Mr. David Miller, a builder of Oakland, California, an Orthodox Jew, challenged Dr. Stephen S. Wise to a debate on the subject of his sermon in a telegram addressed to the “Jewish Daily Bulletin.” Mr. Miller offered to put up $100,000 on the outcome of the debate if Dr. Wise will agree that in case he is defeated he will resign from the rabbinate and retire to private life.
“I respectfully invite you and formally challenge you to a public debate before learned authorities and impartial judges under the auspices of a joint committee in your own city, at your own temple and on your own pulpit for extensive and convincing arguments in order to settle for all time the issue which you have raised,” Mr. Miller stated in his telegram.
“To show you that I mean business and not notoriety and to convince you of my good faith, should you accept my challenge I would put up $100,000 in cash as a wager on these tentative conditions. If I am not successful in proving that your assertions concerning Jesus are not true, that they are un-Jewish and un-American, that they are extremely detrimental to the cause of Zion, destructive to the Jewish young and misleading to the uninformed, then you shall be entitled to the sum 1 put up.
“Should you be unsuccessful in substantiating your theories, then all I shall expect is a piece of paper two inches square, indicating that you have resigned your offices and retired to private life. You are granted the privilege of having the assistance of your followers; I will appear alone with no help whatsoever,” the telegram stated.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
