During the past year the conditions on the campus were such that it
made all of the Jewish students feel the necessity of the right kind
of Jewish organization. Clubs had been formed time after time, each of
a different nature; yet none of them could fulfill the need and they
all sooner or later broke up. Thus things dragged along, each one
feeling that something ought to be done, yet no one knowing what
remedy was needed, until a report came of the Menorah movement. After
a hastily gathered meeting one Saturday night, the matter was
presented to the Jewish students for discussion. Great enthusiasm was
displayed and everybody was heartily in favor of organizing a Menorah
Society.
With the aid of the Menorah catalogue ("The Menorah Movement"), and
Mr. Joseph Spear, of our Faculty, a former member of the Harvard
Menorah Society, a constitution was drawn up and presented at the next
meeting, when it was accepted. It was also submitted to President
Aley, who approved it and congratulated us most heartily upon the
formation of the Society.
Our first task was to place the Society in the right light on the
campus by emphasizing the absolutely unsectarian, academic, cultural
nature of the Menorah Society and the fact that membership is
invitingly open to all members of the University. In this we were
greatly helped by the visit of Chancellor Henry Hurwitz who addressed
the whole student body in Chapel on the morning of May 5th, after
being introduced by President Aley, upon the nature and purposes of
the Menorah movement; and he addressed a public meeting of the Society
in the evening, which was also attended by President Aley, on "Jewish
Ideals."
During the course of the year we have succeeded in holding several
other enthusiastic meetings besides. We have had frank and inspiring
talks by President Aley and Professor Huddleston. At other meetings
our own members gave talks and discussions. Thus, Samuel Rudman gave a
splendid talk on "The Attitude of Jewish Young Men towards Jewish
Religion", which was warmly discussed. Another paper was delivered by
A. I. Schwey on "Hebrew Literature."
Through the kindness of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association, into
which we were admitted at the Cincinnati Convention, we have secured a
Menorah Library, which has been put in a conspicuous place in the
reading room of the University library, for the benefit of all the
students. But the Menorah members especially intend to make good use
of the books in the preparation of papers and in regular study. We
have also been fortunate in securing a set of the Jewish Encyclopedia
from Mr. Cyrus L. Sulzberger of New York for presentation to the
University library. The coming of the Encyclopedia and the Menorah
Library has been greatly appreciated by the authorities, and the Maine
Menorah Society is happy to have been able already to be of concrete
service to the University. All of our activities have caused favorable
interest on the part of both the student body and the college
authorities, and a great change has come about in the attitude towards
the Jewish men. We look forward to even greater progress as well as
hard work in the future.