(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
The “Voelkische Courier,” the organ of the Ludendorff Party, the most influential anti-Semitic daily paper in Germany; discontinued publication today. In a statement printed in the last copy, the manager of the paper admits that the publication was discontinued due to financial difficulties, and is “the beginning of the great mortality” among the Voelkisch nationalist papers.
COMMUNICATIONS TO THE EDITOR
Sir:
In your number of December 31st there is a report of a conference of which I was one of the callers to deal with the unwarranted attack made upon Dr. Wise of the Agudath Harabonim. Unfortunately the meeting grew so long that I was forced to leave before its end. I should never have subscribed to the resolutions as they seem finally to have taken form.
There is not a word said in them of the great services rendered to Judaism and to Zionism by Dr. Wise during the last thirty years. What these services have been everyone knows. There is no need for us to dwell upon them.
No mention should have been made of orthodox or reform Judaism. We have “deep reverence and respect” for both. Both have worked along their own lines for the betterment of the Jews throughout the world and for engendering a spirit of Judaism in the Jews of our United States. In Zionism all Jews have found a meeting place; for Zionism respects all opinions and is a politico-Social movement.
But, above and beyond all, we Jews should be the very last to persecute a man for his opinions. We have suffered too much from others on that account.
We shall refuse to accept Dr. Wise’s resignation; not only because we NEED him, but because we WANT him. We want him more especially now, as an indication of our respect for all that he has done and as a sharp rebuke to any of those amongst us who are in favor of religious persecution.
RICHARD GOTTHEIL.
Department of Semitic Languages,
Columbia University in the City of New York.
January 1, 1926.
Sir:
Dr. Wise’s personal views and personal Jewish loyalties need no defense. His unmeasured service of our cause and the influence of his whole life speak for themselves. What I am concerned about is the position of Zionism in this matter.
To accept his resignation will strike a blow at that broad foundation upon which Zionst philosophy rests–the establishment of the national homeland. On this platform all Jews can unite. What interpretation of the Jewish religoous life will characterize Judaism in Palestine does not concern us. Probably there will be the same differences there which divide us in diaspora. But that one group of diaspora Jews should dictate the policy of Judaism in the national homeland does not concern us. There can be no compromise on this question. To accept Dr. Wise’s resignation means that we tacitly admit that there is only one interpretation of the Jewish life, that that interpretation is orthodox. This is too narrow a platform on which to reconstruct the national genius of our people. It means a retreat from a hard-won position. It reads out of the Zionist camp the masses of Jews for whom the national genius has another significance in terms of culture or social or liberal religious ideals and whose loyalty to the idea of Jewish nationalism is no less devoted and sincere.
Furthermore to accept Dr. Wise’s resignation will have a far-reaching and detrimental effect upon the growing national life in Palestine. This life should be free and uninhibited. Are we willing at the very beginning of our enterprise to strengthen the hands of but one group at the expense of others; to create obstacles which shall hamper the fullest expression of the national genius? The Christian translator of Klausner realizes the point that many Jews overlook, that is that in Palestine there appears for the first time a life of Jesus, in Hebrew, by a Jewish scholar and written for Jewish readers. And why? Because in Palestine, in a Jewish environment, the Jew feels free, without misunderstanding, compromise and danger, to discuss ANYTHING that touches the circle of Jewish life. To accept Dr. Wise’s resignation means a denial of that proposition.
This difference of opinion goes to the very root of the Zionist ideal–that the Jewish life in Palestine must develop its own standards, must express itself fully and unrestrictedly from WITHIN. The battle will have to be fought out sometime. It might as well be fought out now. We must hold our ground. We Zionists are interested primarily in establishing the Jewish homeland. We are not going to submit to the dictation of any group of diaspora Jews however sincere they may be in their convictions. We hold that the Jew in Palestine must decide for himself. We challenge them who have voiced the opposition to accept this point of view for the sake of the larger ideal. Diaspora standards and adjustments and technique, whether of reform or orthodox Jews, must not predetermine Jewish life in Palestine. That must be free!
And we have faith in the national genius of our people that whatever be the religious expression of Jewish life in Palestine it will carry on the essential traditions of Judaism; its policy will be dictated neither by imitation nor by fear, but by the urge of the Jewish soul in its will to live and to servel.
(Rabbi) MORRIS S. LAZARON.
Baltimore, Md., Dec. 31, 1925.
Sir:
As a subscriber and reader of your paper, I have noticed that you are having a straw vote contest whether or not the resignation of Dr. Stephen S. Wise should be accepted. I for one, as an ardent Zionist, desire to inform you that I am in favor of accepting his resignation. By retaining him as the head of such an important movement, in my humble opinion, approves the utterances made by Dr. Wise in the newspapers. By rejecting his leadership, you take a firm stand and by way of rebuke to men of Dr. Wise’s type, both present and future, that statements, on the part of Rabbis, which may be detrimental to the interests of Judaism, will not be tolerated.
I noticed in today’s papers Dr. Wise’s attempted explanation, but to my mind it means nothing. He has waited too long and the damage has been done.
As a sample of the effect of Dr. Wise’s ideas, I call your attention to the fact that, in riding in the train a few days ago, a Christian minister talking to several men in reference to Dr. Wise’s opinion, boldly stated that Dr. Wise was right and that the Jews are at last awakening that Jesus is their only salvation. Statements of similar nature were expressed by numerous Christian ministers in their sermons of last Sunday.
It can hardly be denied that Judaism cannot long endure, if utterances of this kind are allowed to go unchallenged.
In conclusion, I desire to state further that I am for Zionism and the Zionist cause and that everybody should contribute liberally to make the United Palestine Drive a success.
BERNARD BREITBART.
Breitbart & Breitbart, 305 Broadway,. New York.
December 31, 1925.
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.
