_An Excerpt from Israel Cohen's Book, "Jewish Life in Modern Times,"
pages 105-106:_
"It was not until the last quarter of the nineteenth century that the
Jewish students at any of the principal seats of learning were
numerous enough to form a society of their own. The first
organization was founded in 1882 in Vienna by Jewish students from
Russia, Rumania, and Galicia, who entitled their society _Kadimah_,
which means both 'Eastward' and 'Forward,' as an indication of the
ideal of a resettlement in Palestine which they advocated. Since then,
partly as a result of the advance of Zionism and partly as a result of
the anti-Semitic attitude of the general students' corps on the
Continent, separate societies have been formed by the Jewish students
at almost every university at which they number at least a dozen, and
are now found in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Switzerland,
France, and Holland. Some of these societies owe their existence
simply to the exclusion of Jews from the general corporation, and they
adopt a passive attitude on Jewish questions, but the majority are
animated by the ideal of Jewish nationalism and actively foster the
Zionist cause. The Jewish nationalist societies in Germany are grouped
into two organizations, the 'Bund Jüdischer Corporationen,' founded in
1901, with a membership of over 600 (graduates and undergraduates),
and the smaller, 'Kartell Zionistischer Verbindungen,' founded five
years later, with a membership of 250. The Zionist students' societies
in Holland were federated in 1908, but those in other Continental
countries pursue an unattached existence. Established to assert and
promote the principle of Jewish nationalism, these corporations have
nevertheless adopted all the methods and conventions of German
corporations; they each have their distinctive colors, and they hold
'beer evenings' at which the students sing spirited songs in swelling
chorus around tables which they bang with their beer-mugs, presided
over by officers who are accoutred in a gorgeous uniform and armed
with a sword that does duty alternately as chairman's hammer and
conductor's baton. But their songs tell not of Teuton valor but of
Jewish hope, breathing the spirit of a rejuvenated people. Besides
these convivial gatherings the members cultivate the study of Jewish
history, literature, and modern problems, and also practice fencing so
as to be prepared for any duel in which they might be involved in
vindication of the Jewish name. The Jewish societies at the
universities in English-speaking countries are not, like the
Continental corps, the inevitable product of an unfriendly
environment, but voluntary associations for the study of Jewish
questions and for social intercourse. The Jewish students in England,
and to a less extent in the United States, join the societies of their
university; but their racial sympathies prompt them also to fraternize
with one another. Thus, Oxford has its Adler Society and Cambridge its
Schechter Society, whilst at both universities there is also a Zionist
Society. Moreover, in the United States, 'Menorah' societies for the
study of Jewish history and the discussion of Jewish questions have
been formed at twenty-five Universities and organized into an
Intercollegiate 'Menorah' Association with over 1000 members."
[There are now 37 Menorah Societies, with an
approximate membership of 3,000.--ED.]