancient Hebrew as a living tongue, which has
become an awkward necessity among the older Jews gathered from many
different nations, and the free and natural expression of the
children. Several weeklies and monthlies are published in Hebrew.[34]
A National Jewish Library, soon to be housed in a fireproof building
at Jerusalem, was founded by Dr. Joseph Chazanowicz, a Zionist leader
in Russia, who devoted his entire income to it. In 1910 the Library
contained something over 15,000 volumes.[35] Finally, the Eleventh
Congress (1913), convened on the 2,500th anniversary of the
destruction of the old temple on Mount Moriah, witnessed the pledging
of $100,000 to the building of a Jewish National University at
Jerusalem--a new temple of culture and science.[36]
Precisely as the roots are more important than the blossoms in the
growth of a plant, the accomplishments without Palestine are more
significant than within. To-day the Golus (Diaspora) is the root, and
Palestine the stalk; some day the Zionists hope to reverse the
simile--this, in short, is the essence of the entire movement.
_The Accomplishments of Zionism Beyond Palestine_
Zionism's chief aims without Palestine are two: (1) Revival of
national consciousness, (2) Relief of the persecuted. In regard to the
second, the Zionist organization, constantly working to shift
emigration from West to East, has in a measure focused it upon
Palestine; and more important, it is rapidly perfecting adequate
machinery, which once securing the motive power of money in such
quantities as is now devoted to the Jewish Colonization Association,
will appreciably lessen the gravity of the Jewish _problem_.
In regard to the awakening of the national consciousness, the Zionist
societies, which number in the thousands, constitute centers for the
dissemination of propaganda and the stimulation of study in all things
Jewish; and the Zionist press, comprising one hundred newspapers and
periodicals, the official of which is _Die Welt_, and the leading
American representative, _The Maccabaean_, materially aid this
preaching of Zion gospel. Under the stimulus of the movement, numerous
student societies have sprung up abroad, promoting and crystallizing a
national sentiment and a race interest, while older societies of this
order, such as the Kadimah, have received a renewed impetus. Women's
societies of a literary, educational, and social character--the Benoth
Zion (Sofia and New York) and the Hadassah (Vienna and New York) for
example--have taken a place in the general revival.[37]
The effect of Zionism in large centers of population is ably shown by
Charles S. Bernheimer in his study of the Russian Jew in the United
States, and his findings may be taken as typical. In general, the
Zionist societies have formed the chief social centers of the
ghetto,[38] have opened religious schools[39] and libraries,[40] have
brought the radicals in religion under the influence of the national
idea,[41] and so prevented the loss of religion from being followed by
a loss of race-consciousness, and have "enlisted the sympathies of the
older people. The young people have grasped the great significance of
Zionism, and have taken a renewed interest in religion, education, and
culture."[42]
A renaissance of art is following that of culture; in painting Ephraim
Lilien, Lesser Ury, Judah Epstein, and Hermann Struck, and in marble
and bronze Boris Schatz (the founder and director of Bezalel),
Frederick Beer, and Alfred Nossig are receiving their inspiration from
Zionism.
The primary enthusiasm for the movement has long ago been expended;
and the present interest is deep, healthy, and likely to abide.
However, the sustainment of this interest appears to be the primary
duty and task of Zionism; in a movement that is a long, dull, slow
pull, every moment is a critical moment.
_Misconceptions of Zionism_
To the modern Jew who lacks the gift of prophecy, the outcome of an
undertaking must be determined by a consideration not only of the
force propelling the movement, but of the opposition confronting it. A
consideration of this opposition will afford an opportunity, moreover,
for a clear and summarizing definition of what the movement is, and,
equally important, of what it is not. Opposition to Zionism divides
itself into three categories--ignorant; theoretic; practical. One is
reminded of Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the servant, and Geshem the
Arabian, who mocked and threatened Nehemiah when he undertook to
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Ignorant opposition assails Zionism with arguments that are
incontrovertible, but totally irrelevant; it busies itself with
destroying claims which the Zionists have never made. A trio may be
taken as representative. It is pointed out with cogency that Palestine
is not capable of supporting the twelve million of Jews who inhabit
our world; and more conclusively, the twelve million of Jews do not
wish to go to Palestine. Briefly, the Zionists in seeking a home for
the Jew in Canaan no more expect all the Jews to congregate within
its bounds than a man who builds himself a house expects that all his
posterity will live in it. As a matter of history, more Jews after the
fall of the first Temple have lived without Palestine than within.
Only a remnant returned after the captivity; and Babylon, Alexandria,
and Rome contained a larger Jewish population than Jerusalem.
Throughout the dispersion, the majority of the Jews lived apart from
the nation center--whether that center was the Mesapotamia of Talmudic
times, the Spain of the Middle Ages, or the Poland of the early modern
period. The Zionist object is only to secure such a national center
(free from outward pressure) as a ganglion radiating Hebraic culture,
which can preserve Jewish unity and identity and inspire Jewish
culture elsewhere, precisely as the Judæa of old rendered similar
service;[43] and the modern Palestine with a soil capable of
supporting a million inhabitants without extensive irrigation amply
satisfies the Zionist purpose.
