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Daily Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

December 7, 1924
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The “Day” of Dec. 4 writes editorially about the fact that some Christian clergymen are waking up to the fact that anti-Semitism has become a problem in the United States, as evidenced by some utterances at the fifth annual conference of the Federation of Churches which is being held at Atlanta.

“It would really be well for the clergymen who belong to the Federation of Churches to stop and give serious consideration to the ‘growth of anti-Semitism in America’, as they formulate it, and to the methods for counteracting it.

“They should also remember that they are them selves partly to blame for the growth of anti-Semitism. What is the Klan movement if not Protestant clericalism? Who has inspired the Klan if not the various Protestant ministers, especially in the small towns and cities? It is they who preach intolerance, who thunder against everything which is ‘foreign’.

“We are glad to see that the American clergymen are becoming aware of anti-Semitism in this country. But would it not be appropriate that they should invite to their conference a number of representative Jews? Would it not be highly interesting and instructive for the clergymen to familiarize themselves at first hand with the Jewish point of view and the Jewish proposals for solving this problem?”

REGRETS HERBERT SAMUEL’S RESIGNATION

Discussing the report that Sir Herbert Samuel’s place as High Commissioner of Palestine will be taken by Major General George Flectcher Mac-Munn, the “Jewish Daily News” expresses its dissatisfaction at this change, on the ground that if Palestine is to be revived as a real Jewish Homeland, the High Commissioner must be a Jew.

“The movement back to Palestine on the part of the Jews is based on poetic ideals, and certainly nothing could so influence the imagination of the Jew as the knowledge that, after eighteen hundred years of enforced detachment from his land, a Jew is at the head of the Palestine Government.

“It should become a custom to have a Jewish High Commissioner in Palestine, and it would be so if Sir Herbert Samuel were to remain at his post one more term. The English respect customs. That is why this question is so important.

“Herbert Samuel’s departure will be like a vanishing dream for the Jews. Jerusalem without a Jewish High Commissioner, a representative of Englands power who attended the synagogue, will be a different city.”

IN PRAISE OF THE THEATRE GUILD

Mr. Jacob Fishman, in his daily column in the “Jewish Morning Journal” of Dec. 4, comments on the laying of the cornerstone for the new theatre of the Theatre Guild.

“The occasion deserves to be welcomed with pleasure by the Jewish press, because there are many Jews among the founders and supporters of the Theatre Guild.

“The Theatre Guild has proven that good plays can be produced at a profit. This institution has had an influence on the American stage in general. Private managers now dare to attempt production of the better class plays because the Theatre Guild has shown them the way.”

Much interest in circles of Jewish scholars and members of the pulpit is displayed in connection with the book “Liberaliring Judaism by James Waterman Wise, the son of Dr. Stephen S. Wise. A review of the book will appear in the Monday issue of the Jewish Daily Bulletin.

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