The extraordinary opportunities which are the lot of the American Jew make it his duty to aid his brethren in other lands who are not so fortunately situated, and to carry out the sorely needed projects of construction and reconstruction, “whether in Palestine or Europe,” declared Dr. Cyrus Adler.
“In Poland, in Roumania,” said Dr. Adler, “due to the Minority Treaties, with which the name of Louis Marshall will be imperishably preserved, a man is at least a citizen and in spite of the many things there are to complain of in Russia at least, there is no political discrimination against the Jews. But in Poland, in Roumania, in Lithuania, in Austria, there is a great need—a need which pertains to all the citizens but which bears more heavily upon the Jewish population than upon any other.”
The middle-man, said Dr. Adler, was being forced out of economic life in all of the East European countries, and the burden fell heaviest on the Jewish population who for obvious reasons had not been an agricultural population. Some, he stated, were artisans, and eking out an existence through small business enterprise had furnished sustenance for a large percentage of the people.
“These,” he said, “are now hopeless. We do not want to give them charity, and they do not want charity, but they want help to adjust themselves to the new conditions of economic life.
“The aid we are asked to give for the upbuilding of Palestine,” continued Dr. Adler, “is of another nature. This is not so much a matter of rebuilding as of building anew. For many centuries the land was said to have flowed with milk and honey. Its soil became desolate, its forest cut down. As an outlet even for a smaller emigration the Palestinian project must be upheld. But there are many reasons in Jewish history, in Jewish sentiment and in Jewish religious feeling, why it is a happiness for a person who really possesses these feelings to take part in the rebuilding of the Holy Land.”
Dr. Adler spoke too of the need for the preservation of Judaism and stated that the Joint Distribution Committee has always considered cultural projects as a part of its vital work. In Palestine, he said, many hoped for a spiritual and cultural revival, and believed that away from the complications of American and European crowds and machinery a simple and unselfish form of life in a society which will provide happiness, and comfort, will spring up and serve as an example to the rest of Jewry.
“In all the lands,” said Dr. Adler, “in which the two organizations which are meeting here for the first time to undertake a practical piece of work, are working, this cultural work has always had its share.”
“Go forward,” concluded Dr. Adler,” “with this work, do it with all your ability, with all your energy, with all your devotion, and I am sure that the satisfaction which you will derive from having benefited your fellow beings will be ample reward for any sacrifice you may bring.”
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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.
