THE Menorah movement enters upon its decennial with the beginning of
the present academic year, the first Menorah Society having been
organized at Harvard University in 1906.[G] From this Society with an
original membership of sixteen, the Menorah movement has grown
throughout the country so that at the close of the last academic year
there were Societies at thirty-seven colleges and universities with a
membership of some three thousand. Every Society has arisen upon the
initiative of the students themselves, inspired by a desire to pursue
the objects embodied in the Menorah. In January, 1913, the
Intercollegiate Menorah Association was formed for the purpose of
mutual encouragement and co-operation among the several Societies, and
also to carry out enterprises beyond the scope and power of any
individual Society--such as the publication of THE MENORAH JOURNAL.
On the threshold of the decennial, and especially since the present
number of the JOURNAL will come into the hands of many new students
and readers, it may not be amiss again, in brief terms, to review the
purposes of the movement.
_The Three-Fold Purpose of the Menorah Organization_
THE Menorah Societies have been organized by the students in response
to their desire first of all to know more about the history,
literature, religion--in a word, the culture and ideals of the Jewish
people, and the conditions and problems which confront the Jews in the
world today. Being thus educational in primary purpose, every Menorah
Society is open to all the members of its university who have an
interest in Jewish life and thought. And inasmuch as the great
majority, if not all, of the students who have such an interest in
Jewish knowledge and Jewish aspirations are themselves Jews, the
Menorah organization cherishes the second purpose of strengthening the
Jewish idealism and _noblesse oblige_ of the Jewish students, so that
by understanding and carrying forward their Jewish inheritance they
may become better men and women by becoming better Jews. And from this
moral aim there flows still a third purpose, that of patriotic
service to the Republic; for by enriching the common treasury of
American culture and ideals with the spiritual resources of the Jewish
people, the educated Jews of the country may serve America to the
profoundest degree. Animated thus with the spirit and broad purposes
of our universities, the Menorah Societies have been warmly welcomed
and generously assisted by the university authorities.
_The Distinction Between Menorah and Other Student Societies_
THE purposes of the Menorah movement will appear in greater relief
by comparison with the objects of other types of Jewish
organization--social, political, religious--that have arisen at our
colleges and universities. The Menorah Societies are all-inclusive,
non-partisan, non-sectarian. Hence they are to be distinguished in the
first place from the exclusive social organizations, such as the Greek
letter or Hebrew letter fraternities. Being rather educational in
spirit and purpose, the Menorah Societies make no social test for
membership, nor do they pursue any convivial activities except such as
are deemed desirable for the most agreeable and efficient pursuit of
the Menorah objects. Again, the Menorah Societies are clearly
distinguishable from the Zionist Societies, which were united last
June in the Intercollegiate Zionist Association of America; whereas
the Zionist Societies are devoted to a specific political program in
confronting the so-called Jewish Question, the Menorah Societies,
being non-partisan, are neither Zionist nor anti-Zionist, but
perfectly free and open forums for the discussion of all points of
view. The Menorah membership consists of men and women of divers
convictions, as well as of those who have not yet made up their minds
but come to the Menorah for enlightenment and inspiration. Finally,
just because the Menorah appeals to every student who has a liberal
interest in Jewish life and thought--to every Jewish student
particularly, whatever his present beliefs and ideas--the Menorah
Societies are not to be regarded as specifically religious
organizations. Therefore the observance of religious services and
practices is left to those students who desire them, individually or
in appropriate organizations, such as the Jewish Students'
Congregation organized recently under reform auspices at the
University of Michigan. The Menorah Societies are neither reform,
conservative nor orthodox but broadly inclusive of all elements.
_The Catholicity and Comradeship of the Menorah_
INDEED, next to the Menorah idea--the sum of Menorah purposes--the
peculiar strength of the Menorah Societies lies in this catholic
spirit which determines the Menorah "open door." Thereby the Menorah
Societies are enabled to perform more and more an incidental but most
important service apart from the objects to which they are formally
dedicated. With the growth of various Jewish organizations in our
universities--which, whatever the opinion as to their value and
propriety, tend to divide the Jewish students rather than to unite
them--a most important service performed by the all-inclusive Menorah
Societies is to bring the students together, in spite of their various
differences, on a common high plane. As stated over a year ago in the
Association's book on _The Menorah Movement_: "Where, as in almost all
large universities, there are Jewish students of diverse antecedents,
it is one of the most important functions of a non-partisan
organization like the Menorah Society to bring all classes and parties
together upon an academic plane, in order that they may learn each
other's points of view, in order that their prejudices against one
another which are founded on misunderstanding and snobbishness may
wither away, and in order that they may pursue in generous comradeship
the knowledge of their common tradition and the hope of their common
future."
_The Graduate Phase of the Menorah Movement_
IT is becoming increasingly evident, moreover, that such a unifying
force is called for outside of the universities among the graduates
and other educated Jews; and it is hoped that through the graduate
phase of the Menorah movement, this need may be subserved by graduate
Menorah groups in various communities. To quote once more from _The
Menorah Movement_: "Such graduate Menorah organizations, while
academic and non-partisan in their nature, like the university Menorah
Societies, might yet, if properly constituted and conducted, be of
practical as well as of ideal service to their communities. They could
bring together, upon the lofty basis of Jewish idealism, men of
different views in the community, who approach practical Jewish
problems in different, sometimes in mutually antagonistic, ways.
Devoid itself of any sectarian or fraternal or political bias, a
graduate Menorah organization should be ideally fitted to serve as a
kind of intellectual clearing house of the Jewish community, and thus
promote on all sides a deeper understanding of one another, a clearer
vision of the common problems, a greater concord in Jewish life."
In any event, it is hoped during the present year to bring the
graduates and other public-spirited Jewish citizens into closer touch
with the activities and aspirations of the students. At the fourth
annual Convention of the Intercollegiate Menorah Association to be
held during the coming midwinter recess, the idea of graduate Menorah
committees and other forms of possible graduate association with the
Menorah movement will be carefully considered.
_The Year Ahead_
IT may be added that at this Convention, which promises to be the most
important thus far held by the Menorah Societies, there will also be
given a full review of the activities of the Menorah organization
since its inception and a survey of the present opportunities and
demands for Menorah work throughout the country. More and more
emphasis will be laid upon the quality of accomplishment of every
Menorah Society; upon the active participation by all Menorah members
in one phase or another of Jewish study and labor; and, in general,
upon an even greater utilization of the lectures, libraries, study
courses, and other means provided for the accomplishment of Menorah
ends.
In this terrible time for Jewry, amid the general catastrophe, when
hundreds of thousands of Jewish young men are offering their lives
heroically in the contending armies, the members of the Menorah
Societies in this favored country cannot but enter upon the new year
with a solemn sense of added responsibility. More than ever in this
decennial year of the Menorah movement is intellectual and moral
consecration to Jewish ideals demanded of Jewish students in America.
Henry Hurwitz, _Chancellor_
I. Leo Sharfman, _President_