_Zionism Leaves the Status of the Jew Uninjured_
Closely allied to this argument is the claim that Zionism constitutes
an abandonment by the European Jew of his hard-earned Emancipation,
and a traitorous retreat from the position of brother and
fellow-countryman which he is now claiming in the several nations. In
sum, renationalization in the East spells de-nationalization in the
West, and the return of the Jew to the status of alien. Such a
conclusion follows as inevitably as it follows that the unification of
Germany in 1870 rendered alien the Germans of America who emigrated
here in the '40s, that the French Revolution denationalized the
refugee Huguenot population of Prussia, that the unification of Italy
disfranchised the Italian Swiss, or that the Irish Home Rule Bill will
transform the populace of Boston into undesirable citizens. On the
contrary, the Zionists are convinced that the re-establishment of a
Jewish nation will strengthen, for example, the claim of the German
Jew that he is a German by distinctly separating the national from the
universal Jew--the sheep from the goats, if you will--and will render
his status less precarious because it will be more definable.
Moreover, such a national center will increase Jewish self-respect
with the consequence of increasing Christian respect. Jewish
"aloofness" need no longer be a reproach, because it may safely be
abandoned; with Zion itself preserving Hebraism in the East, the Jew
in the West may throw himself unreservedly into the life about him;
and a flourishing of Jewish culture will make his contribution the
more valuable.
Finally, the third objection is formulated in the question, "What is
the use?" Whether it be grounded in self-satisfied indifference,
hostility, or a sense of hopelessness, it forms the most insidious
opposition, because it betrays a lack of racial consciousness that
cannot be supplied by argument, and exposes a weakness that cannot be
remedied by emotional appeal. It is a weakness amounting to an
absence, a literal lack, of the very functions through which a cure
could be effected. An Englishman asking, "Why preserve the English?" a
Scandinavian asking, "Of what use are the Scandinavians?" a Swiss
asking, "Why maintain Switzerland?" is inconceivable. Answers indeed
can be found, but the point is that to put the question indicates that
the interrogator is beyond a comprehension of the reply. He is like a
congenital blindman, who asks: "Of what use is seeing?" The question
was, indeed, propounded in the third section of this paper, but only
as the hypothetical question of an outsider, much as an Englishman
might ask, "Of what value are the Chinese?" to secure an external,
historical justification of their existence. However, if the great
majority of Jews ever seriously question the need of preserving their
own race, the answer becomes immediate and conclusive; there is no
need, for there is no longer a race.
_Zionism Has No Insuperable Obstacles_
Theoretic opposition is determined on one hand by racial questions,
and on the other by religious dogmas. That the Jews are no longer a
race, that their preservation need not be undertaken because they do
not exist, is, laying aside the scientific disputations, in one sense
begging the question. Whether the Jews are a racial unit, and whether
their preservation will result in a distinct racial culture, is
precisely what a successful consummation of the Zionist object will
prove or disprove with finality; and until such consummation, even
scientific theorizing on the subject will expose itself to the
unscientific process of working without the check of laboratory
experiment. To the scientist, Zionism offers Palestine as such a
laboratory. The religious opposition offered by Reform Judaism has
been previously discussed; however, it may be summed up in three
statements. An appeal to the implied meaning of the Scriptures can
only be authoritatively settled by the author. Granting, nevertheless,
that a suffering Israel and a missionary Israel are essentials in a
Divine plan, the establishment of a national center does not
dogmatically preclude Israel from continuing to suffer elsewhere, nor
forbid Israel from pursuing her missionary project of acting as a
model example and shining light to the nations. Quite the reverse;
inasmuch as the Dispersion is fast becoming a Destruction, which
Zionism is attempting to avert, the preservation of Reform Judaism
itself demands the success of Zionism.
Practical opposition is indeed ponderous, but not necessarily
insuperable. The majority of Palestinian obstacles, such as the
difficulties which the confusion of national tongues, culture, and
habits will impose on unification, the precarious chance of ultimately
securing legal recognition from Turkey, the possible obstructions
amounting even to conflict to be offered by the native Arabian
population, are distant bridges which the far-seeing may fear, but
which, the wise will not attempt to cross until reached. However,
three urgent perplexities and impediments are imminent in the danger
of securing only a low class of settlers, of suffering from
insufficient means, and of failing from diminution of interest. At
bottom, the three are one, and amount to the necessity of keeping up
the old heart and inspiring new hearts.
With a sufficiency of interest, the necessary money and the proper men
will find their way to Palestine; in a word, only a people can save
themselves, and, failing to do so, aside from scientific argument and
religious dogma, they remain no more a people. That this people may
not so perish, the Zionists are not only furnishing the vision; but
with back and arm, they are working to rebuild the Wall where men have
wailed the centuries by. To the captious, the hostile, and the
persistently heedless, their cue is to say with Nehemiah of old: "I am
doing a great work, so that I cannot come down."
[Illustration: Signature: Marvin M. Lowenthal.]
_The Jewish students form so distinctive and gifted an
element in the life of all our colleges that their
self-expression should serve a valuable purpose.
Through becoming articulate in such a publication as_
The Menorah Journal, _the first issue of which is full
of promise, they may well bring to pass not only a
fuller realization of the part they are to play in
American society, but also a better understanding of
that part by the entire community to which they
belong. Without such better understandings there is
small hope for the community as a whole._--_From an
Editorial in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin, March 17,
1915._